Character points
As the presidential campaigns count down to the election, the negativity keeps dialing up. Not surprisingly, the McCain team, facing an increasingly bleak outlook for November 4, is working especially hard to turn character attacks into political gain.
Much of the hostility has been stoked by Sarah Palin's vitriolic words on Obama's ties to William Ayers, a former Weather Underground radical who decades later networked with Obama in Chicago's liberal circles. Palin conveniently shortened that description to "terrorist."
Salon's Walter Shapiro dismisses the new tack as a predictably desperate ploy, though he notes that with the Obama camp pushing McCain's Keating Five scandal, neither candidate is immune from the absurdity.
"Confronted with America's incredible shrinking stock portfolio, both the McCain and Obama campaigns reacted with the maturity that the financial crisis deserves. McCain and Sarah Palin tried to foster the impression that, if elected, Obama would name 1960s radical Bill Ayers to head the newly created Department of Molotov Cocktails. And the Obama campaign countered by releasing a searing video titled 'Keating Economics.' "
But will the Ayers card play well with the Joe Six Pack contingent?
Even the conservative National Review's David Frum doubts McCain will win any new converts with the months-old Ayers narrative: "Negative campaigning only works when it offers a new data point to support a convincingly drawn hostile image."
But there's also that slice of the GOP base that wants McCain to dig deeper--and invoke underlying biases even more explicitly--by resurrecting Obama's controversial former pastor Jeremiah Wright (a move that Palin herself elliptically suggested via the New York Times' Bill Kristol).
Noting the unbridled rage that has permeated the Palin's audiences lately, Adam Serwer at the American Prospect's TAPPED sees larger forces at work:
"I'm not sure if the McCain campaign is really aware of what they are drawing forth from their supporters. They see the crowds and the enthusiasm, and maybe they can't see the ugliness. But mostly I think they don't care, as long as they win. To be sure, the attacks they are making would be leveled at any Democrat. But this Democrat happens to be a black man, and I don't think they really understand the level of primal fear and hatred they are abetting."
Or do they? In a forum on race and the elections on Politico.com, author and journalist Bill Bishop looks at identity politics in elections past:
"The lesson everyone learned from Bush in '04 was that turnout (especially turnout of undecideds) depended on groups of people identifying with the candidate.... The election was as much about reaffirming the group as it was re-electing a president."Obama knows this identity question is vital. Sen. Claire McCaskill told a group of 'Obama organizing fellows,' according to the Washington Post, 'The message you’ve got to send, more than any other message, is that Barack Obama is just like us.' So, conversely, the most important message a political opponent can send is, 'Candidate X is not like you.' In this country, how can race NOT be part of this battle for group identity?"
But in the end, perception carries more weight than intent. As AP writer Douglass Daniel put it, "Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as 'not like us' is another potential appeal to racism."
We'll soon see whether such an appeal still holds sway in light of all the other anxieties Americans are feeling as Election Day approaches.
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Comments (10)
Who is William Ayers?
William Ayers was a radical who opposed a stupid war in a far away land where John McCain flew 23 bombing runs before he was shot down. Wonder how many innocent civilians died on the ground in those bombing runs. Any one wondered? It was a stupid war which ended in humiliation of American armed forces with over 50,000 troops dead and more than a million Vietnamese dead.
This is the same John McCain who along with the Bush administration threw dust into the eyes of the American people and asked us to launch a war based on fabricated intelligence. Remember Colin Powell showing fabricated intelligence of WMDs at UN which were never found?This is the same John McCain who would want us to be in Iraq for a 100 years, and would happily bomb bomb Iran.By God, the worst hell is reserved for those who value non American lives cheaper than American lives. Pray for your redemption before the day of judgement you conservative thugs who have stolen America. Your time has come to an end. Nov 4 th is the day of judgement. The Republican thugs will be thrown out of the White House.
There you go again Newsday. You are trying to protect Obama from media scrutiny. His ties to Acorn, Ayres, Wright, etc. show that he is a radical liberal. His ties to Acorn are particularly troubling. Acorn is part of this financial mess, just read Stanley Kurtz's columns. Acorn has also been accused of voter registration fraud in several states. Just today, voter fraud investigators in Nevada raided Acorn's office.
William Ayers is not a radical. He is a domestic terrorist who bombed government buildings, remains unrepentent, and as of 2001, wished he had done more. He was not prosecuted due to a legal technicality. Palin called him exactly what he is. Once again Newsday shows its lack of objectivity, and why it continues to lose readers.
William Ayers is not a radical. He is a domestic terrorist who bombed government buildings, remains unrepentent, and as of 2001, wished he had done more. He was not prosecuted due to a legal technicality. Palin called him exactly what he is. Once again Newsday shows its lack of objectivity, and why it continues to lose readers.
George Washington was a terrorist by the standards of British.
The way things are now, I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few "people feel like bombing" the gov't buildings
from which Republicans have run an expensive PROFITEERING SCAM on middle class Americans, crashed the economy and handed people the bill.
I don't recommend it, but peoples' feelings have been intense about what's been going on with Republicans who refuse to govern properly, if at all. It's rresponsible.
Corruption, war-mongering to enrich corporate war-profiteers and corporate welfare queens does make many people fed up and angry.
How long do Republicans think they can get away with their
deregulation, profiteering and robbing Middle Class Americans?
They create a permanent war economy profiting the rich and robbing everyone else. President Ike Eisenhower warned us against such
a "military industrial complex" takeover of our Economy. It would lead to disaster. And it has!
When is the liberal, slanted, media going to tell the facts, ABOUT BOTH CANDIDATES? Answer-they won't. It's just a shame that the corrupt press dosen't tell the real story on BOTH sides. Another system broken and can't be fixed. Welcome to the list of 3rd world coutries.
Again darker should look into whether the screen name 'dumber' is taken. If not, I strongly recommend it. The current debacle isn't a result of deregulation.... it is the product of government REQUIRING banks to take loans that they otherwise wouldn't have taken. Loans to minority community members where the borrowers weren't qualified, and didn't have a down payment. This was done to create an 'ownership society' and to 'correct the injustices' that had minority home ownership at lower levels than Anglo home ownership.
Well in English, those 'injustices' are also known as jobs and credit ratings. (and the intent to repay your debts)
Now, not surprisingly, we have a lot of 'bad loans'. But 'bad loans' are simply loans that are not being paid back. Anyone see a connection? When warned about these practices, Democrats protected them by hiding the financial condition of the companies making the loans until it was too late. Then it's Bush's fault.
According to clowns like darker, it's always Bush's fault. Forget that Clinton started it. Forget that Chris Dodd (D) protected it. Forget that Barney Frank (D) and his gay lover in Fannie Mae perpetuated it and hid it from the public.... forget all of that. According to darker.... it's the evil Republicans again.
Then to add insult to injury, the Democrats try to tack a provision onto the bailout bill to give 20% of any future profit (HA!) to ACORN and La Raza to continue the practice of getting less qualified minority’s home loans.
The bottom line is that the Democrats have learned nothing from all of this. If you have also learned nothing, then vote Democratic.... like our friend 'dumber' here.
According to the Annenberg documents, when Obama was working for Annenberg he was giving funds to radical educational organizations (including ones connected with Ayres). The key criteria for giving the funds was left-wing politics, not educational quality.
At first I thought only Texas and Alaska were missing their village idiots until I read these comments