When Barack Obama correctly referred to John McCain’s “running mate’s” apparent refusal to stop racist taunts at Republican rallies, during the third Presidential debate on Thursday (Australian time), McCain, as is his wont, immediately got huffy and defensive. He said that he was “proud of the people who come to our rallies.”
Is that so, McCain? Then how come the McCain campaign, with three weeks left to go until Election Day, “launched a nationwide talent search to find angry audience members for their increasingly hate-filled rallies”, as admitted by McCain aides?
“People assume that when we hold a rally, angry white people just magically appear, but that’s not the case,” said McCain aide Hardin Carley. “The fact is, a lot of planning goes into this.” In order to stock their rallies with the requisite number of irate white voters, the McCain camp has reached out to Hollywood, retaining the services of casting agent Tracy Klugian, who found the angry crowds for the 2000 film “Gladiator.” “They were really clear about my assignment,” said Mr. Klugian. “They were like, we want the same kind of crowds you had for ‘Gladiator,’ only more bloodthirsty.”
(source)
We all know McCain’s been getting desperate in recent weeks. It’s one reason why his running mate Sarah Palin was “unleashed” and allowed to fire off ugly and highly provocative rants during Republican rallies, such as this gem at a Florida rally on October 6, that Obama “launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist! This is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America. I’m afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country.”
The day before was the risible and now infamous claim that Obama is someone who used to “pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country”. These repugnant statements backfired for McCain and tarnished his reputation as an honourable type of guy.
A poll following these attacks showed that “more voters [saw] Mr. McCain as waging a negative campaign than Mr. Obama. Six in 10 voters surveyed said that Mr. McCain had spent more time attacking Mr. Obama than explaining what he would do as president; by about the same number, voters said Mr. Obama was spending more of his time explaining than attacking.”
Elsewhere, specifically Gainesville, Virginia, state GOP Chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick knows that the McCain bid for the White House is failing miserably. Things are quite desperate, that they’re resorting further still to lies and baseless allegations:
With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: “Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon,” he said. “That is scary.” It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama’s controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. “And he won’t salute the flag,” one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, “We don’t even know where Senator Obama was really born.” Actually, we do; it’s Hawaii.
In light of the realisation that attacking Obama is not helping the McCain-Palin ticket at all, the pitbull with lipstick in recent days has softened her tone, saying things like “I don’t question at all Barack Obama’s love for this great country.” What a turnaround! Desperate, devious, tricky and so utterly insincere. Win at all costs, no matter what.
I hope American voters, especially the undecideds, see just how full of shit the whole McCain campaign has been and make the right decision with their vote.
(Hint: Vote Obama!)
UPDATE:
Turns out that the “report” about the McCain campaign auditioning for “angry crowds” was written by a political satirist and comedian. My apologies for not seeing the fine print in the Huffington Post at the end of the article: “Andy Borowitz is a comedian and writer whose work appears in The New Yorker and The New York Times, and at his award-winning humor site, BorowitzReport.com.”
Having now read some of his archived work after a heads-up in the comments, yes, yes, the penny drops. He’s quite good though. I encourage you to read his stuff, even if the fucker tripped me up! Grrr.
Nevertheless, for McCain to declare he is proud of the people who attend his and Palin’s rallies shows just how silly and desperate the man is. He is not a racist and yet he’s practically endorsing the “people” who have been yelling out bigoted and racist epithets at Republican rallies, such as “Kill him!” (in relation to Obama) and “sit down, boy” at an African American sound man for a network.
Charming.
