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This Is What Democracy Looks Like
www.NationalView.org's Note From a Madman
October 12, 2008
The McCain Campaign Strategy: Hate, Fear and
Intimidation
When it not enough too much? When it comes to political slander, name-calling,
the promotion of hate and fear, John McCain and Sarah Palin are too much.
While the campaign of John McCain III is floundering on the horrific economic
news - much of it with his help - the former Chairman of the Senate Commerce
Committee (that's the committee which controlled much of the de-regulations
which allowed this economy to succumb to "greed run-amok") has decided that the
issues are no longer important. McCain, his "people", his
rarely-read-a-newspaper running-mate and the Republican National Committee have
decided to muddy up the water with talk of their opponent, Senator Barack Obama,
as a traitor, a terrorists a Muslim, an Arab and, if they could get away with
it, the devil himself.
I'm just surprised there aren't posters of Senator Obama with horns, devil ears
and a pitchfork plastered around the battleground states. Certainly the image of
Obama's face morphing into the face of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden is not
far from your television sets. They did it to Vietnam hero and triple amputee
Senator Max Cleland, so what makes one think that they wouldn't do it now?
The problem with the McCain attacks, all based on fear, isn't that it didn't
work, it's that it's working all too well. The campaign to sell Obama as
something short of bin-Laden has led the McCain base to begin shouting things
like "terrorist" and "kill him" at rallies held by McCain and/ or Palin. (This
is not, of course, the real McCain "base of haves and have mores" but the base
who still think that Bush, McCain and the other NeoCons who ran our economy into
the ground are still representing them.)
How bad is it? At a recent McCain fave - a town hall-type Question and Answer
rally in Lacrosse, Wisconsin - the Candidate Formerly Known as The Maverick had
to come to the defense of his rival Obama.
"He's an Arab,"
-A woman at the McCain Lacrosse, Wisconsin rally to McCain
No ma'am. He's a decent family man... a citizen,"
-McCain
And so went the evening in Lacrosse. McCain had to defend Obama against those
who were allowed in to the town hall meeting. Certainly the event was staged to
show McCain's distaste for all of the negative ads depicting the first African
American candidate to the White House with a real shot at winning as a
terrorist. Certainly this crowd, one allowed to get this close and ask these
hate and anger-filled questions, must have been known to McCain's people prior
to the gathering.
The evening in Lacrosse was more of a lynching in effigy of a Black man than it
was a town hall meeting to talk about the plans and future policies which John
McCain, if he were to ever become President, would implement.
The McCain-friendly Wisconsin crowd came to the gathering all fired up and ready
to burn Obama, Joe Biden and anything else wearing blue. It was more like a
meeting of the LA street gang Bloods (who wear red) as they plan their attack of
the rival Crips (who wear blue). The were middle fingers, racial epitaphs and
enough hate to make the ooze from Ghostbusters destroy a perfectly good Upper
West Side (NYC) apartment building. In short, it was ugly.
And more than likely, planned.
McCain needed to soften his rhetoric in order to make himself more appealing to
those independents who haven't made up their minds. And while he was making
himself a "kinder, gentler former Maverick", McCain's ads, still depicting Obama
as a terrorist; and still playing the race-fear-hate card continue to run.
Anything other than the issues are on the McCain-Palin agenda for the balance of
this election.
It's all they have.
-Noah Greenberg
POOR BRANDING!
It is impossible to make this stuff up!
There was one Samuel Maverick who in the mid-1800’s refused to brand his cattle
and as a result his cattle were nicknamed ‘mavericks.’ For a little more detail
Wikipedia says: Maverick steadfastly refused to brand his cattle. As a result,
the word maverick entered the English lexicon, meaning both an unbranded range
animal as well as a slang term for someone who exhibits a streak of stubborn
independence. Maverick's stated reason for not branding his cattle was that he
didn't want to inflict pain on them. Other ranchers however, suspected that his
true motivation was that it allowed him to collect any unbranded cattle and
claim them as his own. (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Augustus_Maverick
)
The explanation suggests that someone who calls themselves a maverick and
exhibits a streak of stubborn independence may have motives beyond (or is that
beneath!) what they profess. Someone could say Country First, but really mean
politics and winning first, for example.
Leaving that aside, the reason it hit my radar today is because a story was on
CNN or MSNBC that interviewed one of Sam’s living relatives. This true
‘Maverick’ by name and relation objects to McCain and pal Palin calling
themselves mavericks. She is a democrat living in Texas and feels they do not in
any way resemble or exhibit the positive maverick characteristics of her
ancestor Sam. She says she can’t stop them from using the term, but they can’t
stop her from being annoyed and talking about it.
So an original maverick disputes the claim of the McMaverick. But, based on the
Wikipedia speculation that mavericks may have deeper, hidden, and more devious
motives perhaps it does apply – branding of a different type!
-Casey Sweet
In response to McCain stripping middle-class benefits (if he's given the
chance), Ginger writes:
Looks like, once again, Wall Street/mortgage companies would be the only ones
profiting from yet another GOP buy-out plan. So he strips Social Security from
people currently working, when they retire, and in the meantime they lose
whatever they have in the market as a backup. This isn't a plan. It's a total
disaster.
And Sheila writes:
What frightened me most about the "debate" (hardly) in Nashville was when McCain
said we would have to give up some entitlements. A lot of people watching do not
realize that Social Security and MEDICARE are entitlements. So they might not
realize that a vote for McCain means they work until they drop dead because
Social Security is gone and so is Medicare. This coward frightens me more than
Bush and Cheney have frightened me and they have scared me plenty. I think he is
not physically or mentally able to lead this country. And God Forbid Princess
Ponytail Mooseburger should be prez. It gives me chills.
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-Noah Greenberg