McCain and the loss of decency

October 13, 7:24 AMTampa Politics ExaminerJim Stillman

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He has paid a dear price: his honor

 There were two commercials on television in Tampa last evening. The commercials "approved by John McCain", did not merely state that Senator Obama would not be as good a president as Senator McCain, they accuse the Illinois elected member of the Senate of the United States, one of 100 men and women chosen by the residents of their respective states, a liar and a traitor The results of this type of rhetoric has resulted in shouts from the GOP faithful at rallies starring Governor Palin that the Democratic candidate should be actually killed. The GOP, party of Abraham Lincoln, once dedicated to civil rights for everyone, has, in the words of Arianna Huffington, gone from "appealing to the better angels of our nature to evoking the darkest demons of our nature."

When Governor Palin failed to stop the rabble, for that is exactly what it was and is, it became too much for rational Conservatives and sane people of all political positions; on October 9, 2008, George Will wrote that the GOP campaign had finally devolved into, "It is less that Obama has bad ideas than that Obama is a bad person.  John McCain and Sarah Palin claim that this is demonstrated by bad associations Obama had in Chicago, such as with William Ayers, the long ago terrorist..."

Whatever the truth or relevance of this argument, the public is currently focused on the collapse of the American economy, fears of losing jobs and homes simultaneously, a collapse that it perceived to be the consequence of the George Bush failure to watch the store, the same George Bush to whom Senator McCain had identified himself aligned.

Notwithstanding this continuation of pandering to his base and throwing raw meat to the lions, the last vestige of John McCain’s honorable character had him acting as a "maverick" toward his own party and to his choice of vice-president.  At town hall meetings held last week, the fruits of allowing his campaign to be taken over by the crazies came home to him; John McCain seems to be shocked and unsettled by what he is hearing from his own supporters.

"I don't trust Obama," a woman at a town hall meeting in Minnesota told him. "I have read about him. He's an Arab."  (Adding to the falsehood about Barack Obama by suggesting that "an Arab" by definition cannot be trusted.)

Senator McCain silenced her and said, "No, ma'am. He's a decent, family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues..."

The crowd booed.

Then a very angry man in the crowd said that he was scared about raising his child in an America led by a President Barack Obama, McCain responded, "I have to tell you, he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States."

"If you want a fight, we will fight," McCain continued, trying to calm, his feverish backers. "But we will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments."

The mob booed even more loudly.

Notwithstanding John McCain’s not-very-successful and tardy attempt to control the focus of his own campaign, the demons may have been loosed forever.  And America has been made the poorer for it.

An excellent and non-partisan "fact check" of the Obama-Ayers connection missatements can be found at http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/790/ .