A Polemical Essay by: That Girl
I’ll say this: I don’t think John McCain is racist. But he sure knows how to hang with the worst of them.
With a Bear Market currently mauling a little china shop known as the Global Financial System and McCain’s less than spectacular performance in demonstrating the urgency of the economic meltdown (outside of suspending his campaign for a few hours while negotiating alternative debate dates -> a stunt that smelled more like a steaming pile of politics than the cool breeze of “Maverick” it was intended to ostentate), it seems the McCain campaign feels it has little choice but to pander to the lowest common denominator of their party by resorting to tar-slinging tactics (read: mud-slinging with a racist adhesive).
The past few days have seen a noticeable shift in political maneuvering from the McCain camp with concerted attempts to not only link Obama with domestic terrorists:
… but allude to foreign terrorist alliances by virtue of his middle name:
… which has been conspicuously added to both Palin’s:
… and McCain’s introductions of late:
Add to this tack a solid Southern Dixiecrat base still smarting over that whole Civil War thing:
Comparative Analysis -> These maps demonstrate correlate divisions between Red/Blue states of the 2004 Election Cycle and the Secessionist/Unionist states of the Civil War. Coincidence?
… and it’s not exactly surprising that hatred toward a black presidential candidate would rear its head so ugly and quick in America…
**********
By now, we’re all more than likely aware of the incendiary campaign rhetoric and subsequent malicious comments produced by angry Republican mob participants over the course of the previous few days…
(Listen for “treason” @ 0:31 seconds):
(… and “kill him” @ 0:13 seconds):
… and McCain’s lukewarm attempt at backpedaling:
“[Senator Obama] is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared about as President of the United States,” he said, before adding: “If I didn’t think I would be one heck of a better president I wouldn’t be running.”
… as the McCain camp signaled its refusal to alter its strategy by actually defending these bigots:
“Barack Obama’s assault on our supporters is insulting and unsurprising.
[snip]
“It is clear that [he] just doesn’t understand regular people and the issues they care about. He dismisses hardworking middle class Americans as clinging to guns and religion, while at the same time attacking average Americans at McCain rallies who are angry at Washington, Wall Street and the status quo.” (emphasis mine)
What.
This seeming lack of concern on the part of the Republican campaign for the historically proven consequences of such rhetoric and obtuse approval is nothing short of inexcusable and frankly, boggles the mind.
These supporters aren’t “regular people”. They are the most unhinged elements of our society. They can’t be “angry at… the status quo”. They are the status quo: white, bible thumping social conservatives spoiled on eight long years of flaunting moral superiority like an American badge of entitlement, pointing to “traitors of the war” while requiring the greatest restriction of civil rights since that guy McCarthy invented his own “ism” -> all in the name of waging a righteous Crusade to “democratize” “terrorist” nations.
So, while these particular Republican supporters may also be frustrated by “business as usual” in Washington and on Wall Street, make no mistake: if they’re pissed, at the end of the day, it’s because their brass-balled, hegemonic endorsements are shriveling like so many raisins in the sun.
The problem with the Republican ticket is this: the position of the Presidentcy of the United States, at all times, (but especially times like these) requires a greater moral compass than those currently demonstrated by either the Republican presidential or vice presidential nominees in practicing their “Win at all costs” campaign philosophy. Worse, by activating, harboring, and comforting the most unacceptably radical elements of our society by political means, the Republican Party has effectively condemned all social progress made since the Civil War in advancing Equality, Opportunity and all those other novel concepts given lip service by the GOP when speaking of the Constitution.
Is John McCain racist? I don’t believe so. But he walks a perilous line:
John McCain and Sarah Palin, you are playing with fire, and you know it. You are unleashing the monster of American hatred and prejudice, to the peril of all of us. You are doing this in wartime. You are doing this as our economy collapses. You are doing this in a country with a history of assassinations.
… when [your supporters] scream out “Terrorist” or “Kill him,” history will hold you responsible for all that follows.
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When the Republicans courted the white South with the Southern Strategy (not that they invented it, just that they took advantage of it to the nth degree) they may or may not have known that they were adopting the future fundamental religious base along with it.
As they enjoyed the votes that came along, they also began to nurture and adopt the religious base into their power structure. In the ’60s, the fundamentalist vote surely wasn’t as large as it is now, but it still demanded attention and repayment for support.
Forty years later, that base, somewhere between 8 and 22 percent nationally, has grown into a middle-aged basement dweller, insisting on policy in exchange for voter support. And in this election, with Obama as a focal point for their derision and hate, the religious mask has fallen away and revealed stark bigotry — exactly the voters Nixon originally courted, but who had since disguised their prejudice in church garb.
Would the rational conservatives wish they could cut loose the rabid religious and vocal bigots? I imagine so. But in doing so, the Republicans would lose their only guaranteed demographic — the very voters who pushed Bush to his slim (and questionable) victories. By fulfilling them now, they’re alienating the vast middle of the political spectrum.
Those are the kinds of voters, once they’ve left the fold, who may not return for two or more election cycles. Those not tied to the Republicans through religious or racist ideology may well find themselves better off and more satisfied with the country under an Obama administration, and that bodes ill for the GOP come 2012.