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To understand where the ugliness of the John McCain campaign is leading us, you have to remember where this kind of thing has led us before. You have to go back to November 1963 when the viciousness of the right wing in this country had whipped up hatred against John F. Kennedy to a fever pitch.
Adlai Stevenson, our ambassador to the United Nations, had been spat upon in Texas. One day before President Kennedy was to visit Dallas, that city’s newspapers carried a photo of him financed by one of the mad men of the right. The photo had a black border around it. Whether or not you believe the murder of JFK was a conspiracy, the toxic atmosphere in Texas proved fertile ground for the successful attempt on the president’s life. And today the McCain campaign has poisoned the race in a vain attempt to save its fading hopes and, in the process, set loose the same evil that lurks in the shadows of America, the same evil that once killed a president.
This is not the overheated rhetoric of a columnist looking for a story. There are reasons why the venom is spewing over at McCain-Palin rallies. There are reasons why some in the crowd shout "terrorist" or even "kill Obama" at McCain rallies. The McCain campaign has made Barack Obama an enemy of America. It has blatantly accused him of consorting with a terrorist on the flimsiest facts and has led credence to the lie he is not patriotic, and maybe even a sinister figure of mystery.
Even Sen. McCain finally had enough when, last week, a woman at one of his rallies accused Obama of being an Arab terrorist. McCain tried to calm the hysteria by explaining the questioner had no reason to fear an Obama presidency. "He is a decent family man," McCain added, and some in the crowd jeered. McCain is learning once you turn on the faucet of hate, it is not easily turned off.
No matter how much he protests, John McCain has been breathtakingly irresponsible in how he has conducted himself in this campaign. A recent study revealed, while Obama’s negative ads are running at about 34 percent, just about all of the McCain campaign ads are negative. And it is not just the negativity that has stoked the fires of hate, it is the tenor of the attacks. The constant refrain of "Who is Obama?" suggests he is a shadowy figure that could be set on destroying the country.
McCain himself has shown discernible contempt for his opponent during the debates, referring to him as "that one" and refusing to shake hands afterward. American politics are not a social tea, but this columnist has never seen such palpable rudeness during a presidential debate, and I have seen all of them going back to ’60.
It is tradition for a vice-presidential nominee to be the attack dog on the campaign trail, but the attacks leveled by Sarah Palin on Obama have been beyond the pale. Her shtick is Obama hangs around with a terrorist because he sees America as imperfect. That terrorist, William Ayers, committed those acts when Obama was 8. Ayers is now a college professor who was on the same education reform commission as Obama and lives in the same neighborhood. Obama has consistently decried Ayers previous acts of violence. There is absolutely no evidence he ever "palled" around with Ayers, as Palin charges. In fact, even while on the reform commission, Obama had no working relationship with Ayers, who has a close friendship with that well-known "radical," Chicago Mayor Richard Daley Jr.
Perhaps even more egregious than Palin’s false charge was the recent outburst on the campaign trail by Cindy McCain, the candidate’s wife. She got all choked up over the allegation Obama does not support the troops, which includes her son serving in Iraq. The basis of the charge is Obama once voted against a bill funding the troops because there was no timetable in it for withdrawal. But McCain also voted against a bill funding the troops because it did include a timetable. So the emotional fury of Cindy McCain was based on her either being incredibly ill-informed or a deliberate lie. Presumably Cindy McCain went through this charade with the full knowledge of her husband — you know the guy who pretends to put country first. I have followed a lot of presidential campaigns and have never seen a nominee’s wife used to wield a political hatchet.
If McCain is truly sorry, he should pull his negative campaign ads and call off Palin and his wife. He should apologize to his opponent for a campaign that has left John McCain without honor. The problem is it may be too late. Evil once set loose is beyond control.
This is beyond ugly. There is an ominous air of violence and danger around this campaign. We can only hope that it does not end in tragedy.
