McCain’s attacks fuel dangerous hatred

By Frank Schaeffer
October 10, 2008

John McCain: If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as “not one of us,” I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence.

At a Sarah Palin rally, someone called out, “Kill him!” At one of your rallies, someone called out, “Terrorist!” Neither was answered or denounced by you or your running mate, as the crowd laughed and cheered. At your campaign event Wednesday in Bethlehem, Pa., the crowd was seething with hatred for the Democratic nominee – an attitude encouraged in speeches there by you, your running mate, your wife and the local Republican chairman.

Shame!

John McCain: In 2000, as a lifelong Republican, I worked to get you elected instead of George W. Bush. In return, you wrote an endorsement of one of my books about military service. You seemed to be a man who put principle ahead of mere political gain.

You have changed. You have a choice: Go down in history as a decent senator and an honorable military man with many successes, or go down in history as the latest abettor of right-wing extremist hate.

John McCain, you are no fool, and you understand the depths of hatred that surround the issue of race in this country. You also know that, post-9/11, to call someone a friend of a terrorist is a very serious matter. You also know we are a bitterly divided country on many other issues. You know that, sadly, in America, violence is always just a moment away. You know that there are plenty of crazy people out there.

Stop! Think! Your rallies are beginning to look, sound, feel and smell like lynch mobs.

John McCain, you’re walking a perilous line. If you do not stand up for all that is good in America and declare that Senator Obama is a patriot, fit for office, and denounce your hate-filled supporters when they scream out “Terrorist” or “Kill him,” history will hold you responsible for all that follows.

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.

Change the atmosphere of your campaign. Talk about the issues at hand. Make your case. But stop stirring up the lunatic fringe of haters, or risk suffering the judgment of history and the loathing of the American people – forever.

We will hold you responsible.

Frank Schaeffer is the author of “Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back.” His e-mail is frankaschaeffer@aol.com.

Looks like it’s going to be a long, long time, though. Many think the upcoming rout will see a generational shift that will spell the end of the GOP – as we know it now – in the same way that the turning of the tide when Nixon was elected gave them the Presidency for 28 out of the next 40 years.

Can’t say that’s necessarily a bad thing.

It’s a very imperfect world, “I’m so impressed,” and most of us know that. Unfortunately we sometimes let our passions take over and we may sound as though we believe that we know it all.

I like being independant/unafiliated so I don’t fall in these categories.

You and I are in agreement on the issue of Sarah Palin.

Are you serious? What other reason is there that she shouldn’t be a consideration besides the fact that she is a) subscribes to evangelist extremist religious tenets; b) is undergoing an investigation in her home state for possible ethics violations; c) she panders to and foments racist and homophobic extremist tendencies in the far right-wing base; d) she is completely unqualified from a policy perspective, both domestic and foreign.

I am sure I could go on but the day only has so many hours.

By the way, it isn’t that Palin ought not to be a consideration because she could very well become our president. McCain chose her because the right wing of the party wouldn’t allow him to have Joe Lieberman, a liberal.