Despicable Hatred

John McCain and his pit bull, Palin, have descended into the mire of such dirty politics that I wonder how they will ever wash it off. If there is any justice left in this world their political careers should be finished by this revolting display of inciting hatred.

Two debates down and one to go. Can we get to the next one without Sarah Barracuda getting Barack killed? She has crossed every line imaginable in attacking Obama and the racists seem to revel in the mud. When one man yelled "Kill him." after she implied that Obama was a terrorist she didn't back down.

I hope that the Secret Service assigned to Obama's safety are very alert because there will always be some "nutcase" who thinks it his mission to eliminate the threat of a black man for president.

While McCain pulled his punches in last night's debate he couldn't resist referring to Obama as "That One." Since I had never heard the meaining of that label I had to wait until this morning to find out how nasty it was. I read that racists call blacks by that name as an insult. (This has been referred to as a Southern thing. Others do not find this offensive. At the least, it is rude.)

Did you see McCain deliberately insult Obama by refusing to accept his hand after the debate? That he seems to actively dislike Obama is obvious by the tone of his voice and body language, but to be so petty on National TV and refuse a common courtesy is beyond the pale. At least Cindy tried to save McShame's face be taking Obama's outstretched hand. (I am adding information that was posted on my blog to the effect that McCain did shake his hand, but the camera didn't catch it. I am unable to verify this. I just know I saw McCain look down as Obama approached.)

I am including some excerpts from this morning's NYT editorial on McCain's campaign. To read the entire editorial go to the New York Times home page.

I have edited it for brevity. (Will someone please tell me how to put a box around quotations).

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Politics of Attack

Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been running one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember.

They have gone far beyond the usual fare of quotes taken out of context and distortions of an opponent’s record — into the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia. Senator Barack Obama has taken some cheap shots at Mr. McCain, but there is no comparison.

Despite the occasional slip (referring to Mr. Obama’s “cronies” and calling him “that one”), Mr. McCain tried to take a higher road in Tuesday night’s presidential debate. But apart from promising to buy up troubled mortgages as president, he offered no real answers for how he plans to solve the country’s deep economic crisis. He is unable or unwilling to admit that the Republican assault on regulation was to blame.

Ms. Palin, in particular, revels in the attack. Her campaign rallies have become spectacles of anger and insult. “This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America,” Ms. Palin has taken to saying.

That line follows passages in Ms. Palin’s new stump speech in which she twists Mr. Obama’s ill-advised but fleeting and long-past association with William Ayers, founder of the Weather Underground and confessed bomber. By the time she’s done, she implies that Mr. Obama is right now a close friend of Mr. Ayers — and sympathetic to the violent overthrow of the government. The Democrat, she says, “sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.”

Her demagoguery has elicited some frightening, intolerable responses. At a rally in Florida this week a man yelled “kill him!” as Ms. Palin delivered that line and others shouted epithets at an African-American member of a TV crew.

Mr. McCain’s aides haven’t even tried to hide their cynical tactics, saying they were “going negative” in hopes of shifting attention away from the financial crisis — and by implication Mr. McCain’s stumbling response.

The tactic of guilt by association is perplexing, since Mr. McCain has his own list of political associates he would rather forget. We were disappointed to see the Obama campaign air an ad (held for just this occasion) reminding voters of Mr. McCain’s involvement in the Keating Five savings-and-loan debacle, for which he was reprimanded by the Senate. That episode at least bears on Mr. McCain’s claims to be the morally pure candidate and his argument that he alone is capable of doing away with greed, fraud and abuse.

Mr. McCain has stooped so low, since the debate showed once again that he has little else to talk about. His Reagan-inspired ideology of starving government and shredding regulation lies in tatters on Wall Street.

Mr. McCain and his team can come up with a better answer to that problem than inciting more division, anger and hatred.

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John McCain's temper is well known. Please check out the video.
YouTube - John McCain's Rage is a National Security Concern