Thursday, October 23, 2008

Gone til (almost) November

I'm peacing out for a few days and likely won't be posting much. Check back now and then, but chances are, you won't see anything new here until Tuesday. I'll be back for sure, though, for the last week of the campaign. 

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

How it's done

Every day I see a new version of the same thing: violence or bigotry against Obama or his supporters. I see reports that Obama volunteers are being assaulted. I hear about a man in Ohio who has a ghost with an Obama sign hanging in effigy from a tree outside his house. I read that Obama supporters had their tires slashed. And I see that a dead bear was covered with Obama signs in North Carolina. 

McCain stands silently by. This is not entirely his fault -- with the first black candidate to get this far, some of this was inevitable -- but it is undeniably at least partially the result of his campaign's hate. His surrogates have called Obama un-American; he has called Obama a "socialist;" his campaign is calling people to inform them that Obama may be a terrorist. There is no hiding the message. It is of hate and he can stop it. He chooses not to. He is responsible, no matter how much he denies it.

As I was thinking about this today, I saw a clip of Obama in Florida. Now, I understand that he is in front. He is playing defense, not offense. He has the luxury of taking the high road. But watch the clip below. Obama talks about the economy. He notes that he proposed a stimulus plan nine months ago. He ties McCain to Bush. And then he repeats McCain's famous line, "the fundamentals of the economy are strong." Before he can finish the phrase, people start to boo. Obama interrupts to say, "No. No, we don't need that. We just need you to vote." That is how it's done, McCain.

The clip is long. The part I write of is a little more than 3 minutes in.