No matter who wins tomorrow, history will record the tremendous difference in campaigns. With some minor exceptions, the Obama campaign has been consistently upbeat, optimistic, and positive. With some minor exceptions, the McCain campaign has been all negative, all the time. Code words like "he doesn't share our values" have replaced the old canard that Democrats are just the party of Jews, Catholics, and N---, but it's the same pitch to the very same people. They call Obama a socialist for wanting to repeal Bush's tax cuts, although McCain also opposed them initially. Fox "News" and McCain dump on Obama as unpatriotic for not wearing a flag pin, although McCain didn't during any of the debates. (Why? He's a military man, so he is better than the rest of us, and he doesn't need to prove his patriotism. Civilians do. Liberals especially. I am so sick of those holier-than-thou old military men). These Republicans falsely "accuse" Obama of being a Muslim, playing to their right-wing religious base that believes only a Christian should be president. It is widely reported that McCain wanted to choose Lieberman as his VP, but the party elders said they would challenge him in a floor fight. It wasn't his pro-choice stance. It's that he's a Jew. Then these nasties trot out Sarah Palin and crown her Mother of the Decade, only to cry foul when someone questions that. They blatantly appeal to Hillary Clinton's voters on the theory that them wimmin will vote for any skirt, without reference to any of the issues that Clinton stood for. Women do not appear to be going for it.
McCain's campaign has been all about fear, racism, sexism, religious bigotry, and nastiness. It's the Father Knows Best campaign. McCain wags his finger at us and asks how dare we vote for anyone else. He keeps saying that he alone has the judgment and character to be president. Only a truly egotistical jackass would think that "Country First" and "Vote for Me" are synonyms. I will be glad when this is over. I hope that McCain loses convincingly, in humiliating fashion. I will be glad to be rid of him. Then he can spend the rest of his days in his seven houses bemoaning his poor fortune and how "the liberal media" cost him this campaign.
Monday, November 03, 2008
The End of a Racist and Disgusting Campaign
Posted by The Law Talking Guy at 1:00 PM
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9 comments:
Sadly, I think this campaign is only a prelude to the nastiness that awaits Obama if he wins the White House.
I was at Obama's rally in Cleveland yesterday (awesome, btw) and while I was off looking for coffee (the line was several miles long and I was not properly caffeinated) I ran into a journalist from Sweden (Gunnar from Stockholm). He had been following both campaigns off and on for the better part of a year.
I talked with him about this one (and about how run down and abandoned Cleveland seems but that is another story) and during our conversation he mentioned that the McCain rallies were, for the most part, ugly, angry and dark while Obama rallies were the opposite. It was interesting to hear his perspective, as a foreigner, on this issue.
I ended up buying him his coffee and wishing him luck with his work. Such a nice guy... very refreshing to meet.
On a related note, the McCain supporters also seem a lot nastier than Obama supporters (that's on average, of course, not for every single person). I came across a few conservative blogs the other day, and the comments there were full of rants against Obama, calling him names like "Obamafuhrer". For one, it's very hard to see how he of all politicians qualifies for this title; secondly, it seems going a bit to far to give your political opponent names like this.
Nastiness is not what I'm afraid of. Something far worse, like what happened in Dallas in 1963.
"Obamafuhrer?" I thought their argument was that he wasn't ready to lead. But "fuhrer" means "leader."
I agree with LTG that assassination is a real concern. I wonder if John "Country First" McCain would have the stones to run for President if the only movement in this country with a 150 year history of political violence wanted him dead.
I have been charged with going to numerous construction sites around Los Angeles County over the past three weeks making sure that union members vote for Obama (and handing out all types of shwag - buttons, stickers, shirts) and I have been struck by two recurring themes: the few who are willing to vote against their economic self-interest by voting for McCain (who openly supports the systematic dismantling of unions along with prevailing wages, benefits, etc as well as an automatic veto of the Employee Free Choice Act if it passes) simply to be able to tell their children that they kept a black man out of the white house; and the surprising number of union members who believe that a reasonable over/under for an Obama assassination is 14 months. (No kidding - this was debated by an ironworker and a painter)
An electrician that I spoke with recently told me that he respected Colin Powell for not running years ago due to a real/perceived danger to his family, and that Obama did not care about his family by running and therefore did not deserve his vote.
Strange perspectives indeed.
- Rolleroid
Do you guys see the potential for change in the media reporting? My view has been that Fox News has been the early biased news source and that they have gotten away with it because no one challenges them. (I used to own shares in News Corp but sold them on the basis that I didn't want to support Fox News once I know how bad it was.)
Media reporting in Australia seems much fairer, but I'm not sure whether that is because (a) government funded news stations, (b) the marginal uptake in cable TV (5-10% I'd guess), (c) smaller population, or (d) complete apathy/greater interest in sport.
As someone who spent 10 years as a journalist in the U.S. I do not see much potential for change. I think this sort of biased, infotainment, opinionated, pundit driven news is here to stay in some form or another. People like hearing what they want to hear... what fits with their belief system, and they like it easily digestible, entertaining and shallow.
Fox really is awful. Daily Kos is keeping track of the differences in the subjects of their reports and the subjects of other networks. It's really quite stark.
I've heard that other Sky Networks are not that biased but Rubert Murdoch's US media possessions are all right wing.
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