I've been loathe to discuss the business of race in this presidential contest because of the stereotypes and emotions that are released. It's a real Pandora's Box, and has no place in American politics today given the challenges that confront the country after almost 8 years of corrupt and incompetent rule under President Bush. The War in Iraq, the assault on civil liberties, national debt, the economy, and other topics deserve a wider discussion.
Then I saw John McCain's campaign take it up a notch when speaking about Barack Obama this past week. The suggestions that Barack Obama is not one of us brought up the issue of race, and supercharged it. Barack, according to the McCain-Palin narrative is not only an "outsider" worthy of suspicion, but he may be part of some type of conspiracy that seeks to do harm to America.
What made this narrative real, and nauseating, for many were the the venomous reactions of doubt and hate that have spewed from McCain-Palin campaign rallies. This is a sample of the many we have seen ...
Apart from unhinged ignorance, what's clear here is that John McCain and Sarah Palin have unleashed the dogs of hate and intolerance. Ed Kilgore sees this too and points out that Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Ann Coulter, and others are more than happy to take the story and run with it. Their new meme seeks to link Barack Obama and the current economic crisis to a Socialists-Minorities-Terrorists-Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac-Community Reinvestment Act narrative.
And just like that, all of our problems are wrapped into one tight little conspiracy made between outsiders, terrorists, and people who are "not like us." President Bush and a bankrupt neocon ideology are suddenly, and conveniently, off the hook.
This is a dangerous path. Apart from the open venom and hate that's been released, the past makes it clear that an environment of economic doubt and fear (which the Bush administration has done their level best to stoke since 9/11) can lead to virulent demands for radical change. It takes very little to ignite ignorant scapegoating and simpleton solutions. But there comes a time when events can escape human control ...
In the 1930s we saw people with no money and no hope flirt with socialism and other radical ideas in America. Fortunately, we had a steady hand at the wheel in FDR. In the 1930s we also saw the German people toss everything aside, as they placed the burden of military defeat and economic depression on Jews, democrats, and outsiders. We all know who they had as their leader.
Scapegoating and diversion from the issues are old and ugly tactics. With the American and world economies on the brink of collapse, America needs to rise to a level the world once expected from this great country. American political campaigns should not be a warm-up act to beer hall politics.
- Mark
Then I saw John McCain's campaign take it up a notch when speaking about Barack Obama this past week. The suggestions that Barack Obama is not one of us brought up the issue of race, and supercharged it. Barack, according to the McCain-Palin narrative is not only an "outsider" worthy of suspicion, but he may be part of some type of conspiracy that seeks to do harm to America.
What made this narrative real, and nauseating, for many were the the venomous reactions of doubt and hate that have spewed from McCain-Palin campaign rallies. This is a sample of the many we have seen ...
Apart from unhinged ignorance, what's clear here is that John McCain and Sarah Palin have unleashed the dogs of hate and intolerance. Ed Kilgore sees this too and points out that Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Ann Coulter, and others are more than happy to take the story and run with it. Their new meme seeks to link Barack Obama and the current economic crisis to a Socialists-Minorities-Terrorists-Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac-Community Reinvestment Act narrative.
And just like that, all of our problems are wrapped into one tight little conspiracy made between outsiders, terrorists, and people who are "not like us." President Bush and a bankrupt neocon ideology are suddenly, and conveniently, off the hook.
This is a dangerous path. Apart from the open venom and hate that's been released, the past makes it clear that an environment of economic doubt and fear (which the Bush administration has done their level best to stoke since 9/11) can lead to virulent demands for radical change. It takes very little to ignite ignorant scapegoating and simpleton solutions. But there comes a time when events can escape human control ...
In the 1930s we saw people with no money and no hope flirt with socialism and other radical ideas in America. Fortunately, we had a steady hand at the wheel in FDR. In the 1930s we also saw the German people toss everything aside, as they placed the burden of military defeat and economic depression on Jews, democrats, and outsiders. We all know who they had as their leader.
Scapegoating and diversion from the issues are old and ugly tactics. With the American and world economies on the brink of collapse, America needs to rise to a level the world once expected from this great country. American political campaigns should not be a warm-up act to beer hall politics.
- Mark
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