John McCain - American dumbass (sorry, couldn't resist)

[Strangelet]

Originally Posted by Sean

I mean, I still wonder why it's so acceptable to assume that being an "ay-rab" is inherently a bad thing, but at least he said something....

i'm just glad the wife is nose deep in work right now otherwise I'd be watching a jet vapor trail off back to canada.

Fucking rednecks. read a book.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Deckard

A moral retreat - or a tactical retreat?

To paraphrase: who is the real John McCain?

Brilliant.

[kagenaki koe]

Originally Posted by Sean

Well to McCain's credit, he's finally realized what's happening and started pushing back a bit

i don't think it should have taken that long to realize what was happening. it's easier to realize it when even republicans and conservatives are complaining about it in the media.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by kagenaki koe

i don't think it should have taken that long to realize what was happening. it's easier to realize it when even republicans and conservatives are complaining about it in the media.

Agreed 100%. The part that I give him credit for is that to me, in a few shots where he's been answering his audience's questions, he looks truly disappointed that they're saying Obama's an Arab, or that he scares them. He's not blatant about it, but it's there. He screwed up royally by picking Sarah Palin - because I think she's the foundation of this angry mob mentality - and I think he's truly realizing that it has sent his campaign blazing into a set of tactics that he has always denounced until now. So at least it seems to me there's some genuine remorse behind today's quotes from him. Although I'm sure a good portion of it is also disappointment as he realizes he's probably blown the election.

[kagenaki koe]

from talkingpointsmemo:

There's something else to note too. Over the last 48 hours several name brand Republicans have come out and either chided or denounced McCain's borderline incitement. And given how taboo it is to level such criticism of your own nominee at this stage of the election you have to assume these criticisms were only the tip of the iceberg, with a far more intense and angry barrage of criticism voiced privately.

The first passage to watch starts at 25 seconds in. A participant tells McCain he's "scared" of any Obama presidency and McCain responds that he "is a decent person and a person you do not have to be scared [of] as President of the United States."

Those are the words. But look at the facial expressions. McCain looks down as he says it and has the countenance of someone who been forced to tell someone else they're sorry. There's some mix of gritting your teeth and saying something you don't want to say mixed with some sort of shamefacedness. Look at the video. Because while I feel like I intuitively 'get' the gestures I find it hard to quite capture them in words. Perhaps you'll do better and you can share your thoughts with me.

In the next clip McCain is speaking up close with a woman in the audience who says she can't trust Obama and then blurts out that it's because he's "Arab". Some reports have it that she said 'Arab terrorist'. But at least on this tape only 'Arab' is audible.

McCain shakes his head, as though losing his patience and snatches the mic back out of woman's hands. "No, Ma'am. No, Ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues." Again, there's a lot there when you actually see the video. And I encourage you to watch.

I get from his expression a sense of a man that is, in addition to all the other things he's angry about, is frustrated or angry at the situation he's gotten himself into. But he has sown the wind and now he's reaping the whirlwind. "Even," says TPM Reader RB, "as he says 'You don't have to be scared of an Obama presidency' to a handful of followers (and, more importantly, of national reporters), he is spending millions to bombard as many people as he can with the ad named "Dangerous". The small hand giveth, and the large hand taketh away."

And yet this conveys too much suggestion of planning and intent. I have more the sense of someone desperately casting about and losing control of the situation itself. Even hypocrites can get in over their heads. Indeed, in a more nuts-and-bolts strategic sense McCain has really gotten himself into a hole because the campaign he's been running has almost entirely been premised on the claim that you should be scared of an Obama presidency. Not that McCain, if he'd run a very different campaign, couldn't have run on issue disagreements with Obama. But right now if you take away fear of Obama becoming president, there's almost no reason not to vote for him since McCain has basically conceded the issue agenda to Obama. If you look at every poll for months, voters are dying for change. Fear of Obama is the only thing keeping him from leaving McCain in the dust. Take that away and McCain's done.

I'm not sure what else to say about this episode. But it is something to behold.

also:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/us...hp&oref=slogin

After a week of trying to portray Senator Barack Obama as a friend of terrorists who would drive the country into bankruptcy, Senator John McCain abruptly changed his tone on Friday and told voters at a town-hall-style meeting that Mr. Obama was “a decent person” and a “family man” and suggested that he would be an acceptable president should he win the White House.

But moments later, Mr. McCain, the Republican nominee, renewed his attacks on Mr. Obama for his association with the 1960s radical William Ayers and told the crowd, “Mr. Obama’s political career was launched in Mr. Ayers’ living room.”

[Deckard]

Yes, that NYTimes piece really captures the muddle he's got himself in.

[kagenaki koe]

there's an interview with the old lady who said "I've heard bad things about Obama...he's an arab" (this was right after the rally):

http://the-uptake.groups.theuptake.o...ryView/id/933/

scary.

[Deckard]

It's bizarre. 75 years old, but her views are like those of an infant - her reasoning capacity seems so horrifyingly basic. Maybe we should introduce mandatory IQ tests and only allow the top 50% eligibility to vote (then kiss goodbye to the GOP )

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Originally Posted by Deckard

It's bizarre. 75 years old, but her views are like those of an infant - her reasoning capacity seems so horrifyingly basic. Maybe we should introduce mandatory IQ tests and only allow the top 50% eligibility to vote (then kiss goodbye to the GOP )

She needs to make a gay hair cutting type friend too. NOT THAT ALL MALE HAIR CUTTERS ARE GAY. But of all the straight ones I know, I'm certain they'd not know what the hell to do. At least the gay ones would try to help.

[BeautifulBurnout]

Originally Posted by jOHN rODRIGUEZ

She needs to make a gay hair cutting type friend too. NOT THAT ALL MALE HAIR CUTTERS ARE GAY. But of all the straight ones I know, I'm certain they'd not know what the hell to do. At least the gay ones would try to help.

You are so damn right though! Gay men hairdressers are the only ones that do my hair properly. Fact.

Re the link: age doesn't always equal wisdom. We were out on a family get together with some old friends last night and my dad was doing one of his rambling Grandpa Simpson "oh... what was it again? I can't remember...no... wait..." stories about something, and I turned to one of the family friends who has known him for years and said: "You know what scares me? John McCain is the same age as dad and might be President in November" to much laughter at the table.

I think that is what gets me really. My Dad is a lovely, intelligent person who has had a fantastic career and a great life. But while it would be unfair to say he is losing it, he certainly doesn't have that edge anymore like he used to. And I look at McCain and I see the same thing....