Ta-Nehisi Coates Sees Danger

Coates has a perceptive column today:

The Unthinkable
And really the unsayable. But I've been thinking about this McCain-Palin Obama "palling around with terrorist" idea more lately. The saddest thing about many Republicans isn't just that they disagree with liberals on race--it's they are largely ignorant on race. When the McCain campaign cast the spell of diabolical jingoism, they have no idea of the forces they are toying with. We remember Martin Luther King's murder as a sad and tragic event. Less remembered is the fact that ground-work for King's murder was seeded, not simply by rank white supremacy, but by people who slandered King as a communist.

This was not some notion bandied about by conspiracy theorist, but an accusation proffered by men who were the pillars of the modern Republican Party:


As late as 1964, Falwell was attacking the 1964 Civil Rights Act as "civil wrongs" legislation. He questioned "the sincerity and intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left-wing associations." Falwell charged, "It is very obvious that the Communists, as they do in all parts of the world, are taking advantage of a tense situation in our land, and are exploiting every incident to bring about violence and bloodshed."

Falwell was not alone. These men didn't kill Martin Luther King, but they contributed to an atmosphere of nationalism, white supremacy and cheap unreflective patriotism that ultimately got a lot of people killed. Confronted with Aparthied South Africa, men like Helms and Falwell used the same "communist" defense. While Mandella wasted away in prison, they dismissed the whole thing as a communist plot.

Let me be clear--This is the ghost that McCain Campaign is summoning. This is the Ring Of Power that they want to wield. The Muslim charge, the "Hussein" thing is nothing more than today's red-baiting, and it is what it was then--a cover for racists. You may say I'm overreacting, and I really hope you're right. 999,000 out 1 million times we'll go on like normal and proceed to Election Day. But if some shit pops off, the thug and thug-mongers will not be able to throw up their hands and say "How could I have known?" Ignorance will not save them. Their stupidity is a scourge on us all.

This is dangerous stuff McCain and Palin are playing with -- they make me ashamed.

Andrew Sullivan has a Thought Prevoking Post

Check out Andrew Sullivan's post on McCain. Read the whole thing but here's his conclusions:

McCain has demonstrated in the last two months that he does not have the character to be president of the United States. And that is why it is more important than ever to ensure that Barack Obama is the next president. The alternative is now unthinkable. And McCain - no one else - has proved it.

Andrew is so smart. I enjoy his blog everyday.

LIARS!

McCain and his "base," the media, keep bringing up Obama's comments about how 'he doesn't look like those other presidents on our currency' as crazy. They claim McCain never said anything like that!

LIARS!!



It is exactly what McCain, himself, said in this ad. I am sick of these political tactics. And WHY is our media so blinded by this man and not calling him out on this?

The Brittney and Paris was shameful and a two-fer. Choosing young, blond female celebrities is integral to both the usual attempt to feminize the Democrat but at the same time it demonizes the black man after our white blond women. (By they way -- Paris' parents are huge contributors to his campaign -- how do they feel about you making fun of their daughter? If this is how you treat your biggest contributors, gawd help the rest of us!!) The repeated use by McCain and his minions all week of the word "presumptuous" was an obvious homonym for "uppity" which is code for "uppity-doesn't-know-his-place-nigger." This is coded racism and McCain has the MSM at his beck and call to ignore the messages.

So much for elevated campaigning. McCain is showing his true colors now and they are racist.

UPDATE: Kathy Hilton responds:

I've been asked again and again for my response to the now infamous McCain celebrity ad. I actually have three responses. It is a complete waste of the money John McCain's contributors have donated to his campaign. It is a complete waste of the country's time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs. And it is a completely frivolous way to choose the next President of the United States.

Smart lady!

McCain

Paid McCain spokesmen keep saying on news programs that McCain doesn't speak for "the campaign". What are they talking about?? If McCain isn't the campaign, WHO is running for president on the Republican ticket?? This is soo weird!!

This morning on Fox, Tucker Bounds said McCain doesn't speak for the campaign on the topic as to whether the option of increasing taxes on social security is on the table to solving the SSI shortfall. McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin responded yesterday to the discrepancies between McCain's public assurances on economic proposals and those posed by others in the campaign: Holtz-Eakin said that McCain’s public statements are not necessarily “official” policy. Then Sunday McCain said he supports a state constitutional amendment to ban affirmative action and again Tucker Bounds said this does not reflect the campaign's policy. Finally while trying to distance McCain from his “econ brain” Phil Gramm’s “nation of whiners” comment, Holtz-Eakin declared that on policy issues, “Senator McCain speaks for Senator McCain.”

What IS McCain, a candidate or a symbol? Maybe he's a faux-candidate. If you are a Republican, who do you believe -- the faux-candidate or the men behind the curtains?

McCain is Lost Again

McCain keeps telling us how many times he's been to Iraq and Afghanistan and Obama is too inexperienced and unknowledgable to be President. The trouble is McCain didn't learn anything when he made all these trips in the past. ABC's The Note reports it:

Asked by ABC's Diane Sawyer Monday morning whether the "the situation in Afghanistan in precarious and urgent," McCain responded:

"I think it's serious. . . . It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border," said McCain, R-Ariz., said on "Good Morning America."

Exactly where is that border?

McCain Should Be Censured for This

Ben Smith over at Politico writes:

Obama, you may have noticed, doesn't have a public schedule today. The press generally respects campaigns' and officials' security concerns, when voiced.

So . . . John McCain -- of all people -- just said, at a fundraiser, that Obama would be in Iraq with other senators this weekend. . .

His comment was reported by Reuters.

NOTE: Nobody's suggesting here that McCain was deliberately trying to do harm . . ."

Well, I AM! He's either TRYING to get Obama killed OR he's too senile to remember what treason is. Either way -- this guy should be censured by the Senate. How would he have liked trying to go shopping in the markets of Bassra if someone over here had given the terrorists several days notice?