Playing with fire

John McCain is in Minnesota today facing down yet another angry mob of supporters who have been riled to fever pitch by Sarah Palin's race-baiting politics of division. At a town hall in Wisconsin yesterday, the mavericks answered a series of questions that neatly fell into the theme we've been seeing all week. McCain/Palin supporters are frothing with rage because they are only beginning to realise that the prospect of Obama being the next president has gone from a possibility to a likely outcome. Added to that has been the McCain/Palin policy of scorched earth politics, rooted in the realisation that they can only win if the make Obama absolutely unacceptable to 50.1% of people. What about the divided country? Apparently they're indifferent to it. So a barrage of anti-intellectual and anti-media sentiment turned into a torrent of anti-diversity populist rage.

The theme from their rallies, Palin's in particular, has been clear: Obama is not one of us, and therefore he's not really American. Such messaging has been far from subtle, and has recently been compounded by the links to William Ayers. The combination of Obama (who a frightening amount of McCain/Palin rally-goers seem to believe is a radical Islamic terrorist) with Ayers (a downtrodden domestic terrorist) is a corosive cocktail, partly because the concept of domestic terrorism was obliterated by 9/11, so when Palin accuses Obama of "pallin' around with terrorists", it hardly matters that the terrorist in question is white (nor does it matter that the link is misleading), because the word terrorism is enough to associate Obama with the mountains of Afghanistan, where too many people already place him.

Needless to say these tactics are shameful. Even more so considering McCain promised to wage an honest campaign. However, he has long since made the political version of a Faustian pact, and as such, everything is on the table. Once McCain lambasted an introducer who had in turn lambasted Barack Hussein Obama. Now the recital of Obama's full name at McCain/Palin rallies is a mandatory feature on the menu (this reached a nadir when performed by the Lee County Sheriff).

The shameful nature of the some characters turning out to these rallies has been displayed through a number of videos on the internet. These are easy to find, but they will not be linked here as I have no interest in contributing to the situation in any way at all, nor do I care to give idiots a platform to take the bait and display their unfathomable stupidity. Suffice it to say that these videos illustrate how people turning out to these rallies believe, apparently on masse, Obama to be a terrorist, because of his "bloodlines" and his name, or at the very least a "commy faggot". Again the nadir- there always is one- was when a child said of Obama, "you need gloves to touch him." That his parents should be arrested is beyond question. However, it is just a small part of the tale. Calls for Obama's assassination at these rallies is routine. Meanwhile, Palin just smiles on, stoking the fires.

Another thing that is clear beyond doubt is that McCain is uncomfortable and unhappy with the situation. It provides a small piece of solace that McCain is visibly disturbed by the events, and at his town hall meetings when yet another lunatic emerges to wax lyrical about Obama taking over America, McCain usually shuffles nervously and turns around. However, it is his name that is displayed on the campaign. He is responsible, and the buck stops with him. McCain unleashed Palin, allowed her to construct a public persona founded lies, and then allowed her to spew forth venom which has helped foster division, and create an image of Obama as un-American, not American, or as a terrorist.

The enraged tone of the last week is also recieving mainstream attention, precisely because it has gotten so out of hand. Many conservatives have also written about the negative impact of the Palin effect, while others have speculated that violence could be on the horizon. Simply to watch a McCain/Palin event would lead one to that conclusion easily.

John McCain has lost control of his campaign, and his tactic of making Obama unacceptable has already created apparent fissures in the nation's electorate. Doubtless, it is putting independents off, and Obama continues to soar in the national and battleground polls. Therefore, it is likely that the tragic end to this campaign will pitch a President Obama against a chunk of the citizenry who view him as an un-American alien imposter, clandestinely plotting the downfall of America. It did not have to be this way, of course, but McCain ceded control of his campaign to the architects of the Bush war room (presumably after giving them steroids) and ultimately to his running mate. The final levy was breached recently, when McCain clearly gave the green light for all chips to be put in.

If ever there was proof that McCain has been overruled by his campaign, his running mate, and his supporters it came today in Minnesota (a state Obama is approximately ten points clear of McCain in). After a week of negative coverage of the shameful turn his campaign has taken, McCain pleaded with his supporters to be "respectful". "We have to fight and I will fight but we will be respectful. I admire Senator Obama and his accomplishments and I want to be respectful," McCain said. His crowd were less than enthused. If ever there was proof that events have outpaced the angry and disoriented Senator it came subsequently in the event. A supporter stood up and said he was "scared" by the prospect of an Obama presidency, to which McCain responded: "I have to tell you Senator Obama is a decent person and a person you don't have to be scared of as President of the United States." Too little to late. What happened? McCain was booed by his own crowd at his own rally.

Obama supporters attend rallies holding on to hope and cheering "yes we can." Some McCain supporters attend rallies reeling with rage and filled with fear, while a few scream "kill him", "off with his head", and "nobama". This is the fruit of McCain's negative campaigning, it's his child, and he's now reaping his own whirlwind.

It is a truly disappointing condition for the world's original democracy- for a country founded upon the highest of ideals. McCain must now do everything in his power to return his campaign to the issues that are dominating the country, and everyone else's minds, and state in no uncertain terms that racially tinged and divisive politics will not be tolerated. First and foremost, he must tell his running mate.

In Bethlehem, PA, some McCain supporters were chanting go back to Russia at a group of Obama followers across the road. Perhaps some people should just go to Alaska before it's too late.