Column by Steven Sisson
Is the McCain-Palin campaign fueling racism, hatred and divisiveness?
Of course, the answers to the question are yes, yes, yes, but wait one cotton-picking minute, Blue Dog! Calling the Republican presidential nominee John McCain The Manchurian Candidate conjures images of a 1960s Vietnam prisoner of war being brainwashed and collaborating with the enemy behind lines. And the Blue Dog nicknaming his vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin Eskimo Barbie undoubtedly smacks of racism towards Native Americans and sexism towards look-a-like blonde woman who thinks math is hard.
I know that. You know that. America knows that. Playing adult games with political strategy and tactics either subtle or not-so-subtle is like children playing with matches, wouldn’t you agree? Eventually somebody is going to get burned.
When Representative John Lewis invoked George Wallace’s name, and lectured that the McCain and Palin campaign was “playing with fire” concerning the recent negative Republican campaign associating Democrat Obama with terrorists, he meant this -in the most strongest of terms – to please halt the hatemongering and hostilities before someone on the left or right is hurt.
Lewis, a congressman from Georgia, voiced concern over the past weekend because the language of even “veiled” racism was too reminiscent of the past.
As a civil-rights activist in the 1960s, Lewis has been there, done that – and can personally attest to the brutality and ignorance of bigotry in the southernmost portions of the United States. Lewis is an American hero. Three Republican Stooges
What a political week in the Commonwealth! First, 1950s reincarnated Joe McCarthy, err … I meant to say Joe McCain. Joe, the brother of John McCain, was barnstorming Northern Virginia last week declaring liberal strongholds in Northern Virginia, the cities of Arlington and Alexandria, to be Communist country.
Hmm … and the Blue Dog thought these were Democratic voting areas.
Joe McCain stated to loyal GOP members,
“I’ve lived here for at least ten years and before that about every third duty I was in either Arlington or Alexandria, up in communist country.”“Say It Ain’t So, Joe” later apologized for his foolish and embarrassing remarks.
Not appropriate. Not responsible. Not American.
Second, according to Time magazine, Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick, R-Prince William, the Republican Party chairman, told Virginia volunteers as they prepared for a door-to-door canvass for GOP nominee John McCain that Obama and bin Laden “both have friends that bombed the Pentagon.” “That is scary,” Frederick said.
Frankly, Jeffrey, you’re scarier looking than Dracula and are nothing more than a Republican right-wing extremist and self-appointed mouthpiece for the McCain presidential campaign.
You’re all bark, no bite.
The Blue Dog is sending you a dose of holy water and a bar of soap.
For the record, the less than honorable Del. Jeff Frederick is not in the least sorry and has refused to apologize for his Obama pal-around-with-terrorists and bomb the Pentagon rhetoric.
Not appropriate. Not responsible. Not American.
In addition, the Richmond Times Dispatch and Washington Post editorial writers have condemned Fredrick’s statements as well as the McCain campaign, which called him “somebody that nobody knows about.”
Del. Fredrick, you’re nobody according to McCain.
Last, there’s the southern saga of Robert E. Lee, err … I meant to say Bobby Lee May, the McCain campaign’s chairman, in rural Buchanan County.
Yee-haw! Carry me back to Old Virginny, because it’s hate-crime time! Good ol’ networking boy and SW Virginia Republican Committee member Bobby L. May was forced to resign his regional McCain chairmanship after his anti-Obama published column surfaced in the national media.
This redneck, bigoted-infested column was littered with detrimental and offensive commentary about African-Americans as well as homophobic diatribe towards Gay people.
A Pulitzer Prize for Bobby May? I don’t think so.
Not appropriate. Not responsible. Not American.
Crack that whip!
If John McCain had promised to kick Barack Obama’s butt in the upcoming debate, I would have thought nothing more. Because at 72-years old, John McCain could kick a soccer ball straight through a double-wide garage door. Heck! John McCain can’t even remember the presidential moderator’s debate questions.
Regardless, McCain promised over last weekend to “whip” Democratic rival Barack Obama’s “you-know-what” in this week’s debate schedule Wednesday evening.
“That one,” as stated by McCain to Obama in a terse debate soundbite!
You know what? It’s time for a Yellow Dog History lesson!
1. Did you know the term “whipping boys” was established by the English court as corporate punishment?
2. In pre-Civil War America, the whip was used to control the behavior of African-American slaves at plantations as well as freed blacks. The number of lashes was determined by the severity of the offense.
3. Post-Civil War African-Americans were subjected to whippings for numerous laws that came about in the Reconstruction period, including traveling, night curfews and a host of pre-segregation policies.
My friend The Yellow Dog Democrat told the AFP, “The term whipping boy actually refers to the practice of letting someone take your punishment for you, and similar to the practice of allowing someone to be hired to represent one in service to one’s nation.”
“As far as slaves are concerned, in the wake of post Nat Turner’s Rebellion South in the last decades before the Civil War, it became common for communities to pass laws severely restricting the ordinary comings and goings and, in particular, gathering of African Americans-both enslaved and free. The punishment nearly always being lashes with a whip, sometimes augmented with a monetary fine.
“From that common cultural experience grew the practice of threaten recalcitrant or ‘uppity’ African Americans with ‘a-whippin’, which had the doubly powerful impact to frighten and shame them for their past.”
The Valley Yellow Dog and Blue Dog Democrat agree there’s no difference in the terms “whipping” and “lynching” in reference to African-Americans due to the sensitive nature of these words within the black community.
These words are nothing more than a racist epithet.
There’s nothing subtle or not-so-subtle about it.
Honestly, I don’t like the metaphor whatsoever and am highly uncomfortable with the language McCain has used against an African-American opponent.
The Blue Dog doesn’t know what McCain really meant to say or what McCain was told to say by speechwriters and handlers and operatives.
How ironic though? I’ve heard this before from the McCain campaign.
Yes. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina use the same exact term whip when describing the first McCain Obama debate. Graham claimed John McCain had “whipped” Barack Obama in the second presidential debate.
Yes, Virginia Republicans and Sen. Lindsey Graham, there is a Santa Claus.
More to the point, Santa Claus is neither Republican nor Democrat, but loves giving coal as presents to bad boys on Christmas morning.
Sincerely, folks …if you can’t distinguish the hatemongering and racist overtones of John McCain’s presidential campaign with the whip analogy, than the Blue Dog says you’re just plain dense and/or have experimented with drugs in the 1970s.
Just about every major newspapers and columnist in the nation has stated the McCain-Palin presidential campaign insinuated racist overtones into the campaign due to low polling numbers in battleground states in the West and South regions of the country.
Are you still an unbeliever?
Conservative William Krystol wrote in his whitey-tight weekly op-ed: “It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign. He has nothing to lose. His campaign is totally overmatched by Obama’s. The Obama team is well-organized, flush with resources, and the candidate and the campaign are in sync. The McCain campaign, once merely problematic, is now close to being out-and-out dysfunctional. Its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic.”
“If the race continues over the next three weeks to be a conventional one, McCain is doomed.”
On Wednesday night, McCain continued is doomed negative campaign in the last presidential debate. Polling after the debate gave Obama a commanding edge, while McCain’s negative campaign polled low – again – for the third time.
Three strikes, you’re out?
To quote 1950s icon General Douglas MacArthur: “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away …”
‘Nuff said.
Fact is VP candidate Palin’s attacks on Obama character steer clear of repulsing and sickening voters with overt and blatant racism, but these words have been carefully crafted to inject fear-over-reason and guilt-by-association into the presidential campaign.
I know that. You know that. America knows that.
Voters polled are saying McCain campaign has spent too much time with an aggressive negative campaign against Obama rather than explaining his own economic policies to the nation.
McCain is behind in likely voter polling, and the clock is ticking.
Palin’s cold shoulder
Sarah Palin’s words, timing and methods have been scripted by others, primarily high-paid professional speech writers and political operatives employed by the Republican National Committee.
These professionals and operatives are the merely the earnest prodigies and malevolent sycophants of Republican icons Lee Atwater and Karl Rove.
While at a Florida GOP rally this past week, according to The Washington Post, Palin’s blistering attack against Obama’s patriotism and the media encouraged supporters to shout “Kill him” while supporters yelled racial epithets as the words “Sit down, boy” were yelled to an African-American sound-camera man.
I’m not making this up, either.
The Secret Service is investigating the second allegation concerning a Republican shouting “Kill Him” referring to Obama at a McCain political rally.
While in the Commonwealth, Palin toned down her Obama “palling around with terrorists” rhetoric. Obviously fearing a public backlash, John McCain must have switched her ruby-red lipstick for a tube of superglue.
In Virginia this week, Palin mistook her own GOP testosterone latent-fans and wide-eyed hockey mommas who were uniformly chanting “Louder, louder” as political protestors. “I hope those protesters have the courage and honor to give veterans thanks for their right to protest,” Palin said.
Ooh, duh! Talk about becoming unglued in ‘peer’ pressure situations!
Palin concluded her salient but scripted speech saying, “America, we cannot just afford another big spender in the White House.”
Err … did you mean to say like President George W. Bush has gutted the nation? Holy Federal Deficit! I can’t believe this woman is qualified to be president.
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