“Who is Barack Obama?” John McCain is asking us. This should prompt an obvious response: “Who is John McCain?” But we need not ask, because we have seen John McCain, or at least his type, half a century ago. His type had a different name, and trafficked in a different sort of guilt-by-association, but it was a senator whose tactics were the same. The insinuations were the same. Whether the result will be the same remains to be seen.
That long-ago senator embraced the politics of fear as no one had before. He exploited the fears of a paranoid populace. He acquired notoriety and masterminded a brand of smear tactics that became synonymous with his surname, and it was dubbed “McCarthyism.”
McCarthyism effectively came to an end on June 9, 1954, when one courageous attorney named Joseph Welch stood up to the junior senator from Wisconsin and, declaring that McCarthy had done enough in his campaign of guilt-by-association, demanded, “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”
Recently a new term arose to describe the politics of personal destruction: “Swiftboating.” But now we’re seeing a new level of such tactics, and it is particularly vicious, and it is monumentally unforgivable. It is being displayed by John McCain, and by Sarah Palin, and by their various stalking horses and representatives, and if you’re not calling it “McCaining” or “McCainism” then you’re just not paying attention.
Not since McCarthy have we seen such attempts at guilt-by-association as the endeavors to link Obama with terrorism, a naked appeal to the deepest anxieties that Americans continue to feel in an uncertain world. “Who is Barack Obama?” asks this woman whose name was unknown to the population of forty nine states a mere two months ago, and who continues to be screened from the press whenever possible. “Who is Barack Obama?” demands this man who was alive during the Red Scare of the 1950s, who saw first-hand how lives were ruined. Who saw how insinuation and fear mongering created a period of history that we, as Americans, should revile and despise.
And yet there are McCain and Palin et al, creating links between Obama and a home- grown political terrorist group that was active when Obama was eight years old. McCain, who was part of the Keating Five, apparently believes that no one should ever be able to be deemed a worthy acquaintance because they did regrettable things years ago. Somewhere Joseph McCarthy is smiling down (or, if you will, up) while John McCain and Sarah Palin hone the craft of McCaining as engineered by the same smear artists who brought down McCain’s bid in 2000. Terrorism is the new Communism, and there are McCain and Palin, stoking crowds to such over-the-top fury with their attempts to draw tortured connections between Obama and terrorism that you can actually hear people screaming, “Kill him!” when Obama’s name is mentioned. McCain’s belated attempts to suddenly defuse the crowd’s hostility, to describe Obama as a decent family man pales in comparison to the endless Obama=terrorism sentiments that he and his associates have endlessly stoked.
It’s so easy to draw nonsensical comparisons. McCain supporters mention repeatedly that Barack Obama’s middle name is the same as that of a terrorist and pretend it means something. Okay. Let’s point out that John McCain shares the initials and the first two letters of a first name and the first three letters of a surname as Joe McCarthy. Coincidence? We certainly have more evidence for parallel tactics in the McCain/McCarthy connection.
Why is McCain dropping in the polls? You can blame the economy, sure. But perhaps one small reason is that, quite simply, Americans aren’t nearly as stupid as the McCaininites think they are. Because back in 1954, the relatively new medium of television put McCarthy right into peoples’ living rooms and they saw up close the face of fear mongering, and they were repulsed by what they were seeing. It may well be we’re witnessing that again as McCain’s tactics are on view for all to see and people resent his thinking that they’re dumb enough to be suckered. Which isn’t to say that some people aren’t dumb enough. But in this day and age, deliberately trying to link someone to terrorism simply because you’re trying to become president is nothing short of vomitous. It is despicable. It is dishonorable.
Who is John McCain? He is a man who, with his current tactics, has proven that there is no line he will not cross, no slander he will not voice, if he thinks it offers a wisp of hope that he’ll win. Which moves me to ask:
Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
PAD
• 
“I just hope and pray that when someone draws aside the curtain on the “real Obama” that it doesn’t blind us all. “
As if the “Real McCain” is a great and just man….
“I just hope and pray that when someone draws aside the curtain on the “real Obama” that it doesn’t blind us all. “
As if the “Real McCain” is a great and just man….
There is a bright side to all that. The GOP did their worst to bring Obama down, and they failed. They tried to say he is a terrorist, a muslim, a black supremacist, they even used those vile kindergarten ads to imply Obama is a pedophile. And nothing worked.
Well, we don’t know that yet, do we. The real measure of whether it worked is the same as the real useful measure of who won a presidential debate: The outcome of the election.
PAD, I’ve enjoyed both your comics and your books in the past. They have always struck me as well written, compelling, and with great humor. I came to your blog some years ago to see what else you had to say about the world, and I have to say that quite frankly I am sorry I did so. The fact that you are an unrepentant liberal has never been hidden, and I respect your personal choices,
Except you really don’t, because…
I won’t be buying any more of your books or comics. They are pretty much poisoned for me now. Goodbye, Sir Apropos.
So the truth is that you don’t really respect my personal choices, because you feel the need to strike back at me since I’ve voiced them. If I just kept my mouth shut and didn’t say what I thought, that would suit you fine. But because I say what I think, that offends your sensibilities. My views don’t make my books and comics any less well written. In fact, considering that one cannot typically discern my views from my fiction, you could argue they’re even MORE well written.
If you’re walking away from my work, that’s entirely your decision. But please don’t paint yourself as tolerant. To quote the cliche, actions speak louder than words.
PAD
There is a bright side to all that. The GOP did their worst to bring Obama down, and they failed. They tried to say he is a terrorist, a muslim, a black supremacist, they even used those vile kindergarten ads to imply Obama is a pedophile. And nothing worked.
Well, we don’t know that yet, do we. The real measure of whether it worked is the same as the real useful measure of who won a presidential debate: The outcome of the election.
PAD, I’ve enjoyed both your comics and your books in the past. They have always struck me as well written, compelling, and with great humor. I came to your blog some years ago to see what else you had to say about the world, and I have to say that quite frankly I am sorry I did so. The fact that you are an unrepentant liberal has never been hidden, and I respect your personal choices,
Except you really don’t, because…
I won’t be buying any more of your books or comics. They are pretty much poisoned for me now. Goodbye, Sir Apropos.
So the truth is that you don’t really respect my personal choices, because you feel the need to strike back at me since I’ve voiced them. If I just kept my mouth shut and didn’t say what I thought, that would suit you fine. But because I say what I think, that offends your sensibilities. My views don’t make my books and comics any less well written. In fact, considering that one cannot typically discern my views from my fiction, you could argue they’re even MORE well written.
If you’re walking away from my work, that’s entirely your decision. But please don’t paint yourself as tolerant. To quote the cliche, actions speak louder than words.
PAD
bfd1792: Obama stands condemned by his own words to plumber Joe Wurzelbacher as reported just about everywhere yesterday
Via youtube, I watched the entire interaction with Mr. Wurzelbacher yesterday. What exactly did Obama say that was so comdemnable?
He told the man that his taxes would go up a little bit, but that if this had been the tax plan all along, Mr. Wurzelbacher would have gotten his business up to this level even sooner and would be ahead of where he is now. Obama even outlined a couple of places where the plumber is likely to be paying *less* taxes under his plan. It hardly seems like Obama hurt the man.
bfd1972, I get the impression that you read a summary of the exchange and then made your judgement over a couple of lines taken out of context. I suggest that you go find the whole thing, it’s not what some people are making it out to be.
bfd1792: Obama stands condemned by his own words to plumber Joe Wurzelbacher as reported just about everywhere yesterday
Via youtube, I watched the entire interaction with Mr. Wurzelbacher yesterday. What exactly did Obama say that was so comdemnable?
He told the man that his taxes would go up a little bit, but that if this had been the tax plan all along, Mr. Wurzelbacher would have gotten his business up to this level even sooner and would be ahead of where he is now. Obama even outlined a couple of places where the plumber is likely to be paying *less* taxes under his plan. It hardly seems like Obama hurt the man.
bfd1972, I get the impression that you read a summary of the exchange and then made your judgement over a couple of lines taken out of context. I suggest that you go find the whole thing, it’s not what some people are making it out to be.
I’m trying to avoid getting tangled into internet quagmires, so as horrifying as some of the pro-McCain comments here are to me, I’m just gonna make one comment here:
PAD, thank you for this. It’s articulate, dead-on accurate, and frankly, an important piece of writing.
McCain and Palin are using the language of fear to incite anger and hatred–not just the definition of negative campaigning, but a neat encapsulation of everything that’s ugly about humanity, period.
Anyone who wants to say that McCain is somehow trying to “temper” this rhetoric or position is willfully ignorant of the most important truth–with a single speech, or just a few sentences, McCain (and Palin, for that matter) could condemn the negativity they themselves have created and stoked, and elevate the remainder of this campaign beyond the smears, flat-out lies, and fear-mongering that has reigned for weeks.
Instead, their silence speaks VOLUMES.
Quite frankly, this election terrifies me.
It terrifies me too–terrifies me that there are people willing to accept if not EMBRACE the attitudes of McCain and Palin. Frankly, they’re not just nasty politicians–they’re horrifying people. I wouldn’t let them babysit my kid, let alone run the country.
The worst you can say about Obama is that he’s probably, deep down, just another politician. I’m a HUGE supporter of his, and even I can see that.
The worst you can say about McCain and Palin is that they’re content to incite the nation into meaningless panic and fear simply to fuel their own agendas–in a time when the simple events of the daily news are by themselves horrifying enough to create tension and fear. They’re actually happy to make things WORSE, in the hope that it will help them personally gain.
I’m sorry. I’m babbling now. Peter, thanks for writing this.
And anyone trying to excuse or apologize or downplay the activities of the McCain/Palin campaign over the past few weeks–I’m gonna pray for you. Seriously. That’s fûçkëd up.
“As far as his connections to William Ayers, or Jeremiah Wright, or Frank Davis”
Interestingly enough, Frank David appeared before McCarthy’s committee.
I haven’t been following all the details of this campaign, but it seems to me that from the three guilt by association directed against Obama above, Wright is the only one that has any validity whatsover, barely. But I think the Republicans are relluctant to use it since hey have their fair share of nutty preachers in their closets. Maybe.
“The fact that you are an unrepentant liberal has never been hidden”
Interesting choice of words.
“As far as his connections to William Ayers, or Jeremiah Wright, or Frank Davis”
Interestingly enough, Frank David appeared before McCarthy’s committee.
I haven’t been following all the details of this campaign, but it seems to me that from the three guilt by association directed against Obama above, Wright is the only one that has any validity whatsover, barely. But I think the Republicans are relluctant to use it since hey have their fair share of nutty preachers in their closets. Maybe.
“The fact that you are an unrepentant liberal has never been hidden”
Interesting choice of words.
And, at that, Wright is just warmed over Gil Scott Heron. Utterly familiar if you were paying attention at all to the black community….
And the Ayers stuff just puzzles me. Anybody with two working brain cells could see that it had no substance. He got millions of dollars from the ANNENBERGS—one of which is CURRETNLY a McCain supporter. How freaking radical and terroristic can he be??????
And, at that, Wright is just warmed over Gil Scott Heron. Utterly familiar if you were paying attention at all to the black community….
And the Ayers stuff just puzzles me. Anybody with two working brain cells could see that it had no substance. He got millions of dollars from the ANNENBERGS—one of which is CURRETNLY a McCain supporter. How freaking radical and terroristic can he be??????
“My views don’t make my books and comics any less well written. In fact, considering that one cannot typically discern my views from my fiction, you could argue they’re even MORE well written. “
Hi Peter, I Just wanted to add my 2 cents to the above exchange: I think you are one of the best writers out there and the fact that we disagree, on I think almost everything, has not changed the fact that a Peter David story is going to be a good one. For the longest time I thought you would be a conservative and then I found your web site and wham-o, I find you hate conservatives. Doesn’t change the fact that I think you tell great stories and have a great sense of humor. I think its great that you have exchanges on different topics with your fans. Have a nice day.
But if the media is going to bring it up every time they talk about Obama, the least they should do is talk about the secessionist Alaska Independence Party.
Now, now, you can’t expect this kind of logical thinking from the “liberal” media.
and choosing Senator Obama will be a mistake I fear the country and my children will be paying for long after I’m gone.
I keep hearing this kind of stuff, and yet far too few seem to back up why they are so afraid.
But hey, this is a country that didn’t learn after Bush’s 1st term and elected him to a 2nd, so maybe I’m just missing something.
Interesting choice of words.
It’s simply more of the same with trying to make ‘liberal’ a dirty word. It’s silly.
But if the media is going to bring it up every time they talk about Obama, the least they should do is talk about the secessionist Alaska Independence Party.
Now, now, you can’t expect this kind of logical thinking from the “liberal” media.
and choosing Senator Obama will be a mistake I fear the country and my children will be paying for long after I’m gone.
I keep hearing this kind of stuff, and yet far too few seem to back up why they are so afraid.
But hey, this is a country that didn’t learn after Bush’s 1st term and elected him to a 2nd, so maybe I’m just missing something.
Interesting choice of words.
It’s simply more of the same with trying to make ‘liberal’ a dirty word. It’s silly.
McCain’s camp does have the right to attack Obama’s association with the Rev. Wright-they should have just done it sooner, rather than at the last minute. I saw those videos of Wright’s ‘preaching.’ What he said, wasn’t nearly as scary as the crowd agreeing with him, with their nodding heads and ‘uh-huhs.’ Obama sat in that church for 20 years, and was married by this guy. I mean, really?!
Funny. I’ve been working at my job for 20+ years. Many people I work with are Republicans, or are very religioius, or follow a different sports team than me. I see these people far more often than Obama saw Wright. Their views and beliefs have not changed me in the last. People ARE capable of using their brain and making up their own mind about things. Just because you’re exposed to it, that does not mean you’re a lemming and will just blindly follow or believe.
The people who keep using that “argument” have to be frikkin’ stupid to believe that Obama, or anyone for that matter, is incapable of rising above the racism and not believing it.
Give me a break.
McCain and Palin are using the language of fear to incite anger and hatred–not just the definition of negative campaigning, but a neat encapsulation of everything that’s ugly about humanity, period.
Not to mention they’re depending on a strong element of ignorance and bigotry.
They now campaign by visiting crowds that are already decided on voting for McCain, and they openly encourage these crowds to assume that Obama is a terrorist and enemy of America. They let their surrogates bring up Obama’s middle name–as if he chose any part of his name. As if he asked his grandfather to become a Muslim. As if there aren’t millions of American Muslims who love their country. As if a guy can’t choose his religion, only inherit his grandfather’s faith.
Palin warns us of how Obama “doesn’t see America” the way she does, and they do. That he thinks our country is “imperfect.” How dare he suggest that America isn’t perfect! How dare he state that our occupation is killing civilians in Afghanistan! Then she stands idly by while her supporters start calling him a terrorist. The old woman whom McCain rebuked at one of his rallies explains that Obama is an Arab (no matter that his non-religious father was Kenyan) and a Muslim (no matter that he’s been going to church for decades) because–wait for it–it’s “in his blood.” It’s a part of him. There’s no choice in the matter. If your grandfather was a Muslim, or your stepfather was a Muslim, or you lived in Indonesia for part of your childhood, then you’re a Muslim, and if you’re a Muslim, then you’re an Enemy of America. That’s the conclusion their campaign is hoping we’ll reach.
This is what they want the rest of us to see from their supporters? And this is what they think we want to see happening for the next four years? The economy is in the toilet, we’re sending our troops to their deaths, we’re getting uncounted Iraqi and Afghan civilians killed, the rest of the world think we’re the “áššhølëš of the universe” (thank you, Sarah Silverman), our energy situation is increasingly precarious, and we can’t provide healthcare to many of the people who need it, while McCain and Palin want us to wonder where Barack Obama was really born. McCain’s poll numbers keep slipping because, it seems, Americans on average are a lot more clear-headed than he gives us credit for. It’s too late to keep us on a steady diet of only what we want to hear.
McCain and Palin are using the language of fear to incite anger and hatred–not just the definition of negative campaigning, but a neat encapsulation of everything that’s ugly about humanity, period.
Not to mention they’re depending on a strong element of ignorance and bigotry.
They now campaign by visiting crowds that are already decided on voting for McCain, and they openly encourage these crowds to assume that Obama is a terrorist and enemy of America. They let their surrogates bring up Obama’s middle name–as if he chose any part of his name. As if he asked his grandfather to become a Muslim. As if there aren’t millions of American Muslims who love their country. As if a guy can’t choose his religion, only inherit his grandfather’s faith.
Palin warns us of how Obama “doesn’t see America” the way she does, and they do. That he thinks our country is “imperfect.” How dare he suggest that America isn’t perfect! How dare he state that our occupation is killing civilians in Afghanistan! Then she stands idly by while her supporters start calling him a terrorist. The old woman whom McCain rebuked at one of his rallies explains that Obama is an Arab (no matter that his non-religious father was Kenyan) and a Muslim (no matter that he’s been going to church for decades) because–wait for it–it’s “in his blood.” It’s a part of him. There’s no choice in the matter. If your grandfather was a Muslim, or your stepfather was a Muslim, or you lived in Indonesia for part of your childhood, then you’re a Muslim, and if you’re a Muslim, then you’re an Enemy of America. That’s the conclusion their campaign is hoping we’ll reach.
This is what they want the rest of us to see from their supporters? And this is what they think we want to see happening for the next four years? The economy is in the toilet, we’re sending our troops to their deaths, we’re getting uncounted Iraqi and Afghan civilians killed, the rest of the world think we’re the “áššhølëš of the universe” (thank you, Sarah Silverman), our energy situation is increasingly precarious, and we can’t provide healthcare to many of the people who need it, while McCain and Palin want us to wonder where Barack Obama was really born. McCain’s poll numbers keep slipping because, it seems, Americans on average are a lot more clear-headed than he gives us credit for. It’s too late to keep us on a steady diet of only what we want to hear.
Hi Peter, I Just wanted to add my 2 cents to the above exchange: I think you are one of the best writers out there and the fact that we disagree, on I think almost everything, has not changed the fact that a Peter David story is going to be a good one. For the longest time I thought you would be a conservative and then I found your web site and wham-o, I find you hate conservatives.
I’m sorry, I’m going to have to disagree with you on that (heh). I think it’s important to distinguish something: I don’t “hate conservatives.” Two guys on one of my bowling teams are conservatives (not to mentio Yankees fans, gulp.) Disagreeing with someone’s views doesn’t translate to hating the person themselves.
That may be what I find the most disgusting about the turn McCain’s campaign has taken. These ad hominem attempts focusing, not on Obama’s opinions, but on the actions taken years ago by people with whom he has had casual contact now.
PAD
Hi Peter, I Just wanted to add my 2 cents to the above exchange: I think you are one of the best writers out there and the fact that we disagree, on I think almost everything, has not changed the fact that a Peter David story is going to be a good one. For the longest time I thought you would be a conservative and then I found your web site and wham-o, I find you hate conservatives.
I’m sorry, I’m going to have to disagree with you on that (heh). I think it’s important to distinguish something: I don’t “hate conservatives.” Two guys on one of my bowling teams are conservatives (not to mentio Yankees fans, gulp.) Disagreeing with someone’s views doesn’t translate to hating the person themselves.
That may be what I find the most disgusting about the turn McCain’s campaign has taken. These ad hominem attempts focusing, not on Obama’s opinions, but on the actions taken years ago by people with whom he has had casual contact now.
PAD
I have to say, when I saw that old woman who thought Obama was Arab and McCain interact, it reminded me of a muppet (the woman) interacting with the gest of the week on the muppet show. Something about their body language and the way they talked.
I have to say, when I saw that old woman who thought Obama was Arab and McCain interact, it reminded me of a muppet (the woman) interacting with the gest of the week on the muppet show. Something about their body language and the way they talked.
I certainly will not claim that I know the truth here…But I like to question everything.
So my question here is this: What if the Mccain campaign, in spouting about Ayers and every other supposed connection Obama has…was actually telling the truth.
Isn’t that possible? No seriously…I’m asking. I personally am not concerned with it in the least (its his connection with ACORN that bothers me)
Although, in the grand scheme of American politics, why do I doubt there is not one politician on either side who does not have at least one shady association.
Also, I do not think Mccain’s campaign is being overly dirty. It’s more that Obama has not needed to slink to that level. In most elections, you have both parties slinging so much mud, so there is no comparison to make. In this election Obama’s campaign has been practically saintly. I think if Obama were 11 pts down, you would see an entirely different campaign. But at this point, Obama campaign has no need to do it. His message/charisma/whatever is winning the day enough that there is no need for him to sink.
But I don’t really doubt for one second that the people running his campaign WOULD sink. They are paid to do one thing, and thats win a campaign.
Michaeljjt: So my question here is this: What if the Mccain campaign, in spouting about Ayers and every other supposed connection Obama has…was actually telling the truth.
Isn’t that possible? No seriously…I’m asking. I personally am not concerned with it in the least (its his connection with ACORN that bothers me)
Many, many things *could* be possible. McCain attended meetings with known anti-semitic groups, so it *could* be possible that he’s been hiding anti-semitic feelings. McCain had dealings with ACORN in 2006, so it *could* be possible that he’s involved with them in some elaborate scheme to make Obama look bad.
What actually matters is what is *likely*, not what is possible. The McCain campaign has put forth no reason to believe that there is more to the Ayers story than what Obama has stated. Yet, they’ve repeatedly accused him of lying and covering up details about a relationship with Ayers.
So talking about the possibility of something isn’t really a valid tactic. People should be investigating it, sure. But McCain and Palin aren’t investigating it, they’re just making insinuations. And since they’re doing it in a way that makes it sound like Obama is a traitor to his country who is willing to let terrorists kill America, they’ve stretched a vauge possibility into an incitement for hate speech.
Michaeljjt: So my question here is this: What if the Mccain campaign, in spouting about Ayers and every other supposed connection Obama has…was actually telling the truth.
Isn’t that possible? No seriously…I’m asking. I personally am not concerned with it in the least (its his connection with ACORN that bothers me)
Many, many things *could* be possible. McCain attended meetings with known anti-semitic groups, so it *could* be possible that he’s been hiding anti-semitic feelings. McCain had dealings with ACORN in 2006, so it *could* be possible that he’s involved with them in some elaborate scheme to make Obama look bad.
What actually matters is what is *likely*, not what is possible. The McCain campaign has put forth no reason to believe that there is more to the Ayers story than what Obama has stated. Yet, they’ve repeatedly accused him of lying and covering up details about a relationship with Ayers.
So talking about the possibility of something isn’t really a valid tactic. People should be investigating it, sure. But McCain and Palin aren’t investigating it, they’re just making insinuations. And since they’re doing it in a way that makes it sound like Obama is a traitor to his country who is willing to let terrorists kill America, they’ve stretched a vauge possibility into an incitement for hate speech.
How do you feel about McCain’s connection with ACORN. Here’s the picture they’ve issued of McCain 2 years ago at one of their rallies:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Acorn_pushes_back_hugs_McCain.html
No seriously… I’m asking.
How do you feel about McCain’s connection with ACORN. Here’s the picture they’ve issued of McCain 2 years ago at one of their rallies:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Acorn_pushes_back_hugs_McCain.html
No seriously… I’m asking.
“What if the Mccain campaign, in spouting about Ayers and every other supposed connection Obama has…was actually telling the truth.”
What if… McCain sustains his life force by eating babies?
What if… they faked the moon landings?
What if… McCain/Palin is just whirling blindly trying to save his failing presidential bid and in the process is generating hatred and mistrust that Joe McCarthy and the KKK would be jealous of?
What if… Spiderman had Wolverine’s claws?
What if… 9/11 really was planned and caused by the replublican party?
What if… George Bush and his buddies are trying to eliminate the middle class so there are only the haves and the have-nots?
Hey, this “what if” game is fun!
“What if the Mccain campaign, in spouting about Ayers and every other supposed connection Obama has…was actually telling the truth.”
What if… McCain sustains his life force by eating babies?
What if… they faked the moon landings?
What if… McCain/Palin is just whirling blindly trying to save his failing presidential bid and in the process is generating hatred and mistrust that Joe McCarthy and the KKK would be jealous of?
What if… Spiderman had Wolverine’s claws?
What if… 9/11 really was planned and caused by the replublican party?
What if… George Bush and his buddies are trying to eliminate the middle class so there are only the haves and the have-nots?
Hey, this “what if” game is fun!
BRAVO, Peter. Another well-written political opinion piece.
Patrick: This is not why McCain is losing. He’s losing simly because people want change after the Bush years, and after the current financial crisis.
Luigi Novi: If this is true, then why were McCain and Obama neck and neck in the polls, when the Bush years were already established, and even after the economy tanked? Only in recent days, after the economy has already been an issue, has Obama begun to pull ahead? Why is that?
bfd1972: As far as his connections to William Ayers, or Jeremiah Wright, or Frank Davis, I don’t think McCain or Palin need to work to get everyone upset about them-once people simply learn the truth they get quite worked up all on their own.
Luigi Novi: We know the truth. The truth is, Obama is not responsible another person’s anti-Americanism and racism, which he publicly denounced, nor the actions of someone who is only suspected (not convicted, or even arrested, as there is no firm evidence that I’ve heard of) of an act that took place when he was eight years old, nor the beliefs of a man who mentored Obama when Obama was age 14-18.
I have more than one family member who has casually referred to members of other races with racial epithets, or made other racist statements. Would this disqualify me for the presidency?
BRAVO, Peter. Another well-written political opinion piece.
Patrick: This is not why McCain is losing. He’s losing simly because people want change after the Bush years, and after the current financial crisis.
Luigi Novi: If this is true, then why were McCain and Obama neck and neck in the polls, when the Bush years were already established, and even after the economy tanked? Only in recent days, after the economy has already been an issue, has Obama begun to pull ahead? Why is that?
bfd1972: As far as his connections to William Ayers, or Jeremiah Wright, or Frank Davis, I don’t think McCain or Palin need to work to get everyone upset about them-once people simply learn the truth they get quite worked up all on their own.
Luigi Novi: We know the truth. The truth is, Obama is not responsible another person’s anti-Americanism and racism, which he publicly denounced, nor the actions of someone who is only suspected (not convicted, or even arrested, as there is no firm evidence that I’ve heard of) of an act that took place when he was eight years old, nor the beliefs of a man who mentored Obama when Obama was age 14-18.
I have more than one family member who has casually referred to members of other races with racial epithets, or made other racist statements. Would this disqualify me for the presidency?
I personally am not concerned with it in the least (its his connection with ACORN that bothers me)
Whose association to ACORN???
13 years ago when Obama was an attorney, he was working with the US Justice Dept. in IL defending them in a court case. While McCain was giving speeches to their members.
Check out the link:
http://acorn.org/index.php?id=4174&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=22386&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=2716&cHash=b76dc68957
I personally am not concerned with it in the least (its his connection with ACORN that bothers me)
Whose association to ACORN???
13 years ago when Obama was an attorney, he was working with the US Justice Dept. in IL defending them in a court case. While McCain was giving speeches to their members.
Check out the link:
http://acorn.org/index.php?id=4174&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=22386&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=2716&cHash=b76dc68957
Conor E: “But the McCain campaign still hasn’t actually stopped that sort of behavior, has it?”
McCain has pulled back from the extreme edge a few times this week at live events. Has the entire campaign stopped and gone cold turkey? No, they haven’t. But I honestly don’t believe that McCain is in charge of his own campaign these days. This is a campaign that has rather famously had people making policy statements that aren’t in line with what McCain had said earlier and have several times all but said that McCain doesn’t speak for the McCain campaign.
Is McCain a sad, pathetic shell of who he was three or four years ago? Yeah. Is McCain a massive disappointment at this point in his career and campaign? Yeah. Is he by any measure a McCarthy? F*** no.
PAD: “I see no reason to wait until McCain reaches the same level of zealotry to point out that he’s using the same tactics, the same smears, the same guilt-by-association, the same exploiting of paranoia.”
Yeah, there’s some magnificent logic. And where have I seen that logic used of late? Oh, yeah… The McCain campaign. They’re the ones saying that Obama is going to do stuff in office that Obama hasn’t even hinted at doing or things that are 180% opposite than what Obama has said he’ll do. When called on these things (such as the tax policies) that they’re dead wrong on; they just respond by saying that they know that Obama will do these things and we shouldn’t actually have to wait for him to do them to condemn him for it.
Welcome to the McCain Campaign, PAD. You can pick up your “I Live to Smear” bumper sticker and t-shirt in Palin’s office.
bfd1972: “The fact that you are an unrepentant liberal has never been hidden, and I respect your personal choices, but recently I have found myself beyond disgust by the things said by your commenters, and today by what you yourself said. This will probably mean absolutely nothing to you-I don’t believe what you believe, I’ve never commented on your board before, and you won’t notice the loss of one customer, but I won’t be buying any more of your books or comics. They are pretty much poisoned for me now. Goodbye, Sir Apropos.”
Well, that’s a narrow minded POV to hold. “I don’t like your politics so I’m going to punish you by not buying your stuff and punish myself by no longer reading things I claimed I enjoyed.” Very big of you, BFD. I think Ted Nugent’s political beliefs and statements are asinine. I still listen to some of his music and will still get anything he does guitar on. I thought that Tom Clancy’s early support of Bush’s war was ludicrous, but I was still buying his books and reading them during that time. I’ve found some of what John Byrne has said in the last few years to be down right loathsome and the sign of a man who’s had portions of his soul shrivel into nothingness. I’ll still admire his artwork and buy some of his creator owned projects. I completely disagree with PAD here, but I’ll still hunt down Sir Apropos and Fallen Angel and I’ll find some way to afford the tentatively planned hardcover special edition Fallen Angel hardcover follow (Is it still only in the “maybe’ stage?) up to the last special edition.
What you’re doing is what’s known as cutting your nose of to spite your face. Not a great way to live.
bfd1792: “Obama stands condemned by his own words to plumber Joe Wurzelbacher as reported just about everywhere yesterday.”
Only if you just heard the one line that got so much play on Fox & CNN and by talk radio. The entire exchange doesn’t condemn the man in the least. And, in case you haven’t been reading the blog closely, I’m not a big Obama person.
PAD: “In fact, considering that one cannot typically discern my views from my fiction, you could argue they’re even MORE well written.”
Rudy : “For the longest time I thought you would be a conservative and then I found your web site and wham-o, I find you hate conservatives.”
That’s interesting. I pretty much pegged PAD’s political leanings from his comics before stumbling across is BID column and long before coming here. I think that he does, on the whole, cover a lot of differing POVs through his characters, but I think that long time readers of his works will pick up on his personal ideology from whenever he does a specific issue story. I think several of his Hulk stories and the way he shaped them made it fairly clear that he was just a wee bit more than left of center.
Michaeljjt: “No seriously…I’m asking. I personally am not concerned with it in the least (its his connection with ACORN that bothers me)”
I’m sorry, and I’m not directing this at you, Michaeljjt, as much as using your comment as springboard, but this ACORN stuff is starting to piss me off. This is a story where, if people looked beyond the talking points, has very little “there” there.
ACORN had people that committed fraud, but it was ACORN that alerted the authorities to the matter. When their people turned in the fraudulent registrations; ACORN was bound by law to turn the registrations in with all of the legitimate ones. They could not just look at them, decide that they looked a little suspicious and trash them. Doing that would be a federal offense.
ACORN did take the extra steps to, in some cases, segregate the suspect registrations from the others and flag them for the authorities to look over. ACORN also terminated some of the employees. I mean, what the hëll else is ACORN expected to do? If Wal-Mart security busts a few employees for stealing from the company; do we now call the entire Wal-Mart corporation shoplifters?
Does Obama have some past ties to ACORN? yes. However, McCain was their keynote speaker at a major function only two or three years ago and praised them to the moon.
Personally, I like ACORN. They worked with the city of Richmond to fix up a number of houses in areas that were starting to become crime ridden that were falling into disrepair and worked to get them sold to some decent folks. One of the houses was bought by a friend of mine and was his and his wife’s first home that they actually owned rather than rented. Five years on that area looks and is much nicer than it was five years ago.
So my question here is this: What if the Mccain campaign, in spouting about Ayers and every other supposed connection Obama has…was actually telling the truth.
“In what respect, Charlie?”
That’s a semi-serious question. What part of what they’re saying are you supposing is true? There’s what McCain says, which is one level; what Palin says, which is generally more extreme; and what a lot of people are saying at rallies, which has started to go pretty far into bizarre-land at times.
It *is* true that Obama and Ayers have “an association,” and Obama himself has said as much. Ditto that ACORN has had some issues with voter registration fraud (note — NOT vote fraud, as the two are distinct).
That’s what makes attacks like these so disgusting in ways — it’s taking things that are on some level both true and benign, then distorting them beyond all recognition.
So “what if it’s true” is in itself a question that needs to be better defined before it can really be answered.
TWL
So my question here is this: What if the Mccain campaign, in spouting about Ayers and every other supposed connection Obama has…was actually telling the truth.
“In what respect, Charlie?”
That’s a semi-serious question. What part of what they’re saying are you supposing is true? There’s what McCain says, which is one level; what Palin says, which is generally more extreme; and what a lot of people are saying at rallies, which has started to go pretty far into bizarre-land at times.
It *is* true that Obama and Ayers have “an association,” and Obama himself has said as much. Ditto that ACORN has had some issues with voter registration fraud (note — NOT vote fraud, as the two are distinct).
That’s what makes attacks like these so disgusting in ways — it’s taking things that are on some level both true and benign, then distorting them beyond all recognition.
So “what if it’s true” is in itself a question that needs to be better defined before it can really be answered.
TWL
Barack,
This is it.
Tonight, during the final debate, McCain needs a hail-mary pass.
Tonight, pressured by poll numbers, the strategists who say he has to hit you harder, and the red-meat voters who wouldn’t think he’d been rough enough even if he did call you a dirty-stinking-baby-eating-terrorist-muslim, he will throw any šhìŧ he has at you just to see if it sticks.
He has announced his plans to do so, out loud.
Meanwhile, the poll numbers say that this is precisely the wrong thing to do.
Aside from the kind of voter who posts internet pictures of you next to a tied noose, or puts up a billboard of you wearing a turban and burning a flag, America has had enough of these personal attacks and is holding them against him.
You probably already have this in the bag.
But if you want the cherry on top, this is your chance to get it.
Tonight, McCain will hit you with something. Perhaps several somethings. He will talk about the Ayers nonsense or (less likely, since he has more class), the Madrassa nonsense or this new, insulting, scrape-the-bottom-of-the-barrel childhood rape nonsense.
It will be his last attempt to smear you during a debate. All he’ll really have left after this is his TV commercials, and his remarks to rallies of those already on his plate.
So he has to make tonight count.
And he WILL go too far.
When it comes…
…and it will come…
…this is what you have to do.
Don’t show anger.
Don’t counter with one of the charges worse than anything he has said about you.
Shake your head, sadly.
Show the American people that you’re not only above the muck, but deeply and personally saddened by the desperate tactics of a man you thought better than that.
Shake your head, sadly.
As is only appropriate when you see a personal hero humiliate himself in public.
Shake your head, sadly.
At the collapse of an icon.
Shake your head, sadly.
Establishing that you’re BETTER than that, and that you thought McCain was, too.
Shake your head, sadly.
Even if what he says is so heinous that you still have to answer him.
Shake your head, sadly.
It’s the most Presidential thing you can do, just like throwing muck at you is the least Presidential thing he can do.
Shake your head, sadly.
That one gesture…will put you into the White House.
Jerry Chandler: McCain still shows the occasional spark of conscience where McCarthy would have just cranked the rhetoric even higher.
That only means he’s like Darth Vader; there’s still good in him, but it’s buried really deep.
If I’d been alive in the days of Barry Goldwater I wouldn’t have agreed with him on everything. For example, his stance on Civil Rights. I wouldn’t have agreed with that. But from what I’ve heard Goldwater was overall a decent guy, and the 2008 version of John McCain could learn an awful lot from him.
Here’s what I’m talking about: when Goldwater was running against Johnson in 1964 there was a scandal. Walter Jenkins, Johnson’s top adviser, got arrested for having gáÿ šëx in a YMCA restroom.
This was 1964, so people were obviously a lot more homophobic back then. Goldwater could have used this against Johnson. Some of Goldwater’s people WANTED him to use it against Johnson.
Goldwater didn’t. He’d gotten to know Jenkins before that, since Jenkins had been in the Senate. He didn’t want to add to the man’s suffering, or to the suffering of his family. He later wrote:
“It was a sad time for Jenkins’ wife and children, and I was not about to add to their private sorrow. Winning isn’t everything. Some things, like loyalty to friends or lasting principle, are more important.”
Good for him. I wish John McCain (and Lyndon Johnson for that matter, who ran the “daisy girl” ad against Goldwater) possessed the same amount of integrity.
David Serchay: Forget the first three letters, the last four is the name of the greatest murderer in history, responsible for the death of 25% of the human race.
Meh, Adam and Eve just made more, I guess.
Jason M. Bryant: She loves the spotlight. She loves making people talk about her.
Even if that means dragging the name of her opponent through the mud, or attempting to do so, hmm? In that case, I look forward to seeing her dragged back into obscurity, kicking and screaming. Or rather, not seeing it, because it will be happening in obscurity. 😉
Patrick: This is election politics. Part of it is to talk yourself up, the other part is to tear the other guy down.
This is not typical election politics. Things did not have to be this way. McCain could have run a respectful campaign like he said to. Instead he and his people realized they were behind, and decided to go negative. And they’re still losing, except now they’ve behaved in such a way that they DESERVE to lose.
As for Wright, do you think he was like that all the time? I doubt it. I think we saw the worst sermons he gave because those were the ones that were newsworthy, whereas footage of him being more of a typical preacher would have bored people.
As for his infamous “God dámņ America” line? Guess what? America, or rather the American government directing the American armed forces, have done a lot of things foreign policy wise that have made people around the world think the exact same thing. The invasion of Iraq was the icing on the cake.
I don’t think that Barack Obama thinks the same way Wright does. I don’t think he views America as evil. I do think he sees it as imperfect and would work to make it better, more of a force for good in the world instead of a country that starts wars unprovoked, that imprisons people without evidence or trials, that tortures people, etc. That stuff is evil. That is stuff that makes people think “God dámņ America.” That is stuff that must stop.
But hey, if we’re going to compare preachers, then let’s look at how McCain cozied up to Jerry Falwell in the last year or two. Wright said that 9/11 happened because of American foreign policy pìššìņg øff people in other parts of the world. Falwell, on the other hand, said that America deserved 9/11 because God was angry at the American people’s supposed slide into moral decay (blaming, among others, feminists, pro-choicers, gay people, and the ACLU. God was angry at them, according to Falwell, and punished America by making 9/11 happen). And let’s look at John Hagee, who said that God made the Holocaust happen to punish the Jews. I think that’s more fûçkëd up than saying “God dámņ America.” I think that’s more fûçkëd up than saying “America’s chickens have come home to roost.” I think that’s even more fûçkëd up than saying that the American government is responsible for crack or AIDS.
Brian Woods: As I have said, neither candidate is a good one as they both support spying on Americans.
Sadly, this is true. When I first heard of Obama’s vote on FISA, I considered not voting for him, or voting for somebody else with my absentee ballot. His shift toward the center really disappointed me.
barry miller: About two years ago when this campagin started this is one democrat that actually thought he would be comfortable voting for McCain.
I may not have voted for him, but I used to think that a McCain presidency would be an improvement over a Bush presidency. Now I no longer believe that.
Tim Lynch: Here’s hoping Palin retreats back into obscurity in 21 days.
Hey, great minds! 😀
Micha: Is it me, or did Obama set McCain a trap for this debate by challenging McCain to bring up Ayers on the debate?
Yes.
Jerry Chandler: McCain still shows the occasional spark of conscience where McCarthy would have just cranked the rhetoric even higher.
That only means he’s like Darth Vader; there’s still good in him, but it’s buried really deep.
If I’d been alive in the days of Barry Goldwater I wouldn’t have agreed with him on everything. For example, his stance on Civil Rights. I wouldn’t have agreed with that. But from what I’ve heard Goldwater was overall a decent guy, and the 2008 version of John McCain could learn an awful lot from him.
Here’s what I’m talking about: when Goldwater was running against Johnson in 1964 there was a scandal. Walter Jenkins, Johnson’s top adviser, got arrested for having gáÿ šëx in a YMCA restroom.
This was 1964, so people were obviously a lot more homophobic back then. Goldwater could have used this against Johnson. Some of Goldwater’s people WANTED him to use it against Johnson.
Goldwater didn’t. He’d gotten to know Jenkins before that, since Jenkins had been in the Senate. He didn’t want to add to the man’s suffering, or to the suffering of his family. He later wrote:
“It was a sad time for Jenkins’ wife and children, and I was not about to add to their private sorrow. Winning isn’t everything. Some things, like loyalty to friends or lasting principle, are more important.”
Good for him. I wish John McCain (and Lyndon Johnson for that matter, who ran the “daisy girl” ad against Goldwater) possessed the same amount of integrity.
David Serchay: Forget the first three letters, the last four is the name of the greatest murderer in history, responsible for the death of 25% of the human race.
Meh, Adam and Eve just made more, I guess.
Jason M. Bryant: She loves the spotlight. She loves making people talk about her.
Even if that means dragging the name of her opponent through the mud, or attempting to do so, hmm? In that case, I look forward to seeing her dragged back into obscurity, kicking and screaming. Or rather, not seeing it, because it will be happening in obscurity. 😉
Patrick: This is election politics. Part of it is to talk yourself up, the other part is to tear the other guy down.
This is not typical election politics. Things did not have to be this way. McCain could have run a respectful campaign like he said to. Instead he and his people realized they were behind, and decided to go negative. And they’re still losing, except now they’ve behaved in such a way that they DESERVE to lose.
As for Wright, do you think he was like that all the time? I doubt it. I think we saw the worst sermons he gave because those were the ones that were newsworthy, whereas footage of him being more of a typical preacher would have bored people.
As for his infamous “God dámņ America” line? Guess what? America, or rather the American government directing the American armed forces, have done a lot of things foreign policy wise that have made people around the world think the exact same thing. The invasion of Iraq was the icing on the cake.
I don’t think that Barack Obama thinks the same way Wright does. I don’t think he views America as evil. I do think he sees it as imperfect and would work to make it better, more of a force for good in the world instead of a country that starts wars unprovoked, that imprisons people without evidence or trials, that tortures people, etc. That stuff is evil. That is stuff that makes people think “God dámņ America.” That is stuff that must stop.
But hey, if we’re going to compare preachers, then let’s look at how McCain cozied up to Jerry Falwell in the last year or two. Wright said that 9/11 happened because of American foreign policy pìššìņg øff people in other parts of the world. Falwell, on the other hand, said that America deserved 9/11 because God was angry at the American people’s supposed slide into moral decay (blaming, among others, feminists, pro-choicers, gay people, and the ACLU. God was angry at them, according to Falwell, and punished America by making 9/11 happen). And let’s look at John Hagee, who said that God made the Holocaust happen to punish the Jews. I think that’s more fûçkëd up than saying “God dámņ America.” I think that’s more fûçkëd up than saying “America’s chickens have come home to roost.” I think that’s even more fûçkëd up than saying that the American government is responsible for crack or AIDS.
Brian Woods: As I have said, neither candidate is a good one as they both support spying on Americans.
Sadly, this is true. When I first heard of Obama’s vote on FISA, I considered not voting for him, or voting for somebody else with my absentee ballot. His shift toward the center really disappointed me.
barry miller: About two years ago when this campagin started this is one democrat that actually thought he would be comfortable voting for McCain.
I may not have voted for him, but I used to think that a McCain presidency would be an improvement over a Bush presidency. Now I no longer believe that.
Tim Lynch: Here’s hoping Palin retreats back into obscurity in 21 days.
Hey, great minds! 😀
Micha: Is it me, or did Obama set McCain a trap for this debate by challenging McCain to bring up Ayers on the debate?
Yes.
WOW !!
Fully and completely unhinged..
I think Obama needs to get into the white house becasue you lefties will go bat sgit insane if he doesn’t.
and just becasue I can’t help it…McCarthy was a power hungry áššhølë who should have been ignored……but he was right about the commie spies.
AnthonyX: McCarthy was a power hungry áššhølë who should have been ignored……but he was right about the commie spies
Yes, he was right. Thank god he was there to protect us from Lucille Ball.
AnthonyX: McCarthy was a power hungry áššhølë who should have been ignored……but he was right about the commie spies
Yes, he was right. Thank god he was there to protect us from Lucille Ball.
AnthonyX: I think Obama needs to get into the white house becasue you lefties will go bat sgit insane if he doesn’t.
At this point there are only two things that could cause Obama to lose:
1. something REALLY HUGE event that somehow makes McCain look really good and Obama look really bad,
2. the GOP rigging another election.
If it’s #2, then people ought to not only go batshit insane but they ought to raise hëll. The United States of America is supposed to be a democracy. If the GOP stole another one, they would be saying in effect to the American people “Yeah, we’re just going to take away all of your votes. What are you gonna do about it, huh? You can’t do anything about it. Hahaha.” They cannot be allowed to get away with that.
AnthonyX: I think Obama needs to get into the white house becasue you lefties will go bat sgit insane if he doesn’t.
At this point there are only two things that could cause Obama to lose:
1. something REALLY HUGE event that somehow makes McCain look really good and Obama look really bad,
2. the GOP rigging another election.
If it’s #2, then people ought to not only go batshit insane but they ought to raise hëll. The United States of America is supposed to be a democracy. If the GOP stole another one, they would be saying in effect to the American people “Yeah, we’re just going to take away all of your votes. What are you gonna do about it, huh? You can’t do anything about it. Hahaha.” They cannot be allowed to get away with that.
Yeah, there’s some magnificent logic. And where have I seen that logic used of late? Oh, yeah… The McCain campaign. They’re the ones saying that Obama is going to do stuff in office that Obama hasn’t even hinted at doing or things that are 180% opposite than what Obama has said he’ll do. When called on these things (such as the tax policies) that they’re dead wrong on; they just respond by saying that they know that Obama will do these things and we shouldn’t actually have to wait for him to do them to condemn him for it.
Jerry, that doesn’t track with what I’ve said at all. I am taking things that McCain, Palin, and his mouthpieces have already said and already done and drawing a parallel to previous behaviors already exhibited by someone else. How is that remotely similar to McCain making assertions about Obama that are, as you yourself say, 180 degrees away from anything that Obama has said or done? I’m saying if X, then Y, and you’re saying if X, then pudding. There’s no connection.
The bottom line is that what I’ve said is perfectly in keeping with things that McCain et al have said, about feelings that they have stoked, about fears that they have exploited. Your objection seems to be that it’s unfair for me to draw any comparison because McCain isn’t as bad as McCarthy. But does he really have to be for the tactics to remain the same and the results to be as deplorable? I don’t think so.
PAD
Yeah, there’s some magnificent logic. And where have I seen that logic used of late? Oh, yeah… The McCain campaign. They’re the ones saying that Obama is going to do stuff in office that Obama hasn’t even hinted at doing or things that are 180% opposite than what Obama has said he’ll do. When called on these things (such as the tax policies) that they’re dead wrong on; they just respond by saying that they know that Obama will do these things and we shouldn’t actually have to wait for him to do them to condemn him for it.
Jerry, that doesn’t track with what I’ve said at all. I am taking things that McCain, Palin, and his mouthpieces have already said and already done and drawing a parallel to previous behaviors already exhibited by someone else. How is that remotely similar to McCain making assertions about Obama that are, as you yourself say, 180 degrees away from anything that Obama has said or done? I’m saying if X, then Y, and you’re saying if X, then pudding. There’s no connection.
The bottom line is that what I’ve said is perfectly in keeping with things that McCain et al have said, about feelings that they have stoked, about fears that they have exploited. Your objection seems to be that it’s unfair for me to draw any comparison because McCain isn’t as bad as McCarthy. But does he really have to be for the tactics to remain the same and the results to be as deplorable? I don’t think so.
PAD
Sorry PAD, but I think Jerry has a point about your statement going too far. Here’s what you said:
I see no reason to wait until McCain reaches the same level of zealotry to point out that he’s using the same tactics, the same smears, the same guilt-by-association, the same exploiting of paranoia.
If he hasn’t reached the same level yet, then he hasn’t reached the same level yet. Someone could easily point to a murder and say he’s just as bad as Hitler, but that’s an exaggeration and it weakens the argument. As John Stewart pointed out, that kind of exaggeration is insulting to Hitler, he worked hard to be that evil.
McCarthy purposely destroyed the lives of individuals who were no threat to him. That’s significantly worse than what McCain has been doing.
That doesn’t remotely mean that McCain hasn’t been doing horrible stuff. When McCain won the Republican nomination, he inherited the Bush campaign machine. He does almost everything they tell him and that’s lead to some despicable tactics.
Rob Brown,
if starting the conversation by discussing past election rigging does not scream unhinged…
I suppose Harper did not win last night becasue he did not get the popular vite ala Gore?
Get off the victim plantation. You have been used for too long.
you have been bamboozled & hornswaggled!
Rob Brown,
if starting the conversation by discussing past election rigging does not scream unhinged…
I suppose Harper did not win last night becasue he did not get the popular vite ala Gore?
Get off the victim plantation. You have been used for too long.
you have been bamboozled & hornswaggled!
Right now it seems some of the Republicans are being unhinged by the possibility of Obama winning.
Right now it seems some of the Republicans are being unhinged by the possibility of Obama winning.