Saturday, October 11, 2008

Uncommon Decency


4 comments:

  1. I linked to this in the comments here yesterday. I would be careful with overstating the case on the decency issue (as it has been his campaign strategy to ignite and stoke these fires), but I think it's reasonable to say we are all happy to see him take this step.

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  2. "I disagree with him, he's an Arab"

    I'm convinced

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  3. I'm with Eluzhun.
    1. McCain thinks Obama is not an Arab.
    2. I disagree with McCain.
    3. Thus Obama is an Arab.

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  4. Frank Rich chimes in with respect to the McCain / Palin 'uncommon decency:'

    It wasn’t always thus with McCain. In February he loudly disassociated himself from a speaker who brayed “Barack Hussein Obama” when introducing him at a rally in Ohio. Now McCain either backpedals with tardy, pro forma expressions of respect for his opponent or lets second-tier campaign underlings release boilerplate disavowals after ugly incidents like the chilling Jim Crow-era flashback last week when a Florida sheriff ranted about “Barack Hussein Obama” at a Palin rally while in full uniform.

    From the start, there have always been two separate but equal questions about race in this election. Is there still enough racism in America to prevent a black man from being elected president no matter what? And, will Republicans play the race card? The jury is out on the first question until Nov. 4. But we now have the unambiguous answer to the second: Yes.

    McCain, who is no racist, turned to this desperate strategy only as Obama started to pull ahead. The tone was set at the Republican convention, with Rudy Giuliani’s mocking dismissal of Obama as an “only in America” affirmative-action baby. We also learned then that the McCain campaign had recruited as a Palin handler none other than Tucker Eskew, the South Carolina consultant who had worked for George W. Bush in the notorious 2000 G.O.P. primary battle where the McCains and their adopted Bangladeshi daughter were slimed by vicious racist rumors.

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