This is going to get ugly, real fast, real soon right up until November 4th. With their prospects for the White House dropping faster than (or in conjunction with) the Stock Market; the McCain Campaign made very clear that over the weekend they were going to use aggressive tactics against Barack Obama. In other words, the same kind of tactics that Lee Attwater and Karl Rove had used in the past to make sure a Republican got elected to the White House. In other words, a complete distortion of the facts; stretching of the truth; grasping at straws; and when in doubt, push the shiny red button. The same tactics that fooled America into electing George HW Bush in 1988, and George W Bush in 2000 and 2004 will be on full display. The big question is, will anyone believe them this time? Will Americans be so gullible as to fall for it YET AGAIN?
Smear tactics doesn’t get you a job. Lies don’t pay your mortgage. Covert and open racial overtones will not put food on the table. Once again, the Republicans (if they can even be called that anymore, because I have no idea what Party they are now) are using FEAR and INTIMIDATION and now there’s the racial element to play upon as well. With all of the serious challenges facing this country, can these guys please ADDRESS THE GOD DAMNED ISSUES? They cannot, because 8 years of GOP control of the White House and 6 years of them in control of BOTH Houses of Congress have left this Nation a shell of its former self domestically and internationally. The divide between rich and poor grows ever wider, while with each passing day more people die in an unjust war. More people are being thrown out of their homes and are literally beginning to form Tent Cities, the 21st Century Equivalent of Hoovervilles.
Our civil rights are disappearing with each stroke of a pen or a signing statement that King George III makes because he will not listen to the very laws that Congress passes and he had just signed into law; perhaps even moments before. Our Nation’s ports have not been adequately secured against potential Terrorist Attacks, nor have our Transit Systems in American Metropolises. The price of food is rising; utility bills are becoming oppressive. The quality of Education has left not only children behind, but teachers as well. The all-too familiar Politics of Fear are trying to replace The new Politics of Hope.
And THIS is what they do…AGAIN? They have the unmitigated gall to do this AGAIN? Well guess what folks, in the immortal words of Governor Moosebrains, “You betcha!”
The GOP should realize that they are traveling down an EXTREMELY dangerous slope. Johnny Boy is NOT Mister Pure and Chaste. He has his own veritable laundry list that can (and WILL) be rolled out by the Democrats of necessary, according to the Obama surrogates today. The Keating Five scandal is being mentioned more and more in the past few days. McCain’s deep connections with the Native-American Gambling industry are also suspect. He effectively stonewalled and got defeated a POW-MIA Bill that passed UNANIMOUSLY in the House years ago that would have provide some solace for families by allowing classified documents pertaining to their loved ones to be de-classified, but he used his power to quash it.
WHY? Because if certain POW records were released to the public, HIS OWN TAINTED AND COWARDLY acts would have been revealed. How did the North Vietnamese know the flight patterns of every jet or bomber that flew on sorties shortly after his capture come under intense attack? How did he manage to survive in much better health than most of his fellow prisoners? Why weren’t his medical records by the North Vietnamese and independent physicians and psychologists of the Red Cross ever made public? Was it perhaps because that John McCain led the Congressional contingent to request normalization of relations with Vietnam? Perhaps as a reward, those records are in a nice secure vault in Hanoi. These have been the stories circulating on the Internet for a number of years now, and so far they have not been proved. But it’s starting to quack like a duck, if you ask me.
While I think the Keating 5 and the Gambling Connections are worthwhile of further use in a retaliatory campaign, ESPECIALLY because they are TRUTH; that last point I made is a road NO ONE wants to go down…even if there IS evidence that we are not privy to…but if it could be proved, that would be the Dems nuclear option.
The height of hypocrisy is Sarah Baby accusing Senator Obama (“our opponent” as she says…call the man by his title, Governor…he’s earned it, same way you did yours) of being in league with terrorists; specifically William Ayers who was a member of the 60’s radical group “The Weathermen”. Any charges against Ayers were DROPPED a LONG TIME AGO. The absolute gall of this woman, who is under her OWN LEGITIMATE INVESTIGATION ABOUT HER ABUSE OF POWER, to accuse a man who was EIGHT YEARS OLD at the time of the Weathermen unrest is beyond the realm of reality. Senator Obama probably remembers when Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. I know where I was, because I am the same age as the Senator and I was the one who told my mother both times. How old was Little Sarah Moosebrains? 4 years old!
Does she remember growing up watching body counts from Vietnam on the news every single night like Senator Obama and I did? Does she remember the Mai Li Massacre? I do, because I watched my mother weep one morning when she read the front page of the NY Daily News and saw the photos. Does she remember an America where we had genuine heroes like the Astronauts? Or does all she remember is an America of MTV and Beauty Contests? For this shell of a human being, this travesty of politics gone amok, to accuse a man of integrity like Senator Obama of this insane accusation goes beyond hubris and crosses into the territory of meglomaniacal behavior; all the while her running mate engages in his own erratic behavior.
The attacks are going to get worse right up until Election Day. The Democrats have already indicated that they are prepared and ready to retaliate this time; no more Swiftboating. I hope that the lies and smears put forth from the McCain campaign don’t even make a blip on the radar; because retaliation might be necessary, but HARD AND FACTUAL retaliation is the moral equivalent of a just war. Tuesday’s Debate should be interesting, especially since NBC Newsman (and current liaison between the Network and the McCain campaign) Tom Brokow will be moderating. And they said Gwen Ifill had a conflict of interest? Brokow has been nothing but an obvious shill for the McCain campaign for MONTHS. Expect Johnny Boy to get away with a lot of stuff, and a lot of the nastiness to carry over from the prior few days. Who knows, the Senile Senior Senator might just very well pull an “October Surprise” or perhaps even Senator Obama might just do the same.
At the very beginning of this campaign, Johnny Boy said he was going to run a clean and honorable campaign. He has done nothing of the sort. He has sold out completely to the right wing Evangelical lunatics in his Party. He has deliberately kept Americans in the dark regarding his health history. He excised incredibly poor judgment in selecting a woman who is clearly not qualified for Vice President or President (God help us!) should the unthinkable happen. He has been completely erratic and incoherent over the past 3 weeks of (only the first phase) of this Fiscal Meltdown we’re in. He is now planning on flinging the most mud in the history of Presidential Elections. He has lost every single shred of honor he might have once had. I said it a few weeks ago, and I will say it this evening once again, for all to read:
John McCain is a COWARD.
“Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes of men.” – Bishop Westcott
Intersections In Real Time 
I was very very young in the ’60s, but I do remember so many of the important things you mentioned. I do remember the Vietnam war and following it closely on the news. My dad was away more often than he was home during that time. You see, he served 4 tours over there. He earned 2 purple hearts.
I remember following the politics of the time starting in the early ’70s and how Watergate was so important. Politics is mostly boring but I learned it is important to be informed, to know the record of the people running and compare that with what they are saying.
I don’t believe McCain. I don’t believe Palin either. Neither has shown any integrity, openness or honesty. They have both shown cowardice and the inability to resist the need to lie, cheat, throw mud and otherwise act in a spoiled childlike manner. I fully expect them to do their best to try to steal this election.
Should the Obama/Biden campaign stoop to their levels? No way! Should they defend themselves (and thus the American people) with every thing they’ve got? Oh most definitely YES!
Keep it true. Keep it honest. Keep it right out front and center.
All I kept thinking when I read this was how tired I am of John McCain claiming to be such a hero. My brother was one of the orphans from An Lac in Vietnam saved by Operation Babylift. He was three when he first arrived on US soil. To this day he has shrapnel scars from the war and in my estimation is not only a casualty of that war but what a real hero truly is. He tells me constantly how angry McCain makes him because touting the grandness of continuing wars like the one in Iraq will only create more innocent parentless, countryless victims like he once was as a toddler. And for that, I cannot now nor ever respect someone like John McCain.
Shirley Peck Barnes who authored “The War Cradle”(2000) tells us
“The lessons of Vietnam go unheeded. It is still with us, Bosnia, Kosovo, the Middle East, Ireland… there is no ‘war cradle’ … no protective environment for the children. We are often tangled in “causes and reasons” for war and the incidents that perpetuate it. But, if we were to place emphasis on WHAT war does to children, I think the diplomats might make a greater effort to take their arguments to the peace table, rather than the battlefield.”
She goes on to add “It’s not color that separates or instills bigotry.. It’s Behavior! If this were not true, God would not have made all the flowers a different color… each decidedly different and beautiful”
I think I speak for many when I say that the behavior of both McCain and Palin tell us more than we care to know!!