I'm not sure the McCain campaign is quite slimy enough

[billydkid]

Have you seen they have that milf Palen out there riling up the sociopaths, insinuating that Obama is a terrorist sympathizer - with shouts from crowd like "kill the terrorist" and stuff like that. They have several other proxies running around talking about Barack Hoooosaaaaayne Obama while the faithful shout out their venom. It is truly sickening and smacks of - I don't know, racism, mass hysteria and the very worst sort of agitprop. It is shameful and shows the kind of person McCain really is and the kind of people he appeals to. I am a libertarian and so disagree with Obama fundamentally about the role government should play in our lives, but if I wasn't broke I would donate to the Obama campaign just to keep that POS McCain out of office. Yea, that's a guy who's finger I want on the button.

 

[Random]

You shouldn’t hold McCain responsible for the rantings of his staff, supporters, Vice-presidential pick, etc. McCain is a doddering, impotent old man who has no influence over any of this. That’s why you should put all that race baiting aside and make McCain leader of the free world.

 

[billydkid]

You shouldn’t hold McCain responsible for the rantings of his staff, supporters, Vice-presidential pick, etc. McCain is a doddering, impotent old man who has no influence over any of this. That’s why you should put all that race baiting aside and make McCain leader of the free world.

I resent the implication that there is something wrong with being a doddering, impotent old man!

 

[shemp]

If McCain is elected, at least Viagra will have a good friend in the White House.

 

[Ausmerican]

If McCain is elected, at least Viagra will have a good friend in the White House.

Considering the flak he is gettingfrom every band whose music they try using (Heart, Foo Fighters, etc) maybe they could make Viva Viagra the campaign song.

 

[Ziggurat]

You shouldn’t hold McCain responsible for the rantings of his staff, supporters, Vice-presidential pick, etc.

Why would you say this when his staff and his vice presidential pick haven't been saying most of what's being alleged? As for being a terrorist sympathizer, the only thing his staff or VP pick have done, well, why exactly is attacking Obama's connections to Ayers beyond the pale? I can understand why one might argue that those attacks are wrong, but that's not what's being alleged in this thread.

 

[Ziggurat]

I resent the implication that there is something wrong with being a doddering, impotent old man!

Funny how indignant you are about slimy attacks coming from McCain supporters when you're not exactly trying to elevate the debate yourself, to put it charitably.

 

[corplinx]

I just find the righteous indignation over a war veteran playing tough. McCain was dropping bombs on a foreign country during Vietnam. He knows that the honor is in the cause and not in the execution all of the time. A bit Machiavellian, but still true.

I think Obama is tough enough to take what he dishes out.

 

[billydkid]

Funny how indignant you are about slimy attacks coming from McCain supporters when you're not exactly trying to elevate the debate yourself, to put it charitably.

I was making a joke at my own expense. Jeeze.

 

[Upchurch]

I think Obama is tough enough to take what he dishes out.

I agree.

That, however, doesn't make Willie Horton scare-tactics like this any less slimy or less worthy of calling the McCain campaign on it:

 

[billydkid]

I just find the righteous indignation over a war veteran playing tough. McCain was dropping bombs on a foreign country during Vietnam. He knows that the honor is in the cause and not in the execution all of the time. A bit Machiavellian, but still true.

I think Obama is tough enough to take what he dishes out.

But isn't the issue this: That this is the level of discourse we have come to accept when trying to elect our leaders? I know it's a blast for lazy people to make fun of Ron Paul - but if you have ever actually listened to his speeches he would never lower himself to even remotely consider this kind of thing. Even many of those people who listened to Dr. Paul, but are inclined to disagree with his philosophy, came to support him specifically because he invariably chose to take the high road and to confine his campaign to specific and detailed discussions of the problems we are facing and his ideas about how to deal with them. With virtually every other politician winning is everything and anything they can get away with that will help them do that is fair game.

 

[corplinx]

Willie Horton scare-tactics like this any less slimy or less worthy of calling the McCain campaign on it:

I wondered when the passive aggressive race baiting would start.

 

[pgwenthold]

I think it is a pretty sad statement on American politics that we think the candidates could at least try to stop calls of violence against the opponent by their supporters.

 

[Upchurch]

I wondered when the passive aggressive race baiting would start.

Not race baitng, fear baiting.

You know, like I said in my post.

 

[ZenFountain]

If McCain is elected, at least Viagra will have a good friend in the White House.

Speaking of Viagra, anyone remember Bob Dole? He ran on the issues, choosing not to attack Clinton's character and constantly dwell on the many scandals Clinton was associated with. He lost, badly.

 

[corplinx]

Not race baitng, fear baiting.

The main reason people bring up the Willie Horton ad is not to imply fear, but fear of black people. You might wish to pick a different ad if you won't want people reading that implication.

 

[DavidJames]

The main reason people bring up the Willie Horton ad is not to imply fear, but fear of black people. You might wish to pick a different ad if you won't want people reading that implication.

Nonsense. Please don't pretend to speak for anyone but yourself.

The Horton ad was a fear ad, that tried to portray MD as soft on crime.

Any inference beyond that may provide more insight into the one making the inference then the public at large.

 

[BenBurch]

If McCain is elected, at least Viagra will have a good friend in the White House.

Didn't Bob Dole try that gambit?

 

[pgwenthold]

Speaking of Viagra, anyone remember Bob Dole? He ran on the issues, choosing not to attack Clinton's character and constantly dwell on the many scandals Clinton was associated with. He lost, badly.

Yeah, but it's hard to run on "issues" when the economy is booming.

 

[Upchurch]

The main reason people bring up the Willie Horton ad is not to imply fear, but fear of black people. You might wish to pick a different ad if you won't want people reading that implication.

I'm sorry if I was not clear in my metaphor.

The Willie Horton ad used fear of black people to unfairly influence people's perceptions of Michael Dukakis.

The Bill Ayres ad used fear of terrorists to unfairly influence people's perceptions of Barack Obama.

The bolded parts are the similarities I was using as the basis of the metaphor. I was not starting "passive aggressive race baiting". That doesn't even make sense in the context of my post. If McCain was using the ad to bring out racial prejudices in white voters, why would he try to connect him to a white guy?