UPDATE: 10/13/08 7:53 p.m. - Wow, that didn't last long! Rather than discount what I think was a rather nifty bit of writing, I will be making a slight alteration to the last paragraph...
Dear Sen. McCain,
For months now, I have been condemning the direction of your campaign. When you hired Karl Rove's protege, Steve Schmidt, to be your campaign strategist, I was disappointed. When you hired Tucker Eskew, the man who generated the push polling in South Carolina accusing you of 'fathering a black child', I was scandalized. Stocking your campaign staff with the very people that used the most vile tactics against you in 2000 caused me to believe that you would do anything to win this election.
To be honest, when you selected Gov. Sarah Palin as your running mate, my first response was laughter. She was under investigation for abuse of power, and for a campaign that was running on your 'experience', well let's just say she's even greener behind the ears than your opponent. After more thought, however, I became angry. Angry that you would do something so cynical, so desperate as choose someone so inadequate for the position that she aspired. I saw you as cementing your place alongside George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove as people who have taken politics to depths that this country has never before experienced.
Frankly, sir, you have run a campaign that is without honor. For a man who served his country, who was subjected to horrors I don't even wish to imagine, and has been treated as a hero, your campaign has been a disgrace. Advertisements insinuating that Barack Obama wants to teach sex education to kindergartners, has ties to terrorists, have been scraping the bottom of the character assassination barrel. I understand that you see this as your last chance at the Presidency, and it is slipping away.
On Saturday, October 4th, your running mate signalled the new direction your campaign was taking - distract from the economy, from real issues, and focus on Obama's character. Linking him with terrorism, standing by as the crowd yells 'kill him', 'traitor', 'off with his head', and you say nothing. People introducing you and Gov. Palin, invoking fear by using Barack Hussein Obama's middle name, playing on the basest of emotions in the crowd. And, you say nothing. And then, after three days of these scurrilous attacks, when you are face-to-face with Sen. Obama at the debate - you say nothing. No William Ayers, no 'who is the real Barack Obama' - nothing.
Did it strike a chord when Sen. Obama basically called you out in a radio interview? All but calling you a coward for saying things behind his back, but not being willing to say them to his face...that must have stung. And still, you stood by silently while your running mate, your wife and your other surrogates made this a campaign about associations instead of issues. When did it hit you? When did you realize that the people in the crowds weren't for you, but against Obama? Did you get a glimpse into the gaping maw of hatred, and see yourself being swallowed by it?
Whatever the reason, you finally had enough. You reclaimed that one last shred of honor you had, and spoke up. You stated quite clearly what most of us already know, that Barack Obama is a public servant, family man, American. It must have been disheartening, hearing the boos. The stench of hatred wafting off of those people must have been suffocating. But, you went on, trying to return the discussion to issues, not personalities. I can only think that you looked into the future, after you've lost the election, and it was a future bereft of honor, of the very soul that you sold in your desire to win. Finally, it seems to have occurred to you that if you were going to win or lose, it was by being the best candidate you could be. The more you allow the people who only support you when you espouse hatred to drive your campaign, the more it diminishes you as a man. And, if you continue to run the campaign that the people who know you best say that you would prefer to run, when you wake up on November 5th, you will at least have the comfort of your honor and your soul.
Whatever drove you to decide to turn the last weeks of this campaign toward the chasm of racist politics, you have done it. And for that, sir, you have condemned yourself to a very bleak future, indeed.
J.M. Ferretti
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
34 comments:
Ferret, darlin', ya know I love ya and all, but I've got three words for ya (see if you get my drift): Acorn, Raines and Johnson.
gina - I'll bite! What are three things that are completely irrelevant to this election?
Do I win a prize?
First you must answer this: Have you and that LaSalle character been secretively and silently plotting political somethings for the last eight-nine days(I'm just askin' what everybody else is too polite to say)?????
Anyway, I got it wrong. There should have been four words, or rather one word and three names:Acorn, Franklin Raines,Tim Howard and Jim Johnson.
Now you tell me what this info has to do with this election...then we'll talk prize.
Oh, I think your husband fessed up about the whereabouts of LaSalle.
http://tinyurl.com/3ttrhs
http://tinyurl.com/itcutsbothwaysgina
.
McCain lurched uncertainly back toward decency late this past week. But it won't last. Racism will fuel the final stretch. As I said once before, if Obama pulls this off it will be one of the most tremendous accomplishments in US political history. And he well may do it.
I hate to disagree with the hostess, but FH missed the important point to be made about the exchange with that nasty old frauline in the audience. McCain's first "act of decency" involved slandering Arabs. He said something like, "Obama is not an Arab, he's a honorable American."
So to answer Ferrethead's question, no, McCain has not yet found his decency.
Yes, Lefty dear, it certainly does...and thank you for helping me make my point.
Now for the Grand Prize, can you figure out what my point was?
Ferret? Ferret? Are you home??? I was just kidding about that tryst thing.
I'll make it easier for you:
Key posts: Treasury secretary, Office of Management and Budget director, Council of Economic Advisers members.
Now repeat after me: If Obama wins, who do you suppose will get these jobs?
Oh, and Acorn...don't forget Acorn.
ginag - sorry if I'm not in the mood to play this particular game with you. I have no idea who would fill those roles in an Obama cabinet, just as I have none about McCain...although I know he'd like to have Phil Gramm as Treas. Secty, which is reason enough not to vote for him.
Do you have anything relevant to the post, or would you rather play 'gotcha'? We have 23 days until the election, and there are serious issues facing our nation - I'd like to discuss those. I don't mean to sound snippy, though I know I do, but this has long been treated like some sort of game, and I'm frustrated by people who do not treat this with the seriousness that the situation requires.
So you see no connection between those three names and Obama?
If and when you do make the connection, it kinda makes me wonder if the whole banking scandal was planned...you know, socialism furtively working behind the scenes?
And you're the one that mentioned voter fraud. I know liberals don't read much beyond a few chosen works, but look at what Acorn has been up to lately, then get back on your soapbox and start your preachin' about decency. Just sayin'.
Here's a link to a site showing a document purportedly to be Sarah Palin's SAT scores. Is it real? Win a detective's badge if you can spot the telling clue.
http://tinyurl.com/4a22mt
ginag - it doesn't matter if Mickey Mouse registers to vote...only if he actually tries to vote. When you pay people per registration, you are going to get people who would rather not do the actual work and still get paid.
And, I was talking about election fraud which is something completely different...do you know the difference? As Stalin supposedly said: it's not who votes that counts, but who counts the votes! When people vote, Democrats win - the Republicans know this and try to suppress the vote since they can't win legitimately.
You should care if Mickey the Rat pays people to register to vote. Unethical behavior is still unethical. And, if the Democrats in Washington state are any indication of democrats and a willingness to cheat at the vote, this country is in trouble.
Once we can no longer trust our voting system, we're just another third world totalitarian country.
My point, dear heart, is that neither is party is exempt from a lack of decency. All you succeed in doing when you get all self-rightous, is, well, making yourself appear rather self-righteous. Not good for the credibility factor or that noble idea of working for the common good.
ginag - perhaps you should re-read my post, dear heart. I wasn't accusing any party of a lack of decency, but John McCain individually. He is responsible for the tenor of his campaign, anything done or said at his rallies has, at the very least, his tacit approval.
Why you decided to try to make this about voter registration instead of the topic of the post, I don't know. However, that was my next planned post, and I will gladly have this debate with you on that thread...
sweetheart...you just contradicted yourself. Is he or is he not representing the Republican party right now as its figurehead?
And just in case you haven't figured it out yet, I always say whatever I pleases to say. I must think I'm a princess or something....
I'm with Yogibarrister on this one. When McCain said, "no, he's not, he's a citizen, a family man", the first thought that popped into my head was what an amazing job of non-denial denial I was witnessing. All McCain really said, in a nutshell, was "Obama's not Arab". I'm sure McCain thinks of himself as honorable, but when people at your rallies holler racial slurs and suggest death to your opponent, I'm not seeing the honor. If I'd seen the Dems do that I'd be appalled & embarrassed too. I saw some serious discomfort on McCain's face when he reached over and took back the microphone from dear, old, "Josie Six Pack".
He didn't suggest that even if Obama were of Arab decent, he still has every right to the office of President as an Irish-American, Jewish-American, Asian-American, or any other natural born American of any ancestry or religion. It was an incomplete, half-hearted repudiation, and he was still booed by his supporters.
I think Palin and Cindy McCain are also guilty of stoking the fires. Why the campaign is trying to run against Washington is beyond me. It's a tired old sop. Do they really think "Joe Six Packs" are so stupid that they're not aware the Republican party has controlled the Executive & Legislative branches for most of the last decade? That conservative Republicans have been filling Federal judgeships for most of the last decade? There's a serious disconnect from reality going on now and I'm sure it's because we're so close to November 4th. But I do know, as a beer drinker myself, I'm insulted and disgusted by most of what I hear from John McCain, Sarah Palin, and even Cindy McCain these days.
debbo - see the difference is instead of middle American 'Josie Six Pack', you are West Coast elitist 'Debbo pint glass'. ;-P
Oh, I see... my bad. I keep forgetting I'm not a true American or patriotic because I live in a city and believe our leaders should be smarter and better educated than me. Do I get brownie points for being working class? How about if I drink from the bottle? (I don't own a dishwasher and have to wash the pint glass by hand) :-b
not sure if that SAT score thing is accurate but you get 400 points just for signing up, so I heard at the time.
This is an interesting youtube interview with the lady who called Obama an "arab."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8XmerZEyHE
My favorite line is "he's got it in his blood."
Gina, why is it that the GOP's right wing always comes up with the most bogus lies? The ACORN rap is nothing but smoke and mirrors, and its real value to the GOP base is that it allows them to blame the current financial crisis on minorities.
P.S., I think the SAT score is accurate. As Suza/Mindful notes, at the time, you got 400 (200 verbal, 200 math) for just signing your name, and so an 841 is about right, given her apparent native intelligence level. As I recall, each test (verbal and math) was graded on a scale from 200 to 800 (minimum score 400, maximum score 1600), with 1000 being an average score. By way of comparison, the minimum score that NCAA athletes had to have in order to avoid Prop. 48 status (i.e., being required to sit out their freshman year) under the regime that was put in place in the '80s was 700. So, Palin was smarter than a dumb jock, but below average. Sounds about right.
msg:I don't know, why don't you elaborate?
And, as far as Palin being dumb, why is she a V.P. nominee at 44 and you're not? Why are so many liberals such elitist eggheads anyway? I mean, there are so many types of genius...I'd love to see them survive without the rest of us.
God! Do not make me defend the GOP!!!! I really would like to vote for Obama...
Gina, being smart does not equate to being electable. Sometimes they go together (e.g., Bill Clinton), but he's the exception rather than the rule as far as I can tell.
BTW, Gina, I read this and thought of you:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/163896?GT1=43002
dsg: Thank you for the link. I appreciate it--very good article.
You know, as a pro-life Catholic I've wrestled with this issue. But for me, it keeps coming down to abortion being a problem that can't be solved easily, and an unjust war that can.
That's why I supported Hillary--she at least has mentioned being open to discussing abortion. Whether she meant it or not is something else.
Beyond his rhetoric and great speeches, Obama doesn't do much for me, although his social policies aside from his support for abortion fit mostly with mine. I want this war to end.The living are dying right now because of it, and it, and it certainly is not helping peace on Earth.Undoing Roe vs Wade will take more time. Ending an unjust war seems more doable. I guess it's about picking and choosing one's battles.
Neither candidate is ideal--one seems like a hot-headed war-monger, the other a baby-killer.
What's a Catholic girl to do?
p.s. ds:
If Clinton was so smart, what was he doing with Moronica?
Gina, intelligence is also independent from emotional maturity.
Is this a Freudian slip? http://tinyurl.com/3ut9pl BTW The way you can tell that document showing Palin's SAT scores is a forgery is the box where she listed English as her best language. Suzagoob is correct about students getting 400 points just for spelling their own name, however Palin didn't receive those points, because she used hearts instead of the A's in her name.
Kyra Phillips is cute. She's also not the most well-spoken newscaster out there. I've heard her flub before, but that was really funny, and the Republican Cont-Cont-Contributor didn't seem to notice.
dsg: Not so. If one is truly intelligent, one should be able to recognize one's emotional immaturity and fix it.
Maybe he was just book smart with an exceptional ability to memorize things...sorta memorizing everything all grid-like. It is a very impressive egg-head trait. Well, let me correct myself. Maybe he had a superior ability to remember everything except his marriage vows and the rule about dumb, slutty bimbi...
Bill Clinton liked a big butt. I also think he had an addiction - no different from W. McCain likes models and strippers and low-caste beauty queens while Clinton likes all women. Even his tastes there are democratic. :)
Big butts? Clinton? I find that hard to believe. There wasn't an Italian amongst them was there? Trailer Trash is more like it.
McNut? Isn't he a little old for anything sexual? Don't men start losing it when they hit 50?
Gina, I think emotional maturity and intelligence are independent factors. One may be intelligent, but one might not be objective enough to recognize one's immaturity, and one might also not be able to change due to ingrained personality factors.
suza, rather than democratic, I like to think of Bill Clinton's taste in women as 'catholic'.
Post a Comment