McCain is running against...Obama!

I heard about this yesterday from a friend, the radio ads of John McCain declaring that he's running against Obama. Not against health care reform, not against anything specific, just against Obama. This sounds to me like nothing more than the covert racism that runs throughout the right wing today.

McCain is facing right-wing opposition in the Republican primary, and he's taking up the clarion call of the Tea Parties: O.B.A.M.A. (One Big Ass Mistake America)--- the mistake of electing a man of color to the nation's highest office.

There are kids standing on the street corners of the neighboring town of Sierra Vista, where Fort Huachuca is located, and they are wildly waving One Big Ass Mistake America hate signs at street corners. It takes me back to the big smear days of Senator Joseoph McCarthy, and later, in California, to the days of the John Birch Society and "Impeach Earl Warren!" billboards.  

Sierra Vista is very, very patriotic, as I found out when I publicly criticized the war in Iraq some years back.  Support our troops and our president, unless, of course, the Commander-in-Chief is black and then he's, well, a socialist, and 'one big ass mistake, America."

Politics has been described as the art of rule in divided democracies, where progress is sought without undue violence, without a political atmosphere poisoned with violent talk. 

But politics today in our divided society celebrates hate, lies, and threats and I'm sick of it. 

And when children are dragged into it, and the adults say nothing, God help us.

Comments

[Honjii]

Every time I hear these ads I feel the need for one of those airsick bags. I wrote a post about them back in early January. And I agree, it is about race. How dare a person of color be so bold as to run for the highest office, let alone win it.

I've noticed the recent ones are done by a woman who speaks in such a way she sounds as if she is warning us a nuke is going to strike within minutes.

Either McCain is an even bigger expletive than I thought, or he is in such an advanced state of dementia that he doesn't grasp the fact the election is over and he is no longer running for president.

[dan beauchamp]

Be sure and check out Honjii's Harangues (http://honjii.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/john-mccain-leading-fight-against-obama/), where I found the reference to McCain's radio ads. Thanks for the comment, Honjii!