Cindy McCain and The Hateful, Dishonest Campaign

Cindy McCain’s speech provoked a lot of discussion here at GOPWTF. In particular this quote,

“My son…has served on the front lines,” she told the crowd, with her husband and Palin standing behind her. “Let me tell you, the day Senator Obama decided to cast a vote not to fund my son when he was serving…sent a cold chill through my body, let me tell you. I suggest that Senator Obama change shoes with me for just one day and see what it means to have a loved one serving in the armed forces, and, more importantly, serving in harm’s way.”

We were all outraged, and for different reasons. Her speech was so hateful, dishonest and divisive that it was hard for us to really focus on what about it made us so mad. I think it boils down to several points

1. Barack Obama did vote to fund the troops, as he has done many times. He simply voted for a different bill than John McCain. The bill that Barack Obama voted for included a timeline for the withdrawal of troops. The bill that John McCain voted for had no deadline for withdrawal. One can easily point to legislation that John McCain opposed like the expansion of the GI bill. You tell me who cares about the troops more.
2. To use your son’s service for political gain is despicable. To say that Barack Obama voting for a funding bill that was competing with yours sent chills down your spine because of your son’s service is manipulative. Not to mention that she implied her son was in Iraq at the time of the vote, in an attempt to provoke a greater emotional response. Using the fact the your child is in harms way in a manipulative manner is disturbing to me as a parent. And as a parent, the vote that would have sent chills down my spine was when John McCain voted against a bill to bring my child home sooner.
3. It implies that anyone who doesn’t have a child serving in Iraq is not qualified to be President. That would limit the talent pool drastically, and it underestimates the scope of the the job the President has.
4. The hateful speech coming out of the McCain campaign recently is on the verge of inciting riots. This is were they drift into dangerous territory. When you look at an Obama rally, he quiets the boos. The McCain camp incites rage, and hate speech. Rather than calm the crowd they revel in this. A hostile crowd at a recent Palin rally even turned on the press.

Clearly the strategy is that if you tell a lie enough times to enough people, they will start to believe it. Ultimately, I think we are all outraged at someone who will do anything to win. Compromise anything, step on any principle to get what they want. This is a not a leader. This is not a leader.

Behind Every Angry Woman…

…is John McCain apparently. I am so disgusted by the fact that he is using this woman to smear Obama on his behalf. If he REALLY believed in the Wright and Ayers lies, then he should have brought it up during the debate last night.

What a pussy.

Hypocrisy

Seth Grahame-Smith has a good rant over at the Huffington Post

The man who can’t remember how many houses he owns cries “elitist!”

The man who said “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should, and “I believe the fundamentals of this economy are strong,” cries “economy!”

The man who got caught in the Keating Five scandal cries “integrity!”

The man who picked the least experienced VP candidate in history cries “country first!”

The man who can’t tell Sunni and Shia apart cries “judgment!”

The man who cheated on his ailing wife cries “family values!”

The man whose campaign is run by lobbyists cries “no more lobbyists!”

The man who voted with George W. Bush 90% of the time cries “change!”

Uppity

Georgia GOP Congressman Lynn Westmoreland calls Obama uppity. The long campaign is wearing on them–it’s starting to get real hard for the GOP to remember what they are not supposed to say in public.

Mother Moosehunter Maverick

Watching the Republican National Convention makes me sad. The convention seems to be built on anger and they are desperately pulling out all the disingenuous, fallacious Karl Rove attack politics.

Do they really believe that we are a nation of cowards cowering in our basements waiting for them to save us. These people are military jocksniffers. They are cynically using the troops to evoke a twisted sense of blind patriotism. If John McCain wins the election, we will find ourselves in a perpetual state of war.

I think it is worth pointing out that war is a political failure. Incompetent leaders find themselves in wars because they don’t have the skill to identify and deal with problems. They are leaders who don’t seek knowledge or understanding, but look for absolutes. We are looking at a toxic and disturbing meme.

As the video retrospective of Sarah Palin concluded,

“The World Shook the World Trembled”

But then I have to remember that they can barely fill up a small stadium, and this is really a fringe bunch who are clinging to a dying ideal. This is the last belch of a dying angry past.

Douglas Rushkoff on the RNC

Here is another interesting one from Boing Boing. Douglas Rushkoff’s site seems to be down so no direct link, but they have it posted at Boing Boing.

Douglas Rushkoff on the RNC

Update: Douglas Rushkoff’s article is back up at http://rushkoff.com/2008/09/04/hate-party/