i dont know how good it is for mccain. think of the visual, mccain struggling to hold back the rabid gop crowd? what voter wants to put a party into power where the head of that party cant keep the rest of it from going off the deep end. it just makes mccain a more pathetic figure. he unleashed something that he could not control. it is nice to see him trying once he realized the consequences but like david brooks and the rest of the moderates he had a chance to deal with this earlier but they served his purpose.

If Obama wins in November, I think we're going to see a lot of spontaneous combustion happening on the Right. People are getting so keyed up that they are this close to exploding.

I don't care if it's good for McCain the candidate, it's the right thing for him to do. I very much want Obama to win, but I McCain's campaign was getting to be like too long a session reading the Darwin Awards -- at first it's funny, then scary, finally sad. Things just shouldn't be that way.

It is an amazing spectacle to watch the video (available at TPM) and consider that this is the scene a month away from an election for President of the United States.

McCain is arguing with his own crowds about whether they need to be afraid of an Obama presidency. Surreal.

Good for him. Still, it reminds me of a Bobby Jones story. Jones, one of the greatest American golfers, said those who praised him for calling a penalty on himself (one that no one else saw), "You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank."

Dayam! McCain better watch out they don't start coming after him.

The world already knows McCain is a POW of the conservative base. He can't control them. They control him and dictate terms to him. Doesn't speak highly of a presidential candidate.

Good for him? I respectfully disagree. He's the one that let it get this bad. He's been allowing this stuff all week, and just when the mainstream media is starting to pick up in it, he decides to yank on the reins. Sorry, it doesn't wash.

Going down this path was his choice, and it didn't have to come to this, but he's the one that's been stoking the flames.

From my eye, it looks like he decided to start tamping this down just before it blew up in his face.

Good for him? No. What a disgrace.

My cynical perspective: This is just another McCain stunt. First, the sleaze wasn't helping him (and was likely hurting), so now he becomes Hero John McCain and graciously acknowledges Obama is a decent family man. Touching. Second, Obama challenged McCain yesterday to say this crap to his face, and McCain is now backpedaling. Hard.

Doesn't matter-- it's definitely a good thing that the hateful rhetoric is finally being tamped down. I'm glad.

It's a telling measure of the zombie stupidity of the McCain campaign that it took McCain this long to figure out that his behavior today will attract a lot more undecideds than what he was doing before. And the stupidity is all McCain's. The campaign's "strategists" are running a generic Republican mudslinger because they figure that's what most potential employers will mostly want in 2010 and 2012. McCain is such a dupe that he thinks of these people as he once thought of Charles Keating, as genuine friends.

Hang on a second. The correct response to "He's an Arab" is not to say "No ma'am, he's a decent family man." After all, it's possible to be both an Arab and a decent family man.

Say it straight out: he's not an Arab. And he's also not a Muslem. [That woman seems to think they're the same thing.] THEN you can say that he's also a decent family man, if you believe he is.

But to see "decent family man" as somehow equivalent to "non-Arab" is just odd. Or perhaps it's just unconscious racism.

On Maddow's show Ana Marie Cox just said she did not see the campaign pulling back on the rhetoric or the ads.
So good for McCain, but it ain't enough.
McCain needs to pull the ads, put the pit bull in the dog house and stop throwing matches at these bitter people who cling to their hatred and bigotry.

Erratic, erratic, erratic.

First he telegraphs his all-Ayers-all-the time schtick last weekend, and launches it. Then his advisers say "well maybe not" and he doesn't go there in the debate.

Then the whip it up something fierce all the rest of the week. THEN McSame tries to dial it down.

He is all over the map and has no idea what the hell he is doing.

Some people over at TPM were suggesting that maybe the good Senator from Arizona had gotten a talking-to from the Secret Service about how much more difficult he was making their jobs, and that he ought to cool the fuck out with the rabble-rousing. Food for thought...

I'm not sure whether Winslow means to hint at this, but isn't it awfully convenient that these particular questioners come to the mike just now? The phrasing of the questions strikes me as distinctively stilted, like what a PR hack would write to make it super-easy for McCain to reject them in the name of civility.

I'd like to hear from other folks about the possibility that the questions were planted for this purpose.

There's a pretty clear way way "... he can get the same message out to Sarah Palin...", he can "[snatch] the microphone out the hands of [the] woman".

So he says now (wink, wink, nod, nod).

This is closing the barn door after the barn has burned to ashes.

Don't believe this for a minute. The hate machinery is in full gear, and the afterburners are engaged.

We can hope that Johnny Mac's nudge toward decency (such as it is) will cause a backlash. "If Johnny Mac won't do something about the Communist terrorist menace, then I won't vote for anybody!"

The "FOX hounds" already felt betrayed when McCain treated Obama respectfully at Tuesday's debate, and that was after only a couple days after the campaign turned especially vile. By next Wednesday, they won't be able to contain the dissonance if McCain treats Public Enemy #1 like a fellow senator.

Oh BTW, McCain didn't "watch" anything happen at his rallies. He encouraged and stoked it to the point of madness.

He doesn't get points for quitting being an irresponsible rabble-rouser.

Ana Marie Cox also reported that after the event reporters talked to audience members and each and every person they talked to was a right wing nut case. Not just one or two among the crowd, everybody they talked to was a wing nut.

It's certainly better to see this than further come-ons to hate speech and revolutionary violence. But it must be said that this is a rerun of the McCain career pattern; overreaching followed by tardy contrition.

To be fair, he lost control of the agenda a long time ago, with the selection of Palin. Reckon he's now less concerned about what happens in the election than in (a) what happens to the country, and (b) what goes next to his name in the history books.

Can't feel pity for the man. But I sure wouldn't want to be in his shoes.

(Palin herself, of course, is a different fish. It's not hard to see her fronting for the paramilitary wing of a "revitalized" Republican Party after spending some time in the, ah, wilderness.)

Much of this is stoked by right wing radio. And they are still going to be around in January.

I am not all that fond of the fairness doctrine, but right wing radio has hijacked America for far too long.

He doesn't get points for quitting being an irresponsible rabble-rouser.

No, but maybe we can stop deducting points. If he keeps it up. If he can make Palin stop the shit, too.

dr2chase's analogy with the Darwin Awards is brilliant on many levels!

DNS:

The correct response to "He's an Arab"...

You seem to have left out a word form your "quote." Unless Kevin is not to be trusted, the quote was "he's an Arab terrorist..." You don't get to just make up your own facts.

I called Sen. Schumer's office earlier today and told the staff assistant who answered the phone that I'd like Sen. Schumer to express to the Secret Service a constituent's urgent concern that Obama be given adequate security. The staff-asst. at first responded with an "Oh, I'm sure they're doing that already," to which I replied, "Once upon a time I would have automatically assumed that of the Secret Service, but let's face it: it's the Bush Administration." He got the point and promised to pass it on.

Winslow's right on this one.

His surrogates are still doing the SOS on TV. He's still running the same commercials. And my read on McCain comments (I listened to the version on TPM) is that McCain went out today prepared to make these comments.

They've gotten push-back from the press about the unruly and possibly dangerous elements in their crowds. So he's giving the corporate press an "out" on following up on him and on Palin.

Unless he changes the rest of his communications strategy, it's a crock, and we need to treat it as if it was.

Brian: I just saw the video and the woman said "He's an Arab." She didn't say he was an Arab terrorist. The videotape is at Talking Points Memo.

'respect Obama's accomplishments'

Interesting that he just spent the last three months telling us he didn't have any.

Someone else made the point here already, but after a quick read I can't remember who (sorry), but consider this:

The man was being booed by his own whack job supporters at one of his rallies when he called for a modicum of decency. Booed. At your own political rally. It's time for him to own this racist bile.

I'm on vacation in Hawaii and i was just on a bus tour with a very pleasant couple from Oregon -- in their late sixties -- who both said quite calmly that Michelle Obama is not a real American. When a couple of New Zealanders on the tour asked what they meant the husband explained "she's said some things about America that are not as patriotic as they should be."

I think the rabble's already been roused, folks.

And I'm going back to the beach to forget politics for a few more days.

Brian @ 9:42,

You're quoting from the transcript. Watch the vid; she definitely says "He's an Arab", plain and simple. McCain starts shaking his head immediately, and then cuts her off. Granted, she might have wanted to say "Arab Terrorist", for all we know. Or maybe "Arab-influenced patron of wasteful investment in medieval art collections". Or even "Arab-looking man of swarthy complexion and disturbingly handsome demeanour". Just one more of those inscrutable questions that will puzzle historians of later generations.

All of the underlying racism in this election could possibly explode. And if it does, you can than Palin ans McCain for stirring the pot. I once said I was afraid what would happen if Obama didn't win, or if he lost the electoral college as Al Gore did. I feared rebellion, rioting, and acts of civil disobedience from everyone; from the disenchanted youth on college campuses to the inner cities.

Now I'm afarid of what may occur if Obama wins. It may reignite the hatred of our already bigoted nation. There are 26 hate groups in Pennsylvania alone.
Whatever way you swing it- the revolution is coming my friends- and it will make the "culture war" look like elementary fist-to-cuffs.

sorry about my typos- those words should be "thank" and "and" not "than" and "ans". I guess I shouldn't drink and blog....

McCain is like a murderer who tries to hack a man to death and hold his victim in his arms when he fails.

I do not understand why Kevin is giving any credit to him.

On a happier note, this is a wonderful video showing just how excited they are in Kenya

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0QNiGYClbM

I'm with Vicki, I didn't hear the lady say "terrorist" either. wtf?

I agree with commenters who said this BS should have been stopped the moment it started. McCain let it go on for days and build to the point where his own supporters are booing him! Between this scary shit and the Troopergate report today, you gotta agree ol John McPain has had one horrendous week. What will he do about Palin now? Obama doesn't have to say a word about it!

Credit where its due?!? Are you flippin' kidding me? McCain's whole, "treat Obama with respect" act is nothing but a stunt. He was talking this mess the same day his campaign accused Obama of "attacking" McCain supporters and "regular" Americans by pointing out the undeniably fact that this NOT the time to be divided. AND, he also sent out his blood hounds to make another Ayers connection by pointing out, shock, horror, gasp, Michelle Obama may have worked at the same law firm with Bernandine Dohrn in the 80s.

I swear, all McCain has to do is bat his eye, and the BBQ media is ready to embrace him as the maverick he never was. He's not doing what's right, he's doing what's convenient. Now that even Republicans are calling him out on the tenor of the rallies, and he looked at the polls, he realizes he has to put up this front.

Give me a break.

In the segment that's being broadcast, the woman did not say "Arab terrorist". She said "He's an Arab". Nothing more.

Elliott,
On a totally non-sequitur note, the city of Obama in Japan is excited as well

Would that be the same Sarah Palin who was just found by the state legislature to have abused her power as Alaska governor? The one who is not only incompetent but now also a crook? I don't think we will be hearing much from her in the future.

Good for him? I'm sorry, but he stoked and flamed this controversy. If he wasn't currently down in the polls, he would continue it. It is his blind ambition and that of his running mate that is the center of this sad episode in politics. The only reason he is starting (and I say starting, no reason for it to continue) is because he is starting to take some flak from the conservative establishment. If his numbers were stable or rising, he would continue the attack. This is a man who does not put "Country First". He named Sarah Palin, who turns out to be the biggest flame thrower out there and then lets his surrogates (including his wife) demean a fellow candidate based on innuendo and stereotype. Until today, he has done nothing to stop this runaway train. Instead of meeting him head on with issues, he chose to question character. This says it all. It is McCain's character that needs questioning and scrutiny. I don't feel sorry for him and I hope he reaps what he sows.

Good for him?
Give me a break...I think he saw what he had wrought and blinked.
No credit to McCain, and certainly none to Palin or the campaign "professionals" doing his dirty work.
This is explained by the fact that McCain is half-assed in whatever he does.

I guess it's okay to make up your own facts if you are Brian.

Hey Brian, where are Saddam Hussein's WMDs?

Brian is a fool.

But he is correct to point out that Kevin took AMC's reporting at her word, and it is not correct. There is not mention of "terrorist," so Brian's point (Kevin cannot be trusted) unfortunately has some legs.

You should correct/update the post, Kevin (especially as you got to this later than others who noticed the missing word "terrorist").

This is no way to foment a coup, Johnny Walnuts. Get back on your game.

As well, once president, might I also suggest expelling the Indians/South Asians? Yes.

All that in mind, I think you & I have much in common, John. You just must harness your hatred of & loathing for your enemy. Harness it to that Cerebus, Ms Palin.

Slow & study wins the race? Hah! It's superior firepower.

Signed, cordially...

Idi Amin('s Last Meal)

But then something weird happens: He acknowledges the "energy" people have been showing at rallies, and how glad he is that people are excited. But, he says, "I respect Sen. Obama and his accomplishments."

Well as someone once said, "Anger is an energy!/Anger is an energy!/Anger is an energy!"

And as someone else said, "Americans don't elect angry candidates."

Clear enough why McCain is backing off: this ugly shit is getting a LOT more publicity than they expected and it's hurting him. As well it should. Character counts. And I've never SEEN a campaign that testified more obviously to one man's lack of character.

This I believe:

- McCain's campaign was hijacked by Rove and the bookburner's of outer wingnutistan.

- McCain is completely sincere in his call for a respectful campain.

- McCain knows he's lost.

- McCain doesn't want to be "the guy that got 'The One' shot".

I sincerely feel sympathetic with his coming to grips with how spun out of his control this has become and exactly how much of his integrity he's traded away.

I disagree with those above who think that McCain is beginning to tamp the violent rhetoric down because of fears of backlash. Actually he has gotten the word out to the radical yahoos and there are no more that he needs to reach. He has them primed to act for him. That was what he was after.

Now he is distancing himself personally from what he has already done. This is the equivalent of plausible deniability, only it doesn't matter that he knows what Palin and others were doing in his name. If he gets some lone gunman or bomber like Timothy McVeigh or Eric Rudolf to do what he needs done he can plausibly go shed crocodile tears while gaining the advantage from the actions of the crazies he has put into motion.

Since he is now on record as trying to tamp the crazies down, he doesn't lose the independent voters he otherwise would have had. Hey! How can HE control all the crazies? He tried to stop them! He's on record now.

This is exactly the strategy a cynical SOB would use to game the election using radical violent right-wingers. It's a long shot, but McCain's entire campaign has been a series of long shots and he is a known gambler.

For all those who say that McCain doesn't deserve credit for doing the right thing, you should keep in mind that most of us didn't accept the related argument that McCain (or Bush) should be excused for doing wrong when meaning to do right.

While motivations matter, what people actually do matters much more; and from a practical standpoint it's best to reward people when they do the right thing and punish them when they do wrong. Motivations are of only minor importance, especially when we're not in a very good position to evaluate them--none of us actually know McCain.

McCain stunned them.

They didn't know what to do.

Some booed.

Some probably left.

It got so quiet that you could hear a pitchfork drop

All of this was unleashed a very long time ago from some underground, right-wing email hate factory. What we're seeing now is just the latest permutation. I'd like to know who these people are who concoct and circulate the wingnut emails in 24 point red font that everyone's ignorant, far right relatives distribute on a fanatical basis. That's where all this comes from. Has anyone *ever* been able to pinpoint the sources of these bigoted emails? Has anyone ever tried? It all reminds me too much of the propaganda techniques the Nazis developed. I canvassed a house that was supposed to be a Democrat, and found that a Republican now lives there. The man screamed at me: "Why would you vote for a BLACK MAN???!!!!!" It was frightening.

As just another example of McCain's poor judgment, here he is stirring up something he can't handle. These people are going to be utterly alienated from all authority now, because of their personal inclinations and their own leader's frantic and thoughtless thrashing about.

These people are potentially quite dangerous, and even if McCain is backing down, Palin and Fox News and Limbaugh and Coulter are not and will not.

If he gets some lone gunman or bomber like Timothy McVeigh or Eric Rudolf to do what he needs done he can plausibly go shed crocodile tears while gaining the advantage from the actions of the crazies he has put into motion.

Milwaukee's own Artie Bremer was recently released from the Maryland Penitentiary, so he's available. Plus, taking out Obie would square him with the Radical Right/Solid South for what AB did to George Wallace.

The point Varecia makes is exactly why it doesn't matter whether the woman in the audience said "arab terrorist" or simply "arab." For some people, there is no difference, and all of a sudden we have "black" being used as a euphemism for muslim, and arab = muslim = terrorist.

I don't know if someone actually deserves credit for slightly reducing a problem that they cynically caused. And his change in behavior is probably linked to the new polls that show that independents are turned off by the frenzy at their rallies.

Here Johnny Johnny...Here Johnny Johnny...

You know, on several occasions Duncan Black has said that John McCain "likes war". ie: that he is a complete psychopath who derives enjoyment from vast destruction and human suffering.

Yet somehow this has escaped Kevin's outrage. How curious.

Why should McCain get "credit" for doing the right thing, that he should have done anyhow?

Perhaps we could take note of it -- that's appropriate -- but not confer "credit."

What struck me about what he said and did -- in the videos I saw of his admonitions to his followers -- was his body language. He seemed defeated, small, crushed, slightly shamed, almost muttering to himself as he slunk away to his hole.

McCain is toast, and he knows it.

a @ 5:06,
Freedom of expression is a property of those who haven't yet merged to the Borg. It's in wikipedia, you can read upon it there.

I agree with others above. Good for him? Credit is due? Mein gott, it's no wonder Democrats lost so many elections for years. This is SOP for the GOP—the campaign opens the sewer to uncork the vilest stench while the candidate projects decency and fairness, standing tall like it's all somehow the work of others. If you're giving McCain credit then you haven't been paying attention, and you've totally forgotten 2000, 2004, and every damn Gooper campaign in between.

Right now, McCain's campaign is running 100% negative ads about Obama and his wife -- all of them designed to gin up fear of an Obama presidency with lies and the worst sort of propaganda smears. They want people afraid, they want to inflame voters' bias and bigotry, they want people to hate Obama. Fer chrissakes, McCain and Palin themselves have stated outright that Obama is an America-hating terrorist-lover, among other insane things.

Credit? You've got to be kidding.

Good for him? Credit is due? I think what happened is obvious; internal polls showed the McCain campaign that McCain and Palin's stoking of hatred and fear, and the corresponding reaction of the nuts at their rallies is driving undecided and independent voters away. So, now McCain will say nice things, while surrogates continue to stoke the fear. He'll still have all the cake he wants, while gorging himself on it.

[adjusts meds. moves on]

So, if he doesn't speak out against this bile, he's condoning it.
If he does speak out against it, it's a political pose.
Hmm...this does seem to be the pattern for a whole lot of politicians.
At least McCain spoke directly to someone at the moment they were spewing this stuff - as opposed to releasing a statement from the safety of distance.

If he does speak out against it, it's a political pose.

If he does speak out against it, while simultaneously he and his campaign and his VP candidate are doing everything possible to inflame the very rage and lunacy he's seeming to speak out against, it's a political pose.

There. Fixed.

We demand that politicians apologize and then when they do, we condemn them as being self serving and cynical.

No wonder we get the kind of politicians that we do.

McCain screwed up big time allowing the rhetoric of his campaign to become violent. I for one am relieved he is trying to tone it down. It wasn't a choice he had to make. So in my view McCain is still an arrogant ass but he's not a complete fool.

Did anyone serve on the same Board with Obama and Ayers? If there are some prominent Republicans on the list, perhaps the Obama campaign should release the the names and ask if the McCain campaign characterizes those people as terrorist sympathizers as well.

Let's go to the videotape, Kevin:

WOMAN: He's an Arab...

McCAIN: No ma'am. He's a decent family man, a citizen, with whom I just happen to have some disagreements on fundamental issues...

Note that McCain didn't really put to rest her concerns about Obama's heritage. He merely made it clear that at some point Obama had become a citizen, presumably of this country.

I'm not going to give McCain credit for backing off his violence-mongering until he becomes consistent and does it everywhere.

As it is, he is embarrassed to encourage the extremist anger and hatred in his presence but happy to take advantage when others do it in his name when he isn't there to stop it. There is a real disconnect. McCain is saying "Don't say stuff like tht about Obama when I am around." and then giving it a wink and a nod when he steps around the corner.

McCain gets no credit from me as long as he is inconsistent, and damned little credit for figuring out so late how badly he screwed up in the first place. No matter what McCain has done, his behavior has already disqualified him for the job of President, and should disqualify his as a Senator or even as a human being.

McCain was right to rebuke the woman who accused Obama of being an Arab terrorist, but until McCain starts going after Rush Limbaugh and his ilk and fires his Rovian staff, he gets no credit for doing anything at all. Even that is too little too late.

The entire conservative Republican Party consists of gutter-slime mixed with supporters of the more extreme gutter-slime and only those who recognize that and work to destroy the entire "conservative" mind-set even get credit for trying to act like human beings. They can never erase the stain on their reputations. The stain on McCain's honor is perpetual. He cannot wash it off no matter what he says or does.

I'll be happy watching McShame try to walk this tightrope of "respect for his opponent" - one he can barely to look in the eye...and the NEED and DESIRE to feed the red meat his rabid crowds so obviously want. I'm ANGRY too, at him and most REPUGS, actually...but never devolve into wishing him harm (and it's not just because Palin is next in line - although that HELPS)...this is far from over and this man has no honor left...it's all his ambition and until our MSM begins telling things as they ARE instead of trying to equalize all information...this will be a difficult struggle...

My favorite part of the "he's an Arab" exchange is when McCain starts shaking his head and the lady pauses for a second and then says "No?". She sounds genuinely surprised, like a child who has just been corrected on her deeply-held belief that the cast of Sesame Street lives inside of her TV.

Exactly Ben!

Ben: actually, she sounds puzzled, like a student spouting back exactly what she'd been told was the correct answer only to have the teacher contradict her. Like "Huh? But I thought this was what I'd been told to say!" Which maybe is exactly what did happen. JMM has been suggesting these "kill him!" and "off with his head!" comments seem awfully close to the mike, like plants. Maybe they decided to pivot on the pre-arranged question and didn't tell the shill so's it would look more spontaneous-like.

McCain dialing it down, Palin continuing her vitriolic and incendiary rhetoric represents the classic good cop -- bad cop routine.

and I should mention that once again, in suburban Columbus, OH our Obama signs are regularly being stolen from our yards in the night. Good job, Brownie.

...that the cast of Sesame Street lives inside of her TV.

I resent that and demand an apology!

I'm waiting for the rally in which John McCain says "Now folks, Barack Obama is a decent Christian family man and we must respect him" ... and the booing, screaming, enraged mob rushes the stage, piling on top of him and beating him senseless while chanting "SARAH! SARAH! U-S-A!"

One of the things I read from McCain's speaking tone, facial expressions and body language in these video clips is fear. He looks a little scared -- and not just scared that this stuff will look bad on TV.

He allowed his campaign to select Palin to win the support of the right-wing extremist dittohead cult of fear and hatred that is the Republican Party base, and he "approved this message" of fear-and-hate-mongering character assassination against Obama to get the base fired up.

Now McCain is finding himself face-to-face with that base, close up and personal, at rallies.

And cynical, ambitious politician that McCain may be, he is experiencing at least a taste of the natural, visceral, human reaction to a deranged, unstable, angry mob: fear.

The thing about Sarah Palin is, that she doesn't show any fear of the mob. On the contrary, Palin seems gleeful to be both feeding, and feeding on, the mob's rage, fear and hate.

That's not the reaction of a normal human being. It's the reaction of a psychopath. It's the look you see in Hitler's eyes in the old black & white newsreels of the mammoth Nazi rallies in 1930s Germany.

McCain is no longer running a campaign, he's running a Conservative group therapy session. The self-appointed riteous and protectors of the truth are watching not only this year's election slip away from them, but literally the last 8 years of unfettered rule crumble around them. It's a little uncomfortable to watch from the outside.

Give Obama his due. Every decision he's made in this election has worked out - Biden, the Convention speech, the high ground during "celebrity" brouhaha, ignoring "The Suspension"...my gosh, what instincts.

The woman was a typical wingnut, and was just mindlessly repeating a meme started by Rush Limbaugh, who claimed that since Obama's father came from Kenya, he's Arab. It's very loosely based on the fact that the Luo are members of the Nilotic-Saharan group rather than Bantu.

LIMBAUGH: But he’s not black. Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood? He doesn’t have any African — that’s why when they asked whether he was authentic, whether he’s down for the struggle. He’s Arab. You know, he’s from Africa. He’s from Arab parts of Africa. He’s not — his father was — he’s not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American.

From a purely political perspective, it seems that McCain's tactics have put him in a strategic dead-end. He back-pedals on the hate-mongering and he loses some of the "base" (and maybe some of the wingnut talk radio that is the real source of all this) and if he doesn't he alienates the swing voters of the moderate middle who he must have to have any shot at all of winning.

Just more proof that this guy has no sense of the larger context, and why he is utterly unqualified so sit in Lincoln,s, Eisenhower's, and FDR's seat.

[McCain is] now ... concerned about ... what goes next to his name in the history books.

Oh! I can tell him the answer right now, so he can quit worrying about it.

It'll be an asterisk. *

Which is (as Kurt Vonnegut explained in Breakfast of Champions) a visual glyph for the word "asshole", because it looks like one.

NPR this am said McCain is back into the attempt to tar Obama with his association with Bill Ayers bs. So that was a short lived conversion by Mr. Straight Talk.

Here's my take on the genie that McCain has let out of the bottle:

http://moesmisadventures.blogspot.com/2008/10/cracking-thin-veneer.html

When McCain addressed a crowd at a rally last week as "my fellow prisoners", it became obvious to me that the motherfucker is psychologically ill. He needs counseling. Obama should express sympathy for his mental illness and wish his family well as he recovers in the VA psych ward.

.."it became obvious to me that the motherfucker is psychologically ill. He needs counseling.""

..."I'm ANGRY too, at him and most REPUGS, actually."...

...."The entire conservative Republican Party consists of gutter-slime mixed with supporters of the more extreme gutter-slime and only those who recognize that and work to destroy the entire "conservative" mind-set even get credit for trying to act like human being".....

It appears to me that neither side has a monopoly on hate-mongers.

What frightened me about Cox's video report was that every person she showed had some form of "low-information" negative info on Obama. This may have been just selective editing, but I doubt it... One woman looked straight into the camera & sd" And he IS a Muslim." what floors me is that after all the months & months of Obama's getting out the message that he was born in the States (HI),and that he's half-African, And that he is a Christian, church-going guy....HOW can there still be these ignoramuses that embarrass themselves on National TV by spewing these falsehoods.??!
BTW, that woman did say she "read" that Obama was an Arab-if she was going to say terrorist McCain grabbed the mic away before she could....

I am in complete agreement with Secular Animist. Palin is F'n fightening. If she is elected, I am moving to Montreal.

At least the Intimidator got booed at the Flyers game.

Let's organize a "Thou shalt not bear false witness" Sunday march in front of churches nationwide.

Display signs with that commandment on one side, and "Barack Obama IS a Christian and a patriot" on the other.

"I am in complete agreement with Secular Animist. Palin is F'n fightening. If she is elected, I am moving to Montreal."

The line of cars heading north to Canada will make the exodus from Katrina, Gustav and Ike look like a St. Patrick's day parade. Bring plenty of fuel...

ClareA

Anyone who has evaluated or audited organizations knows one thing clearly. An organization of any significant age is largely a reflection of the man at the top - sometimes a pair or triumvirate, but usually just one man. The organization reflects his beliefs, feelings desires - and his blind areas.

That's why this would myth that McCain doesn't realize what his subordinates are doing in his name is a load of crap.

McCain wants the Presidency badly enough to encourage his subordinates to do whatever it takes. He can blind himself to the result of what they do, he can even blame them for exceeding instructions, but by his selection and encouragement McCain has started the entire hate fest that we have been watching and he has failed to stop it.

All he has done is create a myth that he tried to stop it - but the myth creating is for the media, not for his subordinates or followers. The creation of the new myth has come long after McCain initiated the entire hate fest.

The McCain campaign is a direct reflection of who and what John McCain really is, for both credit and blame. McCain is directly responsible for what we have been watching.

I planned to move to Canada too, but I'm afraid Palin would be able to see me from her house....

I do my best to remember their faces when they are shown reciting their hate at rallies. They all look the same when they're hiding beneath their hoods, carrying torches and reciting Biblical passages to justify their homicides.

SecularAnimist: "...The thing about Sarah Palin is, that she doesn't show any fear of the mob. On the contrary, Palin seems gleeful to be both feeding, and feeding on, the mob's rage, fear and hate.

That's not the reaction of a normal human being. It's the reaction of a psychopath. It's the look you see in Hitler's eyes in the old black & white newsreels of the mammoth Nazi rallies in 1930s Germany."

I agree! What they're doing is no different than the propaganda films the Nazis showed trying to manipulate public opinion toward Jews. Sarah Palin is Hitler in lipstick.

McCain and his campaign see the same poll numbers as everybody else. They know this is backfiring on them in a big way. Obama is "decent" only because McCain is being scourged as a result of his deranged behaviour.

SecularAnimist:

"(McCain) allowed his campaign to select Palin to win the support of the right-wing extremist dittohead cult of fear and hatred that is the Republican Party base...And cynical, ambitious politician that McCain may be, he is experiencing at least a taste of the natural, visceral, human reaction to a deranged, unstable, angry mob: fear.

"The thing about Sarah Palin is, that she doesn't show any fear of the mob. On the contrary, Palin seems gleeful to be both feeding, and feeding on, the mob's rage, fear and hate."

I think if I were McCain, I'd actually be frightened to death about what might happen if I *were* elected. He doesn't just have a tiger by the tail, he has a tiger infected with that rage virus from "28 Days Later".

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!? GOOD GRIEF!! While McCain was praising Obama as a "good family man," he was running the lowest and sleaziest campaign ads yet and he's still running them. He wants to have it both ways and it appears that the housebroken liberals in the media are going to let him get away with it. DISGUSTING!