Calls to Kill, Behead Terrorist, Treacherous Obama at McCain-Palin Rallies

The montage on the left shows racism and bigotry raising their ugly heads across American society. A major reason is Republican campaign rhetoric which has reached a fever pitch as ratings of the Republican ticket drop across all major polls.

A recent McCain press release was packaged as "Obama's Friend Tried to Kill My Family." Palin announced at a donor's meeting at a private airport that "Obama palled with Terrorists". Both were referring to Obama's alleged association with Weather Underground cofounder Bill Avery who shared a Chicago neighborhood with Obama and two Board seats but little else. The Weather Underground is alleged to have exploded petroleum firebombs to protest the Vietnam War. Obama was a child at the time.

Critics have accused McCain-Pallin of pandering to the "Stupid Vote" i.e. Caucasians with low education and income levels who are susceptible to racism and bigotry. Why McCain is pandering to this segment which forms part of the conservative core in any case, remains a mystery to most. At this time in the Presidential race, the expectation is that candidates focus on the populist center by espousing populist, mainstream themes. This is why some analysts are interpreting McCain-Palin's efforts at "Wiemar Rebublic like rabble rousing" as an eleventh hour attempt to solidy the base thereby indicating serious weaknesses in the Republican campaign to date.

At this time, which is the twilight of the Presidential race, the conventional wisdom is that the base is already solidified and the attempt will be to win over undecided voters at the center -- something that Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were so successful at doing.

The McCain-Palin "race-baiting tactics", forty years after the death of Marin Luther King, are a sad reminder that racism and bigotry are alive and well in American society. This time around, however, such tactics are expected to fail. Clearly, a large segment of the "establishment" comprising corporate leaders and political "king makers" like Lee Hamilton and James Baker are promoting Obama. "He is viewed as half Christain-half Muslim, half Black-half White, in other words the ideal package to repair the global damage to America's image caused by George W. Bush and the neo-cons."