How else can you explain his actions last week? First he compared Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. What for? He says this was his attempt at humor. As humor it is purile. It was ridiculed by many pundits including Republicans. Obviously he was trying to denigrate Obama's character and make him look silly.
Then he compared Obama to Moses parting the waters. First Spears and Hilton and then Moses. He doesn't even try to be consistent. His only purpose is to ridicule Obama. If one approach does not work try another. His overiding purpose is to tear down Obama's character.
And what is better than racism? In his ad comparing Obama to Moses McCain talks of Obama being "the One." What does this mean? You may think this is sarcasm. But it is not. It's purpose is to assassinate Obama's character. You may think I am being too harsh. Here is what David Gergen, who has worked for Republican and Democratic presidents said:
"There has been a very intentional effort to paint him as somebody outside the mainstream, other, 'he's not one of us,'" said Gergen, who has worked with White Houses, both Republican and Democrat, from Nixon to Clinton. "I think the McCain campaign has been scrupulous about not directly saying it, but it's the subtext of this campaign. Everybody knows that. There are certain kinds of signals. As a native of the south, I can tell you, when you see this Charlton Heston ad, 'The One,' that's code for, 'he's uppity, he ought to stay in his place.' Everybody gets that who is from a southern background. We all understand that. When McCain comes out and starts talking about affirmative action, 'I'm against quotas,' we get what that's about."
"He's uppity, he ought to stay in his place." He is black. There's no need to treat him like we do the rest of us: whites. This is not humor, satire or light-headed commentary. All these stupid ads have meaning. All of them are not meant to "knock him off his pedestal," but to remind people that Obama is not like us. He's black and how can you trust a black man?
McCain has been told by political operatives that the only way to win is by "going negative." This is what he is doing. I don't think McCain is a racist. But he can do plenty of harm by adopting racist techniques. I hope McCain drops this character assassinaton.
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