At rallies this week in Florida, crowds jeered and taunted members of the news media. One man hurled a racial epithet at a black television crewman, telling him, "Sit down, boy".Holy crap, it's the two minutes hate! It is sad and truly frightening that this is what the Republican party has come to. They have turned themselves into the party of xenophobia and hate.
Yesterday, for the second time in three days, a speaker at a McCain rally in Pennsylvania referred to Obama's middle name, Hussein, in an effort to cast doubt in his religion and background. Obama is a Christian.
At the same rally, shouts of "terrorist" and "liar" could be heard following references to the Democratic candidate. On Saturday, McCain running mate Sarah Palin sought to link Obama to Ayers. "Kill him!" one man in the crowd shouted, not specifying who.
--The Guardian
They are spreading insinuation about Obama's link to a 1960s "domestic terrorist" without recognizing that they are breeding a new brand of extremism themselves! If guys at their rallies are shouting "terrorist," "liar," and "kill him," how far are they from actually doing something violent? The McCain campaign is taking a scorched earth strategy here, which is dishonorable and wrong.
One lesson I take from this is that no matter how decent a guy is when he's nominated to the Republican ticket, he'll never survive the experience with his decency intact. Because winning on the Republican side requires "mobilizing the base," and the base demands red meat. The base thrives on culture wars. The base has this need to find an "other" and demonize them.
It's a dark moment on the Republican side of the aisle.