The Republicans send out Sarah Palin to whip up hatred against Barack Obama for what she calls "palling around with terrorists" who "bombed the pentagon" and for any number of things that are patently false, and then when her supporters start yelling "terrorist" and "kill him," she acts like it's no big deal. As the crowds get more and more vocal in their violent language, she continues on and incites even more anger.
Then she goes on Rush Limbaugh and says "Rush, I've got nothing to lose in this and I think America's got everything to gain by understanding the differences, the contrasts here between Obama and McCain." There you have it. All she's doing is presenting "contrasts." And she has nothing to lose, that's her only moral compass apparently.
In the meantime, McCain and his surrogates, including that idiot Joe Scarborough on MSNBC, who have no understanding of either history or nuance, are attacking Obama for not condemning civil rights icon John Lewis who said this in response to the hateful rallies of McCain and Palin:
As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign....Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.
Lewis recalled the speeches of George Wallace and noted how they incited violence. He said:
During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate. George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama....As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy.
This, according to Republican supporters of McCain, is beyond the pale, equivalent to whipping up hatred in crowds. Joe Scarborough says Lewis is comparing McCain to the bombers of the church in Birmingham, which is not what Lewis did. This is where reading and comprehension skills are important. Lewis said McCain and Palin were playing with fire, like Wallace played with fire - and that fire led to terrible events. Lewis made it clear that Wallace "never threw a bomb or fired a gun." Actually the mention of Wallace is interesting in that Wallace is an example of violent words blowing back on the one who utters them. Wallace was the victim of an attempted assassination which left him paralyzed.
Not being African American, not having been jailed because one is fighting for civil rights, not having been bloodied and beaten as was John Lewis, people like John McCain, Sarah Palin, and Joe Scarborough cannot begin to imagine the fear that this kind of hate talk engenders in people like John Lewis. They have absolutely no racial sensitivity, which doesn't surprise me because they have almost no contact with African Americans.
What we are seeing play out here is enormous ignorance combined with lack of true moral character on the part of the Republican candidates. John McCain has done nothing for civil rights, voted against the Martin Luther King holiday, and has obvious contempt for his African American opponent. As an Alaskan, who mostly stays within Alaskan boundaries, Sarah Palin may never have had any contact with African Americans, who don't generally live in Alaska. Their sensitivity is obviously lacking. But they are good at insisting that Lewis' statement makes them the victims of the Obama campaign, even though Lewis made his statement on his own, in response to his own observations, and not in connection with any Obama rally, while the objectionable words connected to McCain and Palin are words shouted out at their rallies in response to their own incendiary words.
John Lewis has earned the right, with his actions and his blood, to remind us that words matter, and that incendiary words can lead to violent consequences. And yet McCain and Palin are acting like crybabies whose guilt makes them change the subject from their own unacceptable accusations and demand an apology from both Lewis and Obama, who had nothing to do with Lewis' statement. This is insane.
At the same time, Palin tells Limbaugh she has "nothing to lose" with her hate talk. And there you have the whole character issue: she only cares about herself. She is only concerned with whether she has something to lose. She doesn't care if America loses, which was Lewis' whole point. This kind of hate speech hurts America and has the potential to hurt Americans in deadly ways. Lewis is trying to warn the campaign to stop the potential harm that can come to the country they say they love.
Lewis is performing the role of an elder statesman. Palin is performing the role of an ignorant rabble rouser, an unsophisticated and immature teenager who doesn't care who or what she hurts just as long as she comes out ahead. And McCain is like a parent who is egging her on. As role models for Americans, these two are disasters. And whether Palin can understand this or not, America has a lot to lose if she continues to incite hatred.
