Oct. 14, 2008 (World News Trust) -- Dear Senator McCain,
One way or another, you reach an end on November 4th. We do know that for certain, even though no one can say what kind of end it will be -- whether the road takes you to the Oval Office or to the finish of your long-held ambition to be President. But one thing has ended already: your integrity, and any protestations that your campaign isn’t as racist and hate-ridden as hell. This is how you want to close at least this towering phase of your career?
Sorry to be that blunt, but that’s how it looks. That’s how it looks whenever the goons (predominantly Anglo) at your rallies start shouting “Terrorist!” and “Traitor!” and “Kill him!” -- and when an unfortunate female low-information voter insists Barack Obama is an Arab to be feared and mewls a wimped-out “no?” when you attempt an equally wimped-out correction of her faulty opinion. That same woman later told reporters that even a personal reassurance from you that “he’s not” didn’t change her mind. Your campaign’s denunciation of Congressman John Lewis’s complaint about how you and your running mate are playing with fire and racist hatred speaks a lot more forcefully.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14488.html
I’ve seen Code Pink protestors forcibly ejected from similar public assemblies. I’ve heard what they’ve called out. None of them ever advocated the death of someone. Rather, they tend to object to that kind of thing. The same goes for anyone in any Obama/Biden crowd -- they may boo your name or your policies but they don’t advocate violence or murder against you. So how come the people who’ve done that at your rallies aren’t treated the same as the Code Pink people -- physically carted out of there and thus made into an example of how not to behave? No. They’re allowed to stay and keep on cheering their angry, murderous, racist cheers. And all you do is offer a milquetoast version of “now-now-now,” while outside, some of them have actually been telling reporters that they think Obama should die.
Deny it all you will. They’re saying and doing these things in your name. And you’re not exactly going out of your way to convince them to stop.
It’s even worse with Sarah Palin, who, the weekend after your town hall debate with Obama, started a shrill caterwauling trying to exaggerate Obama’s “relationship” with William Ayers: “he’s palling around with TERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRists!” Funny how the temperature of the audience members at McCain/Palin rallies reached the boiling point directly afterwards, and nobody in your camp said squat. Certainly they haven’t said much to Palin. Her retort at subsequent rallies was an even more pathetic “it is not negative, it is not mean-spirited to talk about his record.” His “record” of “palling around with TERRRRRRRRRRRRists”? The record that’s described as paths actually crossing sporadically in Chicago
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/us/politics/04ayers.html
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Mary Lyon is a veteran broadcaster and five-time Golden Mike Award winner, who has anchored, reported, and written for the Associated Press Radio Network, NBC Radio "The Source," and many Los Angeles-area stations including KRTH-FM/AM, KLOS-FM, KFWB-AM, and KTLA-TV, and occasional media analyst for ABC Radio News. She began her career as a liberal activist with the Student Coalition for Humphrey/Muskie in 1968, and helped spearhead a regional campaign, The Power 18," to win the right to vote for 18-year-olds. She remains an advocate for liberal causes, responsibility and accountability in media, environmental education and support of the arts for children, and green living. In addition to World News Trust, Mary writes for Huffington Post, OpEdNews, Democrats.us, WeDemocrats.org's "We! The People" webzine. Mary is also a parenting expert, having written and llustrated the book "The Frazzled Working Woman's Practical Guide to Motherhood.