The McCain campaign suddenly has a new spokesperson, Mike Goldfarb, for this particular subject? What happened to Nancy Pfotenhauer? Too shiksa? Or is she currently too busy in "Real Virginia?"
Recently in wtf? Category
It is now considered de rigeur for American political candidates to engage in heavy handed negative campaign tactics aimed at the outraged emotional heart of the lowest common human denominator. George Bush I had the infamous and tasteless Willie Horton ad. George Bush II had the carpet bombing "McCain has an illegitimate black baby" calls in South Carolina. Now we have the McCain campaign's unrelenting drive for the American people to see Barack Obama as a black, Muslim terrorist who doesn't "see America as you and I see America." Wink. Wink.
We have already endured ten days of She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, the presumed GOP VP, race baiting and hate mongering at rallies all over the country. Apparently inciting fear based violence against one's political opponent is now considered acceptable behavior from a major party candidate, regardless of the damage it inflicts on the health of the nation.
On October 12th, Time magazine ran an article by Karen Tumulty on the a new campaign tactic adopted by Virginia state GOP Chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick:
With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points -- for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," he said. "That is scary." It is also not exactly true -- though that distorted reference to Obama's controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. "And he won't salute the flag," one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, "We don't even know where Senator Obama was really born."
According to the McCain campaign itself, in order to shore up his flagging Virginia polling numbers, Senator John McCain is scheduled attend a GOP rally this Saturday in Woodbridge, VA. With Jeffrey Fredrick. Such an appearance does not give the impression of a tacit endorsement of Fredrick's campaign strategy. It actually is a flat out endorsement. Considering McCain was practically foaming at last night's debate over what he perceives as Obama's negative campaigning, one would think McCain would want his own campaign to stick to the facts. Well, McCain's very actions prove otherwise.
Today, while perusing the news, I came a cross a startling article in the San Francisco Chronicle which further illuminates the lows to which the GOP has sunk in order to get its man into the White House.
Violent anti-Barack Obama rhetoric - such as "Waterboard Barack Obama" - and images linking the Democratic presidential candidate to terrorist leader Osama bin Laden appeared this week on the official Web site of the Sacramento County Republican Party, the latest in a series of increasingly graphic attacks nationwide on the Illinois senator that seek to cast him as a terrorist sympathizer.
As if Fredrick's campaign approach wasn't horrifying enough, now we have a GOP office with "Waterbaord Obama" on it's official page. I decided to call the office directly to find out what the hell they were thinking. I found their telephone number on their website, and gave them a ring. The brief conversation went as follows:
"Good afternoon, Sacramento County Republican Headquarters."
"Hi! I am a registered independent voter and the wife of a Navy veteran in a swing state and I am wondering if the news reports are true that you posted on your official website 'Waterboard Obama!'"
"You're going to have to call our Communications Director Hector Barajas."
"You can't just tell me what was on your website?"
"You have to call our Communications Director Hector Barajas."
"What is your name, please?"
"I am not going to tell you that."
With that, I was given Mr. Barajas's telephone number and hung up on. I called Mr. Barajas. According to his out going message, he is actually the California State Republican Party's Communications Director. So I was shuttled up the chain of command because, apparently, the Sacramento County Republican Headquarters was no longer permitted to speak on its own behalf. They were permitted to put hate speech on their website to rally their base, but because they were caught by the media, they have had their reins pulled up.
I left a message with Mr. Barajas asking for an explanation, but as just another voting citizen, I don't truly expect to receive one. I decide to again call the Sacramento office to give Ms. Anonymous GOP staffer another shot at explaining their campaign approach.
"Good afternoon, Sacramento County Republican Headquarters."
"Hi, I called earlier about your website. I called Mr. Barajas and left him a message, but I thought I would call you back one more time just to ask if you could confirm that you had posted 'Waterboard Obama' on your website."
"You really have to speak with Hector Barajas."
"Yes, you told me that once already, but I am an independent voter in a swing state and I am trying to get a clear picture of how John McCain is running his campaign for President, so I am hoping you can just tell me a little bit about the way in which the Sacramento County Republicans are campaigning for John McCain."
"Listen, you are going to have to call Hector Barajas. He is much more knowledgeable about this subject than me (sic). I can not comment on this matter. He is the man you should speak with."
"So you are not going to tell me anything about your official website."
"I told you no."
"OK, then. That's all I need to know."
And, really, that is all I need to know. The individual GOP campaign headquarters are now approaching this campaign in the most undignified manner possible in the hope that there are enough uninformed Americans who will vote from a place of ignorant terror. This has nothing to do with the economy, or the failing wars on two fronts, or the fact that the bill for said wars has never actually been included in the national budget. This has nothing to do with the personal debt crisis looming on the horizon like a darkened iceberg, or how you and I will pay for health insurance as we age, or tax cuts or tax increases. This has nothing to do with eight years of unprecedented deficit spending, or the failing national infrastructure, or the fact that buying canned beer gives you a better return on your investment than most financial stocks. The McCain campaign is now about portraying Barack Obama in the most negative light possible, regardless of truth or reality, in the hope that the American public is as easily manipulated as they believe. Well, I choose hope over fear because I think we can do better and that we deserve better, regardless of how little John McCain actually thinks of the American people.
I leave you with a little food for thought, straight from the horse's mouth in 2000:
*update*
Hector Barajas actually called me back this afternoon and left a message on my cell phone inviting me to call him back. I certainly intend to! I'll keep you posted!
According to a piece on Daily Kos this evening, Wachovia Bank, the very bank that is on the brink of utter and total collapse, the very bank whose solvency is so questionable that CitiCorp and Wells Fargo are picking over its desiccated bones, has just offered up an emergency $8,000,000 (yup, that's 8 million) cash loan to the Republican National Congressional Committee to help out in getting those GOP candidates into the House. A bank that is so ruinous it would need to be NATIONALIZED were it not for Wells Fargo's interest is handing over 8 million bucks to the RNCC. That stinks like something dead in the sun.
On the other hand, at least this wasn't a post about She Who Shall Not Be Named!
The level to which the current presidential campaign has descended should surprise no one. After all, we are a nation that incubated two of the greatest manipulative, mean spirited, hate-mongers in contemporary history, Lee Atwater and Karl Rove. These two men innately understood the power in tweaking bigotry, xenophobia, and visceral fear. Lee Atwater himself acknowledged that the more uneducated the target audience, the easier it was to incite anger and moral outrage. Atwater may have renounced his life's actions on his deathbed, but he had already opened Pandora's Box for a new generation of political strategists. Interesting, then, that the only value to remain within said box was hope.
I have been working for two days on a separate post regarding Sarah Palin's recent injection of racism and hate-mongering into the campaign (including her apparent glee in inciting an audience member at a recent campaign stop to cheer "Kill Him!" in regards to Obama). In the meantime, I thought I would post a recently aired "Special Comment" from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.
As my nutty mother loves to say, "Those in glass houses should not throw stones!" Someone should mention to Ms. Palin, that when she skillfully nudges her audiences to chant "terrorist" in response to Obama and demands "truthfulness" from her opponent, she is throwing open her own closet doors and inviting the bright light of inquiry. Or perhaps Ms. Palin thinks that as long as she refuses to give a press conference, she is above public reproach. That must be it.
OK, I know it seems as if my writing has been consumed by the election as of late. I guess that's what happens when a political junkie finds herself suddenly, unexpectedly in a swing state. Colorado is currently being inundated by political ads, campaign stops, candidate appearances, pollsters and I find the process fascinating. Maybe it's because I feel that we finally, as a nation, have the opportunity to rise above the level to which we've descended over the last seven years. I feel so hopeful these days.
Well, today I feel less exhilarated and more sniffly. Quarantined in bed, as I have been for the last four days, has given me ample time to read on line and watch cable news programs (jesus, I had no idea the crap that passes for news on tv these days). Yes, I even read newspapers! All of 'em, any of 'em that, um, have been in front of me. The New York Times and the Boulder Weekly, just to name two.
My apologies to those of you who are sick of politics, sick of the news, sick of current events (as they were called in grade school), but this is the gear I seem to be grinding. It's better than smoking crack in a dimly lit stall of a gas station bathroom, that's for damn sure.
With that said, shall we move on to McCain? With the amount of tissues I am destroying and the red, raw look I am sporting, I have to cancel my jaunt this afternoon down to Denver to participate in John and Cindy's town hall meeting. I'll just have to rely on his Senate voting record to make an informed opinion about him.
Which leads me to today's episode of Liar, Liar Pants on Fire! If you watched the Presidential debates last week, you heard John McCain, just after reminding us of his POW experience (although, truthfully, it sounded as if he was just in prison), say the following:
"I know the veterans, I know them well, and I know that they know that I'll take care of them, and I have been proud of their support and their recognition of my service to the veterans, and I love them, and I'll take care of them, and they know that I'll take care of them."
My husband is a Navy veteran. He served his country proudly and honorably and I admire the experience for which he volunteered during the first Gulf War. I would never presume to speak for him, but when McCain uttered the above words, my beautiful husband actually snorted and then laughed. Loudly. He continue to laugh as he muttered, "Bullshit!" and walked out of the room. Baby, when you've got veterans laughing, the very people you're pimping in your campaign, you've got a problem. So, I did a little digging.
Via Crooks and Liars, one of my favorite fact check websites, I found a GREAT web resource outlining exactly how McCain has voted on veteran and troop issues over the years. Vetvoice.com is a diary compendium edited by Army veteran Brandon Friedman that focuses on veteran and troop issues. The posts written by enlisted men are an incredible read and offer a perspective rarely heard in the mainstream media.
Friedman wrote an incredibly detailed post regarding McCain's voting record. This is not conjecture, opinion, or partisan politics. McCain's voting history is public record. It's fact. If you're voting for McCain based on the notion that he cares deeply for the American veteran, please read Friedman's post. It is an education regarding how McCain has truly treated our vets. McCain states that the vets know that he will take care of them. Based on what exactly?
For a detailed description of all the bills mentioned in the VetVoice's piece, or for any public record information regarding political officials' bios, party affiliation, speeches, issue positions, interest group ratings, committees, sponsorships, votes, and campaign finances, please visit Project Smart Vote. There you can search for your representatives and view their actual records. A little information is a powerful thing.
McCain's Miserable Record of Not Supporting America's Troops and Veterans - VetVoice.com
McCain's Awful Record on Troop and Veterans' Issues - crooksandliars.com
ProjectSmartVote.org