We Must Scare You

8 Thoughts on the Current Campaigns #3

Ashley Todd was visiting an ATM in Bloomfeld, PA when she was attacked by a black man. The mugger would then notice that a bumper sticker on her car supporting John McCain. In a fit of rage, her attacked carved a 'B' in her face. Fox News and The Drudge Report immediately provided extensive coverage of the attack.



Of course, the police suspected she was lying from the start, and she would later admit as much herself. CNN chose not to cover the story because they believed it needed further vetting first. Rich Sanchez savaged several other news organizations for their coverage.



The questions now is, where did the story come from? How did this phony attack come to play such a prominent role on the highest rates news network in the land? Well, because the McCain campaign chose to push the story, and Fox News and right wing radio will dutifully respond anytime the McCain campaign calls. McCain's Pennsylvania Director of Communications, Peter Feldman, appears to be the man who not only pushed the story, but embellished it with additional racism and such.

How could the McCain camp be deceived into pushing this story? Why would they augment the story with the taint of racism that the facts didn't support? Easy. They are losing and they are desperate, and in that desperation, there is no low to which they won't seek.

John McCain has served in Washington for over three decades. If he so chose, he is more than capable of running a campaign of ideas. As a former protege of Barry Goldwater, he is as well versed in conservative ideology as anyone in politics today. The problem is that the people are ready to reject conservative ideology. Instead McCain has run a campaign that is a veritable greatest hits of Republican smears, past and present.

They are playing the "socialist" card. They are playing the "communist" card. They are playing the "Arab" card. They are playing the "Muslim" card. They are playing the "soft on terror" card. They are playing the "dangerous" card. Their surrogates are even playing the "scary black man" card. They do not care if their scare tactics are based in truth. All they know is the path to the White House requires scaring you into voting for McCain. McCain is Bush.

It was, of course, FDR who said, in the midst of the greatest economic crisis this country has faced, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." It is Barack Obama who says, "In my heart I know you didn't come here just for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be. In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect union." It is John McCain who wants to scare you. Which do you think this country needs in this hour of crisis?