Quick 8: Character Assassination

1. If you’ve paid any attention at all to the Presidential campaign last week, you saw Republican anger change over to what can only be described as near violent outrage. Let’s be honest: this always happens with Republicans. Every major Republican feeds the irrational anger of the ignorant. Rush Limbaugh? Yes. Bill O’Reilly? Yes. Ronald Reagan? Yes. George W. Bush? Yes. John McCain and Sarah Palin? Hell yes.
   
2. At this point, it’s obvious that John McCain and Sarah Palin can’t win on the issues. Well, ya know, duh. The Republicans, post Goldwater, have never won an election on the issues. They would claim to win on issues of “character”. That’s what they’d have us believe but in truth, they win by character assassination.
3. Now, if you’re a Republican looking to assassinate someone’s character, what would you consider their fatal flaw? Well, the fatal flaw is often their greatest strength. Republicans believe in the head on assault. There is no strength that they are not willing to exploit in an attempt to win elections. An example? John Kerry and Max Cleland are indisputably war heroes, but the Republicans turned Kerry into a traitor and Cleland into a terrorist sympathizer.
4. Obama’s fatal flaw? Well, he has many. He has a compelling stage presence which has led to some of the more memorable speeches in modern politics. Because of this he’s proven to be enormously popular. The Republicans would target these strengths.
5. In the early days of the race, the McCain campaign attempted to paint Obama as an empty celebrity on par with Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears. Ultimately, it turned out that pointing out your opponent’s popularity might not be such a good idea.
   
6. Ultimately, these attacks didn’t gain any traction with the press or the public so the McCainites did what Republicans always do when given the chance: they launch racist attacks. Of course, this was nothing like the Willie Horton attacks used against Dukakis, this time they have a real live black candidate to target. It would be unfair to say every Republican is racist. It would not be so unfair to say every Republican Presidential candidate is more than willing to exploit the racism of the ignorant to win the White House.
7. So far, we’ve seen Obama painted as an uppity black man who doesn’t know his place. We’ve seen them trot out his scary black preacher. They’ve branded his wife as a militant, angry black woman. He sat on an education board with another scary black man. His name sounds Arab! His middle name is Hussein! He might be a terrorist himself!
8. In a sane world, everyone from the press on down would look at these people and mock them for their stupidity. Instead, this behavior is not just expected, but condoned and endorsed. They are legitimate concerns that must be addressed. Excuses are made for the Republican politicians. Justifications are put out by spokesmen. Worst of all, they accuse the black candidate of playing the race card if their racism is pointed out. On issues of race, we have a long way to go.