Short Stories, Long Odds

I’ve been wondering about the Ayers attack for months - I knew that the Republicans would try to make something out of nothing no matter what, especially if things started to look bleak for them. I thought this before McCain hired the Karl Rove-Lee Atwater Ice Capade Singers as his entire campaign brain, and after he did I knew it was only a matter of time.

That two men serve on a charitable board together - one made up of people from several, disparate backgrounds - in no way marries them ideologically, save for whatever cause the board may serve. On the other hand, being a registered member of a radical political party - say, one that advocates for the secession of Alaska even if violent means are required - is a certain statement of affiliation and shared belief.

But what if you are in the leadership of a group that has radical and virulent ideas? What if you identify so strongly with a radical right wing anti-Semitic group that funds Sandinistas and Central American death squads that you not only join the group but you let them put your name and elected office on their letterhead for several years?

If the results of several years of Republican policies weren’t melting the earth around us on a daily basis, the Ayers thing might have gotten legs, sadly. That said, I don’t know that it would have worked as well as I had initially thought. Not because the general American voter is better than I give them credit for, but because the target audience for racist attacks like this one is generally unmotivated by a boogeyman that is white and named Bill. Had Obama served on an education board with an Abu or a Shabazz that was, dare I say it, also brown, well… maybe the ultra-conservative, hyper-right-wing, racist independents who staunchly (or maybe maverick-ly?) decline to self-identify as Republicans might have been swayed.

Instead, John McCain’s total shedding of all dignity has led high-profile Republican elected officials to reject his campaign for the stupid bile factory it has become. Some of them are probably motivated by nothing more than being dragged down into electoral history as a loser by John McCain, but I have no doubt that a great many Republicans who champion fiscally conservative principles (and have likely never been at the bit of bigotry thinly veiled as social conservatism) are disgusted by what the presidential ticket has driven their party to become. If I were a Republican for whatever reason, I would be ashamed that a large contingent of my party were bigoted enough to believe that all Muslims or Arabs are bad or incapable of decency, or ignorant enough to think that Muslims or Arabs can’t also be citizens of the United States, or outright dumb enough to say half of the shit these people say on their way in to a McCain / Palin rally. The social conservative hardcore right wing base of the Republican Party is ruining the Republican Party for the rest of the Republican Party, possibly forever.

I thought I was appalled at the lengths to which Rove took Bush’s campaign in 2004, but what we see today is an incredible new horizon of craven horrors. Men that care very little about anything other than gaining and seeking power have concocted a campaign that whips thousands of people into a frenzy of rage. When I watch these rallies, where Republican voters scream out things like “Kill Him!” about the Democratic Party’s nominee for President of the United States, I am reminded of the mad dog, driven by equal parts abject terror and blind fury, that bites a stranger after a week of being stoned and tormented by mean kids.

It is sad and it depresses me but I am starting to believe that partisanship has advanced to real hatred on the Republican side, and I squarely blame John McCain and Sarah Palin - and by extension, Karl Rove - for it. This isn’t a spirited policy disagreement. This isn’t someone who thinks all Democrats will raise his taxes, or even talks about the creeping threat of socialism. This is hatred, inspired by fear. We know that a great many Republicans elected to office in this generation are fearmongers that abuse their power. We did not know for certain what depths their behavior could reach, but now we’re beginning to see it.

To be fair, I know plenty of Democratic activists that would never, ever vote for a Republican, and I even know some that think Republicans can’t be trusted as a rule, or that maybe the A-Team from the Bush administration deserves to go to prison for what they’ve done. I have seen disappointment, and frustration, and indignation, and outrage, deserved or not.

In my short time in political involvement, though, I have never seen a naked, stupid hatred for Republicans. I have never once heard someone yell “Kill Him!” when a Republican’s name is mentioned. I don’t know anyone that would openly advocate violence against anyone, let alone against political opponents.

Every day I observe violence being incited at Republican rally after Republican rally - and don’t kid yourself, if you think Sarah Palin’s words or John McCain’s campaign aren’t being heard as calls to war by some of their supporters, you are ignoring large swaths of political history in which scary things happened as a result of kinder language broadcast with a far smaller media budget.

The best analogy I can think of right now is this: I am a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan, and during the 2004 MLB playoffs, a New York Yankees fan was pulled into a van near Fenway Park and murdered by Red Sox fans. It was an amazing time to be a Red Sox fan, but when I think of 2004, instead of the Sox breaking the curse and winning the World Series, I think of the stupid people that did the unimaginable thing and killed someone. I’m ashamed and I wish it had never happened.

Do you think that guy who yelled “Kill Him!” about Barack Obama at a McCain / Palin rally will feel the same way if their rhetoric results in political violence and someone gets hurt? Do you think any of the people who really believe that Obama is a “one man sleeper cell” or a terrorist would feel ashamed or wish it hadn’t happened?

There’s no artful way to say it: I’m frightened by this behavior, and even more frightened by the fact that every condition that might make things worse exists all around us right now. And I’m not sure what could fix it.