The Tone Being Created

It has gotten ugly ... on both sides.

Do you know what would happen if I put up McCain/Palin '08 signs in my yard? I'd probably get them thrown through my front window.

The same goes for Obama signs. Somebody taped one to the telephone pole on our block and it was gone in two hours.

Nobody, I mean NOBODY, seems to be expressing themselves one way the other where I live. Must be self-preservation.

It's funny though ... you go on the internet and everybody is in everybody's face. It's rather depressing.

Jeff? McCain was a fighter pilot. He didn't have men to leave behind. And there were plenty of men who did not make it out of Hanoi - or Vietnam. Or men who came home and lived the rest of their lives in the city park. Or put a bullet through their heads. And John McCain has forgetten them. He has voted against veterans again and again again. His record with disabled vets is 20%. 80% of the time, he voted against bills that would help them. He said he would never condone torture because it would make our troops more vulnerable. Then he turned around and voted for torture with George Bush. He voted against the GI bill - even though when you ask almost any serviceman why he/she went to Iraq - they say it was because they thought they were going to get an education. John McCain's reason? (And this is on record - look it up) Because it would give soldiers an incentive not to reenlist. What a betrayal. John McCain may understand rich officer's kids like himself - but he is no friend to vets and never has been.

TexasFootballMom - You said it all. I believed in John McCain - there is a photo in a national newspaper of my little girl at a rally. What happened to that man?

Sarah Palin, the so-called Christian, has turned this campaign into a hate-filled lynch mob. And the McCain campaign does not have the dignity or integrity to denounce it.

John McCain is over - and the polls show it. Swing states are mostly made up of pretty decent educated voters - and they do not believe in this level of slime. It may have worked for Lee Atwater in SC, but it is not going over in MN or Michigan or Wisconsin. McCain's numbers slip lower the lower he goes.

McCain/Palin could not be blamed for racism/xenophobia of some supporters...that is until their latest dive into sleaze. Linking Obama to a terrorist is a last shameful gasp.
I've gone from sympathetic (New Hampshire primary comeback), to confused (Palin), to embarrased (fundamentals are strong) and now I'm
just getting angry (Obama's different!).

I really hope America is better than this.

Look, Palin's husband Todd is a former (we're assuming he stopped) secessionist who supported an Anti-American Alaska separistist party for a LONG time and she even spoke at their rallies (not some coincidental coffee break in Chicago).

McCain has a LOT of "guilt-by-association" skeletons in his closet that could wipe out the Jewish vote in Florida. I don't reference these things to raise objections to McCain/Palin. I raise them to point out that it's deeds that matter. If, as we should assume, McCain is not Anti-semitic and Palin is not an Anti-American Alaskan separatist, then we better darn well assume Barack is not a sympathizer of anti-Vietnam violence perpetrated when he was a kid.

I for one want to believe the best of our officials, and until McCain decided to unleash this last desperate fodder I had respect for the man. I respect the McCain of old, but this guy I don't even recognize anymore.

Vote for Barr or Baldwin, but give up on McCain/Palin: for the good of the country and the party. This way we'll still have some dignity in 2012.

Well that settles it. McCain and Palin are not mavericks. They're typical hate-mongers sturring up the most vile forms of bigotry they can, in the great tradition of Atwater and Rove.

I was late to this realization (in McCain's case anyway). Rolling Stone and Matt Welch beat me to the realization that McCain is as power-hungry and sleazy as any other politician with national ambitions.

HATRED AND FEAR.

McCAIN and PALIN have SUNK TO THE LOWEST FORM OF POLITICAL DEMAGOGUERY

These rallies based on an EMPTY CULT OF PERSONALITY for a IGNORANT CANDIDATE remind me of the NAZIS.

NO CANDIDATE HAS EVER BROUGHT UP RACE EXCEPT OBAMA. EVER. GERALDINE FERRARO STATED FACT AND HAD TO PULL OUT OF HILLARY'S CAMPAIGN BECAUSE SHE SAID HE IS WHERE HE IS BECAUSE HE'S BLACK. BILL CLINTON, WHO HAS DONE MORE FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS WAS SLIMED IN SC AS A RACIST.
C'MON....RACISM IS OUT THERE AND IT'S ALWAYS BEEN FROM OBAMA SIDE.
I'D VOTE FOR A BLACK CANDIDATE (WOULD HAVE COLIN POWELL) BUT NEVER, NEVER BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA!!!

If I could count all the times I've been called a racist because I am NOT AN OBAMA SUPPORTER, we wouldn't have enough space here to list them all. My yard signs stolen, my car stickers....I get flipped off from a black guy on the freeway on my way to Pasadena.
Please.....RACISM IS HUGE ON THE OBAMA SIDE.
ALL AMERICAN, COUNTRY FIRST McCAIN/PALIN ALL THE WAY!

They know what they are doing, inciting hatred and fear and delusion. It's the only way they can win.

Palin and McCain will be the victims of the divisions they are creating. There is no rest for the double-minded and neither of these people are behaving like Christians.

McCain will be aghast at what his ambition caused this country in civility.

Boo on all you fearmongers and their willing but miserable prey.

"We can take this one racist comment made by some guy in the audience, and use it to paint McCain supporters as racists"

Oh I am sure there are many more racist comments made.

And now reporters will be listening for them.

indy_voter,

Thank you for illustrating the 75-25 backstab so well. And so timely!

Moderate,

SHHHHHH! You're not supposed to talk about anti-McCain racism or agism or anything-ism.

Don't you get it?! Republicans are EEEEVILLLL! Democrats are GOOOOOOD.

Just watch ABC News tonight. They'll set you straight, with the stories they tell, the stories they DON'T tell, and the adjectives and adverbs they use in the telling.

And you WILL see this "ugly racism" angle on their broadcast. The only question is, will it be a straight up hit job, or will they couch it in a 75-25 backstab*

(*75-25 is where they "present both sides" but clearly lean toward one as the better side.)

Yep, getting ugly on BOTH SIDES. Let's be evenhanded here, if we can, okay?

Look...Republicans are like the bully in your neighborhood when you were young. They would try to start a fight and you would try ignore them as best you could. Then they were get a little meaner and finally get physical. You would end kicking their ###because in reality they were nothing but a paper tiger. Then they would go home and tell their mother that you were mean to them and caused the fight. That is what Republicans are....at least what the National Republican party and their candidates have become. Obama was attacked personally by McCain and Palin as a strategic political move. Whatever Obama and his supporters do to retaliate is justified. And Republicans can go home crying just like the paper tiger bully you knew growing up..

And then there are Obama fans posting accusing McCain of being a collaborator with the Vietnamese and a war criminal and such. He's also regularly accused of being a racist, when he does not have a racist bone in his body. That's not to start on the insinuations about his age and mental state. Yep, getting ugly on BOTH SIDES. Let's be evenhanded here, if we can, okay? The media still claims to be impartial, or have you abandoned that position?

This is great! Be sure to use it tonight on ABC News!

We can take this one racist comment made by some guy in the audience, and use it to paint McCain supporters as racists!

That's what I call Responsible Journalism.

Hurray for the republicans and their front man, McCain -- who promised America he would run a positive campaign. What happened John???
Of course, the usual gang of Bush admin and campaign thugs is behind this. That's what I call bipartisanship at its best! McCain stinks for allowing this.

Elect this cavil at your own peril.

You folks who are supporting this hate speech are really sad. I have an idea....why don't "you guys and gals" move to Alaska, with your governor who supports Alaskan secession from the US...and start your own little country.

The United States was founded on the principle of FREEDOM....from tyranny, religion, etc.

Where do the McCain campaign's low road race-baiting and word distortions leave us after Nov. 4th? They leave us angry, cynical, and divided. "Country First" my ass.

We've had hate mongers for a long time. Surrogates of political power who are basically thugs at heart, witness during Woodrow Wilson's time. These people have always been the wanna be terrorists of our land, with their misunderstanding of class and politics; they are an easy group to manipulate because they are ignorant and il-educated. In other words, rubes.

How did McCain stray so far from his original campaign intentions? When did he sell his soul, in the interest of winning at any cost? How will he sleep at night if this kind of campaign strategy ends in violence against his opponents, their supporters, or the media?

In 2000 I respected McCain. That man does not seem to exist any more. Or maybe he never did, maybe it was just good PR.

The small minded hatred that Palin seems to gleefully encourage should be shocking to him. Why isn't he speaking up against that?