McCain, I expected more from you

Larry Lubell

John McCain has a long history of serving America, In October 1967 he was shot down, badly injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. there he remained a prisoner of war until 1973. He was subjected to unimaginable torture yet re refused to say or do those things that could have ended his suffering. To this day he still carries the scars of those days. He left the military and moved into politics being elected to the house in 1982, then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 where he still serves today.

John McCain has a long history of being a "Right of center" senator, yet he also has a record of working across party aisles with Republicans and Democrats alike to reform campaign finance system and Immigration .
While he was well known for having a temper, there was a feeling that he was a fair and decent guy, that could rise above partisanship and "put the country first"

It is with that in mind that I express my disappointment over the direction and tone that his campaign has taken. Rather that a discussion between two intelligent, informed candidates with different views on the direction forward; McCain has allowed his campaign managers, Running mate, and crowds to lower the race to base name calling and hate speech.

Activists at McCain / Palin rallies talk openly about Obama being linked to terrorists, or being a terrorist, claiming he has ties to Islam, and that he has some kind of "Secret evil agenda". Followers have been sending viral emails that have worked their way around the Internet for over a year now. To McCain's credit, in the early days of the campaign, he made several statements separating himself from those comments. But As he falls in the polls he has stopped making such corrections, and now seems to be encouraging such inaccurate statements, while keeping just enough distance.

"Terrorist!”
At a New Mexico rally, "Terrorist” screamed a follower. At a later rally when againMcCain called out to the crowd “Who is the real Barack Obama? a woman yelled "He's a damn liar!” "Get him. He's bad for our country."
"Obama Osama!" one woman called out at another rally. And it is not just a few in the crowd, twice this week, hand selected local officials have warmed up the crowd with cries of “Barack Hussein Obama.


A McCain aide said they tell individuals speaking before every event not to do so. “Sometimes people just do what they want,” explained the aide.
But that raises the question, If you can't control your supporters, how can you control the nation.

John Weaver, McCain’s former top strategist, said top Republicans have a responsibility to temper this behavior.
“People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Senator Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Senator McCain,” Weaver said. “And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive.”

“Senator Obama is a classic liberal with an outdated economic agenda. We should take that agenda on in a robust manner. As a party we should not and must not stand by as the small amount of haters in our society question whether he is as American as the rest of us. Shame on them and shame on us if we allow this to take hold.”

In Florida, Sarah Palin attacked Obama as someone who "pals around" with terrorists, ( based on an exaggerated account of Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers, a 1960's radical turned college professor) As she spoke their relationship, the crowd booed and one man shouted, "Kill him!"
Palin also repeats "This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America. We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism."

I do believe that John McCain loves America, and as a member of government, as a person paid by the people he has an obligation to speak out against that kind of hate speech. It lowers him, it lowers respect in our country, and it is dangerous. It is this kind of "rhetoric that leads to some nut picking up a gun.

I know he wants to win, and I am sure he believes that he is the better candidate. Of course he has no obligation to sing Obama's praises, but he does have a moral obligation to set the record straight, and to take his supporters to task if people are behaving in an offensive and dangerous manner. Ultimately, it reflects badly of McCain, and frankly I have come to expect McCain to exhibit a higher level of discourse.