The Wisdom of Mobs

By BJ

It is nice to see that after his media base was getting scared of the kinds of crowds he was attracting, John McCain decided to try and dampen down the formation of the lynch mobs. I'm going to hold off being too impressed for a few days at least, given McCain's made these kinds of moves towards decency before, only to turn right around and continue his previous actions.

It doesn't help that if you watch the videos, it almost looks like McCain is forcing himself to say these things through gritted teeth. It doesn't help that McCain's campaign is out there defending the people who have been shouting out the most incendiary remarks. And it really doesn't help that McCain's running mate, who has been at the forefront of these smear attacks all along, is out there continuing to fan the very flames McCain is supposedly trying to damp down. As Khalid Hosseini puts it:

The McCain-Palin ticket has given toxic speeches accusing Obama of being a friend of terrorists, then released short, meek repudiations of some of the rough stuff, including McCain's call Friday to "be respectful." Back in February, the Arizona senator apologized for the "disparaging remarks" from a talk-radio host who sneered repeatedly about "Barack Hussein Obama" before a McCain rally. "We will have a respectful debate," McCain insisted afterward. But pretending to douse flames that you are busy fanning does not qualify as straight talk.

What I find most unconscionable is the refusal of the McCain-Palin tandem to publicly condemn the cries of "traitor," "liar," "terrorist" and (worst of all) "kill him!" that could be heard at recent rallies. McCain is perfectly capable of telling hecklers off. But not once did he or his running mate bother to admonish the people yelling these obscene -- and potentially dangerous -- words. They may not have been able to hear the slurs at the rallies, but surely they have had ample time since to get on camera and warn that this sort of ugliness has no place in an election season. But they have not. Simply calling Obama "a decent person" is not enough.

Now, I expect that McCain will offer a few more of these grit-teethed calls for respect so that his media base will be able to forgive and forget all of his actions this election cycle and go back to the buddy-buddy BBQ days, but the real person to watch at this point is Governor Palin.

This is McCain's last grasp for the ring, and he'll start fading away when the run is over. Palin, on the other hand, has tasted the national spotlight and soaked up the adoration of the far-right base, and is no doubt looking to 2012 as an opportunity. She's the one out there telling her supporters, (and they are her supporters), that McCain should "take the gloves off", and as such, she'll be in excellent position on November 5th to claim that the reason McCain lost was because the campaign wasn't nasty enough.

Fester noted earlier the article by Paul Krugman speculating that the bile that will be heaped upon Obama after the election will make even the insanity of the Clinton years look tame in comparison. I'm far less sanguine about fester's conclusion that such tactics won't be effective this time out. Given the clear trajectory we're all on into some serious economic hardships over the next few years, the framing of it all being the fault of an illegitimate usurper who befriends terrorists and waves the white flag of surrender to America's enemies will likely find some powerful resonance. Scape-goating our problems always does, which is why we're entering such dangerous times, and it wouldn't surprise me to see Palin carrying the banner for all that insanity as she is now.

The GOP base loves her for it, and are already lining up to defend Palin from the consequences of her abusing power in Alaska, just as she'll be able to count on blaming McCain's "too honorable" campaign as the reason they lost. Get used to her. It's a safe bet you're looking at the future of the Republican Party.

Comments

[anderson]

Certainly, McCain's "defence" of Obama at his own rally was made for teevee. And there is only one reason why he did what he did: because network news is recording this stuff. Without the presence of the media, I cannot begin to imagine just what levels of insanity these people would be allowed. And McCain would be chuckling right along.

[EL]

I agree that McCain will fade quickly after November 4. I think Palin will try to create a fascist lite party out of the remains of the GOP. Fascism has real appeal to angry people severely hurt in an economic meltdown. And maybe I'm being too optimistic by using lite.

[A.R.Yngve]

Let's put it this way: somebody is being swallowed whole by Nurglon, the political monster:
http://aryngve.blogspot.com/2008/10/distress-call-from-nurglons-mouth-may.html

[Kat]

>>...it almost looks like McCain is forcing himself to say these things through gritted teeth.

I'm betting it was a combination of a couple of things:

1) the Secret Service telling him he was making their job more difficult, and

2) someone in the GOP explaining to him that, if his disingenuous campaign rhetoric succeeds in provoking an assassination attempt on Obama, his 'legacy' will be that he was more of a racist, and less of a statesman, than George Wallace.

[Cecil]

I sure hope she is the candidate next time.

[DragonScholar]

My guess is Palin is going to try and be the 2012 candidate - though my guess is she'll have to compete with Newt Gingrich for that. The question is can she do anything or run on anything beyond the base - which I seriously doubt. Also frankly judging by the appeal she has to the right, it's because she's pretty and chirpy - give it 3-5 years and she may not be so appealing.

[BJ Bjornson]

Dragon Scholar, You’re right that Palin’s appeal is mainly to the base, but then, guess who picks the nominees? We also can’t say whether that base will expand or contract over the next four years. One would hope it contracts, but as I pointed out above, scape-goating is a powerful human urge, and if things get really nasty on the economic front for an extended period of time, the kind of pandering to base emotions Palin excels at on the campaign trail is going to meet with a lot of support.

Also, she’s still young enough that 3-5 years won’t be enough to degrade her looks to where the Rick Lowry’s won’t be still seeing starburst when she winks at them. It will, however, be enough time to stuff enough knowledge into her that she will be able to conduct an interview with actual journalists without looking the idiot.

[david s]

"the bile that will be heaped upon Obama after the election will make even the insanity of the Clinton years look tame in comparison. "

Ah but we will have a strong majority in Congress that won't be able to stifle legislation or get the conversation off track.