BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Dirty politics and nasty ads are nothing new to the presidential campaign season. However, the McCain-Palin ticket has lowered it to an art form. Seriously, when was the last time you heard either of them say something about a substantive issue?

Perhaps, I am more dismayed by McCain’s campaign than I thought possible. Several years ago, in 2000, I was actually hoping that McCain would defeat George Bush in the Republican primaries. I was looking forward to a race between Al Gore and John McCain. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I was really impressed with the John McCain of 2000.

Before the down and dirty season got into full swing, I took McCain at his word when he said he would run an honorable campaign. I thought he was an honorable man. Now, as I look back over the McCain years, I have come to believe that McCain’s only honorable act came while he was a POW.

It’s sad, really sad to see McCain destroy his reputation and cloud his history by participating in the hate filled campaign he is running. I almost feel sorry for him. At his age, he will be remembered by many of the younger voters as an angry old man, who was willing to smear the name of his opponent, divide the country, feed the misinformation, and spread hate. It’s a sad day for the McCain campaign, and for John McCain.

If he loses the Presidential race, and he may well, he will return to the Senate and expect to be greeted with open arms. However, we have all seen the total dishonesty of the man’s character and his willingness to allow himself and Sarah Palin to sow seeds of hatred among the citizens. It’s one thing to disagree on the issues. But, it is another to see a man of such distinction and such accomplishment become an accomplice in the attempted destruction of another person’s character for the opportunity to sit in the Oval Office.

Today, John McCain called a statement made by Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga) “a brazen and baseless attack.”

Lewis had commented:

“What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse,” Lewis said in a statement.

“George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama,” wrote the Democrat.

McCain immediately called for a retraction of the statement and called on Barack Obama to repudiate them. Obama may, but as one who lived through the George Wallace reign of terror in the south, I can only say that if Obama does repudiate Lewis’ statement, it is only because he did not suffer the tragedy of those years.

Everything John Lewis wrote is the truth for those of us who were in Alabama and the other southern states. Senator Obama may have been a child and unaware of the hatred that roamed the nights in the South. Senator McCain may have been in Hanoi. But, for those of us who saw our nights illuminated by the burning of crosses or were beaten by cops on command from Governor Wallace, or dared not be seen in the light of day with our friends of another race, for fear of what could happen to our friends or ourselves, we remember the inflammatory rhetoric of hate that contributed to the deaths of many people whose only difference from us was the color of their skin.

Sarah Palin is too young or perhaps too ignorant to realize the impact of words on crowds of people who are already living in fear of another attack on our country or in fear that they may not be able to feed their family or keep their homes. Many citizens are on the verge of panic during these tough economic times. To feed the frenzy with hateful rhetoric and rousing speeches that both Sarah Palin and John McCain know are filled with misinformation and in some cases outright lies, is much like other hate crimes that have attracted so much attention during the past decade.

John Lewis was right in his warning. Dividing our country at this time is a dangerous act and nothing good can come of it. John McCain and Sarah Palin are throwing matches onto a pile of dried wood. I would only remind them that a few weeks ago a man, a conservative, walked into a Unitarian Universalist Chuch in Knoxville, Tennessee during the Sunday morning service and opened fire on the congregation because of their “liberal” views.

I should think that neither McCain or Palin would wish to add fuel to those fires.