Monday, October 20, 2008

In the Words of the People

What would happen if we outlawed negative campaigning? Where all a candidate could talk about was what he or she would do if elected. Then the media would do its job and actually examine the platforms for truthfulness? Might we even end up electing someone we knew a lot about?

No shocker here that AOTSP is endorsing Obama for President. What you might find shocking is that I didn’t always think John McCain was a bad man. I do now. I believe he has sold his soul to the devil (aka the “Christian” right) and has allowed his ambition to corrupt his morals. You see it every time he has to say something negative about a man he actually admires. You can see his soul searing a bit when one of his avid supporters (or even his running mate) calls Obama a “terrorist,” or “Arab,” or “unpratriotic.”

The last one bothers me the most, ironically. I can’t think of many acts MORE patriotic than running for President. Sure it’s the biggest ego boost on the planet, but the level of sacrifice is enormous. Even dipshits like GWB go into it with good intentions, however wrongheaded we might think them.

I’ve seen a lot of video over the last couple of weeks. I’ve watched a lot of salacious, fear-mongering punditry. But what I have been absolutely floored by are the comments from regular people. Here is just a sampling of some of the things I’ve heard.

These from a Palin rally in Ohio:

An older white woman, seriously undereducated based on her beady little eyes (necessary to maintain her narrow mindedness, no doubt) and quote. “I’m afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over. He’s NOT A CHRISTIAN! This is a CHRISTIAN nation! What is our country gonna end up like?”

Or the trucker cap wearing old white dude. “When you got a niggra running for President, you need a first-stringer. He’s definitely a second-stringer.” BTW, “niggra” was the phrase that my grandparents used IN THE SIXTIES in an attempt to be less racist. Guess this old fucker’s grandparents must have used that word too.

Or the young (like, 19) man holding his newborn. “I believe Palin is filled with the Holy Spirit and she’s going to bring honesty and integrity to the White House.” Uh . . . isn’t that what GWB was supposed to do? Wasn’t he, like, the “no blow job president” or something.

Or the fat ass in the “NAVY” t-shirt, who said about Obama, “He’s related to a known terrorist, for one . . . “ Yo, fat dude, you can’t even get your smears straight.

Fat White Woman in discount store clothes: “just the whole Muslim thing and everything . . . I mean, a lot of people have forgotten about 9/11.” Based on the fit of those pants, honey, I'd say you needed to be more worried about 7-11 than 9/11.

“Obama scares me. I don’t think he likes white people.” (never mind for a moment that he was raised in an ALL WHITE household. So, he hates his Mama, his grandparents and his sister. O-kay.)

Random shout outs at McCain and/or Palin rallies:
“Traitor”
“Terrorist”
“Arab”

And also came across some random responses to Colin Powell (who I’m sure, pre-endorsement, would have been considered a first-string niggra) and his endorsement of Obama, all paraphrased:

“He only did it because he’s black.”

“Obama is a traitor, so now Powell is a traitor.”

And my favorite, “Powell himself only got where he is because of affirmative action. This is just him returning to his roots.” (Get it? “ROOTS?” You know, like Alex Haley? You know, black.)

Let’s hope that 8 years of an Obama presidency can start to cure this cancer that is eating away at our democracy from the middle out.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

You know, there was a time (not so long ago) that I would have entertained voting for McCain. It was when he actually WAS a Maverick and supported a Woman's Right to Choose, Diplomacy instead of Nation-Building, Immigration Reform instead of Building the Wall to Nowhere - in short everything that he has turned his back on in order to gain the votes of zealots.