What I’d like to hear from the candidates tonight [politics]
So tonight is the final debate, and Obama is leading in just about every poll out there, and many of them by double digits. Nobody is saying it outright, but many are hinting at saying that this one is in the bag for Senator Obama.
The big news over the past week has been about Obama’s ties to Ayers, the radical 60s protester, and about McCain’s campaign stoking the fires of hatred amongst his supporters to the point where they’re yelling out “kill him”, “terrorist”, and other horrible things like that.
During the last debate, McCain’s campaign was just ramping up the Ayer’s link, so I can give him a pass on not discussing it. This week tho, I want to hear these issues fleshed out. I want McCain to ask Obama about his connection to Ayers, and I want Obama to explain exactly his relationship. Get this out in the open, so we can stop all this he said / she said nonsense. The McCain campaign says they’re not calling Obama a terrorist, just that he has not been honest about his relationship with Ayers.
Man up, Obama. You worked with a 60s radical for years, explain it to the American people now, upfront, out in the open.
I’d also like to ask, no demand, that McCain directly address his supporters, and the country, about the death threats, terrorist talk, and racial slurs which have swept through his campaign during the last week. If he does not address these despicable accusations and actions by his supports and campaign volunteers, directly and personally during this debate, then I will declare McCain unpatriotic, without honor, and a disgrace to good and moral people everywhere.
I can believe that he and Gov. Palin might not have heard the shouts coming from the crowd, but they’ve heard it since, and they need to put a stop to it immediately. Any quibbling on this, any obfuscation or skirting of this issue, and I will hold the McCain campaign directly responsible for any violence and discord that may occur during the rest of this election and beyond.
Man up, McCain, and douse the fire that you’ve been stoking.
I take it you saw the McCain clip where he does respond to the woman who calls Obama a terrorist? In person at least, he’s not calling Obama a terrorist, is he? It’s just his surrogates, but it’s hard to know whether he’s encouraging this behavior.
Actually, I should put that in the form of a question: what specifically has McCain done to encourage the recent ramping up of hate speech?
I’m not trying to excuse him. He picked Palin, after all, and he is saying incendiary things directly. But I’m curious since you watch this closely whether I ought to hold McCain personally (rather than politically) responsible for this recent trend.
It’s tough to say who’s responsible — his supporters for being so utterly stupid and uneducated, or McCain himself. He certainly hasn’t done as much as he could to quash the ridiculous talk from his supporters. For example, to the woman who said to McCain’s face that Obama is an Arab, McCain replied, “he’s a decent family man.” Well yes, he is, but he’s also not an Arab, which many of McCains’s supporters find synonymous with “terrorist.” Great post. McCain, you need to put this nonsense to a stop now. And Obama, you need to answer why this association with Ayers isn’t in terrible judgement.
Yeah N8, I saw that clip, and applauded him for it. However, it wasn’t enough. It’s the only time he’s said it, and he hasn’t followed it up accept with more of his hate baiting.
I think he has to address it tonight, and it’s irresponsible not to. And dangerous. He calls himself a maverick, but he’s supporting the possibly the worst political atmosphere this country has ever seen….he needs to stand up and address it, tell people to knock it off. Otherwise, he will lose all personal respect and become what he’s always presented himself as against….he’ll become the face of all ugly dishonest politicians. He deserves better than that as his final legacy.