The vitriol vote gambit

The media must overcome its “equivalency first!” approach and recognize the responsibility of McCain and Palin for inflammatory rhetoric which feeds hysteria.

A number of people (including at least one journalist) invested time and energy decrying John McCain’s supposedly racially-based condescension toward an African American questioner in the Nashville presidential debate. Better that people spend less time on questionable slights and to give more attention to the actual gutter tactics employed by the McCain/Palin campaign: cynical attacks against Barack Obama’s patriotism, designed to appeal to the “base” in every respect. If the low road traveled by McCain and Sarah Palin were only a measure of political desperation, that would be pathetic enough in itself and well worthy of criticism. The critical aspect of the tactic is much more damning: a deliberate stoking of hysteria, anger, and resentment that could easily lead to violence - if not against Obama himself, then against his supporters, or perhaps election officials. McCain’s “vitriol vote” gambit is so glaringly evident that even the media is coming to acknowledge it - in its usual glacial fashion - as Steve Benen notes at the Washington Monthly:

On CNN last night, David Gergen, a Republican advisor to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton, commented on the “anger” evident at McCain/Palin rallies of late. “There is this free floating sort of whipping around anger that could really lead to some violence,” Gergen said. “I think we’re not far from that.”

When Anderson Cooper expressed skepticism about whether violence was likely, Gergen said he “really worries” given “the kind of rhetoric” coming from the Republican ticket.

When a mainstream, Republican presidential advisor goes on national television and expresses concern that Republican voters might literally become violent in response to the Republican presidential ticket’s rhetoric, it’s safe to say we’ve reached a rather dramatic point. [...]

Both the Washington Post and the Politico have good items today on the explosive, enraged emotions at this week’s Republican rallies. Slate’s John Dickerson described the participants’ “bloodthirsty” tone.

The media must overcome its standard, halfhearted “equivalency first!” approach to campaign analysis and recognize the truth: the responsibility of McCain and Palin for inflammatory rhetoric which feeds the hysteria of their supporters at rally after rally. Only exposure in the press can prompt conscience-stricken Republican leaders to get off the pot and call out McCain for the strident personal attacks employed by his campaign.

Would even that be enough to shame McCain and Palin into something approaching a more honorable campaign? The observant would likely bet against such an outcome, recognizing that McCain relinquished all claims to an honorable, respectful campaign long ago.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked my wife if she could recall having ever seen a “positive” McCain television ad - one in which he spoke of his own vision for the country instead of trying to tear down his opponent. “No,” replied M. We live in Missouri, a state which the McCain campaign is, incredibly enough, in danger of losing. All the more reason, you might suppose, that the Republican campaign would go to mudslinging as its first option. The problem with that approach is that after a time, people begin to tune you out - especially when they have personal economic survival on their minds. And when you find yourself losing on many fronts, constantly fighting a rearguard action - as McCain is doing now - you are forced to become increasingly more shrill in your attacks just to get attention. In the absence of anything like a positive model of your own campaign, you are perceived as the last thing any politician wants to be - irrelevant.

John McCain is drowning in irrelevance.

Drowning men thrash, and they may drag others down with them. That’s the danger here as we enter the final days of the presidential campaign - that John McCain, in a desperate attempt to save himself, will drag us all down.

Add: From Benen:

Sam Stein reports that the McCain campaign has come up with a defense for the Republican ticket’s efforts to create an angry mob.

“Barack Obama’s attacks on Americans who support John McCain reveal far more about him than they do about John McCain. It is clear that Barack Obama just doesn’t understand regular people and the issues they care about. He dismisses hardworking middle class Americans as clinging to guns and religion, while at the same time attacking average Americans at McCain rallies who are angry at Washington, Wall Street and the status quo,” reads a statement from spokesman Brian Rogers.

Got that? McCain/Palin supporters have thrown around words like “treason” and “terrorist,” while others have literally called for violence, and if Obama points this out, he’s launching “attacks on Americans.”

McCain doesn’t even have the excuse of plausible deniability. He knows exactly what he’s doing. And he doesn’t care.

Add: John in comments point to a NY Post article that notes McCain’s Missouri misery.

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