That One
Tue, 07 Oct 2008
In tonight’s presidential debate, we heard Sen. McCain refer to Sen. Obama as: "That one." Bile and venom lubricated his annunciation. Disdain radiated from McCain in palpable waves, crashing down on Obama with all the raging force of a gnat’s fart.
I’m sure Obama’s been called worse.
That McCain chooses to substitute a lesser epithet to represent his disdain does not excuse him for the implications of his attack.
One what? Remember, John McCain has fiercely defended the use of racial slurs to define those he hates. This from 2000:
McCain Criticized for Slur: He says he’ll keep using term for ex-captors in Vietnam - sfgate.com
Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to apologize yesterday for his use of a racial slur to condemn the North Vietnamese prison guards who tortured and held him captive during the war.
"I hate the gooks," McCain said yesterday in response to a question from reporters aboard his campaign bus. "I will hate them as long as I live."
[...]
"I was referring to my prison guards," McCain said, "and I will continue to refer to them in language that might offend some people because of the beating and torture of my friends."
McCain made it clear that his anger extends only toward his captors. As a senator, he was one of the leaders of the postwar effort to normalize U.S. relations with Vietnam.
[...]
McCain feels entitled to refer to these individuals, whom he rightly detests, using a vile and bigoted epithet. His words dehumanize his captors, and an entire ethnic group, but John McCain can’t care less: The inhumane treatment he and his fellow POWs endured, while in North Vietnamese hands, voided all consideration for the humanity of his prison guards. McCain’s hatred is so intense that when it spills over onto others of Asian ancestry, who rightfully take offense at the use of such a foul and detestable term, he petulantly refuses to apologize for dehumanizing them alongside the targets of his wrath.
McCain’s anger at those who imprisoned him was righteous and entirely justified. He chose the shotgun blast of racial hate to vilify his enemies, because it kicks the hardest, despite being fully aware that he was pelting a crowd of innocent bystanders. Collateral damage, I suppose.
If John McCain were a straight talker, he’d articulate something less vague than: "That one." We’ve all seen that he’s capable of saying something more pointed. Instead, he’ll rely on Sarah Palin to incite supporters into a jingoistic frenzy. Sooner or later, some cracker will pop off with a word that Joe Sixpack will have no trouble interpreting, a more specific epithet than the candidates would dare to utter in public.
The McCain campaign will argue that they aren’t responsible for what their supporters might say. Maybe that is why they no longer allow the press to mingle with the crowds at campaign events. Guilt by association seems to be the flavor-of-the-week. It wouldn’t do to have the McCain/Palin pep rallies resemble Klan picnics. Problem is, when you blow the dog-whistle, those bluetick hounds set to baying their fool heads off.
History will remember this as a shameful period of American politics: The GOP’s chosen candidate sought the highest office, while consistently choosing the lowest road.
Expect that McCain’s camp wil continue the effort to dehumanize his opponent. On ABC News, Jake Tapper said that the McCain campaign plans to use this phrase repeatedly, throughout the remainder of the campaign. It’s a new tactic. Tapper compared McCain’s use of the phrase to how, in 1992, Ross Perot referred to Blacks as: "You people."
McCain expects to win by employing nuanced appeals to racism, while maintaining plausible deniability. It isn’t necessarily because the Senator is racist that he feels justified in resorting to such tactics... It’s that hatred and anger sustain him during times of adversity. He’s willing and ready to go after Obama with every weapon in his arsenal.
Senator McCain didn’t drop the N-bomb, but only because this is a surgical strike: He’s painting the target with a laser-pointer, as a means to direct the "shock-and-awe" attacks that his supporters will launch.
This ignoble fool certainly deserves to lose the election.