“Pallin’ around with terrorists.”
I just cannot fathom the level of desperation it takes to say such a thing. I just cannot comprehend the lack of decency it takes to say such a thing. I just cannot believe that an honorable public servant could say such a thing.
Mercifully, I don’t consider Governor Palin an honorable anything. More troubling, perhaps, is the fact that someone I did consider to be an honorable public servant sending her out there and allowing her (or perhaps asking her) to say such a thing.
This hurts our country more than Bill Ayers ever did.
So it’s come to this, has it? An honorable American, Barack Obama, had a slight relationship with William Ayers. Was this a mistake? Maybe so. Does it speak poorly of Barack’s judgment? Maybe, but if it does, it only speaks poorly of a much younger Barack’s judgment. And even then, I find that tenuous as all hell.
Look, I’ve had acquaintances and yes, even friends, who did things I would never do, thing I never supported. I’ve known people who did hard drugs. I’ve known people who sold them. I’ve had strippers for friends. I’ve had hardcore anarchists for friends. I’ve had friends who believe, in their heart of hearts, that I’m going to hell for being pro-choice.
What’s my point? I’m tolerant. I don’t consider most people to be so tainted that having a cup of coffee with them means that I approve of everything they have ever done or will ever do. It just doesn’t. And I think this speaks to a fundamental difference between hardcore Democrats and hardcore Republicans.
Most of the Democrats I know see morality as somewhat subjective. Most Republicans I know see morality as almost entirely objective. This is a crucial difference in how we see the world. I don’t write a person off because they’ve done something bad if I think that, on balance, that person is still worthwhile, or if they’ve worked like hell to move past it.
And sometimes I just don’t care. Seriously, sometimes I just do not care. I knew (slightly) a guy who was called “Communist Fred” who listened to Fidel Castro’s radio addresses as often as he could. Does that make me a communist? Hell no. I WASN’T THE ONE LISTENING TO HIS RADIO ADDRESSES FOR THE HECK OF IT.
Barack Obama didn’t participate in perhaps the most inept, effete, jackassed rich white people “terror group” in American history. Bill Ayers did. And Bill Ayers is a jackass. He’s not only a jackass – his people were just incredibly terrible at terror. He should be a laughingstock, but that’s HIS cross to bear. Hell, the Weathermen killed as many of their own members as anyone else. I don’t drop the “ivory tower elitist” card often, but people like Bill Ayers earn it.
No, let’s bring this all home. Look, when a presidential ticket spends time implying that their opponent is “pro-terror” they are hurting this country in a way that is fundamentally worse than anything George W. Bush did in 2000, and it amazes me that I’m able to type that out with a straight face. Implying that John McCain had bastard black children was probably the low point for quite awhile, yet John McCain himself has managed to pass that limbo stick with ease.
What is worse than what Sarah Palin just did? I just do not see it. Barack Obama, mild-mannered junior Senator from Illinois, HE’S buddy-buddy with Americans who seek to kill Americans? No, he just doesn’t run away when he sees someone with whom he disagrees or considers evil.
This cuts to the core of it all. Barack Obama will talk with our enemies because ignoring them improves nothing. When our presidents held summits with the Soviets, did they leave the room in a moral huff because of what those men had done? No, they talked. The hashed shit out. They knew the measure of the other men, and they did their jobs.
John McCain’s the kind of guy who won’t talk with the leadership in Iran for the same reason he thinks Barack Obama shouldn’t have given Bill Ayers the time of day – good people and bad people don’t mix, apparently.
I don’t want to live in John McCain’s America. I don’t want my patriotism or “American-ness” to be questionable because of the people I’ve known. I don’t want to hold our leaders to such a standard that their opponents will imply they support whatever their ACQUAINTANCES have done.
Who here hasn’t known someone who did something foolish, wrong, or evil? Of course, most of us here are liberals, so by definition we must know such people. 🙂
I thought that John McCain had a sense of honor and dignity. I still think he had one, at some point. It’s academic, really, because it’s certainly gone now. Who knows when or where it went. He’s gone and done the most despicable thing I’ve ever seen a candidate do.
This hurts America more than anything Bill Ayers ever did. The Weathermen didn’t fundamentally change the character of America. John McCain’s probably going to pull that off. After this election there will probably be zero doubt about it. The two parties will not only hate one another, but they will fundamentally believe that the other side is evil and unAmerican. Yeah, the Republicans started it (obviously), but the crap they’re doing to us will logically lead us to see them in much the same way.
I see the Republican Party at present as trying to corrupt American values. It’s shown no reluctance in getting Americans killed. It’s been only too happy to leave 45+ million Americans without health care (I’m currently one of them). It’s been only too happy to try to bankrupt the joint so they can starve the beast.
It’s taken every bit of decency I’ve got to NOT hate Republicans. I’m losing that battle now. I don’t want to become a blind and bitter partisan, clinging to my side. I am an American! I want to cherish my countrymen, regardless of party.
These people are making it too easy to hate. They’re unleashing it. They’re fundamentally damaging our body politic, just to go from what, a ten percent chance at a win to maybe 20 or 25 percent?
Fuck that. At this point, I’d rather have a beer with Bill Ayers than John McCain, and I never thought I’d say something like that.
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