Dolphin’s Dock

In any election, there is plenty of really awful crap coming from the fringes of either side. Somehow, McCain’s managed to turn it on in his more mainstream supporters and the results should be frightening to everyone else. When we have rally crowds shouting out death threats like “Kill Him” and “Off with his head,” it’s scary. When we have people placing Obama’s picture next to a photo of a noose and captioning the thing, “Asphyxiation: The F*cking Solution,” it’s even scarier (racism, death threats, AND NAZI allusions all in one illustration). When the people doing these things are not a small fringe group of protesters but mainstream McCain supporters, it stops being scary, and becomes horrifying.

I’ve heard it suggested that McCain intentionally brought this about so that he could then step in and take the high road urging “respect” has he’s been doing now the past few days. I don’t think that’s it. I think he’s urging “respect” because he’s as horrified as the rest of us are. He didn’t realize how much hatred and racism was present in his base until he gave them permission to give it voice. Now he sees it, and is desperately trying to put it back in the box. It doesn’t help him. The bizarre level of irrational rage his supporters are unleashing is only pushing away more moderate voters. To reduce the number of undecideds put off by the negativity of his supporters, McCain is now having to outright praise Obama. That’s hardly the situation he wants to find himself in.