News
Guest Comment: Deeper in the mud
By Paul McCreary
Our current presidential campaign, mercifully, will soon draw to a close. Here are some observations:
There is a short video of some real live rednecks on You Tube rambling drunkenly on about Barack Obama.
These people are not actors, as you will readily see on www.youtube.com After you get into You Tube, type in Patriotic Drunk Rednecks.
There are two men and a woman. The woman does most of the talking, and essentially says that Barack Obama is an A-Rab and that we are fighting a war with A-Rabs so “We don’t need no A-Rab for president.” Then she goes on to use his full name of Barack HUSSEIN Obama several times and how A-Rabs cut people’s heads off and that Barack HUSSEIN Obama is an A-Rab and on and on.
The two men are too oblivious and drunk to do much but grin and mumble.
What is pathetic is that there are a lot of people out there like that in this country; bigoted, ignorant, and easily swayed.
Some of them make it to campaign rallies. And, particularly at the Sarah Palin-led rallies, red meat is happily and willingly thrown to them as they froth at the mouth. You’ve heard the shouts from the audiences of “Kill him! Cut his head off! Terrorist!”after Palin has insinuated that Obama cares so little about America that he “pals around with terrorists.” And that “He is not like you.”
It is a dangerous game, and one that should be ceased immediately. It only takes one lunatic to do something drastic, and there are many. David Brooks, a conservative columnist, said that it is like the worst aspects of right wing media, (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc.) where the flames are fanned to a frenzy. And it is mostly on the right wing media where Sarah Palin will be found until the election, to further enrage their base.
To John McCain’s credit, he has defended Obama somewhat when such misinformation has come to the fore in McCain’s presence. McCain’s best line in the debates was when he said “I am not George Bush. If you want to run against George Bush, you should have run against him in 2004.”
The question is why McCain is using the same Karl Rove rumor and innuendo tactics Bush used against him in the 2000 campaign? Is John McCain behind it?
If not, who is telling him what to say? And who is telling Sarah Palin what to cluelessly parrot as she riles her crowds to a maniacal frenzy?
She has said that it does not bother her to do so, because she has nothing to lose. Just the class and diplomacy we need from a person that could literally be the leader of the Free World some day.
A chilling thought. To a degree, it appeals to the mentality of fear, bigotry and ignorance that has gotten us this past 8 years. And it will only get worse until Election Day.
Obama will be called a socialist, a Marxist, a communist or anything that can instill fear. Every desperate measure will be attempted and twisted to achieve the desired ends. Wait and see.
Nearly 75 percent of Americans believe that our country is going in the wrong direction.
Let me be clear, Barack Obama may or may not be the answer. But the way things have gone is one reason that he is ahead by nearly 5-10 points in the polls as of now.
According to a recent Reader’s Digest poll of world countries, Obama is favored by a significant majority by every one. (China and Japan are not included.)
And I do mean significant. The closest margins are in India (61-26), Mexico (70-25) and South Africa (70-26). The rest are not even close. Great Britain, our staunchest ally in Iraq, was 70-14.
I believe that says that not only Americans feel a need for change, the rest of the world does as well.
And the world looks to the United States for leadership. Some reading this may not care what the world thinks, but I believe we need to regain our severely eroded standing in the world. Allies may become of paramount importance.
I would like to discuss getting our financial house in order, health care, and education, with respect to both candidates, but space does not allow. Suffice it to say that neither one will honestly say what must be done. It would be political suicide. It involves some hard choices and sacrifice, not merely promises that neither candidate can or will fulfill.
Paul McCreary is a resident of Green Valley and Colorado. He was a former educator in Michigan who splits time between Green Valley where he enjoys the desert’s beauty with his lovely wife, and operating a bed and breakfast in Ouray, Colo. The views expressed are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.
There is a short video of some real live rednecks on You Tube rambling drunkenly on about Barack Obama.
These people are not actors, as you will readily see on www.youtube.com After you get into You Tube, type in Patriotic Drunk Rednecks.
There are two men and a woman. The woman does most of the talking, and essentially says that Barack Obama is an A-Rab and that we are fighting a war with A-Rabs so “We don’t need no A-Rab for president.” Then she goes on to use his full name of Barack HUSSEIN Obama several times and how A-Rabs cut people’s heads off and that Barack HUSSEIN Obama is an A-Rab and on and on.
The two men are too oblivious and drunk to do much but grin and mumble.
What is pathetic is that there are a lot of people out there like that in this country; bigoted, ignorant, and easily swayed.
Some of them make it to campaign rallies. And, particularly at the Sarah Palin-led rallies, red meat is happily and willingly thrown to them as they froth at the mouth. You’ve heard the shouts from the audiences of “Kill him! Cut his head off! Terrorist!”after Palin has insinuated that Obama cares so little about America that he “pals around with terrorists.” And that “He is not like you.”
It is a dangerous game, and one that should be ceased immediately. It only takes one lunatic to do something drastic, and there are many. David Brooks, a conservative columnist, said that it is like the worst aspects of right wing media, (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc.) where the flames are fanned to a frenzy. And it is mostly on the right wing media where Sarah Palin will be found until the election, to further enrage their base.
To John McCain’s credit, he has defended Obama somewhat when such misinformation has come to the fore in McCain’s presence. McCain’s best line in the debates was when he said “I am not George Bush. If you want to run against George Bush, you should have run against him in 2004.”
The question is why McCain is using the same Karl Rove rumor and innuendo tactics Bush used against him in the 2000 campaign? Is John McCain behind it?
If not, who is telling him what to say? And who is telling Sarah Palin what to cluelessly parrot as she riles her crowds to a maniacal frenzy?
She has said that it does not bother her to do so, because she has nothing to lose. Just the class and diplomacy we need from a person that could literally be the leader of the Free World some day.
A chilling thought. To a degree, it appeals to the mentality of fear, bigotry and ignorance that has gotten us this past 8 years. And it will only get worse until Election Day.
Obama will be called a socialist, a Marxist, a communist or anything that can instill fear. Every desperate measure will be attempted and twisted to achieve the desired ends. Wait and see.
Nearly 75 percent of Americans believe that our country is going in the wrong direction.
Let me be clear, Barack Obama may or may not be the answer. But the way things have gone is one reason that he is ahead by nearly 5-10 points in the polls as of now.
According to a recent Reader’s Digest poll of world countries, Obama is favored by a significant majority by every one. (China and Japan are not included.)
And I do mean significant. The closest margins are in India (61-26), Mexico (70-25) and South Africa (70-26). The rest are not even close. Great Britain, our staunchest ally in Iraq, was 70-14.
I believe that says that not only Americans feel a need for change, the rest of the world does as well.
And the world looks to the United States for leadership. Some reading this may not care what the world thinks, but I believe we need to regain our severely eroded standing in the world. Allies may become of paramount importance.
I would like to discuss getting our financial house in order, health care, and education, with respect to both candidates, but space does not allow. Suffice it to say that neither one will honestly say what must be done. It would be political suicide. It involves some hard choices and sacrifice, not merely promises that neither candidate can or will fulfill.
Paul McCreary is a resident of Green Valley and Colorado. He was a former educator in Michigan who splits time between Green Valley where he enjoys the desert’s beauty with his lovely wife, and operating a bed and breakfast in Ouray, Colo. The views expressed are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.
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