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Enraged McCain supporters jeer early voters
Fayetteville, NC: After an Obama rally, the attendees—mostly black—head to the polls for early voting, where they’re berated by angry McCain supporters—mostly white. The Sheriff refuses to intervene, suggesting he wasn’t pleased with the idea of voting on Sunday.
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Surely this is in violation of federal election law regarding conduct at polling places. The likelihood of intimidation of voters is all too real.
Surely it’s aggravated by the fear-mongering, race-baiting, terrorist-suggestive campaign elements that Sen. McCain denounces in public appearances but encourages in TV ads.
And surely it is all-too-reminiscent of the George Wallace days.
Tags: Fayetteville, North+Carolina, Obama+rally, George Wallace, voters+heckled, voting, McCain, race, racism, Monte Asbury
Frank Schaeffer’s “Open Letter to John McCain”
Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin
Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin have gone off the rails with talk that arouses the worst instincts. The potential for tragedy is grave.
I was pleased to discover that Frank Schaeffer had written them a strongly worded rebuke. Orginally published in the Baltimore Sun, this reprint came from DemocracyNow!, and is part of an interview with Schaeffer there that I encourage you to read. The emphases are mine. Here’s Amy Goodman’s setup:
Frank Schaeffer, bestselling author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back. He is the son of the late evangelist Francis Schaeffer and considered himself a lifelong Republican. He voted for John McCain in 2000, and McCain even endorsed one of Schaeffer’s earlier books on military service. On Friday, Schaeffer published ‘An Open Letter to John McCain’ in the Baltimore Sun.
Crazy for God
An Open Letter to John McCain:
“John McCain: If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as ‘not one of us,’ I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence.
“At a Sarah Palin rally, someone called out, ‘Kill him!’ At one of your rallies, someone called out, ‘Terrorist!’ Neither was answered or denounced by you or your running mate, as the crowd laughed and cheered. At your campaign event Wednesday in Bethlehem, Pa., the crowd was seething with hatred for the Democratic nominee—an attitude encouraged in speeches there by you, your running mate, your wife and the local Republican chairman.
Keeping Faith
“Shame!
“John McCain: In 2000, as a lifelong Republican, I worked to get you elected instead of George W. Bush. In return, you wrote an endorsement of one of my books about military service. You seemed to be a man who put principle ahead of mere political gain.
“You have changed. You have a choice: Go down in history as a decent senator and an honorable military man with many successes, or go down in history as the latest abettor of right-wing extremist hate.
“John McCain, you are no fool, and you understand the depths of hatred that [surround] the issue of race in this country. You also know that, post-9/11, to call someone a friend of a terrorist is a very serious matter. You also know we are [a bitterly divided country] on many other issues. You know that, sadly, in America, violence is always just a moment away. You know that there are plenty of crazy people out there.
“Stop! Think! Your rallies are beginning to look, sound, feel and smell like lynch mobs.
Francis Schaeffer, Frank's father, was a big voice in the previous generation of evangelicals
“John McCain, you’re walking a perilous line. If you do not stand up for all that is good in America and declare that Senator Obama is a patriot, fit for office, and denounce your hate-filled supporters when they scream out ‘Terrorist’ or ‘Kill him,’ history will hold you responsible for all that follows.
“John McCain and Sarah Palin, you are playing with fire, and you know it. You are unleashing the monster of American hatred and prejudice, to the peril of all of us. You are doing this in wartime. You are doing this as our economy collapses. You are doing this in a country with a history of assassinations.
“Change the atmosphere of your campaign. Talk about the issues at hand. Make your case. But stop stirring up the lunatic fringe of haters, or risk suffering the judgment of history and the loathing of the American people—forever.
“We will hold you responsible.”
Strong words! But those are the kind of words that Christians are supposed to speak to power misused. Would that the whole Church would say them.
Don’t forget the interview, here.
Tags: Frank+Schaeffer, McCain, racism, election, politics, terrorist, campaign, Monte Asbury
McCain dons the sad mantle: Deceiver-in-Chief
Mr. Bush
I remember when I realized George W. Bush was a liar. It was November 8, 2006—the day after the mid-term elections. It had taken me six years to admit the truth. A week earlier, Bush had said in no uncertain terms that Donald Rumsfeld would stay on until the end of Bush’s presidency. “Both those men are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them.” The day after the election, Rumsfeld was gone. When asked about the turn-around, the President said:
BUSH: You and Hunt and Keil [reporters] came into the Oval Office and asked me to question one week before the campaign. Basically, are you going to do something about Rumsfeld and the Vice President? […] The only way to answer that question, and get it on to another question, was to give you that answer.
Yes, he’d been talking to Rumsfeld about resigning for some time. Yes, he had been actively seeking Rumsfeld’s replacement at the time. Yes, a campaign was on and he didn’t want to affect the outcome of the election. Next question. Wait. Say what? You made a bald-faced, straight-up lie to the American people from the Oval Office in order to get votes? You lied – not for national security – but to score points in an election? Yes, uh-huh, next question. No big deal. What’s a guy supposed to do? No remorse whatsoever. Next question.
Mr. McCain
Suddenly an awful lot of things made sense. It was to become the modus operandi of the Republican party. Yes, Democrats stretch the truth too, and I despise it and let them know I do. But the look-you-in-the-face flat-out lie—that is of a different order. McCain and Palin have picked up the mantle of George Bush. And with Obama opening up a sizable lead, and independents unimpressed by McCain’s positions, deceit—and a final farewell to hard-won honor—may seem like the candidate’s only hope. Had we correctly evaluated George Bush, tens of thousands would still be alive. We dare not make that mistake again. UPDATE, 6:50P.M.: Shields up; here they go. From MSNBC: Palin: Obama ‘palling around with terrorists’
Tags: McCain, Palin, lying, lies, Bush, politics, election, president, deception, Monte Asbury
We scarcely do diplomacy
Diplomacy is making a headline or two. American diplomats are —wonder of wonders— talking to Iran for the first time in what, forty years? I want to say, “Where have you been?”
I’m learning that diplomacy’s near absence is not uncommon in US foreign relations. Nicholas Kristof, writing in the New York Times, illustrates:
The USA has more "musicians in its military bands than it has diplomats" (photo: U.S. Army Ceremonial Band)
The United States has more musicians in its military bands than it has diplomats. […] More than 1,000 American diplomatic positions are vacant, but a myopic Congress is refusing to finance even modest new hiring.In short, the United States is hugely overinvesting in military tools and underinvesting in diplomatic tools. The result is a lopsided foreign policy that antagonizes the rest of the world and is ineffective in tackling many modern problems.
Huh. Then this stunner: One of the voices pleading for increased US diplomatic ability is none other than Defense Secretary Robert Gates:
“One of the most important lessons of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is that military success is not sufficient to win,” Mr. Gates said. He noted that the entire American diplomatic corps — about 6,500 people — is less than the staffing of a single aircraft carrier group, yet Congress isn’t interested in paying for a larger Foreign Service. […] Read the rest of this entry »
The Declaration of Independence and human rights
To commemorate the 4th of July, here’s Declaration of Independence, as published by The Pennsylvania Packet, one of the great Philadelphia newspapers of the day.
According to EarlyAmerica.com:
Congress had appointed a Committee of Five to draft a statement to the world presenting the colonies’ case for independence. The committee consisted of John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. The committee assigned Jefferson the task of writing the original document. After minor alterations were subsequently made by Franklin and Adams, the document was submitted to Congress.
Two passages in Jefferson’s draft were rejected by the Congress — an intemperate reference to the English people and a scathing denunciation of the slave trade. Otherwise, the Declaration was adopted without significant change…
In these days of controversy over the treatment of immigrants and the detention of suspected terrorists, perhaps it’s useful to remind ourselves that this founding document of America acknowledges that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Further, securing those rights – the rights of all, not just citizens – is the reason for which governments “are instituted.”
Nothing could be more American.
Tags: Declaration+of+Independence, human+rights, immigration, terrorists, migrants, war+on+terror, Guantanamo+Bay, Monte Asbury
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The Least, First 