Playing with fire

There’s a line out there, and McCain/Palin have crossed it. Calling the Democratic candidate unprepared for office is one thing, but whipping up the faithful into a frenzy where cries of “terrorist” and “kill him!” aren’t even being challenged by those at the podium is quite another. And as McCain continues to flounder in the polls, the mood among his supporters is turning so nasty that the press aren’t even being allowed to interview folks at rallies.

The really disquieting thing about all the rhetoric is that it doesn’t actually seem to be working from a tactical perspective.  It galvanizes the die-hards, but it may even be accelerating the shift of swing voters to the Democrats.  The question, then, is why it’s continuing.  There may be no rationale; it’s entirely possible that the campaign is locked into its own rage at this point.  The Rovian schoolyard bully/frat-boy mindset is not one that’s disposed to lose gracefully, and it should come as no surprise to see them choking on their own bile as they confront the growing possibility of an Obama landslide.

And yet there remains one very concrete reason to keep the inflammatory speeches going.  I don’t seriously think that John McCain has it in mind, but as the rallies get uglier, I’m starting to think that someone might.  Simply put, the more that undereducated/confused/racist rednecks hear about how Obama’s a menace to the nation, the more likely it becomes that one of them will take matters into his own hands.  Everyone’s saying the GOP need a game-changer to shake up the race; someone taking a shot at Barack Obama would certainly fit that bill.  We are entering some very dangerous terrain now.

3 Responses to “Playing with fire”

  1. Brian Says:

    I’m very concerned about McCain’s mental health. I mean this in no disrespectful way and say it only after observing numerous policies/statements/agendas that McCain has come to endorse or oppose one day only to take the opposite side of the bet the next. It’s beyond erratic blundering and seems to be an issue of either very poor handling by his staff, or early stages of some sort of dementia. I believe it’s the former to some extent, but more likely dangerously exacerbated by the latter.

    If McCain is truly starting to suffer from a mental condition, this makes Palin’s elevation to President of the United States something that could easily happen even while McCain’s heart is still beating. Many are concerned about him croaking in office, but I’m more concerned about the more likely scenario whereby he’s living, but dysfunctional and Palin is the only breathing spawn of Hell in the administration that can provide direction. Like a very bad–and dangerous–version of Weekend at Bernie’s.

  2. somedude Says:

    Why? Because all the GOP actually has is fear.

  3. David Williams Says:

    @Brian- -the first Weekend at Bernies was bad enough. Hate to see that play out as a Palace Politics scenario . . .

    @Somedude– At this point, that’s pretty much true. Didn’t have to be that way, though. The real tragedy in all of this is that the basic principles of conservatism have been totally betrayed by the people now running the GOP.