Rabble, Rabble, Rabble

I remember a time when calling Democrats terrorists was considered at least a little bit vogue. There was a certain dance involved; everything was at least somewhat veiled. Leading Conservatives just needed to hint that Democrats were everything from Communists to Gays to terrorists, and then let their network (literally and figuratively) do the rest of the work for them.

The McCain campaign’s just dropping that bullshit. They’re going to just to come out and call Obama a terrorist. Don’t like it? Think it’s a real dirty trick? Then stop being such a terrorist. It reeks of Rove. His stink lingers in the air.

And McCain really let me down with all of it. If there was one thing I’d always given him credit for, even if I disagreed with most everything he feels politically, it was that he wouldn’t sell his soul to become President. To be a Republican president in this age you have to give yourself over to the Hannity’s and the Religious Right. You’ve got to get down to good old fashioned hate-mongering. You’ve got to select you’re inner core not with who you think would be the most capable people, but with people who remind some dumb slob in Kansas of their cousin. You have to be willing to go against everything you’ve ever said, and perhaps, even what you feel is right. You have to hate gay people and blacks. And poor people.

I didn’t think John McCain had it in him. John McCain has it in him.

Can you blame him? Kissinger would not. Does anyone remember who ran against Woodrow Wilson? Will anyone remember John Kerry?

In an age when truth and reason have literally no meaning in the political season, he might as well bring out all the stops. No one will blame him. It’s often said that when you judge a man you must judge him within the context of the time in which he lived. And in a post-Nixon/Bush/Rove time, this campaign is what passes for legitimate American political dialogue.

But does a man deserve to be judged within the context of his age? Generally, I think it should be taken into consideration, as only an exceptional man can rise above the degradation of his generation. John McCain, over the past few months, has proven himself unexceptional.