FOX News: Ralph Nader calls newly elected Barack Obama an Uncle Tom

FOX News

Ralph Nader calls newly elected Barack Obama an Uncle Tom

AmericaBlog: Anyone else see the word “Blacks” in this McCain ad?

AmericaBlog

Anyone else see the word “Blacks” in this McCain ad? 

Our friend Ari caught it, and he’s right. John McCain has just thrown out any honor he had left. It’s amazing how Karl Rove’s people have destroyed McCain and his brand. Utterly.

Talking Points Memo: Race-Baiter McCain

Talking Points Memo

Race-Baiter McCain

New McCain Line: Obama’s taking your money to give to his welfare-lovin’ peeps.

Judis could see it yesterday before McCain uncorked this latest belch of his filth.

Jack and Jill: Chris Matthews, Post Obama Infomercial

Jack and Jill

Chris Matthews, Post Obama Infomercial

This family has done everything you’ve asked them to do.
What more do you want before you’ll vote for a Black guy?
What more do you want?

Oh Tweety….sometimes, you speak the truth.

Washington Independent: Obama Launches Portal to Expose GOP Attacks

Washington Independent

Obama Launches Portal to Expose GOP Attacks

There’s a new meme in the presidential race: The Internet is helping expose dirty tricks, enhance campaign accountability and punish the purveyors of dog-whistle sleaze.

Such web luminaries as Arianna Huffington and Micah Sifry pushed that argument this week. The Obama campaign agrees.

On Friday, Sen. Baack Obama’s new-media office launched an initiative to identify and expose any last-minute, below-the-radar attacks on the Democratic presidential nominee. The web portal,Radar.BarackObama.com, tracks attacks and anonymous robocalls, and solicits reports from supporters around the country, “anchor[ing]” an “expansive campaign to push back on McCain’s unceasing negativity,” according to a campaign aide.  (The campaign is also touting offline pushback in key states, pointing to recent events in Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Indiana and West Virginia.)

As it happens, TalkingPointsMemo, a site that has fused journalism and new-media activism, unveiled a similar map this week, titled “Flying Under The Radar: The Map of GOP Sleaze.”

 

Democratic Strategist: GOP Plays the Felon Card

Democratic Strategist

GOP Plays the Felon Card

The determination of Republicans to get racially-inflected themes embedded in the minds of voters in the home stretch of this presidential campaign is truly impressive. The latest example is the noise being made by the McCain campaign about Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine’s restoration of voting rights to a small number of non-violent felons.

Here’s the Washington Post‘s report on the saga:

On Thursday, the McCain campaign accused Kaine (D), a co-chairman of Obama’s campaign, of restoring voting rights for almost 1,500 felons in an effort to help Obama win Virginia’s 13 electoral votes.”This is a question of judgment,” said Trey Walker, McCain’s mid-Atlantic regional campaign manager. “Senator Obama and Governor Kaine have assembled a felonious coalition of attempted murderers, kidnappers, rapists, armed robbers and wife beaters in order to win Virginia. This dangerous lack of judgment has no place in the White House.”

 

The lies here are pretty amazing by any standard. Virginia actually has the strictest standards in the nation for restoration of voting rights by non-violent felons; it’s one of just two states (the other is Kentucky) that permanently disenfranchise all felons, violent or non-violent, with action by the governor being necessary to restore rights. And note the word “non-violent” in terms of Kaine’s actions: Virginia isn’t restoring rights for “attempted murderers, kidnappers, rapists, armed robbers and wife beaters,” as McCain’s flack knows full well.

…

The fishiest thing about this “story” is why it’s coming up in the final phases of the presidential campaign. The Washington Times published an inflammatory article on this subject three weeks ago, and the McCain campaign refused to comment on it. Now they are out there pushing it hard, as polls consistently show the Republican trailing Obama in Virginia. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

The Atlantic: Ta-Nehisi Coates: Going down in flames

The Atlantic: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Going down in flames

Any time you’re getting into beefs with Fox News, you’re in trouble. You know how I know this dude is in trouble? He keeps playing “the race card” card with Lewis, and that ain’t even working. Remember when that was supposed to be kryptonite for Obama? No one cares, now. People are scared They are losing their homes. They are losing their retirement. They don’t now how their going to send their kids to college. No one has time for this. I never expected McCain to become such a small, small candidate. 

Newsweek: The Moderate Voice: Inflammatory GOP Robocall Contradicts McCain On Ayers Last Night

Newsweek: The Moderate Voice

Inflammatory GOP Robocall Contradicts McCain On Ayers Last Night

The McCain campaign continues its descent into the kind of politics that is now surpassing in sleaziness what Karl Rove Co. did to McCain in South Carolina in 2000. The Politico: A harsh new robocall at least the third in a series attacks Obama for having worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers whose group killed Americans. Robocalls are a relatively inexpensive way to deliver a negative message, and used to be seen as an under-the-radar way to do it, though that’s no longer really true. The ad comes just hours after McCain dismissed the issue: I don’t care about an old, washed-up terrorist, he said. Click on the link and you can listen to the call. And a link to two more calls. What more can be said?

Weekly Standard Blog: McCan Camp Hits Obama on Jackson’s “Zionists” Statement

Weekly Standard Blog

McCan Camp Hits Obama on Jackson’s “Zionists” Statement

The McCain campaign issued this statement by foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann:

 

“According to a prominent Democratic supporter of Barack Obama, the ‘Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades’ will ‘lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House.’ It should not surprise anyone that Obama’s supporters see what others, from the terrorist group Hamas to Iranian President Ahmadinejad, have seen: an Obama presidency would bring real change to America’s policy of support for Israel. Barack Obama has claimed that nobody has suffered more than the Palestinians, praised a former spokesman of a Palestinian terrorist group for reminding him of his own ‘blind spots’ and ‘biases,’ and told the New York Times that Hamas and Hezbollah have ‘legitimate claims.’ Barack Obama expressed support for Jerusalem being the undivided capital of Israel and switched his position 24 hours later in the face of criticism from Palestinians. Barack Obama has said it is a “disgrace” that the United States has not met unconditionally with leaders committed to Israel’s destruction. Now, Barack Obama claims to be a strong supporter of Israel but his supporters — here and abroad — know better.”

Newsweek: Moderate Voice: “So what if Obama were a Muslim or Arab?”

Newsweek: Moderate Voice

“So what if Obama were a Muslim or Arab?”

I’ve got to say, Campbell Brown has impressed me with her willingness to say what other journalists have only been thinking this election season. First, she called out the McCain campaign for shielding Palin from the press “like a delicate flower who will wilt at any moment.” And her latest commentary addresses the bigotry against Arabs and Muslims popping up at McCain rallies.

Last week a supporter told McCain she didn’t trust Obama because he was an Arab, to which McCain replied, “No ma’am. He’s a decent family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. That’s what this campaign is all about. He’s not, thank you.”

Brown retorts:

Now, I commend Sen. McCain for correcting that woman, for setting the record straight. But I do have one question — so what if he was?

So what if Obama was Arab or Muslim? So what if John McCain was Arab or Muslim? Would it matter?

When did that become a disqualifier for higher office in our country? When did Arab and Muslim become dirty words? The equivalent of dishonorable or radical?

We’ve all been too quick to accept the idea that calling someone Muslim is a slur. We can’t tolerate this ignorance — not in the media, not on the campaign trail.

Few have been willing to address that issue directly, and as a consequence, slurring Muslims/Arabs has become an acceptable shield for racists who would never have voted for Obama in the first place. Racism against African Americans has become so taboo that most genuine racists are afraid express themselves in public. But slurring people from the Middle East? Well, hell, we’re at war and all. Nothing wrong with standing up in front of a large crowd with a microphone and spewing hatred for “those people,” right?