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McCain and Palin's lynch-mob tactics

by

Tod Robberson

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It's increasingly worrying that John McCain and Sarah Palin are embracing the acceptability of campaign tactics that play to the most racist and intolerant tendencies among their supporters.

John McCain knows that Barack Obama has no links whatsoever to terrorism, and yet he's doing everything he can to create that linkage.

And he's unleashing Sarah Palin to do his dirty work while McCain claims to be above this condemnable form of negative campaigning.

This is unconscionable, and it shows how desperate John McCain has become. He promised repeatedly that he wouldn't campaign this way. And he said that when politicians campaign that way, it shows how little vision they have of the future.

But most dangerous in this form of campaigning is that he and Sarah Palin are standing by, with smiles on their faces, while their supporters yell things like, "Kill him!" in reference to Obama.

They have done nothing to calm down this lynch-mob mentality.

Instead, they are doing everything they can to promote it.

John McCain must make a full-court, public push to stop this "kill him" mentality now.

I'm not the only one who's worried.

David Gergen told CNN's Anderson Cooper earlier this week:

"The issue has been what's been going on at Sarah Palin's rallies.
That's where the real trouble is because it's...it's the combination of her rhetoric -- which is whipping up these crowds -- and these ugly scenes that have occurred at these rallies.

When Obama's name came up, has been used it not only brought these boos but, you know we have reports now of somebody yelling out "terrorist!" about Obama. At another rally, someone yelling out "kill him, kill him". And at another rally the...you have people shouting racial epithets."

COOPER: You can't control though what people say in a crowd, can you, David?

GERGEN: Yes. You can, and it's...Yes. It's up, it's up to the, Sarah Palin, at her rally and for John McCain to tell her if she doesn't start doing this to stop right there and take issue with what's been said and say this has no place in our campaign and we do not condone this and please let's show more respect. I think it's up to her.

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