A Dangerous Game

I have to say that, while I probably shouldn't be, I'm actually surprised by how virulent the rage and violent the language has become at McCain and Palin rallies over the past week. I knew it would get ugly, as it always does, but this, this is new—it's becoming dangerous. 

Look, Republicans have always had these tendencies. The language they've used and the policies they've supported have always been divisive and harmful (at least in my lifetime). For a generation, the party's corporate wing has courted and slept with the religious wing nuts to their gain and country's detriment. Limbaugh, Hannity, et. al have been around for decades encouraging the troglodytism which helped feed such a relationship. But the party leaders themselves have usually couched their terrible ideas in coded language. They've usually put a sheen on their destructiveness and kept the passions of their less-hinged members somewhat dampened.

To see such blatant and brazen courting of violent passions as we've seen from the Republicans' rallies lately coming from the national campaign is a little surprising and very unnerving. I suppose we should all be thankful that they've stripped the artifice away and are just going full-bore ahead as the ugly nativist/xenophobic types they are. 

But it's a dangerous game McCain and Palin are playing. Thinking conservatives are abandoning the campaign by the hour, but the hard core, angry, white, white-hot base of their party is scared and prone to violence. Assassinations and political unrest don't happen in a vacuum and M-P, in their unwillingness to confront their angry throngs, are abetting the creation of an violent atmosphere. 

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But, hey, I'm a lib, why take my word for it? Here's an open letter, posted in full, to McCain from a lifelong Republican and former supporter:

McCain's attacks fuel dangerous hatred
By Frank Schaeffer October 10, 2008
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.

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.

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.

Frank Schaeffer is the 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."