Well, here's something interesting and, I have to admit, somewhat unexpected even from the new equal-time-for-Democrats media. In an analysis piece, the AP writes:
By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is "palling around with terrorists" and doesn't see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.
And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.
more. . .
This is important because it's hard for candidates to defend themselves from this kind of attack. Something that the electorate does not seem to like -- and Obama and his campaign have understood this from day one -- is a candidate given to self-pity or even self-defense. The classic example of this is Bob Dole snapping "Stop lying about my record". That was a bad moment for Dole -- but really, all he was doing was standing up for himself.
Palin's statements are not overtly racist. Yet by suggesting that Obama is "palling around with terrorists" she's clearly trying to link him -- and his name -- with foreign terrorists. That connection is overt. And when she goes on to say 'This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America", well if Obama isn't like "you and I" -- and remember, this is a Sarah Palin rally, not a Democratic one -- what difference do you think she's trying to stress? I'll give you a hint -- it's not his height.
While these attacks may sound silly to us, they can be dangerous. If unanswered they could possibly tilt low information voters (commonly known as "the American electorate") away from Obama. If the campaign answers them it only serves to draw attention to them, to make the candidate appear self-pitying, and to focus the media on reporting the accusations.
But if the media treat the making of the accusations -- not their content -- as the story the accusations pose at least as much danger to McCain (and Palin) as to Obama. Make no mistake, this article states that John McCain and Sarah Palin are racists, that their appeal to voters is racist and, by implication, that if you vote for McCain and Palin you yourself may be a racist.
That is not a message that McCain and Palin want people to hear.
They don't want that for two reasons. First off, racism doesn't sell in today's America -- even to racists. You need to sugar-coat it a bit. Palin is trying to do that (although, on public financing, they don't seem to be able to afford quite as much sugar for coating as past Republican campaigns). But if the media can be persuaded to report the fact of the McCain / Palin campaign's racism more people will have to think about this issue.
Secondly, McCain and Palin need to think about their legacies -- which is all they'll have left come November 5th. McCain already has a bad history on race. Now Sarah Palin will go down in history not only as the unprepared, empty-headed nitwit who sunk the Republican ticket in 2008, but the racist, unprepared, empty-headed nitwit.
[Update]: Thank you recommenders -- I love you too!
[Update 2]: I just wanted to link in a couple of other diaries on the current diary list that point out other aspects of McCain and his campaign's appeals to racism:
McCain sat on board of ultra-right wing racist group
McCain Campaign Rep in Virginia Pens Racist, Homophobic Anti-Obama Screed