The idea that an African-American with a "crazy" name (Whatever happened to those good old fashioned all-American names like Ostrowski or DiPendima or Jindal?) could be our next president is driving these people nuts.
When those two elderly McCain fans spoke - the elderly man in Wisconsin who referred to Democrats as "hooligans" and "socialists" and the elderly woman in the McCain-Palin t shirt who referred to Senator Obama as an "Arab" - any lingering idea I might have been cherishing regarding age and wisdom going hand in hand was pretty much finished. Both embarrassed themselves. McCain finally became alarmed at the increasing stridency that some of his supporters are bringing to his rallies and town meetings. He had to correct the woman who clearly did not expect McCain's reaction. Her very plaintive "no?" as well as the confused look on her face evoked competing emotions. On the one hand, her ignorance makes me angry on so many levels. On the other hand, her ignorance saddens me. McCain was booed by his supporters. I don't know how many people noticed, but when the camera was on Sarah Palin's face while McCain was telling people that Sen. Obama was a decent man, the look on her face was bordering on ugly. She didn't like what she was hearing at all. A man in Florida has a sign on his front lawn calling Senator Obama a "half breed Muslim." It's a good thing he doesn't live in some areas of Michigan that are chock full of immigrants from the Middle East. Ideologies wax and wane. I don't have any illusions that this ugly brand of conservatism that isn't conservative at all, actually, won't rear it's ugly head. For now, though, people are waking up to the fact that their Republican (as well as many Democratic) representatives in Congress betrayed them with their deregulation mania. It's driving the wingnuts crazy.