Senator Susan Collins, Maine Chair of the the McCain campaign, has recently criticized the robocalls that are reaching residents of her state. She has asked McCain to stop these scurrilous attacks on Obama. This isn't enough. Since her request, McCain has dismissed the idea. So it's time to tell Collins that she's got to stand up for decency and honesty in the presidential campaign. Email, call, or write to her through the contact form on her campaign website www.susancollins.com
My contact to her is posted on the flip side.
Dear Senator Collins:
I was very heartened to read that you called on John McCain to suspend the robocalling in which his campaign insinuates that Barack Obama is working with terrorists. Thank you for standing up for decency and honesty in the campaign. However, I heard an interview with John McCain today in which he dismissed your request and insisted that the calls and all his ads are truthful and accurate. Since you've made it clear that you disagree on this point, I call on you now to step down from your role as State Chair of the McCain campaign. Anything less than separating yourself from these despicable tactics will reveal your earlier criticism to be hollow.
American political discourse is often rough, but the McCain/Palin campaign has brought the art of attack to a new and dangerous nadir. The politics of division are poisoning the atmosphere, and John McCain and Sarah Palin seem oblivious to or perhaps uncaring about the mob mentality that they are inciting. The results have been frightening and they are escalating: vandalism, physical attacks, verbal assaults, animal cruelty, threats of assassination. This must stop.
As a senator yourself, you're aware of the code of ethics that members of that body are required to uphold, which includes respect for all members regardless of party. Senator McCain's campaign is in violation of that code in his attacks on another senator. If you stand by silently and remain a member of his campaign, you are complicit in these violations. Your record in the senate shows you to be better than that. Do the right thing and resign from McCain's campaign.