It all started Sunday with Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama. The endorsement wasn't what hurt McCain/Palin. The reasoning he gave, clear and brutally damning, set the tone for the next 48 hours of news.
McCain hasn't done enough to shut up the loons in the GOP calling Obama a terrorist, he hasn't done enough to stop the smear campaign against Obama, the GOP has shifted TOO FAR to the right, and the Palin choice was wrong because she's not ready for that high an office. All Colin Powell's opinions (and mine). All of it debatable by the other side. But because of the source of said opinion it sliced through the spin doctors and righty pundits like a hot knife through butter.
Then the Goldwater family endorsed Obama.
Then William Weld.
Then Arne Carlson.
Then Scott McClellan.
Then the big one. Charles Fried. Don't know him? Understandable. You will know him when the ads hit the air waves. Up until he endorsed (and voted for) Obama he was an official adviser to the McCain campaign. Right up until yesterday. That one stings.
Except McClellan they all cited the same reasons as Powell. The negativity of the campaign, the personal attacks, and Palin. And it looks as if the bleeding won't stop. Rumblings are getting louder of more GOPers coming out of the closet, if you will, for Super O next week. McCain may have done the unimaginable, broken the weakened GOP in half. If he wins the Presidency he'll not only have to deal with an overwhelming Dem majority but he'll have to deal with anti-McCain Republicans. He'll be a lame duck from day one. Wow.
The bad news didn't stop with the Republican supporters of Obama. There was a certain issue with Palin getting $150,000 in clothes from the RNC. Clothes supposedly bought at the ritziest stores in America plus the revelation that the highest paid McCain staffer is in fact Palin's makeup artist. Now this is completely unimportant. I expect all candidates to spend as much as possible to look good in front of the camera. But when a campaign spent all fucking summer calling Obama a latte sipping, arugula eating elitist well then it's time to jump on their hypocrisy. And boy did the media jump on that shit. Like piranha attacking an unfortunate mammal that slipped into the water.
There was also a funny moment. A Bob Dole moment if you will. An asshole Democrat congressman from Pennsylvania (Murtha) called western Pennsylvania a racist area. It was a dumb thing to say (even if it's true) but he put it out there. McCain came to the podium with this knowledge in hand ready to pounce in PA and said:
"You know, I think you may have noticed that Senator Obama's supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about Western Pennsylvania lately. And you know, I couldn't agree with them more."
Realizing his error McCain tried to correct himself on the fly. Well:
"I couldn't disagree with you. I couldn't agree with you more than the fact that Western Pennsylvania is the most patriotic, most god-loving, most, most patriotic part of America, and this is a great part of the country."
A ball was teed up for McCain and not only did he swing and miss, the bat flew out of his hands and boomeranged right into his mouth. McCain ate it. Hard.
The final piece of terrible McCain/Palin news this week was mostly not the McCain campaign's fault. Mostly. See, a girl told police that a black man who saw her McCain bumper sticker assaulted her and carved the letter B on her face. The lunatic right (FOX News, NewsMax, WoldNet Daily, you know, the usual nut jobs) ran with this story full speed ahead. It was perfect. A black Obama supporter attacks a white/female McCain supporter and disfigures her to boot! This was the October surprise they needed! A breakthrough! Play the race card and get people scared of uppity, violent black folks who feel empowered by Obama! Heaven sent! Oh but they should have waited on the official word from the police. Boy was it a doozy. The girl changed her story a couple of times, failed a polygraph test, then admitted it was a racist hoax to try and help out. Egg on the face of everyone who reported this as a fact. Another nail in the righty punditry's coffin. And yes, a connection to the McCain campaign. It seams that campaign officials in PA where pushing the "facts" on locals news stations before the official word came down from the Police. If the old John McCain is still alive somewhere inside Evil McCain heads are rolling right now. If not they will pretend nothing happened. "We were fooled too" they'll say. Even though they were adding this case to their talking points already. Before the attack was a known fact.
There was one more Powell moment that I thought would stick more than it did. One of the whisper themes from the GOP is that somehow, besides evidence to the contrary, Obama is a Muslim and has always been one. It's a false statement. But what if he was a Muslim? What if he was the first Muslim running for President? What difference would it make? Is this not a country where people are free to follow whatever religion they want without persecution? Is this not a country where our religion and our government are two separate entities? And aren't there also Muslims who are Americans? Have there been no followers of Islam who've made sacrifices for our freedoms? Who've served this country with pride? Of course. And Colin Powell gave one powerful example. I was moved by his description. I wish this story would have had more legs. It needs to be shouted from the mountain tops. Make no mistake I have grown out of religion (and yes I poke fun at it constantly). But that was a personal choice I made for me (maybe too late in life) that I would never want forced on others. And I squirm when I hear people talking about Muslims as if they are all bad people. As if they are all terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. It's not true. It can't be true. Not in my America.
Colin Powell:
"I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America. I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life."