The electoral race had devolved into inflammatory rhetoric and accusations that some had heard, regardless of what was intended, that Barack Obama was the embodiment of evil, some people reacted with a visceral hatred that they truly believed should have been translated into action. When one hears screams of "kill him" and "terrorist" from members of a crowd, it's clear that the wrong message had been sent. When others told then candidate Sen. McCain that Obama was an "Arab" and "Muslim" in an age where these words are tantamount to the murderous enemies in an ongoing war, it was no longer the whispered joke from Florida's elderly counties.
Like it or not, there are people out there, often believing themselves to be ultra-patriotic and thus prepared to do anything, anything, for the good of the nation, who will do harm. When John McCain stopped the woman who told him that Barack Obama was an Arab and took the microphone away from him, it seemed that he had the epiphany. The joke had gone too far.
While he explained that Obama was a "decent man with whom he had a strong disagreement on some issues," certainly an effort to diffuse the glaringly erroneous belief, the question remained why McCain did not affirmatively say "Barack Obama is not an Arab or a Muslim." Those words were not spoken by candidate John McCain, and those are the words that should have been said.
Even as there were glimmers of the old John McCain, the man who wouldn't say or do anything to stop the bleeding in his last ditch effort to be President, they were insufficient to clear up the misunderstandings that had been caused and promoted by his campaign staffers. As they continued to put out inflammatory television advertising and whip up the crowds to connect Obama to terrorism, they were unconcerned with the potential consequences of their choices.
There was no one in the Obama audiences screaming out their desire to kill John McCain. There was nothing in the Obama attack ads suggesting that McCain as president needs killing. They may have claimed he would make a terrible president, but not that he was an inherently dangerous and evil human being. The kind that must be killed.
John McCain did't want to be the match that lit the fuse of some lunatic who assassinated a President. He may not care so much about causing a divisiveness within America that will manifest as four years of partisan hatred. But he didn't want to go down in history as being the Angel of Death.
But McCain did want to be President, and inflammatory rhetoric was the only cartridge left in his presidential shotgun. The question was whether his desire to be President was stronger than his desire not to be the Angel of Death. One might wonder whether winning the Presidency with such tactics was the way John McCain (the real John McCain) would want to do it, but things had gone too far already for consideration of such a subtlety.
While it wasn't John McCain's fault that this country has people out there who would have misinterpreted his purpose and heard a message of hatred that commands violence, it was his fault when he knows that to be true and continued to fuel their hatred anyway.
If he didn't want to be the Angel of Death, then he should have explained with the same degree of clarity to these people that Barack Obama was not a dangerous and evil person who needed killing, is not an Arab, a Muslim or a terrorist who we are at war against, and that they had grossly misunderstood the message. Anything less would have not sufficed. And if anything had happened to then Senator Barack Obama, he would have beared the responsibility.
The same can be said of Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, Dick Morris, Michelle Malkin and yes, even Gov. Sarah Palin...just to name a few.
Do they all have a 'legal duty' to tone down their attacks, lest supporters of theirs commit (hypothetical) acts of impulsive rage that would never have taken place otherwise?
Is there a possibility of assigning criminal responsibility to those in the media for not cooling it with their language despite the knowledge that there is no truth in their rhetoric?
Let me be quite honest with you. I am scared...truly scared. Every day I say a prayer for my President and his family's safety. I can't even listen to CSPAN any more because of the lies being told by congressional members on the floor of the House and Senate. I stay clear of the Fox channel and I'm sure you all know why.
Unfortunately, the "war on terror" should begin in our own backyards.