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McCain says Republicans are “out of touch with reality” for opposing Obama’s pastor
This exchange concerns the anti-Obama TV ad that North Carolina Republicans intend to run (you can see the ad here) and that McCain opposes.
Jeremy G. writes:
We’re starting to see what a McCain-Obama matchup would look like. It will be one where radical leftists are free to speak their mind while whites are muzzled by their own elected leadership. McCain says that conservatives who oppose Obama’s racist anti-American church are the ones who are “out of touch with reality.”
It seems that North Carolina Republicans aren’t listening and that opposition to McCain from his right flank has already begun.
LA replies:
Did McCain really say that the N.C. Republicans are “out of touch with reality” for wanting to publicize the anti-Americanism of Obama’s long-time pastor?
[LA reads article.]
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—Republican U.S. presidential candidate John McCain accused North Carolina’s Republican Party of being “out of touch with reality” over its refusal to pull an advertisement criticizing Democrat Barack Obama.
In an NBC interview aired on Friday, the Arizona senator said he has done all he can to persuade the state party to cancel the television ad that criticizes Obama as “too extreme” because of controversial remarks made by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
“They’re not listening to me because they’re out of touch with reality and the Republican Party. We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan and this kind of campaigning is unacceptable,” McCain told NBC’s “Today” Show. [cont.]
Yep, he really said it.
However, the story does not say exactly what about the ad McCain objected to. Was the ad too hard hitting? Or was it the mere fact that the ad criticized Obama’s membership in that extremist church?
Jeremy replies:
The ad was benign. You can see it here.
LA replies:
Amazing. The ad simply says that Obama has attended that church for 20 years and it plays the famous Wright clip about “God damn America” that has already been endlessly discussed and played in the MSM. And it’s too—what? racist? anti-black? hard-hitting?—for the delicate Mr. McCain.
In fact the ad says nothing about race. It doesn’t quote Wright’s anti-white statements. It only quotes him saying, “Not God bless America, but God damn America.” So what does opposing this ad have to do with “being the party of Abraham Lincoln”? It can only mean that for McCain, even though the clip says nothing critical about black people as black people, the fact that it shows a ranting, anti-American black preacher reminds people of certain negative realities in the black community, and a good follower of Abraham Lincoln just doesn’t do things like that.
In other words, for McCain, being a follower of Lincoln means never criticizing blacks, even when they are virulently attacking America—or, rather (following Auster’s First Law, which says that the worse nonwhite minorities behave, the more the white majority must cover up for them),especially when they are virulently attacking America.
Again we see how right-liberalism (it’s wrong to discriminate against non-whites based solely on their race) morphs into left-liberalism (it’s wrong to say anything critical about nonwhites, period).
McCain, on top of everything else, is a thoughtless human being, going through his whole career self-righteously repeating the same mindless slogans.
See my blog entry from several weeks ago, McCain defends Obama, proving conclusively that McCain should not be supported for the presidency.
- end of initial entry -
Sam B. writes:
I was going to wait-see whom McCain would choose as a running mate before I’d cast my vote for him, but after his disgraceful dressing down of the N. Carolina GOP—their reference to the Rev.Wright soundbite as being unacceptable—I won’t vote for the man. He’s on the same page as Obama, each trying to outdo the other with their appeals to Everyman and -woman. They will represent “all” of America. I may vote for Hillary—as much as I’d grit my teeth on that. She can’t possibly do more harm than either of those two Siamese twins.
LA writes:
Michelle Malkin covers the story. (Of course she’ll still vote for McCain, as will Rush Limbaugh, they’ll just do it quietly.)
Adela G. writes:
From the Reuters article for which Jeremy G. provided a link: “They’re not listening to me because they’re out of touch with reality and the Republican Party. We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan and this kind of campaigning is unacceptable,” McCain told NBC’s “Today” Show.
WHAT—?? It is not that kind of campaigning that is unacceptable, it is an American pastor yelling “GOD DAMN AMERICA!” from a pulpit in America that is—or should be—unacceptable to all Americans. I can’t imagine Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan not speaking out vehemently against remarks like the ones Jeremiah Wright has made publicly and repeatedly.
This proves conclusively that McCain is unfit to hold political office by reason of mental disease or defect. Something, perhaps during his time as a POW, has gone terribly wrong with his brain, rendering him unable to process facts in a reasonable way or to distinguish between objective reality and leftwing lunacy. That he exists in a climate of lunacy—as do we all—does not excuse his own descent into it. He’s supposed to be and is campaigning to be a leader of Americans, not lemmings.
Frankly, I thought the ad could have—and should have—gone much further.
N. writes:
Now all we need is for Senator McCain to say, in a condescending way, that the North Carolina Republicans are “clinging” to racism…
Tim W. writes:
McCain doesn’t have what it takes to defend himself against phony charges of racism, so he’s getting out ahead of the media curve and taking pre-emptive action against his own supporters. Back in 1988 a group supporting Bush #1 ran the notorious Willie Horton ad. I call it “notorious” sarcastically, because it became synonymous with allegedly racist behavior by conservatives. The ad truthfully pointed out that under Dukakis’ administration as governor, Massachusetts allowed vicious criminals to leave prison on weekend passes. Horton, a murderer, was allowed out and he ended up kidnapping a couple and raping the woman.
Since Horton was black, and everything in the ad was true, the Democrat/media spin was that the ad was “racist” and an attempt to link black men with violence in general and rapes of white women in particular. Ever since then the ad has been used by the left as an example of the worst type of conservative racism, when of course the ad was not racist at all. To say that that ad was impermissible is to say that liberals get a free pass on leniency toward criminals and blacks get a free pass on criminality committed due to such policies.
Two years later, Jesse Helms ran another “notorious” ad when seeking re-election to the Senate in North Carolina against a pro-affirmative action black Democrat. The ad showed a white man crumpling up a job application in disappointment, while the voiceover said he was the most qualified applicant, but didn’t get the job because of his race. Helms didn’t apologize, as he was a rarity in modern politics, a man of principle. However that ad also was denounced bitterly as racist and unacceptable and the party leadership distanced themselves from it.
Nothing like these ads has been run since, but the likely presence of Obama as McCain’s opponent clearly leaves conservative ad makers with a wide-open target. They should run an ad highlighting Obama’s association with William Ayers. We know McCain won’t stand for anyone mentioning that Obama’s middle name is Hussein, or that he has a black lunatic minister. Maybe it’ll be okay to criticize his white terrorist friend. Then again, maybe McCain will say it’s racist to mention that a black guy’s friend is an unrepentant bomber.
It’ll be interesting to find out if McCain plans to wimp out across the board, or only when PC taboos are violated.
Spencer Warren writes:
McCain and the North Carolina advertisement, he is already joining with the liberals to gang up on the conservatives and delegitimize their position! This incident is a clear forewarning how his election would undermine or destroy the conservative movement. So much for his speech at the CPAC convention and other bones, which many Hannity “conservatives,” though not most at CPAC, greeted as the start of a rapprochement. Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham today have been sharply critical of McCain. But Limbaugh said, as he always says of Busheron, “I am mystified.” These talk show hosts, true journalists, seem incapable of placing a story into a conceptual framework.
LA replies:
As I’ve said before, if Limbaugh, the foremost Republican commentator in America, must constantly tell his audience that he’s “mystified” by the repeated actions of Republican leaders, then Limbaugh is incompetent at his job and he ought to retire.
I wonder if a single Limbaugh caller has ever challenged him on his mantra that he’s “mystified.”
LA continues:
Further, the statements, “I’m shocked, I’m mystified, it’s unfathomable,” are the standard statements of LIBERALS who don’t want to recognize the truth about liberalism and what it has wrought. McCain acts, quite obviously, like a liberal, and Limbaugh instead of acknowledging the obvious and saying, “McCain is a liberal,” says, “I’m mystified.” Meaning that Limbaugh is covering up the truth that the Republican party is headed by a liberal.
And what Mr. Warren said is true. This incident is the harbinger of a McCain presidency, in which McCain will join up with liberals to attack and silence conservatives.
Don’t forget this incident. Every pro-McCain conservative should be hit with this incident and its significance.
Robert in Nashville writes:
Great observations on McCain’s response to his own party’s North Carolina ad. Unbelievable, and yet, there it is—the Republican liberal, McCain, joining in solidarity with the Democratic liberal, Obama, to condemn his own state Republican party for pointing out an important truth issue about Obama’s allegiance to his own country. If there was ever any question that McCain had any shred of conservative in him, this disposes of it. What does this leave us? Hillary, as the closest candidate to anything conservative?
I feel like I am living in a dream or the Soviet Union and my only choices are which Soviet commissar to vote for.
Perhaps after ‘08, conservatives will at last frankly be named as an intolerable cult of heretics, who refuse to accept universalism and who deny that all people, nations and races are the same: universalism deniers. And we know what happens to members and children of members of cults. It takes one anonymous phone call to start rounding them up.
I exaggerate, but I wonder by how much, and by how long.
LA replies:
McCain’s attempt to squelch a perfectly legitimate Republican ad also connects with his beloved campaign finance regulation law. He doesn’t want his fellow liberals attacked by nasty conservative groups during an election campaign.
N. writes:
You know, we really have three Democrats running for the presidency. The far-left candidate is Senator Obama; the left-wing candidate is Senator Clinton; the moderate liberal candidate is Senator McCain. McCain could have been a “Scoop Jackson” Democrat, perhaps, although that’s not a perfect fit.
But anyway, thanks to the bizarro world primary system in too many states, we have three Democratic candidates and no Republicans. This is a one-party election. That’s the real problem. No wonder some people are feeling like it’s some sort of Soviet style election…
Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 25, 2008 02:16 PM | Send
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