While the corporate media hangs on every word coming from the McCain campaign, the charge last week that Obama "played the race card" in response to the attack ads really shouldn't have been blasted all over the news for days. The mainstream media owes America better coverage of the issues. The claim insults the intelligence of anyone who cares about our nation's problems. That sort of coverage has become the norm, but that won't stop me from demanding the return of quality, insightful broadcast journalism.
John McCain really has no breathing room when it comes to the issue of racism. He voted against a federal holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1983. He discussed his vote in an interview with Tim Russert, in 1999 during the lead up to the presidential election of 2000, saying:
...on the Martin Luther King issue, we all learn, OK? We all learn. I will admit to learning, and I hope that the people that I represent appreciate that, too. I voted in 1983 against the recognition of Martin Luther King….I regret that vote.
In April of this year Jake Tapper wrote about McCain's stance on the national holiday in the 1980's. In the Russert interview McCain seemed to make the claim that his vote was the only way he failed to honor the civil rights leader. That simply does not hold water. In 1987 Evan Mecham, the governor of Arizona at the time, rescinded Arizona's recognition of the holiday. McCain supported his decision. Not until the political implications of his own racism finally reached John McCain's clouded awareness did he change his position on the issue. The truth is that John McCain was racist back then. If you listen to the condescending way he talks about Barack Obama, then it becomes apparent McCain has not changed one little bit.
Many Obama supporters have been frustrated over the campaign's failure to fight Schmidt's attacks with greater vigor. The discussion really is beneath Barack himself, but John McCain's extremely poor record on civil rights and minority issues really shouldn't be ignored. Muzikal203's fantastic diary yesterday provided a long list of ways McCain has demonstrated his true feelings about race and equality. Obama's campaign desperately needs a high profile figure to discuss McCain's voting record on those issues, considering Barack got heckled by African Americans last week. Perhaps the Uhuru Movement activists should have heckled the candidate who has a failing grade from the NAACP, if the Republican campaign allowed them anywhere near McCain's speaking engagements. The GOP doesn't like "coloreds" at their events, however, so it might prove very difficult for the Uhuru Movement to be heard by the pasty old man.
On ever other issue John McCain also consistently demonstrates that he is not an earnest, thinking candidate, but is instead a puppet of the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party. The fact that reporters no longer have a place on The Bullshit Express goes a long way to proving that McCain can no longer discuss his positions on the issues. He no longer has any idea what his positions are supposed to be, because his campaign has crafted all of his positions for him. Were he allowed to honestly discuss his ideas the world would likely discover that they are much different from the ones he has been instructed to present, although likely just as wrong. The confusion that shows on John McCain's face when asked direct questions provides the world the only honesty coming from his campaign. These reactions, if presented properly in campaign advertisements, would be far more devastating than the ridiculous Brittney-Paris advertisement.
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