call me irresponsible

A message of intolerance goes over much more easily when it comes with a smile and a wink. The "he's not one of us" theme seems ready-made to appeal to the baseness of the Republican base. Hence, the shouts of "kill him" (i.e., Obama) and other slurs heard at McCain-Palin campaign stops are not surprising. The crowds seem less interested in hearing about what McCain will do in office and more interested in "chowing down" on the red meat thrown from the stage. What's interesting is the contrast that is created between Palin as a devout Christian and Palin as an innuendo-mongering candidate. Hence, the question the McCain campaign -- in the absence of any coherent political program -- raises vis-a-vis Obama rebounds on the vice-presidential nominee: do we really know the real Sarah Palin?

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Obama has said he won't play the politics of personal destruction, and he hasn't. Even when he criticizes Bush, he does it in a more temperate way than the people at MoveOn.org would like, focusing on flaws in Bush's policies and not Bush's motives. I think the situation for the Republican candidates is similar. There are elements in the Republican party who want, who desire, to be inspired by hatred and fear. McCain and Palin have a choice to make: either to give in to this element or not. It seems they have decided to give in, to campaign in a full rich negative position, and are not concerned about the byproduct of this: "kill him." McCain has charged that Obama would do anything to get elected. McCain is now risking a heightening of political and social divisions during a moment of economic crisis and seems to find this to be an acceptable price for getting elected. Pot, Kettle.

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What we're witnessing is the fact that Governor Palin owns the Republican party. She is the most popular figure in the party now. She will be the party's standard bearer even if McCain is elected. Her tone and her brand of the politics of division (she's a Buchananite) are now at the center of the Republican presidential campaign.

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Photo credit: Rex Features/The Guardian