Deconstructing the Daily Star’s John McCain Interview – Part 4

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

We continue this series with the next subject matter Sen. John McCain Interview: Public sentiment:

STAR: Can you talk a little bit about inflamed rhetoric that sort of rose out of the health-care debate and continued? I think it's dying down a little bit. But it was really people calling each other baby killers and ugly names and (inaudible) Democrats, crosshairs. [Sarah Palin reference]

McCAIN: Well, I think it came from extremes on both sides. And there may be some disagreement. But I saw a lot of inflammatory things said and done about President Bush, murderer, war criminal. The CODEPINK people living outside his ranch.

During the 2008 campaign, Congressman John Lewis, a guy who I admired all of my adult life, that I wrote a chapter in one of my books about, issued a statement saying that my campaign was so racist that it reminded him of the Birmingham church bombing where three children were killed. I thought that was kind of inflammatory, to tell you the truth. Actually I thought it was worse than inflammatory.

So we saw a lot of this back and forth. So all of us regret it. All of us tried to tell people, as I did at the town hall meeting about President Obama during the campaign, as you recall.

At the same time perhaps with not total objectivity, I believe that the liberal media as a specialty is not reporting both sides of the story. I mean, I have CODEPINK people that jumped out in front of our car, that call me a murderer and a baby killer all the time. It's just their standard yelling and screaming. But whenever I'm on a Sunday talk show, they are usually out there and yell and scream that I'm a killer and a murderer.

STAR: In conjunction with what?

McCAIN: The war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan.

The question was about the current political environment – McCain dodges the editor's direct reference to Sarah Palin's web site putting "targeted" Democratic members of Congress in gunsight "crosshairs." He didn't want to answer this question. So McCain says what every immature five year old boy says: "they did it too!" Apparently McCain has a jones on for CODEPINK. They are hardly representative of public opinion on the left. Hell, I think they are annoying and counterproductive.

You can read Rep. John Lewis' statement here (something the Daily Star should have linked) Rep. John Lewis Responds to Increasing Hostility of McCain-Palin Campaign (10/11/2008). The McCain-Palin Campaign rebuked Rep. Lewis and called upon Barack Obama to rebuke the Congressman. John Lewis Warns McCain: You're "Sowing The Seeds Of Hatred And Division" The Obama Campaign responded:

Senator Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies. But John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for President of the United States 'pals around with terrorists.' As Barack Obama has said himself, the last thing we need from either party is the kind of angry, divisive rhetoric that tears us apart at a time of crisis when we desperately need to come together. That is the kind of campaign Senator Obama will continue to run in the weeks ahead.

Let's not forget that the racist images seen at HCRA Town Halls and Tea Parties over the past year first appeared during the McCain-Palin campaign, as Frank Rich detailed in The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama – NYTimes.com:

At McCain-Palin rallies, the raucous and insistent cries of “Treason!” and “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!” and “Off with his head!” as well as the uninhibited slinging of racial epithets, are actually something new in a campaign that has seen almost every conceivable twist. They are alarms. Doing nothing is not an option.

* * *

What makes them different, and what has pumped up the Weimar-like rage at McCain-Palin rallies, is the violent escalation in rhetoric, especially (though not exclusively) by Palin. Obama “launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist.” He is “palling around with terrorists” (note the plural noun). Obama is “not a man who sees America the way you and I see America.” Wielding a wildly out-of-context Obama quote, Palin slurs him as an enemy of American troops.

By the time McCain asks the crowd “Who is the real Barack Obama?” it’s no surprise that someone cries out “Terrorist!” The rhetorical conflation of Obama with terrorism is complete.

McCain takes no personal responsibility for this. Instead, he trots out the conservative bogeyman of the "librul media" several times during the interview – I'm surprised he didn't use Sarah Palin's line about the "lamestream media" (now that's really lame).

The McMedia are John McCain's "base." The media is only as liberal as the people who own it, and in this country the vast majority of media is owned by political conservatives. Including the major print publications in Arizona.

STAR: But is there a stronger role that people like you – you're in the most exclusive club in the world and have an amazing bully pulpit – can take and try to discourage that kind of rhetoric?

McCAIN: I think we should. And I think we do. Again, that it isn't just the issue of health care. I think it is the unemployment, I think it is the economic hard times, the frustration that people feel about if not them, their family members that are out of a job, out of their home. The frustration isn't just the health-care issue.

Again, it's almost like the killing of the rancher. The health-care issue was sort of the thing that really bred on the frustration that people feel. And a lot of that is understandable given the economic situation they find themselves in today.

So I think we should try harder. At the same time, I don't think we should restrict freedom of speech. Obviously we don't want to do that.

Once again, McCain ignores the genesis of where this anger began. It didn't begin with the HCRA Town Halls. It began when the McCain-Palin campaign made a conscious decision to play the race card to appeal to conservative "Reagan Democrats" in key swing states. Palin did so with gusto. Once you let the evil genie out of the bottle, it's damn hard to get him back in.

STAR: That you've also been on television saying that this kind of rhetoric, you know, targeting and the bull's eye on the different, including (U.S. Rep.) Gabrielle Giffords here in town, is perfectly fine; it is acceptable, it is the way it's always been done, no big deal. It's okay.

McCAIN: We have always had battleground states.

STAR: But that's not the issue at all.

McCAIN: We've always had targeted districts. I have been in Obama's sights. I have a bull's eye on my back, I have heard that for all my political career. That's just way that the lexicon is, that people talk.

STAR: But for all those years, we have not had people showing up with really awful signs or people spitting on members of Congress or going to —

McCAIN: Yes, we have. We have had people show up with the most awful signs. I have seen them at the Bush rallies in 2000 and 2004. I would be glad to show you pictures of them.

They have been showing up. The liberal media just didn't report them. They just accepted the fact that people called George Bush a murderer and a war criminal. I don't know what's much worse than accusing somebody of being a murderer.

STAR: Well, I think it's different when you are talking about, and again I'm not trying to get into a debate.

McCAIN: I enjoy the debate. I have already apologized for my cutting off of our last debate.

STAR: Maybe we can meet again.

McCAIN: Okay. I hope so.

STAR: And I'm not supporting people's conduct on awful things. I mean, there are awful people saying awful things on all sides of the spectrum. But when you are talking about a war, I think that's a different situation than a health-care reform package. I mean, the circumstances are different. War is about death and destruction and trying to accomplish a goal. And you can agree or disagree. But it is a different event and frame of reference than a domestic policy issue. I just think it's a different atmosphere now than it was then.

McCAIN: There may be some validity to what you say because I think there is much more passion out there now. And I think, as we discussed a few minutes ago, I think this economic terrible situation that underlays this whole political environment that we are in.

But honestly, all my political career I have seen targets and bull's eyes and the words battleground and the war zone and all of this. It is just part of the rhetoric that goes on in political campaigns.

McCain is playing a game of semantics here to excuse the conduct of Sarah Palin. Yes, political races are "targeted" by political parties, but it is exceptionally rare and always subject to criticism when someone paints an actual target on a politician, figuratively or literally, given the history of political violence in this country. It has happened occasionally, and those responsible have been roundly criticized for it. But McCain's lame response is "everybody does it" and "it's no big deal." His answer is divorced from the reality of political violence in this country, and that is irresponsible. And no, senator, it is never acceptable.

STAR: Do you think those who haven't been involved in previous campaigns who are now activated and engaged and passionate and frustrated, as you said, do you think they understand that this is just sort of the lexicon of politics?

McCAIN: I did the town hall meeting in Prescott a couple of weeks ago with the Tea Party people. And the place was jammed, I think there were about 700 people who came. And they had all the signs, and they had all the enthusiasm and frustration. And there were three or four people that yelled things that were inappropriate. And when they did, I said, "Don't do that."

But the vast majority of these people are just ordinary people, were out there expressing their frustration and anger. And to grab hold of that, there's a very fringe element out there that is saying the wrong things and making comments that are inappropriate. Frankly, it diverts attention from what is going on out there. What is going on out there is a real revolution. It's a peaceful revolution, but it's a real revolution. And you are always going to get some people who will say inappropriate things.

And again I return to the fact that I can't tell you the number of inappropriate things that have been said about me over the years. And they are just wrong.

I did not attend the rally in Prescott so I do not know whether McCain actually told people "don't do that." I have been to other rallies where McCain most certainly did not admonish the crowd for offensive signs or comments. The editor should have asked McCain to clarify whom he considers the "fringe element" at Tea Party rallies. Maybe next time.

STAR: People are taking it to the next level and throwing bricks …

McCAIN: Yes. Yes. (Rep.) Eric Cantor got a brick thrown through the window of his place. We have received death threats. We have received threats of all kinds. Yes. This is a very inflamed environment …

I'm probably not making myself totally clear. It's a healthy environment that we have people engaged for whatever reason. It's not healthy if there are fringe elements that do things wrong.

Just like this militia group up there in Michigan. They are terrible and unacceptable. But I don't think they represent the mainstream of these different movements. Just as I don't think the CODEPINK lady who runs around calling me a murderer and a baby killer all the time represents the mainstream of opposition.

The editor should have corrected McCain. Rep. Eric Cantor did not have a brick thrown through the window of his office. He falsely claimed that someone had fired a gunshot through the window of an office not in his district that he occasionally uses. As we reported here previously, the bullet was from some yahoo shooting his gun into the air and it hit the window on a downward trajectory on reentry. Cantor's story was used by Republicans to claim "we're being threatened too" to deflect criticism they received for inciting protesters at the Capitol, and that their inflammatory rhetoric inspired threats against Democratic members of Congress — which is what McCain is doing by using Cantor here. Mr. "personal responsiblity" simply will not accept any personal responsibility for having unleashed this ugliness during his presidential campaign.