Matt Ortega

The epithets heard at McCain/Palin rallies these days continued for a second straight day. In the last two days, McCain/Palin supporters have yelled out:

“Terrorist!”

“Kill him!”

Told a black sound man, “Sit down, boy.”

And, at a Palin rally in Florida this afternoon, one man yelled out “Treason!” after a series of dishonest, discredited attacks on Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) for quotes taken completely out of context.

Washington Post: McCain Spot Distorts Obama Comment About Military. “This John McCain ad blatantly distorts Barack Obama’s words in an effort to paint him as callous about the role of the U.S. military. The commercial truncates a comment that Obama made to a voter in New Hampshire in August 2007. According to the Associated Press, the senator from Illinois brought up Afghanistan when asked whether he would withdraw troops from Iraq to fight terrorism elsewhere: ‘We’ve got to get the job done there, and that requires us to have enough troops so that we’re not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there.’ In short, Obama was saying he wanted to avoid just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, not that this was all that American troops were doing. His meaning was the opposite of what is portrayed in this spot.” [Washington Post, 10/7/08]

FactCheck.org: McCain Afghanistan Ad “Recycles a Misleading” Charge and “Misrepresents” Obama’s Votes. “A McCain-Palin ad calls Obama ‘dishonorable,’ while distorting his words and votes on troop funding. It accuses him of saying ‘our troops in Afghanistan’ are just bombing villages and killing civilians. What Obama said, in context, was a criticism of U.S. military strategy, and not of American troops. It accuses Obama and ‘Congressional liberals’ of voting repeatedly to cut off funding for troops, ‘increasing the risk on their lives.’ In fact, the votes were for bringing the troops home, cutting off funding only if the president failed to comply. The McCain-Palin campaign released the ad, titled ‘Dangerous,’ and said it would be televised nationally. It recycles a misleading, 14-month-old charge that Sen. Barack Obama disrespected U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan by accusing them of ‘just air-raiding villages and killing civilians.’ It also misrepresents votes in favor of withdrawing troops from Iraq as being votes ‘increasing the risk on their lives.’” [FactCheck.org, 10/6/08]

These will only mount as McCain and Palin will purposefully whip up anti-Obama sentiment by painting him as “other,” “foreign” and “dangerous.” It is all they have left to salvage a race that is quickly slipping away from them. It is a morally repugnant track for their campaign to take.