Sarah Palin, Hate Monger

(I'm a speech coach. Tuesday nights are advanced forensics night, where we do mini-classes and coaching with the varsity speech students. It usually goes on til a little past nine, and then we coaches catch up with each other. I figured the debate wasn't going to be anything new, and if something unusual did happen, it would get played ad nauseum today anyway. So, I can't add any thoughts today on what I saw, because I won't comment on excerpts.)

Mostly, today I am concerned with the McCain campaign's latest use of Sarah Palin as the hate monger. She has been stoking paranoia and apparently getting an audience that represents the "base" part of the base, who scream "Kill him" as she talks about Barack (Hussein) Obama and his crazy 1960s terrorist neighbor (with whom he once worked on a literacy program in Chicago Public Schools).

You don't have to be smart or accurate or actually know about the national issues if you are hate mongering. You don't have to have any solutions when you are hate mongering. You just have to repeat hateful things over and over again, and say it with a wink and a smile. It is an effective use of her talents, but I sincerely hope that this sort of approach will wake up more of the decent republican voters to be aware of how badly their party has been taken over by dirty,evil and desperate means.

I have some hope. As a friend of mine said, "I am still a republican, but we don't all drink the kool-aid." And indeed, poll-wise it seems many republicans feel the same way.

When are the fiscally conservative, socially more open minded republicans going to take their party back over? The W. Bush years and the latest campaign have robbed thinking republicans of any self-respect. John McCain sold his soul to the far right, so don't think he will be a help anymore.

Republicanism has degenerated to meaning one who believes in huge deficits, environmental rape, greed, expansion of the wealthy class at the expense of the poor, and spreading fear and paranoia as a diversion from substantive discussion of the real scary issues.

I realize the latest turn in the McCain campaign is a mark of desperation--but how far will it go to rouse the basest of their base? What are they trying to achieve? Is the McCain campaign inciting violence against their opponent? Do they think this is the only way the will win?