Ta-Nehisi Coates makes a good point: I don't hold McCain or Palin accountable for the incredible hatred that we've seen at their rallies as of late. Let me rephrase--I don't think they're accountable for everything they're knucklehead supporters say, anymore than Obama is accountable for every comment on DailyKos. But they should be shook by the people they're attracting. We are getting a good look at the elements of the base now. These are not people just posting anonymously in internet forums--these are people who literally believe Obama is a terrorist and showing up at rallies. These guys need to watch what they say. Somewhere, slumbering in this country, there are men who aren't clued in that this whole "terrorist" thing is mere strategy. They have guns, and all their lives they've wanted to be famous.When Sarah Palin says "our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country" she's talking to the cameras. She's saying something incendiary enough that it will knife through the rush transcript the NBC news embed sends back to his producers and ensure the McCain campaign gets a spot on the evening news. But then that news is broadcast to millions of people. Some of those people love Sarah Palin and John McCain. They take their statements very seriously. They already believe Barack Obama a Muslim educated in extremist Islamic academies that instilled him with a deep hatred of America. Now they are told by a credible witness that he so mistrusts this country that he happily associates with terrorists. To move from that statement to an act of political violence is not so much a leap of logic as a simple application of literalism. We have spent the past seven years cheering a war on terrorists. Now it seems that a particularly silver-tongued extremist has ascended to the highest step in American politics. Why would you not act?As Coates says, I do not hold McCain and Palin responsible for who attends their rallies. But I do hold them responsible for what they say. And they are not being responsible. Not even close.
