I’ve been following the stories about the racist undercurrent at the recent McPalin rallies (from both the candidates and audience members). A week later, after universal condemnation from the media and a continued drop in the polls, McCain decided to do what he should have done instantly — ask for respect for his opponent as a human being and a candidate. But now he’s surprised by the response of his ignorant followers when they boo him. What does he expect after encouraging it for a week?

I’m ashamed of both McCain and Palin. I never agreed with them on the issues and I never planned to vote for them, but at least they did not thoroughly disgust me as human beings. In the 21^st century, two political candidates for president should not have tried to distract the public from a serious economic crisis (for which they have no plan to help) by insinuating and outright (and falsely, as proved) accusing their opponent of being a terrorist and allowing racist, dangerous, and murderous reactions from their crowds.

The socialist charge has been the most innocent, due to Obama’s plan for government-aided health care. Call me whatever you want but, as we can plainly see in Canada, making sure its citizens are alive and healthy seems like a pretty good move for any government.

Obama the terrorist. Is this the attitude a politician should encourage? That if he’s black, he must be a terrorist? If he has an unfortunate middle name (over which none of us have control and which is completely meaningless), then he’s a terrorist? If he is well traveled and educated, a terrorist?

And the William Ayers connection? Once again, proven to be exaggerated by the McPalin campaign and now irrelevant. From The New York Times:

"The suggestion that Ayers was a political adviser to Obama or someone who shaped his political views is patently false," said Ben LaBolt, a campaign spokesman. Mr. LaBolt said the men first met in 1995 through the education project, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, and have encountered each other occasionally in public life or in the neighborhood. He said they have not spoken by phone or exchanged e-mail messages since Mr. Obama began serving in the United States Senate in January 2005 and last met more than a year ago when they bumped into each other on the street in Hyde Park….Since 2002, there is little public evidence of their relationship.

From CNN:

CNN’s review of project records found nothing to suggest anything inappropriate in the volunteer projects in which the two men were involved… There is no indication that Ayers and Obama are now "palling around," or that they have had an ongoing relationship in the past three years. Also, there is nothing to suggest that Ayers is now involved in terrorist activity or that other Obama associates are.

Now, if we’re going to insist that past social associations have bearing on someone’s presidential abilities, let’s take a look at the new Salon article linking Palin with "violent…right-wing…successionists" of the Alaska Independence Party who were once sponsored by Iran. The AIP is described as:

…rubbing shoulders and forging alliances with outright white supremacists and far-right theocrats, particularly those who dominate the proceedings at such gatherings as the North American Secessionist conventions, which AIP delegates have attended in recent years. The AIP’s affiliation with neo-Confederate organizations is motivated as much by ideological affinity as by organizational convenience.

Apparently this isn’t the first time Palin has taken part in bigotry for political gain:

While Palin played up her total opposition to the sales tax and gun control — the two hobgoblins of the AIP — mailers spread throughout the town portraying her as "the Christian candidate," a subtle suggestion that Stein, who is Lutheran, might be Jewish. "I watched that campaign unfold, bringing a level of slime our community hadn’t seen until then," recalled Phil Munger, a local music teacher who counts himself as a close friend of Stein.

Nor was Troopergate the end of her ethics violations and abuses of power:

When Palin won the election, the men who had once shouted anti-government slogans outside City Hall now had a foothold inside the mayor’s office. Palin attempted to pay back her newfound pals during her first City Council meeting as mayor. In that meeting, on Oct. 14, 1996, she appointed Stoll to one of the City Council’s two newly vacant seats. But Palin was blocked by the single vote of then-Councilman Nick Carney, who had endured countless rancorous confrontations with Stoll and considered him a "violent" influence on local politics. Though Palin considered consulting attorneys about finding another means of placing Stoll on the council, she was ultimately forced to back down and accept a compromise candidate…

…Emboldened by his nomination by Mayor Palin, Stoll later demanded she fire Wasilla’s museum director, John Cooper, a personal enemy he longed to sabotage. Palin obliged, eliminating Cooper’s position in short order. "Gotcha, Cooper!" Stoll told the deposed museum director after his termination, as Cooper told a reporter for the New York Times. "And it only cost me a campaign contribution." Stoll, who donated $1,000 to Palin’s mayoral campaign, did not respond to numerous requests for an interview. Palin has blamed budget concerns for Cooper’s departure.

And this is not ancient history for her:

When Palin ran for governor in 2006, marketing herself as a fresh-faced reformer determined to crush the GOP’s ossified power structure, she made certain to appear at the AIP’s state convention. To burnish her maverick image, she also tapped one-time AIP member and born-again Republican Walter Hickel as her campaign co-chair. Hickel barnstormed the state for Palin, hailing her support for an "all-Alaska" liquefied gas pipeline, a project first promoted in 2002 by an AIP gubernatorial candidate named Nels Anderson. When Palin delivered her victory speech on election night, Hickel stood beaming by her side. "I made her governor," he boasted afterward. Two years later, Hickel has endorsed Palin’s bid for vice president…

…Just months before Palin burst onto the national stage as McCain’s vice-presidential nominee, she delivered a videotaped address to the AIP’s annual convention. Her message was scrupulously free of secessionist rhetoric, but complementary nonetheless. "I share your party’s vision of upholding the Constitution of our great state," Palin told the assembly of AIP delegates. "My administration remains focused on reining in government growth so individual liberty can expand. I know you agree with that … Keep up the good work and God bless you."

CBS News has also covered Palin’s association with the AIP. Less than 24 hours after the Troopergate verdict, Palin stoked another non-economic fire at a rally in Pennsylvania:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin charged into the culture wars Saturday in Pennsylvania, painting Sen. Barack Obama as a radical on abortion rights.

"In times like these with wars and financial crisis, I know that it may be easy to forget even as deep and abiding a concern as the right to life, and it seems that our opponent kind of hopes you will forget that," Palin told a crowd in Johnstown. "He hopes that you won’t notice how radical, absolutely radical his idea is on this, and his record is, until it’s too late." (Translation: "Gosh-darnit, I have no idea how to fix your economy, so I’m gonna stand here all folksy and talk to ya straight about the beauty of life, and repeat how wonderful America is, and how mean reporters are to me with their questions.")

Now she’s no longer claiming that Obama will let domestic terrorists blow you to East Chuck and dare to actually hold diplomacy talks with foreign leaders, but get this — the big scary black man will kill your babies!

You want to talk about radical:

Palin opposes abortion in all cases, including rape and incest, except when a mother’s life is in danger, and said she believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned and the decision given to the states.

McCain voted for the Prohibit Partial Birth Abortion bill in 2003 and "yes" for Prohibiting Funds for Groups that Perform Abortions amendment in 2007. He believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and also supports the Supreme Court ruling upholding the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.

Palin also talked about a remark Obama made about sex education while campaigning in Johnstown in March, when he told a voter he didn’t want his daughters "punished with a baby" or "punished with an STD" if they were not educated about sex and made a mistake.

"So I listened when our opponent defended his unconditional support for unlimited abortions and he said he said that a woman shouldn’t have to be ‘Punished with a baby,’ " Palin said as the audience jeered at Obama. "Ladies and gentlemen, he said that right here in Johnstown. ‘Punished with a baby.’ It’s about time we called him on it."

I wonder if Bristol feels "blessed?"

I’m sure you all will soon hear about Obama supporting "infanticide" by voting against a bill that was supposed to protect fetuses born alive (a hysterical pro-life nurse and Fox News/Bill Donohue favorite, Jill Stanek, claimed, falsely, that late-term abortions were being performed at a Chicago hospital, and the still-living babies were left in soiled linen closets to die) but in actuality chips away at abortion rights. Obama’s reasoning for his nay vote — that sanity, common sense, and a doctor’s Hippocratic Oath dictate that A) obviously measures would be taken to keep any such fetus alive and B) if such measures are not taken, those actions violate already existing laws. He was backed by the Pro-Life-run Illinois Attorney General’s office.

Fun extra tidbits about Jill Stanek — she sponsors billboards in Africa that read: "Faithful condom users die." She posted, as fact, an urban legend about the Chinese eating aborted fetuses. "She works with Eric Scheidler and his father Joe Scheidler who [are] violent anti-abortion activist…" And she believes that birth control should be outlawed — not just abortion.

Eric Zorn of The Chicago Tribune and Obama’s website can provide further details. Or you can listen to Palin shoot her mouth off some more.

To all this, the ever-calm, thoughtful Obama responded:

"They can run misleading ads, and pursue the politics of anything goes, they can try to change the subject. They can do that what they want to do because the American people understand what’s going on — but it’s not going to work. Not this time."

I sure hope not.

Jennifer Leblanc