I’m going to write this as calmly and as rationally as I can muster.
Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin, it’s time to take a step back and regain your honor. Perhaps you should consider what your latest political strategy is doing to the American public. Perhaps, if you have any sense of dignity or pride, you should stop and regain a sense of responsibility in the misinformation you are giving to the public and it’s ripple effect on people.
From the Washington Post:
Worse, Palin’s routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric‘s questions for her “less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media.” At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, “Sit down, boy.”
…
The reception had been better in Clearwater, where Palin, speaking to a sea of “Palin Power” and “Sarahcuda” T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. “One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers,” she said. (“Boooo!” said the crowd.) “And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,’ ” she continued. (“Boooo!” the crowd repeated.)
“Kill him!” proposed one man in the audience.
Palin also told those gathered that Obama doesn’t like American soldiers. “He said that our troops in Afghanistan are just, quote, ‘air-raiding villages and killing civilians,’ ” she said, drawing boos from a crowd that had not been told Obama was actually appealing for more troops in Afghanistan.
This game you’re playing to win…it’s dangerous. In fact, it’s beyond dangerous. Your lies and your smears and your attempt to insight riots and zealots and extremists is irresponsible and disgusting.
I’m not one to talk, but I at the very least have a heart and conscience.
I will hold you accountable for your attempts, your words, and your strategy. I will also continue to write and talk and blog every lie and every smear and every misstep, because I can very clearly see what you are doing and that you will stop at nothing to get there.
For every voter you get to yell racial slurs I will find ten, including my own mother, to knock on doors for Senator Obama.
For every voter you get yelling ‘Kill Him’ at a rally, I will find 50 to blog in support of Senator Obama.
For every voter you inspire to create offensive t-shirts, or buttons, or waffle mix, hang offensive flags or put up disgusting lawn signs, I will find 200 to donate to the Obama campaign.
For every single voter you get to spread your hate, I will find thousands willing to stand up to your evil.
Game over. Enough is enough.
Count me in! I’ll blog against the lies!!!
Thank you Sarah
“The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” – Rosa Parks (1913 – 2005)
Brava! And all this from a party whose slogan is “Country First!” and that repeatedly cries “Class Warfare!” when Obama and Biden talk about the middle class needing relief? Please. Talk about empty words.
Sadly, rational appeals to irrational people will likely fall on deaf ears. Calling out the GOP for their tactics of hate is like calling a Klansman a racist. To him, that’s a compliment. I suspect those that drink from the well of GOP intolerance will take pride in being called out by the Queen.
Thanks Erin for this post. The first very first time I heard Obama speak, I was so moved that I called to my wife and replayed the YouTube video for her. When it was over, we sat in silence, eyes moist and finally, one of us said “you know in this country, when you talk that way, you can get killed.” Having lived in the south for a number of years, I’m personally acquainted with just how much racial and political hatred simmers just barely below the surface of our “civil” society. So when I saw the “kill him” remark on the web a few hours ago, I thought I was going to vomit. Dear god, surely these people have boundaries they would not cross for the Presidency, don’t they?!? If McCain has a shred of honor left, he must make a public statement unequivocally condemning this remark tomorrow. In the next debate, he also needs to look at Obama and acknowledge that another human being in standing next to him. They are playing with fire and it needs to stop.
Well Said!!!!!
http://www.palinspin.com the dirt, scandals, palinisms, incompetence, lies and deceptions of Sarah Palin!
http://www.obamamate.com social news for the Barack Obama nation
Only one more month, then no-one will give two figs what these small-minded self-absorbed pretenders have to say. Keep fighting the good fight, and taking each day one call, one door-knock, one donation at a time. And Thankyou : )
Wonderful post, Queen! If I weren’t already blogging for Obama, that would certainly get me to start 🙂
It’s sad – and terrifying – that people can become so wrapped up in fear and hatred that they can’t see that they’re doing so much more to destroy this country than the things they fear and the people they hate do.
I’m sorry to be the bearer… but there’s more. This is via Jonathan Martin at Politico: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buyVS9fRqkw
He actually looks a bit surprised at the crowd’s response – yet another example of McCain acting without considering the consequences? Maybe, but sure as hell his campaign strategist knows where this is headed.
Bo liao… in the end of this election, it’s still just dirty old politics…
Rather spend my time being King Of Sprain… LOL~
amen.
Thank you your Majesty, thank you!
I’m already blogging and doing what I can against that hateful woman and the out of touch geezer she’s running with, but I’ll double my efforts.
Again, thank you your Majesty I appreciate a global voice speaking out against their hatred, lies and stupidity.
Tanya D
Chicago, IL USA
This makes my stomach turn.
And does anyone else remember a time when we VALUED our right to a free press and saw it as playing a crucial role in our democracy??
Well said!
I am really disturbed at the dark turn the McCain campaign has taken. I don’t think it’s bringing out the best in Americans, and I think it’s going to take people longer to heal and connect after the elections. It saddens me. Worse, it’s all for nothing — this kind of strategy only energizes the already loyal base and does nothing to move undecided voters. It’s as if McCain/Palin are using these people to channel their own anger and frustration at their own failed campaign. What a depressing waste of energy and resources.
Excellent post!!! You are so right and it is very very scary what they are doing. Are you ready for this… I wasn’t there when it happened but my DH relayed it. Neighbor boy (around 7 or 8 y.o.) with adult neighbors, minus his parents. Neighbor boy asks what they think of Obama, neighbors respond with ‘he has some good ideas.’ Ready for this hon… I nearly died when I was told. Neighbor boy responds with ‘I think the KKK will take him out.’ OMG where in the world did this kid hear this??? It gave me chills yet boiled me at the same time.
I am right there with you blogging against the smear that is what Truthful Politics is all about.
thank you ! over here we are watching the game with the same disgust and a good portion of fear. Axel from Cologne, Germany.
Erin,
Well said! Regardless of where your politics lie, can’t we get out of the gutter and talk about the important stuff? Clearly, these two don’t get the social media values of transparency and authenticity. Hopefully, we will never hear from them again in 4 weeks!
Great post… And inspiring, too. The Palin/McCain campaign is so disheartening and disgusting, and frankly absolutely disturbing. Their negative politics and lowly tactics should not be tolerated let alone supported.
You’re right. We’ve got to stop them. We’ve got to attribute the comments of every nut case to the candidates themselves, even though that’s a ridiculous connction to try to make because there are nut cases on both sides. Bush is a terrorist. Palin’s husband is sleeping with her daughter. God damn America. The US of KKK. etc. Let’s attibute every vile comment posted on democratunderground, dailykos, and huffingtonpost to Obama. He must think exactly the same as those people. He must agree with every bit of and could just as well have said it himself. Blog away! Fix the problem on both sides.
I woke up feeling this way this morning, and told m- boyfriend that I’ve gone from being ashamed and embarrased to outraged and infuriated. I support having a woman in the White House, but not Palin. With that I must say –
Thank you, Sarah Palin, for inspiring me to do something I’ve never done before.
In all my years of volunteering in the community, I’ve never been participated in political events. However, thanks to Governor Palin, I’ve joined a political cause with Women Against Palin and will be getting out in my community to support Senator Obama. Sarah Palin does NOT represent MY interests as a woman – I will stand up and speak out.
And another thank you – for reminding that as a pro-choice supporter, that I have many choices. After weighing what I know as a biologist, I’ve decided that it is a selfish choice to choose to initiate pregnancy at 44 years of age. The need to meet my maternal instinct should not outweigh the quality of life for a child, and pro-choice should not imply abortion as the option. There are plenty of children in the world already with special needs, emotionally and physically. We will adopt.
Thank you! I get so angry when the McCain/Palin machine goes back to mudslinging. If only people would open their eyes and see how completely incapable they are of making real change. Instead of talking about what is good for the country, what they would do to make a positive change in the lives of our citizens, they resort to lies and distortion. It is sickening.
J, I think you miss my point. For ever inspiration, there is another. Nutjobs on both sides can #suckit
and this morning she does it again
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/07/obama-hatred-on-display-a_n_132572.html
Wow 1960 how old was Obama? Okay I guess my 5 year old will be blamed for Wall-streets fall in 40 years- Send him to his room without supper right now!
Appealing to the fanatics that is how low they go, no words
Please keep fighting the good fight, Erin.
And this isn’t happening on the other side? No smears, no misspoken words? I come here to get a sense of a liberal view, and you feed right into the media latching onto some idiot who could have been at either a rally for McCain or Obama yelling Kill Him. The economy is crashing and you choose to write about this?
For every offensive t-shirt against Obama, I can find 20 against McCain…try me.
“Trying to stay informed” the point is the climate. When Obama goes on the offensive against McCain he says things like “While I respect my opponent I disagree with…” from the McCain camp we hear “Doesn’t think of America like you and I do and pals around with terrorists”
It’s the climate they are creating. You can talk misinformation on both sides, but only one is making this ugly and dangerous
As for the issue raised in the comment above mine, the problem, of course, is not simply that some idiot in a crowd yells things that are unconscionable; the problem is how the speaker handles this: is there any effort to create distance between speaker and heckler? Any apology? Any explicit statement that such are NOT the politics of the party? When the answer to these questions is no, when the speaker seems to be goading on such comments and using them to bolster the emotional enthusiasm of the crowd rather than rejecting them as the antics of a slanderer, then the speaker is just as culpable.
And, frankly, it would be far preferable if we were to hear the candidates talking about real issues rather than simply trying to incite crowds with smear tactics. But if this is the “news” they provide, then isn’t this the news they must expect us to write about?
If you start a blogging campaign, please count me in.
(As I hope is obvious, my response was addressed to the criticism “Trying…” levels, not to your response, which you were writing as I was writing.)
All I can think of to say Erin is thank you. Thank you on behalf of my daughter’s generation who are voting for the first time with joy at having the right to choose their next president and also with fear that the nation isn’t strong enough to stand up to this evil.
You’re proving the nation is strong enough.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing”
I don’t support McCain. I hope he loses. And yet – I’d like to hear him be the man he was. To be honest, I don’t think it matters, this late in the game. But it’d be good to hear.
Surely the depths the republican party will go to in the pursuit of claiming victory should be no shock to anyone by now.
Haven’t you seen the last 8 years?
These tactics are proof positive that a vote for McCain is a vote for NO CHANGE, and simply more republican, status quo politics.
I think it is about time for the McCain camp to bring out the big guns against Obama and his terrorist/radical buddies. How can America be so ignorant to elect a man like this to the White House? He will wreck our economy by raising taxes, weaken our military by cutting spending and no telling what else. Our Founders are spinning their graves that this fool even has a chance at the Oval Office.
I live in Texas, and everyone I know is voting McCain. Not so much for him, mainly for Governor Palin. She is exactly the kind of tough, no-nonsense, straight shooting Leader our Nation needs. I hope and pray she keeps hammering and pounding on the little lord Obama. It’s about time he is forced to answer for his radical and terrorist friends.
Do we really want a President who’s spiritual mentor screams obscenities and “God d*** America” from the pulpit?
Do we really want a First Lady who thinks America is a “Down right mean Country”?
Do we really want a President who supports infanticide? The really, really sick kind. The kind that lets babies die in utility closets…. What a cold bastard.
Do we really want a President who calls folks like me “bitter” and “clinging to guns” with “antipathy” towards people like him?
Guys like him are one of the biggest reasons I “cling” to my guns, to protect my family and home from him and his radical, racist and terrorist friends.
I don’t mean to rant, but this guy and his Marxist ideologies are so dangerous and extremist I can’t help it.
Wake up America!
A vote for Barack Hussein Obama is a vote for bondage!
Daniel, I’m leaving your comment up to show everyone what sort of lies and lunacy are being spread about Senator Obama.
Your facts are wrong. Your party’s tactic disgusting.
Does everyone see this? Do you see what Daniel wrote and no doubt believes?
It’s scary and sad.
I suggest you check out the truth with some facts. Factcheck.org and the Sunlight foundation are a good start.
Hello QoS,,
First of all, it is a pleasure to speak with you.
I StumbledUpon your blog, and frankly it shocked me to see some of the things you are saying. I guess I kinda felt like you did when you read my previous post.
First, I believe with all my heart what I wrote. I probably should have written it a bit less bombastically, but I believe it nonetheless.
I don’t know you or you background or your education etc etc, or essentially anything that makes you you. So please don’t take my words as any kind of personal indictment of you, just your politics, or what I read of them here.
Thanks for your suggestion of checking out truth and fact. I have been doing so for months now. Everything I have found has led me to the conclusion that an Obama Presidency would be a disastrous one.
To me, he is a man of political opportunism. Whichever way the wind of best political opportunity blows, so does he. Here in Texas, we call that kind of man a “flim flam man”.
There is a long trail of facts or truths that led me to where I am. Starting with his Church. It is impossible to convince me that after sitting in the pews of a Church who’s pastor is a racist, didn’t have any effect on Obama. It is impossible to convince me that Jeremiah Wright’s America hating rhetoric did anything other than confirm the same feelings in Obama. If it did not, then Obama would have disowned him long ago. Instead, Obama had to fold under political pressure and throw J. Wright under the bus.
In my humble opinion, Barack H. Obama is exactly the wrong man for the job of POTUS.
I am off to watch the debate,
God bless,
Daniel.
Kudos to you, Queen! I am from Texas originally and believe that Daniel and the other Daniels of the world are out there in force, believing the spin, the smear, the lies, the Hannities. I am JUST ILL (!) that so many are so taken with and sucked in by that kind of stance.
Hello Wendy, (Or should I say Howdy)
I feel kinda odd writing this, never before have I been so fascinated by the discussion on a blog!
Yes, those who believe like me are out in force, and thank goodness.
It is amazing how polarized the left and the right have become. Of course the Left feels that it is “All Bush’s fault”. And the Right blames it all on the main stream media. Personally, I am a firm believer that those who seek the middle of the road get run over, so what is next?
For me, the next move is to do all I can to make sure extremists like Barack Obama NEVER make it to the White House. Those on my side of the fence may lose the Presidential battle this year, I don’t know, but one thing that is for sure. We will not roll over, we will not back down and we will not change our principles.
McCain talked about bipartisanship tonight, and he was wrong. Appeasing the enemy is like feeding a crocodile, hoping he will eat you last. (Don’t know who said that, but he/she gets the credit)
So where do we go from here?
The distance between left and right is growing wider every second.
The USA is being torn apart. What will happen next?
As a Texan, I would rather see the USA cease to exist than back down on one of my principles.
Daniel Boone once said; “You may all go to Hell, I shall go to Texas”.
I say the liberal establishment and far left radicals may all go elsewhere, and I shall stay in Texas.
Nothing personal here, and I sincerely wish you all the best. I am just coming to the sad conclusion that our differences are so great that a reconciliation is just not possible.
Once upon a time, being an American meant being free to pursue life Liberty and happiness. Under “leaders” like Obama I don’t think any of those are possible.
Daniel.
Whoops, I should learn to proof read better.
Davy Crockett told some Congressional body to go to hell, not Daniel Boone.
Just as Sarah Palin does not represent all women, Daniel does not represent all Texans. I’m proud of this state, but don’t always agree with its politics. I’ve always been an issues voter, and vote for the person I feel is the best candidate regardless of their party.
In the current election, I feel that there is nothing to sway me towards voting for McCain/Palin. I think enough points have been covered about the candidates that I don’t need to restate nor defend my position. I’m actually amazed by the number of fellow Texans who have stated that they are voting for Obama, less surprised by the Ron Paul supporters. These supporters include folks in the education and technology sectors, as well as state employees – and LOTS of women!
My friend recommended I read some of the things on blogher.com and I decided to check things out. I am so glad I did! I will make it my mission to help you discredit the crap that comes out of Palin’s mouth.
-team.OBAMA
I’ve been keeping track and considering blogging Republican hatefulness, but it’s so ugly that I’m not sure I want to touch it. How the Republicans do business, the violent nature of their games, turns my stomach. When I go in-depth to write on these types of subjects I get so worked up it takes me hours to unwind.
Yes, what they’re doing turns my stomach, but I’m not at all surprised that McCain’s taken this route or that his most dedicated supporters are willing to follow him down this path. I’m especially not surprised to see that folks who love Palin and can’t see through her would fall in line this way. Also, after watching the the Republican Convention, I’m not surprised that Republicans lean toward a gang mentality– “Get him! He’s not one of us.”
I don’t consider him to be man of integrity, and as for Republicans in general, let’s please remember that many of the older people that make up the Republican base are people who switched from Democrat to Republican over the last 40 years because they despised the politics of inclusion, preferred segregation, embraced applauded xenophobia and other forms of fear and fear mongering. So, is it any wonder that they resort to what amounts to a southern type strategy of hatred and division with a “terrorism” twist? Is it any wonder that they incite rather than denounce hate even if their words may lead to one of the ugliest violence a democracy may suffer ?
I’m not saying all Republicans are hate-baiters, but that a substantial part of its base has been this way for some time now and Republican leaders have not discouraged it. They’ve courted it.
Thanks for alerting more readers to the sliminess of McCain’s campaign. McCain’s skimming the bottom of his pit now.
I am no longer shocked by the baseless ramblings of Sen. McCain supporters. If they could back up even the smallest of their rants with hardcore facts not opinion it might be easier to give them some creditability. Unfortunately that is not the case as they continue to wage a baseless attack against Sen. Obama just like Sen McCain did last night.
Well Jess, the facts are quite simple when it comes to Obama’s ties to the terrorist Bill Ayers. Obama launched his political career at Ayers’ home. Obama served on several boards with Ayers. Obama’s campaign manager stated that Obama and Ayers were “friendly”. Obama wrote a blurb for one of Ayers books.
What more do you need? The ties are clear, and to call stating facts “smearing” and spreading “rambling”, then we obviously are speaking different languages.
I think there is panic in the Obama camp over this issue, and rightly so.
Oh, and I am not so much of McCain supporter as I am an America supporter. McCain’s stand of issues like the farce of man mad global warming and immigration drive me crazy. But when it comes to energy independence, economic solutions, National Security and foreign affairs, Obama doesn’t ever come close. I am not saying he can’t learn, but as his VP candidate said so eloquently, “The White House is not the place for on the job training.”
Ok Daniel, since this is my site and you are seeming to push the lies and rhetoric here. Let’s get some stuff straight (and your cordial tone is appreciated, thank you)
Obama has never denied knowing Bill Ayers, or serving on boards with him. This also has not been an issue for the Republican funded project they worked on or the many republicans who also served on those boards
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95442902
You’ll also note those republicans involved know this is a distraction issue and are taking offense at it. “It was never a concern by any of us in the Chicago school reform movement that he had led a fugitive life years earlier,” said former Illinois state Republican Rep. Diana Nelson, who worked with both Obama and Ayers over the years. “It’s ridiculous. There is no reason at all to smear Barack Obama with this association. It’s nonsensical, and it just makes me crazy. It’s so silly.”
Now let’s also keep in mind that just today McCain touted his own ties to Ayers
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/08/mccains-trumpets-endorsem_n_132954.html
And then, of course, there is the AP article on McCain’s own dubious ties to terrorists
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Barack Obama has his William Ayers connection. Now John McCain may have an Iran-Contra connection. In the 1980s, McCain served on the advisory board to the U.S. chapter of an international group linked to ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America.
The U.S. Council for World Freedom aided rebels trying to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua. That landed the group in the middle of the Iran-Contra affair and in legal trouble with the Internal Revenue Service, which revoked the charitable organization’s tax exemption.
The council created by retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub was the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League, an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. After setting up the U.S. council, Singlaub served as the international league’s chairman.
McCain’s tie to Singlaub’s council is undergoing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Obama for his link to Ayers, a former radical who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago. Over the weekend, Democratic operative Paul Begala said on ABC’s “This Week” that this “guilt by association” tactic could backfire on the McCain campaign by renewing discussion of McCain’s service on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom, “an ultraconservative right-wing group.”
In two interviews with The Associated Press in August and September, Singlaub said McCain became associated with the organization in the early 1980s as McCain launched his political career. McCain was elected to the House in 1982.
Singlaub said McCain was a supporter but not an active member.
“McCain was a new guy on the block learning the ropes,” Singlaub said. “I think I met him in the Washington area when he was just a new congressman. We had McCain on the board to make him feel like he wasn’t left out. It looks good to have names on a letterhead who are well-known and appreciated.
“I don’t recall talking to McCain at all on the work of the group,” Singlaub said.
McCain has said he resigned from the council in 1984 and asked in 1986 to have his name removed from the group’s letterhead.
“I didn’t know whether (the group’s activity) was legal or illegal, but I didn’t think I wanted to be associated with them,” McCain said in a 1986 newspaper interview.
Singlaub does not recall any McCain resignation in 1984 or May 1986. Nor does Joyce Downey, who oversaw the group’s day-to-day activities.
“That’s a surprise to me,” Singlaub said. “This is the first time I’ve ever heard that. There may have been someone in his office communicating with our office.”
“I don’t ever remember hearing about his resigning, but I really wasn’t worried about that part of our activities, a housekeeping thing,” said Singlaub. “If he didn’t want to be on the board that’s OK. It wasn’t as if he had been active participant and we were going to miss his help. He had no active interest. He certainly supported us.”
A news article and two documents tie McCain to the council in 1985, a year after he says he resigned. The group’s Internal Revenue Service filing in 1985, covering the previous year, lists McCain as a member of the council’s advisory board. In October 1985, a States News Service report placed McCain, Rep. Tom Loeffler, R-Texas, and an Arizona congressman at a Washington awards ceremony staged by the council.
On Tuesday, the McCain campaign addressed the resignation by saying the candidate disassociated himself from “one Arizona-based group when questions were raised about its activities.”
Taking an opportunity to attack the Obama-Biden ticket, the McCain campaign added that as a House member and later as a senator, McCain fought against communist influence in Central America while Sen. Joe Biden tried to cut off money for anti-communist forces in El Salvador and Nicaragua.
The renewed attention over McCain’s association with Singlaub’s group comes as his campaign steps up criticism of Obama’s dealings with Ayers, now a college professor who co-founded the Weather Underground in the 1960s and years later worked with Obama on the board of an education reform group in Chicago. Ayers held a meet-the-candidate event at his home when Obama first ran for public office in the mid-1990s.
In McCain’s case, he was a House member and a board member of Singlaub’s council when, as a new congressman, he voted for military assistance to the Nicaraguan Contras, a CIA-organized guerrilla force. In 1984, Congress cut off military assistance to the rebels.
Months before the cutoff, top Reagan administration officials ramped up a secret White House-directed supply network run by national security advisers Robert McFarlane and John Poindexter. The operation’s day-to-day activities were handled by National Security Council aide Oliver North, who relied on retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord to carry out the operation. The goal was to keep the Contras operating until Congress could be persuaded to resume CIA funding.
Singlaub’s private group became the public front for the secret White House activity.
“It was noted that they were trying to act as suppliers. It was pretty good cover for us,” Secord, the field operations chief for the secret effort, said Tuesday in an interview.
The White House-directed network’s covert arms shipments, financed in part by the Reagan administration’s secret arms sales to Iran, exploded into the Iran-Contra affair in November 1986. The scandal proved to be the undoing of Singlaub’s council.
In 1987, the IRS withdrew tax-exempt status from Singlaub’s group because of its activities on behalf of the Contras.
Peter Kornbluh, co-author of “The Iran-Contra Scandal: A Declassified History,” said the Council on World Freedom was crucial to diverting public attention from the Reagan White House’s fundraising for the Contras.
Singlaub and the council publicly urged private support for the Contras, providing what Singlaub later called “a lightning rod” to explain how the rebels sustained themselves despite Congress’ cutoff.
In October 1986, the secrecy of North’s network unraveled after one of its planes was shot down over Nicaragua. One American crewman, Eugene Hasenfus, was captured by the Nicaraguan government. At first, Reagan administration officials lied by saying that the plane had no connection to the U.S. government and was part of Singlaub’s operation.
“I resented it that reporters thought it was my plane. I don’t run a sloppy operation,” Singlaub told The AP.
In an interview last month, Downey, the full-time employee of Singlaub’s council, said she has a clear memory of McCain resigning in 1986, but not earlier.
“It was during the time when the U.S. Council had been wrongly accused of being owners of the Hasenfus plane downed in Nicaragua,” said Downey. “A couple of days after that, I was in Washington and called home to get messages from my mother. I returned that call and a staff person wanted to ask for the resignation of Congressman McCain.”
When Hasenfus was shot down, McCain was in the final month of his first campaign for the Senate seat he still holds.
McCain’s office responded quickly. McCain said he had resigned from the council in 1984. Further, McCain said that in May 1986 he asked the group to remove his name from the letterhead. McCain’s office produced two letters from 1984 and 1986 to back his account.
The dates on the resignation letters in 1984 and May 1986 coincided with McCain election campaigns and increasingly critical public scrutiny of the World Anti-Communist League, the umbrella group Singlaub chaired.
In 1983 and 1984 for example, columnist Jack Anderson linked the league’s Latin American affiliate to death squad political assassinations.
The Latin American affiliate was kicked out of the league. At the time, Singlaub told the columnist the Latin American affiliate had “knowingly promoted pro-Nazi groups” and was “virulently anti-Semitic.”
“That was putting it mildly,” Anderson wrote in a Sept. 11, 1984, column on alleged death squad murders, an article that appeared two months before the U.S. election day.
Two weeks after Anderson’s column, a letter from McCain addressed to Singlaub asks that the congressman’s name be taken off the board because he didn’t have time for the council.
Singlaub told AP that “certainly by 1984,” he had purged the World Anti-Communist League of extremists. Singlaub complains that American news media wrote that the league hadn’t gotten rid of extremist elements and tried to tarnish the league’s credibility, “making something evil out of fighting communism.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
So I’m sorry Daniel, but that sort of rhetoric does not hold water here in the land of not Texas. And it really shouldn’t hold water in Texas either.
Let’s get back to focusing on the economy, on this war, and on things that really do matter.
thanks for showing up to epitomize this article, daniel. so where did you find out about this “simple fact” which is actually complete BS? do you factcheck your rumors? do you just blindly accept partisan vitriol? seems so.