The right wing must pay for the swiftboating of Obama

Senator Obama looked like he had the momentum to not only win the Democratic primary, but to win the General Election in November. I still think he can do it, but it is going to be much harder than it should have been. It's not because voters disagree with him on the issues or because of anything he has done. It's because the radical right wing machine has swiftboated this good man, crucifying him for things that somebody else has said and done.

This swiftboat attack has been, in my opinion, much more detestable than the one used against Senator Kerry 4 years ago. In that attack, they were at least attacking Kerry for what they felt Kerry himself had done. This time, they are assaulting Obama for things his pastor said, his wife said, and what somebody who knows him said when Obama was 8 years old! What's most disappointing about this swiftboat attack is that it has had any success at all. If enough American voters are gullible enough to base their presidential vote on guilt by association rather than issues, then how many Americans will lap it up like trained little pets when the right wing decides it's time to invade Iran? I wonder how those who will vote Republican because of Jeremiah Wright will feel when somebody they love is killed in Iran? By the way, if Americans are stupid enough to fall for this right wing guilt-by-association tactic, they will be stupid enough to support a draft if enough right-wing talkers tell them to. How smart will these people feel when we have 6 to 3 Supreme Court rulings stripping away the rights that made America great?

I don't know who upsets me more; the radical right wing machine that made a mountain out of this mole hill, or the voters who are falling for it but should have known better. The thought of Democrats falling for this garbage makes me sick. Senators Obama and Clinton should stand up for each other when the right wing pulls this stuff rather than using it during the primary.

The bottom line is this: If we get 4 more years of Republican rule, the right wing needs to pay for this. I'm not necessarily talking about Republican politicians. I'm talking about the Hannities of the world who do whatever they can to smear our candidates personally. There needs to be a resounding boomerang effect where these people get back tenfold exactly what they dished out.

I am sick to my stomach to see the way the media and the right wing are tearing Obama apart not because of anything he did wrong, but because of his associations. No other candidate has been held to the same standard with regard to guilt by association and it's sickening. This is why good people rarely get elected...my boss was right when he said you pretty much need to have a pathological personality to be able to withstand the amount of crap that gets thrown at you as a public figure.

I do think character is important, and if Obama is doing something illegal or corrupt or has an illegitimate child, damn straight I want to know about it. But to make a scandal out of his choice of church, go on about it for weeks, finally shut up and decide that he has put it behind him only to start going after him again because Wright decided to speak up is despicable. Add that to all the stories that talk about him losing support (well, no wonder, with you idiots giving Wright 24/7 coverage for a week) and making him look like a loser and talking about his problem winning white votes (with seldom discussion of Clinton's trouble with black voters), and it makes him look unelectable, which causes further bleeding of support. They did the same thing to Dean in 2004 after Iowa and it makes me sick.

I don't deny that Clinton was a victim of the "bleeding support" meme earlier in the cycle, but she and McCain have not been held guilty by association the way Obama has, even though they both have far more sketchy associations. Even if her sketchy associations have been covered in the past, she is a candidate now and if we are going to hold candidates responsible for everyone they know then we ought to do that for all the candidates.

blame "right" where it needs to be. And may you be treated well on GD:P !

K & R