# McCain defends Obama Against Slur **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 13, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720 "2008-10-13T15:22:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/21 "2008-10-13T17:13:25Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > But I don’t know that I’m going to pat him on the back for his brief remark, either. What he said in the moment barely met a minimum standard of common decency, and it would have been nice to see him follow up that remark with some kind of more extensive explanatory statement later. I don’t really pat him on the back for it either, but I think the expectation for what he was supposed to do in that situation is a little high. He’s not going to get into a discussion about the decency of Arabs as individuals with what consisted of essentially an angry mob. Nor is he going to ever qualify that answer in the future because the amount of benefit it would elicit is minimal at best, and would only serve to placate people who aren’t going to vote for him. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/22 "2008-10-13T17:27:46Z")
McCain is in a no win situation. He is either forced to defend his opponent against his own supporters or he has to condone/ignore what the nutjobs say. I think he is horrified to realize that he is now driving the looney bus and can’t figure out what to do about it. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/23 "2008-10-13T17:29:04Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > What he said in the moment barely met a minimum standard of common decency, and it would have been nice to see him follow up that remark with some kind of more extensive explanatory statement later. The follow-up, one day after the incident described in the OP: > [@John McCain 10/11/2008](#): > > Statement By John McCain > > ARLINGTON, VA – U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement: > > "Congressman John Lewis’ comments represent a character attack against Governor Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale. The notion that legitimate criticism of Senator Obama’s record and positions could be compared to Governor George Wallace, his segregationist policies and the violence he provoked is unacceptable and has no place in this campaign. I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I’ve always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track. > > “I call on Senator Obama to immediately and personally repudiate these outrageous and divisive comments that are so clearly designed to shut down debate 24 days before the election. Our country must return to the important debate about the path forward for America.” Instead of calling on his side or even both sides to tone down the rhetoric, he calls on _Obama_ to repudiate outrageous and divisive comments. I gave him some points for his action on Oct. 10, but it didn’t take him long to forfeit those points. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/24 "2008-10-13T18:02:26Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The real response to the claim that Obama is an arab or a musim is this: > > So what? > > Or more precisely: > > What does that have to do with his qualifications to be president? “So he IS a Muslim Arab! I ain’t votin’ for no towelhead!” ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/25 "2008-10-13T18:10:31Z")
If you watch the rest of the first video you linked to, McCain obviously didn’t convince the woman at all. She’s sending out letters with “information she found at the library” about all the “bad stuff” Obama is involved with. /sigh/ ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/26 "2008-10-13T18:14:09Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > I don’t really pat him on the back for it either, but I think the expectation for what he was supposed to do in that situation is a little high. He’s not going to get into a discussion about the decency of Arabs as individuals with what consisted of essentially an angry mob. Nor is he going to ever qualify that answer in the future because the amount of benefit it would elicit is minimal at best, and would only serve to placate people who aren’t going to vote for him. That would be a fair answer if his campaign hadn’t spent the prior week provoking the crowd into an angry mob. You don’t get any credit for pissing on a fire you started. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/27 "2008-10-13T18:16:15Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Given that McCain’s campaign, with McCain’s tacit approval, has been spreading the “friends with terrorists! Doesn’t believe in OUR America! Can’t be trusted!” meme in every speech, surrogate interview and TV ad, McCain saying “He’s not an Arab” isn’t exactly a mark of honor. Exactly right. It’s less than 2 weeks since McCain announced his new “get even more nasty” campaign. It was officially launched on the 2nd or 3rd, I think. Everyone laughed at McCain for so publicly announcing that he wanted to “turn the page” on the economic crisis and make the campaign a smear fest on Obama. So now, a week later, McCain tries to make a token effort to put out the fire he started, and he deserves credit for it? No way. I do disagree with the “tacit approval” though. He’s the leader of his campaign and is running to lead our country. Any official McCain campaign strategy like this “make people stop worrying about their 401(k) by questioning Obama’s background” strategy automatically gets McCain’s official explicit approval in my book. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/28 "2008-10-13T18:46:22Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > The follow-up, one day after the incident described in the OP:Instead of calling on his side or even both sides to tone down the rhetoric, he calls on _Obama_ to repudiate outrageous and divisive comments. I gave him some points for his action on Oct. 10, but it didn’t take him long to forfeit those points. And [Obama did! (just not the way McCain probably would’ve liked)](http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/at_rick_warren_saddlebacks_chu.php) > [@](#): > > “Senator Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies. But John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for President of the United States ‘pals around with terrorists.’ As Barack Obama has said himself, the last thing we need from either party is the kind of angry, divisive rhetoric that tears us apart at a time of crisis when we desperately need to come together. That is the kind of campaign Senator Obama will continue to run in the weeks ahead.” Meanwhile, McCain [parses a Republican’s comparison of Obama to Bin Laden](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v1i8PbU_9M), using it as a springboard for his talking points instead of condemning it. Yeah, class act all the way. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/29 "2008-10-13T18:58:55Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > Positively? Have you seen [this video?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf6YKOkfFsE) His supporters boo him after he tries to defend Obama’s decency. That is definitely not a Good Thing. I just listened to the exchange on the radio. It’s interesting. I couldn’t hear it on TV, but I could hear the audience laugh at the woman after she said, “He’s an Arab.” That’s a little reassuring, at least. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/30 "2008-10-13T19:28:35Z")
> [@Stuffy](#): > > That would be a fair answer if his campaign hadn’t spent the prior week provoking the crowd into an angry mob. You don’t get any credit for pissing on a fire you started. Oh, by no means do I disagree. I’m merely addressing the idea that he should have made the distinction between “Arabs” and “decent family men” as not being mutually exclusive. He won’t ever do that, I was just explaining why. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/31 "2008-10-13T19:50:34Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > Nor is he going to ever qualify that answer in the future because the amount of benefit it would elicit is minimal at best, and would only serve to placate people who aren’t going to vote for him. The people who might be placated are independent voters who are fed up with negative campaigning. His choice not to appeal to them, which started with his choice of Palin, is a big reason he’s so far behind now, and getting behinder. I’m sure the nutjobs would have voted for him anyway. I don’t get why they’re doing it, unless it is reflexive Rovianism, listening to Palin, or just being able to hear the cries of the mob before they sink into well deserved oblivion. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/32 "2008-10-13T20:10:37Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > Oh, by no means do I disagree. I’m merely addressing the idea that he should have made the distinction between “Arabs” and “decent family men” as not being mutually exclusive. He won’t ever do that, I was just explaining why. You’re right, I didn’t mean for that to come across as an attack against your point, it just seemed a good place to say that. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/33 "2008-10-14T02:42:25Z")
It doesn’t help McCain that the old lady in question reminds me of the Crazy Cat Lady from The Simpsons. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7_jW5xH5XY) ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/34 "2008-10-14T15:43:04Z")
McCain often seemed decent and upstanding in years past. But he’s done some pretty crummy things too. It’s a mixed record. As of a couple elections back I held him in high regard, for a conservative and Republican (I’m the opposite). He appears to be acting out of desperation, and his campaign has gotten uglier and uglier. It still hasn’t sunk to the point that W’s campaign did against McCain in South Carolina, though, to cite another reference point. I think McCain’s campaign cultivates some vile misunderstandings in the public, while not quite saying things themselves, and the closer you get to McCain himself, the less ugly the statements are. This is hardly new, but it seems to represent a new public low for McCain. Of course Arabs and Muslims are free to run for President, but it is not practically plausible one would win these days. I, too, would like to reward McCain for defusing the particular reference the would-be Crazy Cat Lady was making. But it is a minor relative high spot in an otherwise pretty major decline. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/35 "2008-10-14T17:38:07Z")
And [he goes right back to the well of sleaze](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND9DKa8TXwk): > [@](#): > > **Dana Bash (CNN):** …we’ve heard people in the crowd screaming things like “Terrorist!,” “Traitor!,” when you talked about Senator Obama – and worse. When you hear that do you… > > **John McCain:** I’ve heard the same thing, unfortunately, at Senator Obama’s rallies being said about me. After being presented with a perfect opportunity to publicly rebuke the knuckle-draggers and elevate his campaign to a bare minimum standard of decency, he instead defends the knuckle-draggers with a _tu quoque_ defense based on a brazen lie. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/36 "2008-10-14T17:46:10Z")
Can I be subtle? McCain is scum. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/37 "2008-10-14T17:54:08Z")
**McCain** is claiming that people at Obama’s rallies are calling McCain a “traitor” and a “terrorist”? I thought he’d gone about as low as he could go, but I was evidently wrong. What a horrible old toad he is. He’s gone right around the fucking bend. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/38 "2008-10-14T18:54:55Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#): > > The only appropriate response would have been to whack her with the mic. Actions speak louder than words. You _do_ know that McCain can’t raise his arms above his head, don’t you? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720/39 "2008-10-14T19:18:55Z")
They are already mentioning heavily the term **Reverse Bradley Effect** on NPR. If this truly is a lopsided event on the 4th of Nov. that’s what many will think happened. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-defends-obama-against-slur/467720.md?page=1)