WASHINGTON (AP) - By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is "palling around with terrorists" and doesn't see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.
. . .Palin's words avoid repulsing voters with overt racism. But is there another subtext for creating the false image of a black presidential nominee "palling around" with terrorists while assuring a predominantly white audience that he doesn't see their America?
This is . . . what's the correct word? Right, lunatic. Obama's connections to Bill Ayers are, to be sure, overblown by his opponents. And I doubt they're doing the McCain campaign much good. But connecting Barack Obama to a white radical hippie is not, as the article implies, the same thing as the Willie Horton ads. Ayers was not a black panther, nor a member of Hamas. Palin is trying to paint Obama as an effete closet socialist, not a radical muslim. Suggesting otherwise is far less credible than the original attack it criticizes.
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http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2008/10/palin-apos-s-quot-racist-quot-comments/4210/
