All the bigotry that's fit to post at John McCain's website
By Michael J.W. Stickings
AMERICAblog's John Aravosis has a fantastic (and invaluable) post up today examining some of the bigotry that can be found at McCain's website -- and it's pretty revealing.
Entering search terms like "fag," "bitch," and "Jew," he found a discussion thread on whether or not Obama is the anti-Christ (including a comment suggesting that the anti-Christ is "an apostate Jew"), comments calling Obama "a Muslim fag" and the Quran "the Muslim book of hate," a reference to the "Jewish TV and press" (this commenter would support McCain if not for the fact that McCain has the support of Lieberman, Kissinger, and the allegedly Jewish media), a claim that Obama harbours "deep resentment toward whites," and other anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli sentiment (including the charge that McCain is committing treason by "[answering] to AIPAC and Israel").
Now, to be fair, this bigotry was posted not by the McCain campaign, let alone by McCain himself, but by non-affiliated commenters at the McCain website. And we bloggers often find such bigotry in the comments sections to our posts, and I've had my fair share here. (I delete most of it, with a note that I've done so, but I've also kept some of it up, with my own comments in response, to serve as an instructive reminder of the sort of hate-speech (and hate generally) with which we must contend.)
But this is different. McCain's website isn't a blog (although it includes a blog), it's his campaign's primary online presence. And his campaign, presuming it's paying attention, could either have deleted the bigoted comments or at least responded to them (as I and other bloggers and blog-moderators do). "It's interesting to note that each comment has a 'flag as offensive' button next to it, so that readers can inform the moderator that the comments are offensive," John points out. "Either McCain's readers don't find any of this offensive, or McCain's staff was informed and didn't care."
Either way, it seems that McCain's website -- http://www.johnmccain.com/ -- is not just his campaign's primary online presence but an outlet for straight-talkin' bigotry.
AMERICAblog's John Aravosis has a fantastic (and invaluable) post up today examining some of the bigotry that can be found at McCain's website -- and it's pretty revealing.
Entering search terms like "fag," "bitch," and "Jew," he found a discussion thread on whether or not Obama is the anti-Christ (including a comment suggesting that the anti-Christ is "an apostate Jew"), comments calling Obama "a Muslim fag" and the Quran "the Muslim book of hate," a reference to the "Jewish TV and press" (this commenter would support McCain if not for the fact that McCain has the support of Lieberman, Kissinger, and the allegedly Jewish media), a claim that Obama harbours "deep resentment toward whites," and other anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli sentiment (including the charge that McCain is committing treason by "[answering] to AIPAC and Israel").
Now, to be fair, this bigotry was posted not by the McCain campaign, let alone by McCain himself, but by non-affiliated commenters at the McCain website. And we bloggers often find such bigotry in the comments sections to our posts, and I've had my fair share here. (I delete most of it, with a note that I've done so, but I've also kept some of it up, with my own comments in response, to serve as an instructive reminder of the sort of hate-speech (and hate generally) with which we must contend.)
But this is different. McCain's website isn't a blog (although it includes a blog), it's his campaign's primary online presence. And his campaign, presuming it's paying attention, could either have deleted the bigoted comments or at least responded to them (as I and other bloggers and blog-moderators do). "It's interesting to note that each comment has a 'flag as offensive' button next to it, so that readers can inform the moderator that the comments are offensive," John points out. "Either McCain's readers don't find any of this offensive, or McCain's staff was informed and didn't care."
Either way, it seems that McCain's website -- http://www.johnmccain.com/ -- is not just his campaign's primary online presence but an outlet for straight-talkin' bigotry.
Labels: 2008 election, Barack Obama, bigotry, blogging, John McCain
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
2:15 PM
13 Comments:
Gee - I wonder what kind of "nice stuff" you could find if you "searched" Daily Kos or the Huffington Post.
Obama may get elected, but the pigeons WILL come home to roost.
By
QueersOnTheRise, at 2:57 PM
Last time I checked, Markos Moulitsas and Arianna Huffington aren't running for president.
By
Michael J.W. Stickings, at 3:15 PM
No, but even under the standards set by the U.S. Supreme Court in New York Times v. Sullivan, they've been defaming the current President.
Othersie, your response is an admission by silence -- that their blogs are indeed full of nasty haste speech -- all protected until Obama makes it a crime.
By
QueersOnTheRise, at 3:24 PM
Look, I'm not arguing against free speech here. For all I care, McCain can have as much bigotry on his website as he likes.
(And come on, stop the stupidity. Obama is not about to curtail free speech. You know that.)
By
Michael J.W. Stickings, at 3:43 PM
There is some very real concern that Obama would push HEAVILY for the fairness doctrine to be reinstated, which would be a brutal curtailment of free speech. It is not Rush Limbaugh's, Sean Hannity's, or Bill O'Reilly's fault that Air America has been such a ratings disaster. Actually, Air America would be fine if it had standard liberal Democrats on like Larry King's old radio show, but the American public does not want to listen to the lunatic fringe, and, apparently, does not see Rush, Sean and Bill as part of the right-wing lunatic fringe. That honor would go to David Duke and the like.
By
QueersOnTheRise, at 4:10 PM
The antichrist is an " apostate jew?" What is that, a christian?
aimai
By
aimai, at 11:23 AM
I'm a big Obama supporter (used to be even more so), and I have to say that as far as the comment suggesting he harbors a deep resentment toward whites - Obama has no one to blame for that but himself. He stupidly handled the Trinity Church controversy and should have never allowed Wright to become a part of his campaign. Instead, in the first election in American history where a black man is set to become president, he has given racists all the ammo they need to sow distrust among whites. Very disappointing.
By
Anonymous, at 11:28 AM
Do the same advanced searches on Barackobama.com. Use "bitch." The end.
By
Anonymous, at 12:07 PM
ah....when the fairness doctrine gets reinstated, all the poor little lemmings will left confused.
Who will tell them what to think ?
By
Anonymous, at 12:16 PM
We'll we try to think for ourselves as we always do. We don't just spout out talking points like many of our friends who sit on the opposite side of the aisle (at least not all of us). Please correct me if I am wrong, but aren't all of these remarks being made by both parties on their candidates blog site? I would think both sides would do a better job policing their site, but it is not McCain or Obama making the remarks. It is just some loser who has too much time on his/her hands who holds racist views. Please do not be so naive as to believe that because someone wrote it on a blog that it actually represents the message that either candidate is presenting.
As to the fairness doctrine, how is it possible that the government will be able to have any influence on what a private radio station is able to do/say and who they must hire. If that ever happens, it will be the beginning of the end.
By
Anonymous, at 1:04 PM
It is pretty clear that the 'beginning of the end' started when the fairness doctrine was discontinued.
Reinstating it would be a good start to ending the beginning of the end.
By
Anonymous, at 3:01 PM
I think that as soon as we let the government get their hands on how a private institution is run, we are looking at the beginning of the end. A radio station should not be forced to tell someone, "We do not agree with what you are representing. You have 1 week to come on our show and defend yourself." The station should have the choice whether or not they want to do that. They also should not be forced to hire someone with different political views to balance the show out. That should be left up to the station if they want a "balanced" show. Everyone knows that when they tune in to Rush, Hannity, Boortz, etc. that they are going to here right wing propoganda. If they want to hear a different viewpoint then go listen to Air America. It should be up to the people, not the government as to what kind of show is going to be run.
By
Anonymous, at 3:43 PM
Does anybody remember in 2006 when McCain introduced legislation that many believed would have regulated blogs and made the owners responsible for activity in their comments section?
By
Kristen, at 6:27 PM
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