Unsung Heroes: Americans with Principle Refuse to Engage in Smear Calling

It's nice to see some of the "soldiers" in the McCain slime war no longer willing to "just follow orders":

Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents.

Nina Williams, a stay-at-home mom in Lake County, Indiana, tells us that her daughter recently called her from her job at the center, upset that she had been asked to read a script attacking Obama for being "dangerously weak on crime," "coddling criminals," and for voting against "protecting children from danger."

Williams' daughter told her that up to 40 of her co-workers had refused to read the script, and had left the call center after supervisors told them that they would have to either read the call or leave, Williams says. The call center is called Americall, and it's located in Hobart, IN.

...

"We were asked to read something saying [Obama and Democrats] were against protecting children from danger," this worker said. "I wouldn't do it. A lot of people left. They thought it was disgusting."

This worker, too, confirmed sacrificing pay to walk out, saying her supervisor told her: "If you don't wanna phone it you can just go home for the day."

There is still hope for the nation.

Not Just a Warmonger -- A Hatemonger

John McCain has descended fully from someone who was once better than the average politician in terms of character, to arguably the most dangerous major party candidate in history.

His campaign is, tragically, becoming all too reminiscent of how fascist dictators have gained power
in decades past.

Conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan echoes the disgust being felt by everyone but McCain's fellow mobsters:

There was always going to be a point of revolt and panic for a core group of Americans who believe that Obama simply cannot be president - because he's black or liberal or young or relatively new. This is that point. As the polls suggest a strong victory, the Hannity-Limbaugh-Steyn-O'Reilly base are going into shock and extreme rage. McCain and Palin have decided to stoke this rage, to foment it, to encourage paranoid notions that somehow Obama is a "secret" terrorist or Islamist or foreigner. These are base emotions in both sense of the word.

But they are also very very dangerous. This is a moment of maximal physical danger for the young Democratic nominee. And McCain is playing with fire. If he really wants to put country first, he will attack Obama on his policies - not on these inflammatory, personal, creepy grounds. This is getting close to the atmosphere stoked by the Israeli far right before the assassination of Rabin.

For God's sake, McCain, stop it. For once in this campaign, put your country first.

Mayor "Just Curious" if Obama is the Antichrist

Sometimes I really wish the north had lost the Civil War:

Fort Mill Mayor Danny Funderburk says he was “just curious” when he forwarded a chain e-mail suggesting Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama is the biblical antichrist. “I was just curious if there was any validity to it,” Funderburk said in a telephone interview. “I was trying to get documentation if there was any scripture to back it up.”

Is it too late to change our minds and let the South secede?

Lipstick is Racist and So are Fish Wrappers

I'm starting to feel like I'm on The Twilight Zone.

Obama: "Enough is Enough"

Responding to the McCain campaign's recent stunts, lies and smears, Barack Obama reinforces the real issue: John McCain cares only about getting elected, while he is the real leader who cares about his country.

One thing that Obama said this morning particularly struck me: when he said flatly "I don't care what they say about me, but I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics". This is a very clever response in ways that aren't immediately obvious. It allows him to stay above the fray, criticize McCain for being the scumbag he is, and show that he puts the American people first. It also partially disarms any further attacks from McCain -- in essence, he's calling out his rival for having overplayed his hand with too many attacks. Will be interesting to see how it plays.

I started out being an Obama fan mostly because his policies, while not ideally what I want, were "less bad" than McCain's. But as McCain slowly degenerates into a mudpuddle of sleaze, while Obama continues to show character and class, I continue to admire Obama more and more as a person and as a leader.

The McCain Slime Machine Goes Into Overdrive - Already

John McCain's new ad tries to convince people that Obama wants to teach sex ed to kindergarteners. Isn't a bit early for this level of slime, even from McCain?

No surprise that former fans of his, like me, no longer have any use for him.

As much as I like Obama keeping to the high road, I have to wonder how much longer they are going to tolerate this sort of thing; the only word I can find to adequately describe it is "evil". McCain may be making a mistake in prodding Obama into going negative, because much of McCain's own reputation is built on an intricate set of distortions and PR spin. A lot of people don't know about some of the skeletons in his own closet. Right, Carol?

Right Wing Slime Merchants Test the Intelligence of American Voters - #1

Anyone who watched last week's Republican National Convention knows that the rotting corpse of the GOP has no problem with bald-faced lies, distortions, innuendo, mockery and worse. And that's just the party itself -- some of their supporters make them look like Mother Theresa by comparison.

As November 4th gets closer and some of these folks start to get more and more desperate about the possibility of "their guy" not winning, we are going to see mudslinging with an ugliness level we've never seen before. Much of it will boil down to nasty deceptions that test the intelligence of the American electorate.

Will we pass? I hope so.

Entry #1 comes to us via Obama's long interview with George Stephanopolous, which in part covered his faith and how it is presented. In the video of this portion, you can hear that they are discussing the rumors of Obama's faith. Go to around the 2:30 mark and listen for a minute and you'll get the context. And possibly see what's coming next.

You guessed it: a nine-second excerpt was cut from the long interview and is now being passed around right-wing websites as "proof that Obama is a Muslim!" Leaving aside the inherently bigoted aspect of suggesting that being a Muslim is automatically something to be ashamed of, it shows that the cowardly, shameful, Rove-style "win at any cost" sort of folks who now dominate the American right will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Facts, truth, honesty, integrity, honor -- none of these mean a thing. The GOP wants its power for four more years and it has stopped even pretending that there's anything else at stake.