BY THE HAND OF A MASTER: FRANK RICH

The NY Times Opinionator gave me heart-ache today after reading his devastating op-ed about the McCain-Palin campaign’s attempts in recent weeks to ”brand [Obama] as a potential killer and an accessory to past attempts at murder.”

“By the time McCain asks the crowd ”Who is the real Barack Obama?” it’s no surprise that someone cries out ”Terrorist!” The rhetorical conflation of Obama with terrorism is complete. It is stoked further by the repeated invocation of Obama’s middle name by surrogates introducing McCain and Palin at these rallies. This sleight of hand at once synchronizes with the poisonous Obama-is-a-Muslim e-mail blasts and shifts the brand of terrorism from Ayers’s Vietnam-era variety to the radical Islamic threats of today.”

McCain has now, finally (!), decided to try to dial down some of the hate-filled rhetoric we hear at his and Sarah Palin’s events (good), but he’s also attempting to make this about something that it’s not (bad). 

But if you want to cut through all the noise to get to the heart of this issue and why it’s important, read Frank Rich today, who encapsolates beautifully what I’ve been trying to say all week here on MD. 

Henry Miller is speaking to me from the grave with this piece.

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