By Bill McCamley
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.” – Edward R. Murrow
After the Nov. 4 election, the Las Cruces Sun-News showed a front-page picture of a man hanging a flag upside down protesting the election of Barack Obama. This is the final sign of a shameful strategy used by some Republicans in recent elections. What is it? They are painting those who simply supported the Democrats and Obama as unpatriotic.
Don’t think this is a reality? The first of these attacks happened in 2002 when Saxby Chambliss defeated Max Cleland for the U.S. Senate by calling him unpatriotic even though the man lost both legs and an arm serving in the U.S. Army during Vietnam. What was Cleland’s massive failure? He didn’t vote for the PATRIOT Act. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
This year, there were many examples of the approach. Sarah Palin spoke at a fundraiser in North Carolina, saying “We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation.” So people who live in urban areas, most whom voted for Obama, aren’t really Americans? And then there are the signs held at McCain rallies around the country — the ones that said “Country First.” Oh, of course. By voting for Obama I obviously don’t care about my country or its future.
In addition to the upside-down flag, our region has another tribute to this nonsense. Marcia Stirman, head of the Otero County Republican women, wrote a letter published in the Alamogordo Daily News describing the reasons that she was a Republican, including the fact that “Muslims are our enemies” and that “Obama isn’t a messiah or a democrat. He’s a Muslim socialist.” These comments mirror similar lies that have been spewed about Obama on the Internet since he jumped on to the national scene.
Nothing new
Negative campaigning is nothing new to American politics because it works. In the election of 1800 Thomas Jefferson’s supporters accused President Adams of having a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.” Recognizing that not returning fire leaves you open to defeat, Adams’ people called Jefferson “a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father.”
When you get in to politics, you have to accept some of this, but there must be lines drawn. And the blatant accusation that just because you don’t agree with someone else means you are not American is not only dirty and wrong, it goes against the very concept that this country is founded upon.
Obama was called a socialist in this election because of his advocating that we “spread the wealth,” the same basic policy that FDR put in to place to beat the Great Depression. Was Roosevelt unpatriotic? He only won World War II. Obama was also called a Muslim for no other reason than his name, even though he has never been associated with that faith. But even if he were a socialist, or a Muslim, his willingness to take on the responsibility of a run for president is not only supremely American, but an example to the rest of us.
Colin Powell said it best when he decried the accusations about Obama being a Muslim, saying simply, “The really right answer is, what if he is?” The Revolutionary War was fought because Americans felt that they weren’t being represented in England. They had different views and King George didn’t care. The result: We became the first modern country where people had ability to make our voices heard in our society and the opportunity to turn those opinions in to policy. This is what makes me a proud citizen of this nation.
Applause for some Republicans
It should be noted that not all Republicans engaged in this strategy. The Republican Women of Otero County resigned, to a woman, after Striman refused to step down from office because of the hateful editorial. And unlike Sarah Palin, whose attack-dog comments became more vitriolic as the campaign wore on, John McCain himself never seemed to embrace the approach.
While he was answering questions at a rally in Minnesota, supporters called Obama an Arab and worried about the immediate safety of the nation should he be elected. He replied by saying, “I want to be president of the United States, and I don’t want Obama to be, but I have to tell you, I have to tell you, he is a decent person, and a person that you do not have to be scared as president of the United States.” During his concession speech he acted every inch the gentleman and statesmen, though there was booing twice when he spoke highly about Obama and Joe Biden.
Though I applaud these Republicans for declining to engage in this underhanded approach, my biggest praise this year goes to the American people. For this year, at least, they did not bow to the outrageous lies thrown out by people whose only goal was to keep power at all costs. I firmly hope that this attitude continues far in to the future.
McCamley is the District 5 Doña Ana County commissioner.