For John McCain, Karma Rears Its Righteous Head

Friday in Minnesota McCain was forced to confront the terrible product of his campaigns most recent and disgusting tactics: xenophobic hysteria. In response to an assertion from a supporter that Obama was an Arab, McCain shook his head and said no, as if to alleviate the supporter's fear that Obama indeed was of Arab descent. In another instance at the same rally, McCain had to explicitly state that his supporters shouldn't be scared of an Obama presidency, that McCain simply disagreed with the senator, in order to allay the supporter's fear of Obama as a person.

But McCain, through his campaign, deliberately stoked this fear. He brought it upon himself. His VP candidate actually stated time and time again that Obama palled around with terrorists, a flat-out lie perpetrated by the campaign to boost his poll numbers by spreading fear. Furthermore, the campaign refused to condemn the various shouts of "terrorist!," "treason," and "kill him!" directed at Senator Obama in answer to Palin and McCain's question of "who is the real Barack Obama." Days went by without a statement from the campaign condemning this vile behavior. Finally, Friday was McCain's day of reckoning as he was forced to turn back his campaign's entire strategy for that week of assassinating Obama's character.

Un-presidential. He deserves to lose for this terrible behavior.

And why has the campaign not rejected the idea that an Arab-American or a Muslim running for president is something to ridicule or fear? Are Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans not Americans, or not American enough?