For the past two weekends on the radio show we have talked about the campaign against Barack Obama and what the GOP plan should be. My position is clear, when you have a solid gold plated liberal record to run against, you focus on that. I have said repeatedly that right wingers who constantly refer to him as “Barack Hussein Obama” are bad news. I even called out the guy that follows us on Sunday night, Bill Cunningham, for doing exactly that. Well, Cunningham has done it again, this time at a McCain rally. Not surprisingly, McCain immediately did the right thing.
I just heard Rush defending Bill Cunningham, saying something along the lines of “what’s wrong with calling him by his real name” and “we can’t even call him a liberal, they don’t like that either” and he went on to talk about liberal speech codes, etc.
Right wing Republicans will get Barack Obama elected. Not because they stayed home, but because they were active in the campaign, employing the tactics of the lowest common denominator. Liberals will huff and say “of course, that’s what they always do”. Excuse me, no it is not.
Look at the other major news of the day, the passing of William F. Buckley. He was the quintessential right wing Republican. Do you ever remember WFB going on Firing Line and using such cheap tactics? Of course not. Buckley was a man of ideas and principle, not cheap shots and insults. Right wing Republicans who claim to have so much respect for WFB would do well to remember who he was and why he became so influencial. It wasn’t by using sophomoric rhetorical tricks.
The most compelling aspect of a McCain general election candidacy is his appeal to moderate Republicans and Democrats and independents. This kind of cheap shot BS will turn those constituencies away from McCain and hand the election to Obama.