Duhbate

I watched the debate live, but found myself a little too mesmerized by CNN's "focus group response analyzer" to read much into what they said. Certainly, the gaffe heard round the world was when McCain called Obama, "That one."Color me impressed that minutes later a "That One" group popped up on facebook(as in, "I'm voting for That One!").They are running a repeat on MSNBC right now, and I noticed something pretty disturbing. I'll be using snippets from the transcript, and you can read the whole thing here.

The first question, from a senior citizen, Alan Shaffer, a white male asked, " With the economy on the downturn and retired and older citizens and workers losing their incomes, what's the fastest, most positive solution to bail these people out of the economic ruin?"

The answers were rather stumpy, not much worth noting. McCain's explanation wasn't train wreck...energy independence, buying up bad loans and renegotiating mortgage rates. Keep in mind though, that the participants asking questions were not given any opportunity to contribute additional questions or comments. So, moving on to the next question from the audience.

Oliver Clark, a young black male asked, "Well, Senators, through this economic crisis, most of the people that I know have had a difficult time. And through this bailout package, I was wondering what it is that's going to actually help those people out."

McCain: "I left my campaign and suspended it to go back to Washington to make sure that there were additional protections for the taxpayer in the form of good oversight, in the form of taxpayers being the first to be paid back when our economy recovers -- and it will recover -- and a number of other measures.

But you know, one of the real catalysts, really the match that lit this fire was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I'll bet you, you may never even have heard of them before this crisis."

If abruptly suspending his campaign wasn't just a publicity stunt, then why wasn't this move cited as part of the "fastest, most positive solution" that Alan had asked about? Maybe that part would not have rubbed me so wrong if his tone of voice hadn't changed from the last answer. He sounded like he was addressing a grade school classroom while answering Oliver. Also, he assumes the young black man has never heard of Fannie and Freddie. Oh, but it gets better...

McCain (still answering Oliver): "So this rescue package means that we will stabilize markets, we will shore up these institutions. But it's not enough. That's why we're going to have to go out into the housing market and we're going to have to buy up these bad loans and we're going to have to stabilize home values, and that way, Americans, like Alan, can realize the American dream and stay in their home."

Look, I don't normally blog politics, but I haven't seen this brought up yet. I don't care how inadvertent it was. It's probably one of the most blatantly racist displays in politics I've ever witnessed...and I mean the kind of racism that is just tattooed on a person's soul no matter what kind of pretty face they put on.


MY POINT, JUST TO BE CRYSTAL CLEAR: McCain assumed that the older white gentleman was a homeowner, and that the younger black gentleman was not. McCain assumed that the younger black gentleman had, before the financial crisis, paid no attention to the matters of Wall St. or home ownership. McCain told an African-American that he's going to stabilize home values so that a white American can realize the American dream.

EPIC FAIL.