None of these obscenities was uttered by anyone directly affiliated with the McCain campaign, but they are a clear consequence of the ugly turn it has taken--and shamelessly announced it would take!--over the past few days. If Steve Schmidt and the other architects of this increasingly disgraceful candidacy didn't anticipate such an outpouring of violent, racist bile, they are imbeciles. If they did, they are worse.
Update: Of course there have always been racists and thugs and moral degenerates of all stripes in McCain's and Palin's audiences--as well as in Obama's and those of every other politician ever to run a national race. But McCain and Palin's latest attacks have created an environment where, rather than keep these toxic views to themselves until they got home or were out with buddies, they feel they can yell them out among thousands of strangers at a large political rally without fear of correction. These sentiments are being normalized in a public setting. This foul genie will prove hard to put back in the bottle.
--Christopher Orr