> McCain Roasts Obama and Obama Roasts McCain at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner:
>
> http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_political/1153181.html
>
>
> The 3 YouTube vids of McCain's and Obama's speeches/roasting each other
> are @ URL above.
>
> It comes off as one big ruling class circle jerk. "At the end of the day,
> all us elites are buddies after all," is the tone of the shindig. The two
> factions of the business party, indeed.
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Sure, you see that every day in the Congress.
But not at the level of the base. The gulf between Republicans and Democrats, whose values and objectives are radically different, appears to be widening. Each side no longer regards the electoral victory of the other as legitimate. My sense is they would roast each other literally if they could.
The backward Republican base is more prone to violence, hints of which are already apparent at its rallies, but there will be enormous bitterness and disaffection among Democrats also if McCain and Palin somehow steal the election because of the country's underlying racism. It no longer seems possible for the country to "come together" as the politicians have traditionally encouraged it to do after an election.
The differences seem deeper than I can remember in my lifetime. I think the rapidly changing demographics of the country coupled with the visible decline of American economic and political supremacy, which has made the white population outside the major metro areas ever more frightened and insecure, has a lot to do with it.