>[...] equivalent to violence against women. Again what you don't see is the
>other half of those conversations, which is all the mostly coded hate
>speech coming from the Right---oftened coded hate speech against women [...]
I only saw a snippet of the speech on the news one night, but the hate was glaring and unmistakable. I've often been amazed by the hate which the American far right is infused with. Its the most jarring thing to an outsider. Very disconcerting. Even on the internet. Much more so, quite fantastic in fact, that these extreme right wing nutcases are able to get so close to the centre of power in the US.
In Australia a decade or so ago these types were trying to do the same thing in John Howards Liberal Party. Mainstream Liberals had a very appropriate name for them - "the Uglies".
You probably shouldn't be upset that this politician is coming out with this hate, I expect its actually a good thing. Sure, it appeals to a narrow range of reactionaries, but it is also a very ugly thing for most people to behold. It makes John McCain look very weak, suggesting that he has to pander to this ugly reactionary element in his own party.
I recall that a little while back there were even suggestions that McCain would try to appeal to disaffected supporters of Hilary Clinton. Palin has put paid to that, surely? McCain has made his bed, now he will have to sleep in it. He has decided to appeal to the ugly right-wing hate-mongers, rather than the social-democrat centre of American politics.
I'm guessing he's fucked. If not as a result of that choice, then the other way around. That is, he decided he was going to lose anyhow, but needed to do this just to hang on to the lunatic-right fringe.
But what would i know.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas