WHY ..WHY..WHY... can people not understand that Palin did something UNETHICAL no matter what her reasons might have been...she did not hold up the trust put in her and she will do the same if elected/// if it suits her purpose......Alaska can have her back.....why did McCain pick her, she is the kind of woman that we dont want in politics...she is vicious,that is how they are in the AIP.....

I cannot state better than you have the revulsion I feel in watching this dark dimension of the McCain/Palin campaign emerge. I also saw you on Hardball; I think it was journalistically irresponsible for Chris Matthews to pretend that Obama calling McCain erratic is tactically comparable: 1) McCain IS erratic; 2) Obama is NOT palling around with terrorists, etc.; 3) The innuendo in the McCain/Palin tactic taps into stored racism that we all know is dangerous. I lived through the 60s and 70s and anyone who did knows that this tactic is unconscionable.

Thank you for your courage in speaking out so clearly and responsibly. I keep hoping other journalists will do the same.

As an expat American of 34 years I am increasingly horrified at the length to which the America I knew in '74 has fallen. I knew that America was charting pathways with Nixon and the devastation of Vietnam but I stupidly thought that reason would return and the country that I left would regain a semblance of normalcy and just perhaps not refudiate all the lessons of San Francisco and the karma of the Summer of Love. How silly and ignorant I was! I left a city like San Francisco reading many bumper stickers telling me, "Amereica-love it or leave it" so I left. I did not anticipate that the fool who governed California would get himself deified and have an aircraft carrier named after him (in hindsight, how appropriate). I honestly thought the people would realise their mistakes and renounce the stupidity of their actions, but no; they have c angeded into a country that is a laughing stock represented by this latest attempt at democracy.

I am sure it would have far too much to have expected Senator McCain to have included in his "reassurances" to this woman, that even if Senator Obama were an Arab-American, of which there are many who are citizens in this country, there would be nothing wrong or scarey about that. But, if he and his followers are having so much difficulty and anguish over the skin color of the other fellow and his last name, that would have been a far fetch and they might have carried him off the stage in a black trash bag. She said "he's an Arab" as if it were a disease.

Are we to react in the same manner with people who have obvious German names? That they are all Nazis?

I go to Mass every Sunday in a community and in a church founded by generations of "Arabs" who are Maronite Catholics. Their ancestors are revered in my city as they have contributed much to the history and to the development of our city. Family is sacred; men are devoted husbands and fathers and keep the heritage alive in the church, which is the center of their lives. The priests come from Lebanon and are devoted to the family of parishoners. They are active in Interdenominational Relations in the city, especially and inclusive of, our Jewish community. I am of Italian descent and am very comfortable with the values I found there.

People surely do short change themselves in their self imposed limitations. One might expect a Senator who "knows so many people and so many world leaders and knows so many things and travelled so many places" and who is running to be the President of the USA to have a broader appreciation of different cultures and to not resort to the base dark instincts of others not as fortunate as himself to have had all these learning moments wherein he could "know" so much.

Yesterday, an elderly lady in McCain's mob is now assigned the identity and the accountability of this hatred for Senator Obama. She will surely go down in history, documenting the bigotry of this election, as this snippet has been played and replayed over and over and over again on all networks.

It's quite pitiful. She states she cannot vote for Senator Obama, because, because, "....he's an Arab." McCain takes the mic and says, "No". Perplexed, she whispers, "No? He's not?" and McCain proceeds to say that Senator Obama "is a decent man, a family man, we just disagree on issues...." This woman is on display in all of her ignorance, but it is quite pitiful because she did not get that impression all by herself and was relying on McCain's word, obviously by her reaction, to make it not true.

McCain bears full responsibility for the mob mentality of his crowds, for the racism, bigotry, hatred, and ignorance of his supporters, and for selecting a running mate who probably believes this ideology, even if he may not. He is catering to a segment of his party who does believe in a class supremacy that does not include educated eliticists, MSM, or anyone with a "foreign sounding name", especially, an Arab sounding name as that would make them all terrorists.

The poor woman almost sounded as though she was pleading for McCain to tell her differently than what she has been made to believe---or, at least, to repeat. Yet, because McCain chose this rally on this day with this woman, and later with a gentleman present, to switch tactics for one appearance, she is made to bear the responsibility for his filthy campaign "strategy" of this last week.

I know there are some in his mobs, er, crowds, who really are hard core bigots, as evidenced by their smart and snappy salutes and their violent chants and epithets. Many are just followers. These are the people who could be influenced to follow their better selves if they had a leader who followed his better self.

Instead, McCain has spent any capital he may have had in the honor and respect budget and is left with a glaring deficit. I even hold him responsible for whatever comes out of his secessionist radical right wing extremist running mate who has been manufactured by that political party in Alaska bent on dismantling the US government and the perfect candidate to infiltrate a major political party. However, she failed miserably. She, herself, has not built any capital and when they lose this election she will not have a comeback. Not in the lower 48 anyway and, I suspect, not up there in Alaska, either.

When McCain returns to the Senate, I hope he is censured by his colleagues for besmirching a Senate colleague, inciting anti American sentiment, promoting violence, and disrespecting the voters of America. When his term is finished, I hope Arizona retires him so he can do his mavericky things in the gambling casinos he so loves to frequent. Everyone who worked on his campaign should be unemployable in the business of politics, advertising, or lobbying. They are not fit to run a fast food chain.