In a letter printed in the New York Times William Ibershof, lead federal prosecutor of the Weathermen, the anti-Vietnam war group that included Bill Ayers, the "domestic terrorist" that McCain and Palin are trying to make into a character assassination of Barack Obama, says he is "amazed and outraged" at the attacks against Obama.
Yesterday McCain finally began to try to tamp down the racist rhetoric at one of his rallies. He did this only after he saw his poll numbers drop further, and had taken a lot of heat from former supporters, some right-wing columnists and the mainstream media. I wish I could say that McCain was doing this out of a desire to be fair, but I think he is not only realizing that it's hurting his chances on November 4, but that it's hurting his own legacy, and that's what's driving this new attempt to tone down the increasingly violent outbursts.
At a time when the country is facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, we don't need a presidential candidate who is focused on trying to portray his opponent as being un-patriotic and un-American. We need a presidential candidate who is going to lead us out of the mess the Bush administration has put us in. And that candidate is certainly not John McCain.
You can read Mr. Ibershof's letter here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/opinion/l10ayers.html?
