Wright

Friday 10th October

Dogs that didn't bark

Thomas Ash, 10 October 2008

Ben Smith makes the very good point that immigration is one of the dogs that didn't bark in this election: it was expected to be one of the central issues, working to the Republicans' advantage, but instead has hardly featured. In part this is because other issues have made the headlines, but at least before the financial crisis struck McCain could have changed that with a concerted push for tough border control.

Three different factors probably contributed to his decision not to do so. First, he is not the most credible messenger for this position: he has long been on the other side of the issue, even sponsoring a liberal immigration reform bill which conservatives pilloried as offering amnesty to illegal aliens. Second, though he officially converted to the conservative position while seeking the Republican nomination, he rarely seems able to muster much passion for it, suggesting that his conversion was not truly sincere. Third, his strategists may have calculated that running hard against immigration risked driving Hispanics further into the Democratic camp.

If so, that looks like a tactical mistake - despite some early problems in the primaries, Barack Obama has done just fine locking up Hispanic support. McCain had a better chance of gaining support among the wide swathe of voters concerned about illegal immigration.

Friday 9th May

McCain's Jeremiah Wright?

openUSA, 9 May 2008

A film produced by the San Francisco lefty mag Mother Jones links McCain to the bigoted preacher Rod Parsley. Just as Jeremiah Wright felt compelled to speak venom to power, Reverend Parsley, who McCain describes as his "spiritual guide", doesn't shy away from spitting bile at Islam. Juicy bits include:

"America was founded in part with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed."
"Mohammed received revelations from demon spirits, not the living god."
"America has historically understood itself to be a bastion against Islam in the world."
"This is about to freak you out...Since September 11, 2001, 34,000 Americans have become Muslims...This means that thousands of Americans have embraced the very religion that inspired the worst assault upon their nation in a generation."

Will Parsley damage McCain as much as Wright has hurt Obama? Probably not. After all, it's far more acceptable to long for Manichean apocalypse than criticise one's own country.