The recent attacks waged against Barack Obama by John McCain and Sarah Palin have revealed a shocking racial undertone. Questioning Obama’s patriotism, his honesty, his “Americanness” to increasingly hostile crowds of overwhelming white proportion, McCain and Palin have lowered the discourse of the election and the value they place on everyday Americans’ intelligence exponentially.

To their base, this strategy seems to have worked, and it has reaped rather unseemly rewards. A woman shows up to a Palin rally with a lynch rope around her neck and is cheered. Threats of “Kill him!” in response to Obama’s name are met with applause. McCain and Palin expect Obama to repudiate every statement any of his past associates have made, no matter how tenuous the connection.

However, McCain and Palin, as of now, have yet to decry these shameful threats made in their presence, have yet to clarify what their attacks actually mean, have yet to disprove they are racially motivated. This is beyond reproach and does not deserve support. But beyond the disgraceful antics of two people on a rapidly sinking ship, any backer of the Republican ticket should be looked at with a more than sideways glance. To support two people who would stoop so low, who would unflinchingly welcome the support of what could amount to a lynch mob, who would stir up old racist feelings that should have long been erased, creates serious doubt and casts an unflattering and unsettling shadow on any one of their supporters.

Heather M. Johnston

Mars Hill