The Rovian-style campaign methods of fear mongering, truth stretching, and alarmist propaganda pushing seem to have worked in West Virginia -- and thus probably too in other (primarily rural) parts of the country.
An article in Sunday's Financial Times quotes a bunch of West Virginia voters on their fears about Obama:
"I heard that Obama is a Muslim and his wife's an atheist," said one.
Others expressed concern about Obama's former (Christian) pastor Jeremiah Wright.
So they don't like Obama because he might be a Muslim, and they don't like Obama because of his choice of Christian churches. Does anyone see the logical shortcomings here?
And, of course, according to the article, there were the concerns about Obama's patriotism and his perceived elitism.
I have previously addressed the patriotism issue ad nauseum. (Is Bush patriotic when he wears his flag pin as he justifies torture, invades a country that posed no threat to us, and systematically dismantles our Constitution?)
So now let's move on to the charges of elitism. Is it elitist to be born black in America to a (white) unwed mother? Is it elitist to put yourself through college and law school via hard work and student loans, and then put your education to use as a low-salaried community organizer when you could instead rake in millions on Wall Street?
Will enough American voters see through this kind of nonsense?
Or will the swiftboaters claim another victory in November?
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