Let's take a look at the disturbing atmosphere, including an explanation of the horrific ad you see here, after the jump.

That's why it should be no surprise that the racist fires they are stoking are now burning brightly for all to see.

We've talked a lot here on Bilerico about the disgusting negative attacks coming from the McCain campaign and the right. Our community knows better than most how using inflammatory rhetoric that plays into bias and hate can cause very real and deadly consequences. And while McCain himself may have "backed off" slightly - he told a woman that Obama wasn't an "Arab" (he just pals around with terrorists) - Palin, his campaign surrogates, and campaign ads all continue to use the politics of fear.

Obama and the Noose

"The Libertarian Conservative" posted that disturbing graphic of Obama and a noose with these words:

Asphyxiation: a breathless experience The Fucking Solution: Do not consult a doctor. Tie the rope tight. Do not try this at home; go somewhere where no one will find you. Do consumer alcohol while using this treatment. Do no sedate yourself. Do not care. Do not say goodbye. Do it now.

The blog was later taken down by moderators, much to the anger of the ad creator, who had this to say:

The point of the posting was being lost and the post itself was becoming the story. Which I never wanted to happen. The point is, I made the far left have a knee jerk reaction. I also gave them something to talk about. Again, as I stated in the actual posting itself, I never, ever wished any harm come to Obama, at all. I was simply making a point and doing exactly what the left is doing to Sarah Palin.

...

We're at war folks, and I intend to fight this war until my dying breath. We're at war against terrorists that want to destroy this country and everything it stands for and we are war against godless liberals who hate the very values and freedoms that this Nation was founded upon. I will not submit to a "Political Correct" fascist agenda, which wishes to restrict my freedoms. You have been warned.

I'm hoping the FBI and other authorities are knocking at this guy's door as we speak. If that's not an open and very real threat, I don't know what is. You can see the entire disturbing post reprinted at Washington Scandal. Warning - you won't sleep for days after reading it.

The Monkey Man

Pam Spaulding has been covering the crazy Monkey Man at a McCain rally. This nutbag bigot was seen proudly waving a monkey doll with an Obama sticker around its head while saying:

This is little Hussein; little Hussein will deceive truth and good Americans.

Here's some scary video of it:



iPhone users: Click to watch

Obama and Osama

And who can forget the Chairman for Virginia's Republican Party Jeffrey M. Frederick's attempt to connect Obama to Osama bin Laden at a canvassing meeting (as reported by Time's Karen Tumulty):

[Frederick] climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points -- for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," he said. "That is scary."

The response from the McCain camp?

While Barack Obama is associated with domestic terrorist William Ayers, the McCain campaign disagrees with the comparison that Jeff Frederick made.

Wow. Way to take a "strong stance"...

Even McCain couldn't resist stoking the terrorist fears in his so-called "rebuke":

I have to look at the context of his remarks. I have always repudiated any comments that have been made that were inappropriate about Senator Obama. The fact is that William Ayers was a terrorist and bomber and unrepentant. I don't care about that. But, Sen. Obama ought be the candid and truthful about his relationship with Mr. Ayers.

How can it be called repudiation if you repeat the same claim? It must be some new version of "straight talk" that I've never heard of.

More Racism and Homophobia from Virginia GOP

Bobby May, who previously chaired McCain's Buchanan County branch in Virginia, penned a vile-filled missive to a local paper in which he imagines what an Obama administration would look like. In it, May says that saying Obama would have rapper Ludacris paint the White House black and would transform the national anthem into the "Black National Anthem." He also says Obama will "coddle sexual perverts" by allowing marriage equality and would revoke "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." (h/t Queerty)

Here are some of the highlights:

Mandatory Black Liberation Theology courses [will be] taught in all churches - raise taxes to pay for this mandate. Put Rev. Jeremiah Wright in charge. Condemnation of homosexuality from the pulpit will become a Class 1 felony.

...

A queer in every foxhole and a camouflage sex toy in every backpack.

While the McCain Campaign did fire May, one has to wonder where these underlings are getting their ideas from...

Playing with Fire

McCain's newfound "respect" for Obama and calls for civility are way too little, too late. You can't run the most disgusting, racist, divisive campaign in modern history and then act like you want a "more respectful tone."

This is especially true when your campaign and surrogates are continuing the dangerous attacks.

Civil rights icon John Lewis said it best:

What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse. George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama. As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better.

This McCain Campaign is indeed playing with fire.

And McCain stands at the heart of the fire, like Nero fiddling away while we all burn.