I think his source is Ana Marie Cox, who was there.

He gets credit? He started all this garbage with his vile, disgusting campaign!

John McCain has proven to be a total scumbag. The damage is done. No apology will fix it.

Obama is cleaning the man's clock and McCain simply can't handle it.

McCain is acting like a pitcher who is down by 10 runs and decides to bean the next batter he faces. Disgusting.

If anything happens to Obama, it will be on McCain's head.

I think the reason for including the word terrorist is obvious. The woman's implication was that BEING Arab was in itself dangerous. That anyone of Arab ethnicity is a bomb throwing radical. What's more, McCain goes and says effectively, "No, he's not an Arab, he's an decent man." Implying McCain doesn't think Arab's are capable of decency.

Totally agree, Down. McCain can't clean this up with a backtrack. He knew what he was doing.

I suspect Secret Service got to him and told him to chill out. Their job is hard enough.

karma happens

Credit???

If I deliberately set your house on fire, do I get credit for running off to look for a bucket of water?

I agree with Down. The responsible answer would have been:
A: There is nothing wrong with being Arab, AND
B: Obama is not Arab. He is a Christian, who was born in Hawaii to a Kenyan man and Kansan woman.

McCain said neither, intentionally. This is the same as Hillary Clinton's comment that she had no evidence that Obama was a Muslim.

"mccain said neither, intentionally.
this is the same as hillary clinton's comment"

i agree with marcus.
"karma happens."

"His Truth is marching on."

i also dont think mccain deserves credit for this. he was forced to intervene.
he knows these moments will now be on youtube and they just cant "get away with it" anymore.
and he knows that the immoral and despicable campaign that he and his henchwoman are running, is creating a dangerous mob mentality that they may not be able to control and may have very serious consequences.
barack obama has encountered every kind of mythological beast on his improbable journey of mythical proportions.
an allegory before our very eyes.

Barack Obama poops rainbows!

But seriously, McCain is a piece of shit, for real. Lose like a man, asshole.

Two points:

1 - There is a distinct audio drop in the video after the woman says Arab. It's easy to imagine they edited out the word terrorist. Why? I can't say.

2 - I tentatively give McCain full props for this turn-around. Does he deserve disdain for the ads he's running? Absolutely. And if he doesn't stop the ads and the innuendo from his campaign, it will mean nothing. However, I'm willing to believe that the once-honourable Senator had a lapse of judgement and is trying to regain his dignity. There was a time I liked the guy, and I'd love that time to return.

It doesn't mean I want him running the country, mind you...

Ezra is dead wrong. McCain deserves zero credit.
McCain and Palin have unleashed a motherlode of toxic sludge aagisnt Obama. Ezra, when will McCain repudiate Palin for saying that "Obama palled around with terrorists"?

McCain and Palin are warped, frustrated, morally bankrupt candidates and deserve to lose in the biggest electoral landslide of the past 20 years.

Looks like the McCain/Palin ticket has the all important Moron vote locked up.

The only thing McCain deserves credit for is pissing in the wind as a token effort to put out the Santa Ana firestorm of hate that he and his shit-slinging minions started and continue to enthusiastically stoke. Declaring Obama guilty of terrorism by association implicitly carries with it the message that his election would endanger the country, and therefore any act that prevents his election is a patriotic act. Think of the killings in the Tennessee Unitarian church and the Arkansas Democratic headquarters. There is real, murderous anger out there. And if you think the McCain campaign and Beck/Coulter/Malkin/Limbaugh ad nauseum aren't actively advocating for it to be taken to its logical conclusion, you're living in a dream world.

I'll give McCain a pass on this as the thing he said immediately before was:

"I have to tell you. Sen. Obama is a decent person and a person you don't have to be scared of as president of the United States,"

So when he was correcting the woman, he was just shutting down her line of thought by repeating the words he just said. Whether she said "terrorist" or not, it makes sense enough without McCain equating Arabs to terrorists or calling all Arabs indecent.

Why on earth is almost every damn lefty blogger out there (JMM excepted) falling all over themselves to congratulate McCain for not specifically inciting a riot?

This campaign has been, gently for months, and forcefully all week, stoking this fire. And McCain's one public appearance aside, is STILL stoking the fire with ads, Palin appearances, and public statements.

McCain will deserve a little credit if, AND ONLY IF, all of the Ayers/terror/risky ads are off the air by the end of the weekend AND both McCain and Caribou Barbie state in every public appearance between now and the election the same things McCain was saying in today's townhall. At that point I may be convinced they had a change of heart and want people to believe they are not inciting violence.

Otherwise this is just a cynical attempt to eat their cake and have it too, and/or McCain just flailing wildly about.

This is NOT a campaign that has earned any kind of benefit of the doubt.

Look: he did the right thing for a change, so I'm not inclined to bust his balls about it.

"he did the right thing for a change"

he did the right thing after he and sarah palin tried to inflict as much damage they could for two weeks of constant hammering and doing almost everything they could dream up to assault the character of barack obama.
they only stopped under the glare of lights, like two thugs stop pummelling someone when they hear the sirens.

we reap what we sow.
i cant believe that people can be apologists, like david gergen, saying that mccain's campaign is not protecting him.
people said the same thing of hillary clinton.
the person at the top "creates" the ultimate message and tone of their campaign.
they "are" the campaign message.
mccain and palin have been gleeful and merciless over the past weeks.
mccain and palin have managed to bring the whole political arena down to the level of limbaugh and coulter.
aside from their ads and inciteful speeches, just look at the stage behaviors of a man who refers to people as his friends and loves to invoke his own sense of honor.....
referring to obama as "that one"....nearly brushing against obama as he distractedly moved about the stage like a shark in the water....
not even having the decency to look at him, to shake obama's hand.
do people like mccain and palin realize that there are a nation of children that also see their behaviors?
dont mccain or palin ever wake up in the middle of the night feeling haunted or ashamed of the things they said during the day?
dont they ever wonder, "what would Jesus do?"
dont they ever have moments of personal accountability that come when it is not just motivated by their self-interest, winning an election,controlling an angry mob, watching a poll, getting a cheer?
dont they take any responsibility for what they are doing the soul of this country?
clearly, mccain has shown he would rather win an election than elevate the lives of the american people.
now that the bright lights are on them, and there are secret service investigations necessary for what they are causing, perhaps they will stop.
they are stopping because they have to. and now, they will try something else. this is not about decency, it is all about political expediency.
the next few weeks will not be about a change of heart, it is about a change of hat.

i

While staring at a firestorm is compelling, no matter which direction you're looking from, there's another, more conventional narrative that would probably get played, if this was a normal election year.

John McCain is flip-flopping. He made a decision to do the negative stuff. Now it's biting him on the ass, and he has to back down. Again. Just like the "suspension to nowhere." Throw in the Palin selection, which he hasn't backed down from, but should have, because she alienates smart people and has veered the straight talk express into the right-hand gutter.

These are not your ordinary, "changed my mind when the facts changed" flip-flops, or when a someone allows an idea to evolve before it becomes a decision. These are deliberate decisions, and McCain is the executive of his campaign.

What McCain is doing is providing clear, undeniable proof that he's completely shite as an executive.

It's like They Might Be Giants said: Can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.

for whatever reason, Halperin changed his post to reflect the wording of Ana Marie Cox's reporting, from the event:
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/10/mccain_denounces_pitchforkwave.html

She was there, so maybe that woman did say it, under her breath. But Cox got McCain's response wrong by a few words, so who knows...

Ezra: We already have one Marc Armbinder, God help us if you turn into another.

Really, McCain didn't have a choice. Could he really say, out loud, that Obama is an Arab? He had no freaking choice but to disagree. And as for the woman and her Arab comment, the Minneapolis Star Tribune caught up with her after the event:

Late in the town hall meeting, Gayle Quinnell of Shakopee called Obama “an Arab.” Taken aback, McCain shook his head and, taking the microphone from her, said, “No, ma’am. He’s a decent family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.”

After the rally, Quinnell was unrepentant. “You can’t trust Barack Hussein Obama because he is a Muslim and a terrorist,” she said.

There you go John. The genie is out of the bottle.

He was filling in the blanks like it was Mad Libs. I think that's a basic journalistic trait.

HE DESERVES NO CREDIT. McCain is the one who unleashed Feuer Palin in the first place. The vice president doesn't go on a racist fear monger rant without the top guy's consent.

He started the racist fires with Palin and now he doesn't know how to put them out.

You can see the look on McCain's face: shame, embarrasment that this is what his campaign amounts to, a lynch mob.

She may well have said "terrorist" when the mic was away from her mouth--you couldn't see her face omn this clip. That's easier to believe that believing that for McCain being an Arab and being decent are mutually exclusive. McCain's never given any indication that he thinks that way.

I'm not saying McCain is displaying some unusual heroism--most candidates would not want to be seen standing there and letting that stand. And Obama-Biden have said nothing but good tings about McCain personally the whole campaign. But McCain's still plainly doing the right thing, and that counts for something when he knows his base is full of angry, ignorant people. I mean even as an Obama supporter, and disagreeing with what the McCain campaign is doing, it provokes a lot of sympathy to see McCain tell his own supporters that they shouldn't be afraid of Obama being president. Isn't that exactly what Bush sepnt all of 2004 saying, that we should be terrified of having a Democrat as president?

"He started all this garbage with his vile, disgusting campaign!"
Get real. You know that's not true. He bears some responsibility for it, because he egged it on by talking about terrorists. But this stuff was "started" by Hillary supporters a long while back. And it would have started on its own with Hannity and Limbaugh.

"i'm not saying mccain is displaying some unusual heroism here..."

just when you think you've heard everything....

"Firestorm of hate"??? THat firestorm is directed at McCain by his own supporters, as was made clear today. They are mad at him for being such a coward in this race. He needed to discuss more openly all negatives about the opponent, and those are above all Obama's dubious associations. Obama seems to lack a circle of friends or associates who would counterbalance Ayers and Wright -- and they are quite anti-American, my friend. Naturally, McCain's followers expected him to use all weapons at hand, and not act so highminded, because he has not run a campaign one tenth as pointed or dirty as Hillary's, my friend.

The Halperin post no longer misquotes the woman from the audience; that post now has her quoted as saying "an Arab" and not "an Arab terrorist."

Does this woman or most american know who an Arab is? What does Kenya or Indonesia have anything to do with Arab? No wonder Bush/Cheney had an easy time confusing these folks between Afghanistan and Iraq.

Does this woman or most american know who an Arab is? What does Kenya or Indonesia have anything to do with Arab? No wonder Bush/Cheney had an easy time confusing these folks between Afghanistan and Iraq.

It is good that he tells her 'no man he is not.'

His further comment doesnt make all that great of contextual sense. He also seems to assume the negative cannotation to the term arab.

Arab is a cultural and ethnic term, not one about decency and family status. He should really said 'no mam, he is an african american, not an arab, ....". But it is good that he negates her statement.

What I wonder is the context of this whole thing. Was Pallin there before he got up stirring up the audience. She has been spewing this hatred now, literally saying that people should fear an Obama presidency. If that was the case then this video was done purely to show McCain in this light.

The audio does end rather abruptly with the word "Arab." I wonder if the campaign cut the audio as they realized what she was saying, then cut back in once McCain took the mike.

Its all an act. They have no intentions of discontinuing stoking the fear flames.

How can they say he is an arab...I have no idea. I think they meant "he is a muslim" but apparently to the ignorant, they are the same.

I guess they got the "real american stupid" vote in the bag. Its amazing how the ignorant always vote against their best interest because of misinformation. With the internet in almost every home, school, or library, there is no excuse for ignorance anymore.

If you hear something you dislike, LOOK IT UP. Read correct information from real credible straight fact sources. Its not that hard. Come on..you can do it.

jacqueline,

cut the holier-than-thou crap...your unhinged anti-hillary venom was worse than anything Palin has said about Obama.

"How can they say he is an arab...I have no idea."

Perhaps because that appears to me a more accurate description of his genealogy than "african american" ?

Perhaps because his father's birth-certificate says "Arabic" on it as primary descent?

As far as I can tell, he is in fact less than 10% negro; with 50% caucasian and 40% arabic ancestry.

The alleged 'debunking' of arabic-descent on CNN, using that pic of the 'grandmother' (since repeated endlessly of course) is in reality not a 'debunking' at all....since that was his STEP grandmother....one of many.

The genealogy question is like so many others....if it's not true, why doesn't he say so -clearly-, and produce the docs....issue settled.

Perhaps it's also because instead of just producing a certified birth-certificate, Obama and the DNC came down like a ton of bricks on a democrat-voter who asked for it in court?

Perhaps it's his closeness to felon Rezko and the middle-east money?

Perhaps it's....

Oh, never mind. Denial and delusion are running rampant.....desperate will-to-believe trumps all.

ps; in fact, that lady is a minority. Most folks object to the LYING and EVASION on the subject far more than they do to whatever his ancestry actually is.

She thinks this because she's a wingnut who mindlessly swallows anything Rush Limbaugh says:

"On the September 22 broadcast of his syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh baselessly claimed that Sen. Barack Obama is “not black,” and went on to ask: “Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?” Limbaugh continued: “He’s Arab. You know, he’s from Africa. He’s from Arab parts of Africa. … [H]e’s not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American.”"

This is extremely loosely based on the fact that Obama's father is a Luo, and the Luo belong to the Nilo-Saharan language group of East-Central Africa rather than the Niger-Congo group of West and Southern Africa that most African-Americans are descended from.

While Obamas friend and political compatriot Ayers said in 2001 he doesn't regret bombing and thinks his terrorist group didn't do enough.

Obama was not EIGHT in 2001.

Obamas friend Bernadine Dohrn may have been a terrorist in the 1970s; but she is also under investigation TODAY, for 3 murders in San Francisco.

As for violent speech; here's what Obamas politcial friends Ayers and Dohrn have said:

Ayers: ""Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that's where it's really at."

Dohrn: Dohrn's reaction to the Manson killings, as conveyed by journalist Peter Collier: "Dig it. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they even shoved a fork into a victim's stomach! Wild!"

Of course they are now rehabilitated according to Obama...one wonders how long before Obama claims Osama Bin Laden is 'rehabilitated'.

""Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood""

This is true. Obamas father was not 'African American", he was African, period. He did not emigrate to the US, he came here to go to college with the intent to go back home. He never even submitted for US citizenship.

Obama is the FIRST African American in his family and indeed some of his relatives were slave owners, not slaves.

It is quite comical to see they left get angry at Republicans for supposedly ginning up hatred.

After the liberals excused Obamas political alliances with Ayers, Dohrn, Wright, Al Mansoor, Khalidi, Sharpton, etc. somehow its the right that's causing the problem by simply telling the truth about Obamas political alliances.

It is not an accident that people who align themselves with William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn end up dead.

Diana Oughton, Terry Robbins, and Theodore Gold were scattered in the rubble of the townhouse basement, as the bomb they were building at Ayers direction went off.

Ayers plan was to use the bomb at a soldiers dance at Fort Dix. They filled the bomb with roofing nails to cause as much injury to American soldiers as possible.

Funny how todays Islamic terrorists do the same thing.

Ayers, Dohrn, Khalidi, Al Mansoor, Sharpton all have one thing in common, they all believe in inflicting physical violence when they don't get their way at the ballot box.

Dohrn wasn't some innocent sideliner either, she was a mean nasty putrid murderous radical who not just hated America, she even made fun of the people she helped disable.

The Chicago attorney Richard Elrod was seriously injured in the Dohrn/Ayers provoked Weatherman riot during the Chicago "Days of Rage" in October 1969, and he was paralyzed for life as a result.
Bernadine Dohrn later led a celebration of Elrod's paralysis by leading her comrades in a parody of a Bob Dylan song -- "Lay, Elrod, Lay."

These are the types of people Obama CHOSE TO ALIGN HIMSELF WITH POLITICALLY.

If people are pissed at Obama for being political allies with such trash, they have every right to be.

Ayers told my kids to kill me, shouldn't I be a little pissed?

Ooh, that quote from Mrs. Ayers about the Tate LoBianca murders is quite something. This is the first place I have seen that brought up. That was a gruesome slaughter, Sharon Tate (Mrs Polanski) having been eight months pregnant at the time. I had no idea Mrs. Dohrn relished it so. It is completely irrelevant what Obama's age was when his friends atempted murder, and endorsed random sadistic killing, since no one says he participated. People have to ask themselves if they would be friends with, and endorse a friendship between their young children and a woman who was a fan of the Manson killings.

John McCain didn't start this firestorm, but now he has three choices: lead, follow, or get out of the way.

Our torches are lit, our pitchforks are sharp. Live Free or Die...

Please, you wingnuts defend abortion clinic bombers, Child molesting cult leaders, and doctor-murdering snipers, and people who blow up federal buildings. You've got no room to talk about shit like this.

You're making things up, kind of like a jazz riff. Who the hell defended McVeigh? Or any bombers. Did McCain go to barbecues at the McVeighs? There has been no such thing as you say -- you just wish it were so.

Who the hell defended McVeigh?

It was Rep. Helen Chenoweth who acknowledged the concerns of various paramilitary militia groups and it was the right wing who began a demagogic drumbeat of government as a mortal enemy. McVeigh was motivated in part by his view that the government was murderers for the Waco siege in which the Branch Davidians killed themselves.

Many of those same people who echoed the same rhetoric used by McVeigh are the ones calling Obama a terrorist and a Marxist. The Republican party is full of very violent, very morally broken people who aren't able to understand that the a Democrat is about to be rightfully elected president.

And what do the Republicans have? They're complaining that a Republican provided a large charity grant and appointed Obama to a governing board on which Ayers, who before last year they hadn't heard of, also happened to have served, at the behest and partnership of those same Republicans. And that's the best they can do-- while the Republicans are screaming bloody murder and engaging in "Obama is a muslim terrorist" whisper campaigns.

Maybe when Republicans finally purge their ranks of the violent, the delusional, and the ignorant, we can talk. But for now, I can see from the McCain rallies tha they cannot be reasoned with. Myfricken' business: clean up your own Republican house and purge them of the lunatics: or at least try to turn them into responsible and productive members of society: Americans are watching these McCain events and telling their children, "Don't turn out like those animals you see voting for McCain."

I dont know if anybody has mentioned this yet but the little old lady DID say Arab terrorist as all of the journalists who were there have confirmed. Here is the link to an interview that same woman did AFTER she asked the question. I think you and most of your readers will find it quit insightful

http://the-uptake.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/933/

Only served on a board together? Not just. Obama launched his Illinois career with a fundraiser at the Ayers' home. (Mrs Ayers having expressed enthusiasm for the Manson murders -- though Obama was only a kid when she said it). You claim McVeigh was INSPIRED by right wing talk to do what he did. That's a far weaker connection, and a purely speculative one on your part, than the Ayers Obama friendship. Let me ask you a question: Do you know that a copy of Al Gore's book was found in the unibomber's cabin, now residing at a museum in D.C.? Clearly the contents of that book went into unibomber's brain. But does anyone blame Gore? No -- and rightly not. The claim of inspiration for lunatics is way way too speculative. And Gore expressed views but never never said, go out and kill those who oppose my views. Nor did Limbaugh say such a thing. Q.E.D. my friend!