This is a Netroots Nation success story. I met Irwin Tang, the author of Gook: McCain's Racism and Why It Matters, at the Netroots Nation Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus. I'd heard of McCain's use of the word "Gook" before, but even as a half-Chinese person myself, I'd dismissed it as understandable. I mean, he'd been tortured by the North Vietnamese, right? He had a right to be angry, or so I thought.
"Gook" is just the beginning of McCain's racism. As Irwin pointed out, it goes much deeper, to the point of being White supremacist racist. I found myself piping up and said, "This needs to be a film and I want to work on it!"
So, this is the first installment! Irwin has said that it never fails to cause a visceral reaction when he speaks about "Gook" to people of color. I'm think that while people of color who are McCain supporters might not switch because of this, those who were thinking of not voting may be motivated to do so.
The other issue is the traditional media's coverup of McCain's use of "Gook". During the 2000 presidential campaign, he was still using the slur, and this is when the media told him to stop. That means it's very likely that there's video or audio footage of him using the word. Irwin contacted Roger Simon, who was reporting on McCain's 2000 candidacy and got no response. It's time for the media to cough up what they have on McCain! If there's no video or audio, they need to speak up themselves and report the truth.