This won't be a long diary. I just had to stop and give well-deserved kudos to Keith Olbermann for his understated but brutally effective campaign comment tonight about Ashley Todd's false claim of an attack by a "big black Obama supporter," the eagerness with which her claim was seized upon by some, and the silence from the McCain campaign in response to the information that it was all a hoax.
Keith was quietly strong in his Campaign Comment tonight. No yelling, no sarcasm, no seething anger. Just a forceful, sincere and somewhat sad plea for McCain to stand up and denounce the kind of heinous race-bating that is happening his name.
Keith first quoted Fox News' John Moody's response to the initial allegation:
Part of the appeal of, and the unspoken tension behind, Senator Obama’s campaign is his transformational status as the first African-American to win a major party’s presidential nomination.
That does not mean that he has erased the mutual distrust between black and white Americans, and this incident could become a watershed event in the 11 days before the election.
If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee.
And then went on to say:
Moody wrote that. It wouldn't be racism to suddenly blame Barack Obama for an attack on a white woman by a black man intending to punish her for not supporting another black man. It would instead by a watershed moment "because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee." It's only connection would be racial. But the response would not be racism.
The tinderbox again, and a very large match provided by John Moody.
[snip]
He knew what he was writing. A rationalization for racism.
That Moody should be fired goes without saying. If not fired that he should resign in shame is also obvious. Neither will happen because there is no one with sufficient authority to reproach him. And the others, who but for Ashley's inability to maintain her inner hoaxster for more than two days would have solemly, grimly, and some secretly, happily set this campaing on its ear and knocked this nation's tenuous grip on the relationship between the races off its axis. Because there was nobody to say, "No. Don't."
This is where you come in, Senator McCain. No histrionics from me to you this time. No yelling. Just a plea. Say something about this. Now. Say something strongly and succinctly about the unacceptability of what happened, and how some of your supporters tried to exploit it.
I am not asking you to assume the responsibility for this. No matter how your campaign pushed this story, I have no doubt that in the mirror image scenario many of Senator Obama's supporters would have done the same. But I also have no doubt that by this point in that mirror image scenario, Senator Obama would have said something to try to stop the next Ashley Todd, or the next John Moody.
Senator, of all the things I don't like about you or your campaign, I have never thought you a racist. As imperfect as was your moment with that Minnesota woman mumbling about Arabs, I thought it was the finest moment of your campaign. I believe that you feel as I do, that racial prejudice and hatred have no place in this campaign, nor in this country. I believe that you feel as I do, as Clarence Darrow said in a different time and a different context, "I am pleading for the future. I am pleading for a time when hatred and cruelty will not control the hearts of men. When we can learn by reason and judgment and understanding and faith."
Sometimes, Senator McCain, it is as if we are almost there. And then some unthinking act like the one by that Ashley Todd throws us back against the rocks and we barely escape with our ship intact. In that time of foundering, Senator McCain, far too few of us have a chance to personally right the ship. To heal instead of to stand idly by. To make a difference in this oldest and most wearying of our struggles as a nation. This chance, sir, is yours. Say something. Or better yet, say something with Senator Obama, about race, how we live with one another, and how we can. Let this last week of the campaign be remembered, no matter how it turns out next Tuesday, as something other than the time Ashley Todd lied, and the John Moodies threatened, and you said nothing.
Senator McCain, once again, grab the microphone.
Bravo, Keith.
This was a truly effective comment and proof that sometimes (most of the time) less is more.
One of the best comments I've heard from you in months.
updated: Video added (thanks NCDem Amy)