Elimi(hate)

On Halloween, trick or treaters dressed up in their scariest garb trying to heighten fear in those poor souls distributing candy at doorsteps.  In southern New Mexico, a six foot plus African-American presidential candidate has elicited a certain fear in at least one high-ranking GOP official in Alamagordo.  Seems like Marcia Stirman who heads the Republican Women of Otero County is in a little hot water for calling Sen. Barack Obama a "Muslim Socialist" in a letter to the editor published in the Alamagordo Daily News.  Not deep enough, Stirman takes a few more digs by saying: "I believe Muslims are our enemy."  Even more troubling is the fact that Stirman goes on to say that she has received about 700 calls in response to her letter and that three fourths of them have been "positive."  Guess what, now I'm really scared!

These are the same racial tactics I discussed in a previous post.  Once again, ignorance is alive and well and fear mongering is at the heart of a pathetic GOP strategy.   And guess what, the uninformed electorate takes the bait hook, line and sinker.  I had a conservative Christian recently tell me:  "I would never vote for that Muslim Obama."  I tried to set the record straight on Obama's spirituality and this individual was completely uninterested--not even trying to hear a word I was saying.  You wanna know why?  Because they feel empowered to vilify those that are different from themselves.  It's like trying to tell a 5 year old child that there is no Santa Claus.  Everything they have been told to this point is now in question and it feels unsafe.  Even worse, they don't see themselves as guilty of discrimination without any basis or facts. Ask these same individuals to give you the basic tenets of either the Muslim faith or socialism for that matter and you'll get the same exact blank look.

We must take hate out of the debate.  We must ELIMI(HATE)