McCain Manages To Defend Remarks?

The McCain campaign is defending members of its base yelling "traitor" and "kill him" about Obama at their rallies. McCain senior adviser Nicolle Wallace says:

Barack Obama's assault on our supporters is insulting and unsurprising. These are the same people obama called 'bitter' and attacked for 'clinging to guns' and faith. He fails to understand that people are angry at corrupt practices in Washington and Wall Street and he fails to understand that America's working families are not 'clinging' to anything other than the sincere hope that Washington will be reformed from top to bottom.

Barack Obama's assault? This is what he said: "It's easy to rile up a crowd," Obama said. "Nothing's easier than riling up a crowd by stoking anger and division. But that's not what we need right now in the United States."

Yes, that's quite the assault. Perhaps Nicolle needs a refresher on the definition of "assault." From dictionary.com, the first two definitions:

1. a sudden, violent attack; onslaught: an assault on tradition.
2. Law. an unlawful physical attack upon another; an attempt or offer to do violence to another, with or without battery, as by holding a stone or club in a threatening manner.

There is nothing violent, unlawful, or physical about what Obama said. And he didn't target McCain's supporters, but rather McCain's tactics. "It's easy to rile up a crowd" is a response to McCain and Palin working their crowds into a frenzy. He makes no verbal assaults on the supporters or their integrity.

Now, obviously, when Nicolle says "clinging to guns", she is referring to remarks Obama made in April. Here is the full paragraph, in context:

You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

So, in context, Obama's "assault" actually is saying the same thing that Nicolle's press release said. So, her statement a) confuses the definition of assault and b) goes on to affirm what Obama was saying in the speech she quotes out of context. Perhaps Nicolle should pay more attention to what she puts out in her name.

There is nothing funny about calling for the assassination of a presidential candidate. There's nothing humorous about using racial attacks as a way to demonize an opponent. Change will not come from perpetuating ignorance. It's irresponsible and dishonest. It's a desperate attempt to reignite a campaign that is rapidly taking on water.