It was both the most memorable moment from John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign and a glimpse into the future of the Republican Party and America’s angry and divisive modern-day politics.
Played and replayed constantly since the senator’s death on Saturday at age 81, the moment seems to presage the rise of the “birther movement,” the era of “alternative facts” and the presidency of Donald Trump less than a decade later.
At a high school about 30 miles south of Minneapolis, a blond woman in a red shirt addresses McCain, who is in the final weeks of what will be his second failed run for the White House.
“I gotta ask you a question,” she says. “I do not believe in, I can’t trust Obama. I have read about him, and he’s not a .?.?. he’s an Arab.”
“No, ma’am,” McCain replies, shaking his head and taking the microphone from her. “He’s a decent family man and citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what this campaign is all about.”
In those final weeks, McCain would try to make his campaign more about the issues, upsetting a party base that accused him of not hitting harder at Barack Obama’s background or questioning his patriotism. As the campaign ended, it would become dominated by their anger, at times egged on by the pre-Trumpian populist whom McCain had chosen as his running mate, then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
—One moment from McCain’s 2008 run made clear his character and foretold Trump’s rise
McCain later said agreeing to have Palin as his running mate was the biggest mistake of his life. He wanted the campaign to be about policy differences and mutual respect, but too many of his supporters were cultural warriors who booed him when he defended Obama. As the article says, Romney lost in 2012 partly because he didn’t speak to those supporters. They had to wait for Trump in 2016.
Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind, would not be surprised. He says politics isn’t about reason, people follow their moral intuitions and use reason to support their beliefs. People vote to support their moral interests, and if you want to understand the present hatred you have to understand people’s moral beliefs.
It’s scary stuff, and one of the most depressing things I have ever read was about a study of oxytocin, the “love hormone” that in some circumstances fosters trust and generosity. There were even some suggestions that we should put it in the water supply so people would be more understanding and cooperative to one another. Oops! When they did some studies it turned out oxytocin fosters social cohesion within one’s group, but it increases hostility towards outsiders. Not quite the result they were hoping for!
Evolutionary theory says humans have taken over the earth because they’ve evolved to cooperate with their groups and to fight other groups for resources. It’s one explanation for what is going on.
Haidt isn’t completely hopeless. He believes we have to understand human nature, how we evolved, before we can transcend it. He and some of his colleagues have even created a website, Civil Politics, to try to foster mutual understanding. Good for them — I wish them luck. At least they’re trying.
I read the link of Haidt’s book ‘The Righteous Mind’ and it was good.
I tend to get caught up in the current age and all its angst and incivility.
when in actuality it never has been civil! it seems to me we’ve always been a heartbeat away from Mob Rule and the inner hatred of anything ‘not known’ by those who embrace it. it’s definitely an interesting sociological study from Haidt’s standpoint. it’s just so hard on each generation to have to live through it! it’s horrible!
maybe the only remedy truly is Bertrand Russell’s quote about happiness!
Yes, I agree with Russell — no sense whitewashing things. Don’t forget that Aurelius and the Stoics didn’t come up with their philosophy because life was going so smoothly in their times. And don’t forget that Plato hated the democrats because they sentenced Socrates to death and that our founding fathers set up our government as a republic to avoid the mob rule of a democracy.
Each of us can be different from the members of the herd. But, in democracy as it works nowadays, we will get people into power who will get elected by the people with the largest common denominator. Sometimes, it is difficult to be in the minority.
He was a different Republican.
Apparently a lot of Republicans are vilifying McCain: Republicans’ anger at McCain speaks volumes about America’s tribal politics.
Thanks for this, Monk. It helps to bring some understanding into the political issues facing us today. People have always surrounded themselves with those that share their moral ground—but recently this has evolved into tribalism, as you can see in any one of Trump’s rallies.
Yes, and that’s why your post about finding your tribe made me nervous! It’s a loaded word for me.