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Desperate Republicans are sinking to new lows

October 21, 2008|By THOMAS F. SCHALLER

In September alone, more than 632,000 new donors helped the Obama campaign raise a mind-boggling $150 million. Until this year, no American presidential campaign had ever attracted 1 million unique donors; Mr. Obama has 3.1 million donors.

And here is what real Americans are not doing: making angry outbursts at campaign rallies.

Moments after he endorsed Mr. Obama during his Sunday morning Meet the Press appearance, Colin L. Powell, the former Republican defense secretary and secretary of state, was asked to comment on the comportment of the McCain campaign. Mr. Powell mentioned the serious problems America faces, including two wars abroad and economic stresses at home. "Those are the problems the American people wanted to hear about - not about Mr. Ayers, not about who is a Muslim and who is not a Muslim," he said.

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The race-based fear-mongering and incitement of culture-war definitions as to who is and isn't a "real American" are not just appalling, they're backfiring. The Republicans have reached the bottom of the barrel, and it's not a pleasant place.

Thomas F. Schaller teaches political science at UMBC. His column appears regularly in The Sun. His e-mail is schaller67@gmail.com.

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