McCain is being attacked in some corners over this exchange:
"I have read about him and he's not…he's not…he's a…um He's an Arab. He's not..."This is clearly not a response to the woman's words, but to her subtext, and to the larger set of attacks coming from some of McCain's supporters at public events. In calling Obama a "decent family man", he's not saying that Arabs cannot be "decent family men".
"No ma'am. No ma'am."
"No?"
"No ma'am, no ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."
Does anybody believe he was saying that non-citizens can't be decent family men? Or that Arabs can't be citizens?
This was an off-the-cuff remark. Banter. You can fault him for not trying to shut down some of the anti-Obama rhetoric earlier if you wish, or for not going far enough in his response, but I see no evidence at all that this was an insult directed toward Arabs or Americans of Arab descent.
I think there was no correct response to that. He had two seconds to think of an answer to give before she started talking again and he did the best he could. Incidentally, she is allegedly going around her hometown telling people not to vote for Obama:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.eurweb.com/story/eur47763.cfm
And here's a video of the original:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpE6ljPjSAk