Scary

This video is from a McCain rally yesterday in Wisconson (or possibly Minnisota, can't remember which). Go to roughly the 1:20 mark. McCain and a support have the following exchange:

Supporter: I gotta ask you a question. I do not believe in, I can't trust Obama.
McCain: I get that.
Supporter: I have read about him, and he's not, he's not...he's an Arab!
*crowd starts to laugh in the background*
McCain: No.
Supporter: He's not?
McCain: No, ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about. He's not.

While I respect the fact that he did correct this woman, and quickly took away the microphone so she couldn't spew more ignorance, I find a few things interesting about this exchange:

1) Throughout this whole election cycle, the McCain campaign has repeatedly used Barack's middle name, Hussain, to prove that he isn't like you (the general corn-fed John Smiths of the country). He has even let his VP pick, Palin, all but call him a terrorist. Now, he's going to take issue with one of his supporters when they have listened to and believed all the messages his campaign has given them? Sorry McCain, you can't be the good cop and the bad cop at the same time!

2) What I gather from this exchange is that if you are an Arab, then you can't be a decent family man or even a decent citizen. I realize this wasn't a scripted event, that he had to think on his toes and immediately respond to this woman with the first thing that came to mind. Couldn't he have at least said that even if Barack was an Arab, that doesn't mean he's a terrorist? I mean, just because you're an Arab doesn't mean you're a terrorist, and just because you're a terrorist doesn't mean you're and Arab.

I think we can thank George Bush for supplying this lady with the following equation: Arab=Terrorist, Terrorist=Arab. Thanks, Shrub!