For the past week many of us have been horrified at the new tactics of the McCain campaign that have transformed the political events into a series of KuKluxKlan rallies.  New York Times columnist Frank Rich has a terrifice piece on this campaign ugliness in today’s edition: The Terrorist Barack Obama:

Until now. At McCain-Palin rallies, the raucous and insistent cries of “Treason!” and “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!” and “Off with his head!” as well as the uninhibited slinging of racial epithets,
are actually something new in a campaign that has seen almost every
conceivable twist. They are alarms. Doing nothing is not an option…..What makes them different, and what has pumped up the Weimar-like rage
at McCain-Palin rallies, is the violent escalation in rhetoric,
especially (though not exclusively) by Palin. Obama “launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist.” He is “palling around with terrorists”
(note the plural noun). Obama is “not a man who sees America the way
you and I see America.” Wielding a wildly out-of-context Obama quote,
Palin slurs him as an enemy of American troops.

Rich’s reference to Weimar-like rage is indeed chilling.  Last week I wrote about how the US was on the brink of economic ruin and hyper-inflation reminiscent of the early years of the Weimar Republic, when the German middle class was wiped out. The consequences in Germany were dire, and the financial crisis was blamed on "the Jews".

In his book The Pity of It All (Deutsche Ausgabe: Zu einer anderen Zeit) the historian Amos Elon writes about the tireless efforts of Germany’s foreign minister – Walter Rathenau – to deal with Germany’s economic crisis which was precipated, in part, by the onerous terms of the Versailles Treaty.  Rathenau, a Jew, was assassinated on the streets of Berlin on June 24, 1922.  Elon writes:

Public agitation against Rathenau had increased since he had become foreign minister in February.  The venerated General Erich Ludendorff, who…was active in extreme right-wing splinter groups, had sealed Rathenau’s fate by insinuating that "the Jewish prince" had sabotaged the war effort.  The nationalist-conservative deputy Karl Helffrich had joined the attack on him in the Reichstag while, outside, rioters yelled in chorus:

Knallt ab den Walther Rathenau, Die gottverdammte Judensau!

(Kill off Walther Rathenau / The greedy goddamn Jewish sow!)

The murder, the 354th political assissination committed by right-wing extremists, shook the republic.

The McCain campaign has been saturating the air waves with political ads insinuating that Barack Obama is a terrorist sympathizer – if not a terrorist himself.  Is it any wonder that the crowds attending the Palin rallies shout "Kill him!" and "Treason"?  Will it come as surprise if some "patriot" assassinates Barack Obama "for the good of the nation"? There are plenty of "patriots" willing to carry out political murder.