Dick Vander Woude: McCain backer's e-mail shows lack of integrity

Dick Vander Woude  —  6/12/2008 5:07 am

Dear Editor:

A new ugly e-mail, meant to demean Barack Obama, arrived uninvited in my inbox. The writer tells a touching story about Sen. John McCain and his son, a Marine, about to leave for service in Iraq. The story speaks of the senator's character. What the e-mail fails to say is how this story qualifies McCain to be president. Instead, the writer of this much-forwarded e-mail uses the story to launch an attack on Barack Obama:

"This is for all you potential Barack voters.

"From Barack's book, "Audacity of Hope": 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'

"Obama did not say that he would stand with Americans!"

The implications were too disturbing to be true. Here is the passage that contains the above quote:

"Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War ll, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

In context, Obama's statement is an expression of concern for all citizens. Unfortunately for McCain, the lack of integrity demonstrated by the writer of the e-mail, as well as all who forwarded it unquestioningly, causes the rest of us to question the character of a person who attracts this kind of support.

Dick Vander Woude

Verona

Dick Vander Woude  —  6/12/2008 5:07 am