I must say that I have been particularly dismayed in recent days over the continued disintegration of the presidential race. Although Obama cannot claim total innocence, McCain’s 100 percent spending ratio on negative ads and his continued stirring of hate and anger both contribute to the loss of his honor.

I should make one point: I used to support John McCain. I used to be a Republican. John McCain isn’t entirely wrong — at one time, he was a maverick. At one time, he reached across party lines and supported positions that were both typically conservative and liberal. That time has come and gone. In his apparently attempt to correct the “mistakes” of 2000, where McCain could not get enough support to win the Republican base, he has changed into the very thing that he used to complain about.

It was John McCain himself in 2000 that said, “Sooner or later people are going to figure out that if all you run is negative attack ads you don’t have much of a vision for the future, or you’re not ready to articulate it.”

Enter 2008, stage right. John McCain’s campaign is now running 100 percent negative advertisements. McCain is losing and has nothing to run on, therefore he must paint Obama as someone to run from. The worst part is that we are not just talking about your garden-variety negative attacks. We are now down to the lowest common denominator of attacks — personal attacks and truth-stretches, at best. Add into the mix that supporters of McCain-Palin are getting more and more “mob-like” at each rally, and we’ve got an issue on our hands.

At one rally, Gov. Palin asks the crowd, “Who is Barack Obama?” to which we hear, “A terrorist!” yelled in response. At another rally we hear the association between Obama and once-terrorist William Ayers mentioned and the response is, “Kill him!” At yet another rally we hear, “Treason!” and at another, “Off with his head!”

Verbal attacks against the media have even caused racial epithets to be spewed at darker-skinned media personnel. One of the saddest parts of this story is that there is no clear message from the McCain campaign denouncing these comments. This has reached the tipping point of disgusting, and has, at a minimum, crossed the line.

A great philosopher and civil rights advocate once said, “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. was right. We do not have a great chance of changing the bad people, but we are no better than them when we don’t stand up to them. By standing silent and basking in the hate and near-riot mentality of your supporters, you are part of the problem.

There is nothing “country first” about getting people angry towards another person to a level which instills near violence. You are creating the atmosphere that churns hate. You are allowing it to be suddenly out in the open and under the guise of political discourse. You are giving it a safe climate to exist and grow — and you will also be held responsible for its consequences.

W. Scott Lincoln

Graduate Student

Geological and Atmospheric Sciences