Nixonland Is Alive And Well

This is just getting uglier and uglier. When Fox News has to admit that McCain rallies are taking on the character of a Mississippi lynch mob, you know something's wrong.

You’ll hear the booing behind me. In recent days, when Barack Obama’s name has been mentioned, it has gone from boos and hissing to actual chants and calls of traitor, criminal, and even terrorist.

The McCain campaign says they don’t condone it, they don’t want to see it happen, but it’s happening more and more every day.

They don't condone it, they just stoke it like a camper poking at a fire.

Today, the phrase "off with his head" made a cameo. And then there's the inevitable by-product of the incitement and hate:

After a week of McCain supporters being incited to shout "kill him!" and "terrorist!" and "treason!", a man in Louisiana was arrested for threatening to kill election officials. The Smoking Gun has his arrest report and mug shots. It seems his voter registration card was delayed, and he was insistent that he would bring his shotgun to their office and kill them if they didn't hurry up because he needed to "keep the n*gger out of office."

We're entering a dangerous time and the McCain campaign will have some measure of responsibility for this, though they won't take it. And America will have a "hoses in Montgomery" moment when forced to reckon with this.