McCain: Arab or family man. But not both.

The most notorious moment of the McCain campaign this month comes from a McCain rally, as he has to correct a supporter:



Supporter/ Bigot: I can't trust Obama. He's a...he's a Arab.
(McCain takes mic away from her.)
McCain: No ma'am. No ma'am. He's a...he's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with.

So McCain is going through the motions of denying the lies he helped spread. And the media is giving him plaudits for the equivalent of giving up on beating his wife. True, though, that at a time when the line between Palin rally and lynch mob keeps narrowing, this is probably a good thing. But what isn't a good thing is McCain's reaction.

McCain doesn't tell the lady that no, Obama isn't an Arab but an American with African and European heritage. He doesn't tell her that Obama can't be an Arab because McCain knows his background. The way that McCain can tell Obama isn't an Arab, apparently, is that Obama is a "decent family man".

To McCain, Obama can't be an Arab because he's a decent family man. And apparently, McCain can assure us, Arab-Americans -- the 3.5 million in this country -- simply aren't decent family people. I guess McCain saw how Obama loves his kids, loves his wife, and tries to do the right thing, and thought "there's no way somebody like that is an Arab." How sad that this represent progress for McCain and his supporters.