Kill, Baby, Kill!

A restless feeling has set in at McCain/Palin rallies this past week. The numbers continue to look bleak for the Republican candidate, and the fans are getting anxious. To hear them tell it, this hockey game hasn't had nearly enough rough stuff, and they're letting the home team know about it. Here's Politico:

The unmistakable momentum behind Barack Obama's campaign, combined with worry that John McCain is not doing enough to stop it, is ratcheting up fears and frustrations among conservatives.

And nowhere is this emotion on plainer display than at Republican rallies, where voters this week have shouted out insults at the mention of Obama, pleaded with McCain to get more aggressive with the Democrat and generally demonstrated the sort of visceral anger and unease that reflects a party on the precipice of panic.

If the blood lust seems alien, if not downright terrifying, to many Americans (including a good many Republicans), to the rabid faithful it is not seen as a symptom of what has proven a frustrating campaign, rather, this rage against the machine represents the solution to it. So, with ever-increasing decibel levels, these pep rallies have been about catharsis. They are, like in George Orwell's 1984, an alloted space to vent hatred of all things Obama. Thus we are seeing taunting and jeering on a scale that just weeks ago would have seemed unthinkable.

Today's Wall Street Journal details a debate inside the McCain camp about the ultimate merits of the negative strategy:

Some McCain campaign officials are becoming concerned about the hostility that attacks against Sen. Obama are whipping up among Republican supporters. During an internal conference call Thursday, campaign officials discussed how the tenor of the crowds has turned on the media and on Sen. Obama.

But it may be too late to stuff this genie back into the bottle. The GOP mantra, "Drill, Baby, Drill!" has now been replaced with "Kill, Baby, Kill!" Policy positions have taken a backseat to anger. Philosophical disagreement has given way to the view that Senator Obama is himself a terrorist. One wonders how John McCain and his supporters will be kept from charging Obama the next time the two men share the same stage.

Yesterday, Obama didn't do anything to tamp down on this fury, when he wondered aloud why McCain hadn't offered his toughest rhetoric "to my face," when he had the chance. While his point is taken, that's not the solution, either. Obama should endeavor to stay above the mob mentality. Releasing a bit of pent up aggression may feel good the moment you uncork it, but it tends to leave you with one hell of a hangover afterward.