From Rusel DeMaria

Original post from HuffingtonPost 10/9/08:

McCain and Palin are poisoning the well (an old tactic used in warfare when you were leaving a territory or forced out. You poisoned the well so that your enemy could not use it.) They are inciting hatred and possibly violence, possibly as another desperate strategy to charge up their "base," and possibly simply as a scorched earth policy. But whatever they are doing, we are going to be the losers.

We live in a fractured society with diverse views and beliefs. In fact, the United States has never been free of prejudice and conflict in its entire history. Great strides have been made. We've freed the slaves and enfranchised women. We've fought for civil rights and emerged as a beacon of hope and equality in the world. But we have never entirely eliminated our divisions, nor, perhaps should we - as long as we can carry our different views together for the betterment of all.

But despite all the gains we have made over more than two centuries, people like McCain and Palin, and their predecessors, Gingrich, Norquist, Reed, Cheney, Bush and others, seek to accentuate and inflame our divisions and set us against each other. Our nation today is more deeply divided, more deeply partisan, and more critically weakened than it was eight years ago. And now we have people stirring the pot for nothing more than political gain. Country first? Give me a break.

I recommend the rest of the posting as well.