I think
this is very telling of the state of the race and should give Republicans a lot of hope that Team McCain can sustain this kind of momentum going in to November. Rasmussen reports that an overwhelming percentage of the American people think that the Celebrity ad was not racist, but that is not the really big news. They also report that Obama's "dollar bill' response was racist.
Sixty-nine percent (69%) of the nation’s voters say they’ve seen news coverage of the McCain campaign commercial that includes images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and suggests that Barack Obama is a celebrity just like them. Of those, just 22% say the ad was racist while 63% say it was not.
However, Obama’s comment that his Republican opponent will try to scare people because Obama does not look like all the other presidents on dollar bills was seen as racist by 53%. Thirty-eight percent (38%) disagree.
It also seems clear that Team Obama realized that they made a gaffe because they seem to be backing off the racist rhetoric instead going with the approach that Team McCain is "cynical." Will Obama's followers do the same? Or will they stick with the tired language that belittles true racism? The answer to those questions just might determine who captures the political center that is so vital in American politics these days...
Unaffiliated voters, by a five-to-one margin, said the McCain ad was not racist. By a much narrower 50% to 38% margin, unaffiliateds viewed Obama’s comment as racist.
