I was having dinner in Greenwich Village this evening and saw a thirtysomething guy with an Obama button--and a "Viva Chavez" T-shirt praising "Bolivarian Revolution." I asked him if the Chavez he was endorsing was Hugo (as opposed to Cesar, Linda, etc.) He said yes, so I asked him: "Are we going to have a Bolivarian Revolution here in America next month?" He said sadly, "Obama says all kinds of bad things about Hugo Chavez"--here he perked up--"but you never know!" I'm not being McCarthyite in recounting this (definitely not Joe, not even Andy)--I'm just pointing out that while every racist or other kook who backs McCain is going to be treated as a symptom of a horrendous and endemic Republican pathology, the other side has its share of extremists too...But it's telling that Potemra felt the need to specify "I'm not being McCarthyite." It's sort of a tacit acknowledgement that others in the Republican party are, in fact, being McCarthyite. Coming from NRO's Corner, that's about as strong of an "admission" of such wrongdoing as you're going to get...no mention of Bachmann's latest 7 minutes of fame yet, when it's huge news.
With regard to his point: This kind of supporter extremism is quite different from candidates and their surrogates underhandedly painting their opponent as an Islamist in the minds of your low information supporters who proceed to yell things like "terrorist" or "kill him!" at rallies.
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