The story of the McCain worker who faked an assault and blamed it on an imaginary Obama supporter sheds a queasy light on the thinking at the top of the right’s most important media outlet. John Moody, the executive vice president responsible for the editorial direction of Fox News Channel, had this to say (on a Fox News blog) about the assault claim before it was exposed as a hoax:
If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee.
If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.
Voters would “suddenly feel they do not know enough the Democratic nominee”? What is the chain of thought there? Voters would realize they didn’t know whether Obama encourages his supporters to commit assault?
One might think that what Moody meant is that the story, if true, would have made some voters realize that they weren’t sure whether or not Obama was a scary black man. But he specified that these voters would be revisiting their support for Obama “not because they are racists.” So that can’t be it.
