This is why John McCain‘s fear mongering campaign is bad. Every time Sarah Palin talks about Barack Obama “palling around with terrorists,” it lends credence to the absurd idea that he’s a terrorist. Every time a campaign surrogate shouts Obama’s middle name, it allows his supporters to justify hating him by saying, “Just look at his name.” And every time McCain spends a speech or a rally or a town hall meeting talking about tenuous character issues, it makes it okay to base your vote on a e-mail your uncle forwarded you, rather than, you know, things that actually matter.

But the people of Strongsville, Ohio, featured in this clip take this sad and disturbing story to a whole new level.