John McCain and Sarah Palin have spent the last couple days talking about the issues they think will win the election. They think they will win the election if they talk about Rev. Wright, Barack Obama’s former Pastor, who he has denounced. The aim there is to make Barack Obama seem like a radical black man. They also think discussing a man Barack Obama has worked with in an enterprise designed to help schools is a winning issue. So they’re painting Barack Obama as the firend of Willaim Ayers, despite the facts researched by several news organizations such as Time magazine, the New York Times, and the Chicago Sun-Times. Again, they are trying to make Barack Obama look scary and radical. They’ve got the pet Republican TV station FauxNews going right along with the program with this show that ran Sunday.

As we’ve noted here, John McCain’s campaign has decided that discussing the economy is a losing issue for them. Where McCain once swore he wouldn’t run a negative campaign, now that’s the only kind of campaign he is running. Like a small child, the McCain campaign looks at issues and closes its eyes, puts fingers in ears, and sings loudly, “Lalalalala!” That was their solution to the economic crisis yesterday, when the stock market rallied to close down a mere 370 points. Of course, the McCain campaign isn’t discussing Russia, Iraq, healthcare, or any other issues Americans care about, either. They are fixated on the smear. Meanwhile, Americans aren’t just losing their life savings. Americans are dying.

It has been said that financial issues are some of the hardest issues in a marriage. Certainly financial issues cause stress, and there are many articles I could cite out there showing the stress average people in this nation are under. This USA Today article notes the mental dangers of this economic crisis John McCain can’t deem to address:

The escalating pace of foreclosures and rising fears among some homeowners about keeping up with their mortgages are creating a range of emotional problems, mental health specialists say. Those include anxiety disorders, depression and addictive behaviors such as alcoholism and gambling. And, in a few cases, suicide.

Crisis hotlines are reporting a surge in calls from frantic homeowners. The American Psychological Association (APA) and other mental-health groups are publishing tips on how to handle the emotional stress triggered by the real estate meltdown. Psychologists say they’re seeing more drinking, domestic violence and marital problems linked to mortgage concerns — as well as children trying to cope with extreme anxiety when their families are forced to move.

“They’re depressed, anxious. It’s affected marriages, relationships,” says Richard Chaifetz, CEO of ComPsych, a Chicago-based employee-assistance firm that is counseling homeowners over mortgage fears. “People tend to catastrophize, and that leads to depression. Suicide rates go up. We see an increase in drinking, outbursts at work, violence toward kids. Before, their houses were like ATMs,” as they rose in value. “Now, they feel trapped like a rat in a corner.”

This is no small issue, though the Republicans make us want to think it is. Raymond Donacas and his wife, of Oregon, killed themselves over a mortgage foreclosure. In Los Angeles just yesterday Karthik Rajaram killed his family and himself. He’d lost his job and evidently saw no way out of a national financial crisis turned personal. Karthik Rajaram, dead. His wife, dead. His 19 year old son, dead. His 12 year old son, shot dead while sleeping. His 7 year old son, dead. Here’s a bvit of this very sad story, from the Los Angeles Times:

“This is a perfect American family behind me that has absolutely been destroyed, apparently because of a man who just got stuck in a rabbit hole, if you will, of absolute despair, somehow working his way into believing this to be an acceptable exit,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore. “It is critical to step up and recognize we are in some pretty troubled times.”

In a letter addressed to police, Rajaram blamed his actions on economic hardships. A second letter, labeled “personal and confidential,” was addressed to family friends; the third contained a last will and testament, Moore said.

The letter to police voiced two options: taking his own life, or killing himself and his entire family. “He talked himself into the second strategy,” Moore said. “That that would be the honorable thing to do.”

Authorities believe Rajaram killed his family and himself after seeing his finances wiped out by the stock market collapse, according to a source familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

John McCain is not at fault for the deaths of Karthik Rajaram and his family. Karthik Rajaram is at fault. Wise people, though, look to motive, look to why a man was so upset as to kill his own family. There is no other reason but the economy, and Karthik Rajaramis not the only family man or woman who is feeling the pressures of this economy. John McCain won’t talk about it though.

John McCain would rather put his campaign first than to put the country first and talk about the economy. John McCain, the man formerly known as the “straight talker,” has learned that real straight talk on tough subjects only loses him votes. Now he’s got a choice, because voters are going to get angrier and angrier about the economy between now and November 4, and with Barack Obama looking Presidential, discussing the economy in quiet and somber tones, even on a day when McCain’s people attack him, it is pretty clear who the voters are going to flock to.

John McCain doesn’t care about Americans. He only cares about winning. To that end, he is a typical Republican.