On 23 October 2008, the New Statesman published a letter by Arab Media Watch adviser Chris Doyle entitled "McCain slips."

One of the saddest features of this US election in the past few weeks has been the increasingly hostile rhetoric of the Republican campaign (Cover story, 20 October). Barack Obama has been falsely smeared as a Muslim and an Arab - as if this might be a bad thing.

Nothing highlighted John McCain's complicity in this more than his reaction to one of his own supporters at a recent rally. When a woman said: "He's a . . . he's an Arab. He's not . . . ?", McCain replied, "No, ma'am. He's a decent family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that's what this campaign's all about. He's not. Thank you."

McCain failed to challenge the speaker's racist comments, thus missing an opportunity to put an end to the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim atmosphere that has gained respectability. There was little public outcry. McCain left the impression that if Obama had been an Arab, that would have been a problem. His response also implied that Arabs can be neither decent family people nor proper American citizens. One wonders whether he would have reacted any differently if the woman had said, "But he's black!"

Chris Doyle