McCain's 'Lakeville moment' became his defining legacy

John McCain lived a life overcrowded with great and terrible moments. But the one that got replayed over and over on the news after his death was the “Lakeville moment.” It was the moment McCain shut down one of his own supporters after she called Barack Obama — the rival who was pulling ahead of him in the 2008 presidential polls — an untrustworthy “Arab.”

“He’s a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues,” McCain says in the 10-year-old footage, taking the microphone and turning to address the rest of the crowd in the Lakeville South High School auditorium. “That’s what this campaign is all about.”

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Ben Zierke, working for the Minnesota McCain campaign that year, was standing at the back of the room when he saw a little old lady in a bright red shirt make a break down the aisle in front of him and head toward the candidate. Everyone in the room that day got there by sweat equity — volunteering for the campaign in exchange for a ticket to the town hall. Those who got a nod from the candidate got a chance to ask him a question. The woman Zierke spotted hadn’t gotten a nod, but she made her way to the microphone anyway. She was 75-year-old Gayle Quinnell of Shakopee.

Quinnell, now 85, has spent the past few days hanging up on reporters from the Washington Post and the Star Tribune.

“I don’t want to talk about that,” she said Monday before slamming the phone down.

Ten years ago in Lakeville, she wasn’t persuaded either.

“You can’t trust Barack Hussein Obama,” she told reporters after the rally, “because he is a Muslim and a terrorist.”

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“I want to be president of the United States and I don’t want Senator Obama to be,” McCain said. “But I have to tell you, he is a decent person, and a person you do not have to be scared [to have] as president of the United States.”

The crowd booed.

http://www.startribune.com/mccain-s-lakeville-moment-became-his-defining-legacy/491850921/