The Democratic presidential front-runner and his campaign reacted strongly this week when a photo of him in Kenyan tribal garb began spreading on the Internet. And the praise he received Sunday from Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the black Muslim group Nation of Islam, prompted pointed questions during Tuesday night’s presidential debate and in a private meeting over the weekend with Jewish leaders in Cleveland, Ohio.During the debate, Obama repeated his denunciation of Farrakhan’s views, which have included numerous anti-Semitic comments. And, after being pressed, he rejected Farrakhan’s support in the presidential race.The Democratic candidate says repeatedly that he is a Christian who took the oath of office on a family Bible. Yet on the Internet and on talk radio, and in a campaign introduction for Republican candidate John McCain this week, he often is depicted, falsely, as a Muslim with shadowy ties and his middle name, Hussein, is emphasized.”If anyone is still puzzled about the facts, in fact I have never been a Muslim,” he told the Jewish leaders in Cleveland, according to a transcript of the private session.
Now here’s a news flash: I am not fond of Islam. In fact, I think it’s barbaric and primitive, but not that much more so than other mythologies. But this is a witch hunt, and it’s wrong. It’s straight out of McCarthyism.If this statement were about him having to deny Atheism over and over, I’d be furious. This would not be good for the gander, so this goose is wrong. The BS that some bigots are circulating is wrong, and the fact that he has to deny it is wrong. This should not be an issue, and we as a nation are allowing it to become one (instead of that “war thingie”).
That ?war thingie? is being conducted against Islamic Extremists which is why people are so interested in BHO’s belief system. The fact that the question is being asked is relevant in the minds of many people. The fact that BHO has not come out in front of the media to state that he is not Muslim, and has no ties to Muslim interests is fuel being added to this fire. A simple statement by him would take the fuel away and it would die as an issue.
True there would be people who wouldn’t believe him no matter what he says but in the minds of most, a direct statement by him would be enough. The fact that he will not make this kind of public statement would seem to indicate that he has something to hide, that he holds the American Public in Contempt, or that he is just plain out of touch with the people he hopes to lead. Even if he feels he shouldn?t have to make these statements, he should just do it to let the issue rest.
Ken345aa,
What alternative universe are you inhabiting? Obama has stated numerous times that he is a Christian, has attended the same church for 20 years, and that he prays to Jesus (every night!). WTF else is he supposed to do?
It’s disgusting that candidates have to waste their time on this sort of nonsense in order to get elected. Personally, I find it discouraging that all of the presidential candidates have imaginary friends, but wouldn’t it be refreshing if they could all just keep that information to themselves? It’s idiots like you that make that impossible.
Tarma,
Thank you for saving me the effort. I was going to ask what F’ing Rock he was hiding under, but other than that, our responses could have been verbatim.
Tarma, The simple words “I am not a Muslim, and I have never been a Muslim.” or “I am not a Muslim and have no ties to Muslim interests.” would also work.
This is not for me but for the people that it is an issue to.
A way you might understand is this. Saying “I am an Atheist.” is not the same as saying “I have never been Christian.” or some other religion of choice. It gives a sense of history and shows where a persons belief system came from. People just want to hear him say it on the record in public and then it’s end of story. It would take all of 20 seconds or perhaps more if he feels the need to qualify it.
It’s kind of like Clinton denying the blow jobs he got in the oval office for so long and then he had to suck it in and admit they happened. If he had just admitted to it and told the country that it was a matter between him and Hillary that was already resolved it wouldn’t have turned into a national issue.
By the way it’s idiots like you that make assumptions about other people that are the real problem. I have no interest in Obama so his beliefs or history are totally irrelevant to me. I do hate it when a public person like a candidate won’t just address an issue presented to them and answer it instead of letting it turn into propaganda.
I don’t believe in any of the people running for President right now. We are about to enter into another election with nothing but bad choices.
Ken345aa
Um… he says this very thing all the time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7INpMhtG3g
Now who’s the idiot?
Ken345aa,
Try reading the statement that started the topic. Apparently you are an idiot.
Too bad you are a typical christian that loves to hate anyone that is not on the white jee-bus.
Ken,
You should probably watch this video before continuing to assume that Obama has not confronted these accusations directly:
http://tinyurl.com/ytt5jw
Quite simply, you’re wrong.
Ken,
For someone who has no interest in BHO, you sure seem to spend a lot of time blathering on about him.
Tell me Ken, which bothers you more? That he is black, or that he might be a closet Muslim? Because both are forbidden by the Constitution as reasons to disqualify BHO from the White House. So are you a racist, or a Bigot? ‘Cause you sure are not a patriotic American, since you are opposed to the Constitution.
First of all I am glad that BHO has made on the record statements. I personally had not seen them before because it is not something I am interested in or have followed. Perhaps it will mark the start of this issue dissappearing.
I was only interested in pointing out why it was in issue in so many peoples eyes. I was responding to the end of the original post on this blog that mentioned the “War Thingie” and how it could have an impact in people wanting to know.
Me mentioning that Tarma was an idiot by assuming things about me was only brought on by him/her calling me an idiot as part of his/her assumption about me.
Rainbows4dinosaurs, thanks for providing the link to the video. It should provide exactly what people want to hear from BHO. Perhaps now the Witch Hunt can end.
Alatham, normally he only states that he is Christian as he does in the clip on his web site. For the people that wanted to hear his denial of Islam that was not enough.
Rna2dna, I did read that statement, and the quoted text from a transcript from a private meeting does not exactly make it a public statement on the record the way the video provided by Rainbows4dinosaurs, link does. I don’t deny that it has been a witch hunt of sorts I was only pointing out that if he came out on the record he could end it. Apparently he has done just that and people should have no reasons to continue their behavior spreading rumors.
Of course you have to also add your similar dig about me being a Christian in much the same way these people have accused him of being Muslim. You know absolutely nothing about my belief system or what if any religion or faith system I have or believe in. You are just making the same kind of assumption that Tarma made about me. What does that say about you?
I came on here only to post a point of view and shed some light on the motive certain people have for some of the things they have done regarding the rumors about BHO’s beliefs. I don’t support spreading rumors but I can understand why people might feel distress about things they have heard or read concerning his history and his loyalties. This was only and continues to be an effort on my part to help people reading this understand why people have been feeling nervous about BHO. Hopfully I have helped people in understanding that point of view. BHO himself has made the statements they were wanting to hear so the only people left stirring the pot are those with some other agenda.
Ren, I don’t like any of the current crop of Presidential contenders and it has nothing to do with race, religion, gender or sex. I don’t like any of them for some of the positions they are running on, and because I don’t think any of them would be any better than Bush. What a world we live in.
Thank you for also making assumptions about me. It seems to be a recurring theme here.
Ken345aa,
What ticked me off is that you are perpetuating the rumors about Obama being a Muslim just as much as anyone.
Your saying that Obama needs to make a statement said to me that you were willfully ignorant of the man’s oft-repeated and widely publicized pronouncements that he is a Christian and that he is not a Muslim.
He’s said it! Repeatedly! Enough!! If people choose to not believe him, that is their problem, not his.
Nothing makes me think he is “hiding something,” “holding the American public in contempt,” or “plain out of touch.” Gimme a break.
Comment from: phreedm [Member]
By the way…I’m still waiting for someone to come up with a single accomplishment of Obama’s…
By the way, we’re just waiting for you to answer any of the multitude of questions you’ve been asked. Funny how you seem to ignore that – while still demanding answers from others.
Remind anyone else of any drunken cokeheaded deserters currently serving as the Worst pResident Ever?
Tarma, I’m sorry you felt that I was perpetuating rumors, but I was only trying to point out what it was that people were looking for from BHO. The fact that he actually made the specific public statements that the doubters were looking for shows that he has nothing to hide is in touch and does not feel contempt towards the public. I hope that now perhaps this campaign they have been on will end.
I suspect that those with an agenda will never believe what he says and that is a sad window on the state of political discourse in this country. People have been lied to by so many people in power for so long that many people don’t believe anything a polititian says or does.
If we could only get a Statesman for President and both houses of Congress full of Statesmen instead of polititions we could perhaps be a great country again.
Oh and I don’t actually think you are an idiot since I don’t know you. It just fit in as a retort to your first post aimed at me. No hard feelings I hope.
Ken345aa,
Sorry, I don’t actually think you are an idiot either. Peace?
I agree 100 percent. And Obama is the only one who sounds even remotely like a statesman to me.
Ken,
Once again, I spent 15 minutes responding to your last post directed at me, but it disappeared before I got a chance to post it.
Has that been happening to anyone else, or is it my computer?
Suffice to say, would it really be so bad to have a Muslim for president? There has never been an openly Atheist president, so I really don’t care what version of the myth a presidential candidate believes, so long as they are intelligent and otherwise qualified to fill the position. A pet rock would be better than what we have now. Besides, it’s not like he is going to get elected president and purposely allow Al Qaeda to sneek in and kill us all. That’s just plain silly. No, it’s paranoia.
For the record, I do not like any of the current crop of candidates, either. If there were no differences between Obama and McCain, I would gladly vote Libertarian, just like I did in the last two general elections. But there are huge differences and we cannot afford another Republican in the White House, anytime soon.
As far as making assumptions about you, I can only make inferencs about you by what you post, since I do not know you, and you have no history here for me to draw from. My apologies if I misinterpreted you. But you can still lick my balls if I had you pegged correctly. Your choice.
Ken,
I don’t want to continue to make assumptions about you, so instead I will ask you directly when I don’t understand something.
So here goes. (tongue firmly in cheek) Does the 345aa in your moniker stand for the 3:45 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings you attend?
No, seriously. I am sure there are not 345 other registered Kens on this blog and you needed the ‘aa’ to differentiate yourself from them. It must mean something.
If you don’t mind me asking: is there any meaning behind the name? I don’t mean any disrespect, but without you telling me what it is, I am left with only my assumptions about you.
I will gladly explain the meaning behind my name, if you didn’t catch it recently in a previous thread.
Ren, Sorry for your computer problems. Many years ago I had a similar problem and it turned out to be a trojan on my computer and someone was trying to be funny. Might I suggest that you could formulate your reply as a document and then just cut and paste it here so you won’t loose anything. Apologies accepted and I’m sorry if it seemed like I was just dropping in and trying to be a troublemaker.
I personally don’t care about the religous beliefs or non beliefs of our elected officials as long as they do the job. The main problem I have is them not doing the job and it has nothing to do with religous beliefs. For instance, as currently elected officials, how much work have we gotten out of our Presidential hopefulls since they decided to run for President? Yet they still draw a full paycheck and benefits. My problems with the current system are way to extensive to go into here, so I won’t.
Thank you for the suggestion. It has happened about 5 times now in the past week. Very annoying and always after putting much time and effort into it. Never when I first start to compose. I may very well take your advice if it continues to happen.
I think if we sat down over a beer, we would find we have a lot in common re: out current crop of louts in all three, no make that four, branches of government.
As to my last post. I really hope I didn’t come off as an ass. I tried to ask an honest question and infuse it with a little humor. Again, no disrespect intended.
Comment from: Ren [
OK…
But I’ll accept the fact that you don’t believe socia1ized medicine is free…that being understood you then don’t have a problem with asking your neighbor to cover your medical bills…I do.
And why make this a Republican, Democrat issue? It’s “free market” vs “government control”…
You believe the government can do it better…I don’t.
Why can’t you connect the dots? Are you that blind?
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/1994/10/01/89168/index.htm
Name ONE Government program that has actually reduced cost…
I am FREE on deciding which HMO I want to belong to. Hilary’s plan would be similar to Massachusetts. Obama says his isn’t, but every economist that has studied it states it would only be a matter of time before it would be forced upon all in an attempt to make it work.
http://www.galen.org/component,8/action,show_content/id,14/category_id,0/blog_id,1028/type,33/
Ren, you’ve bought into the lie hook, line and sinker. The only thing a politician is interested in is power. Granting them control over our decisions on health increases their power and takes freedoms from all of us. If you can’t see that then there is no way I’ll ever make it clear on an Internet blog…
phreedm,
Once again you have misrepresented my position. I noticed you quoted the portion where I said I get healthcare for free at the VA. As in, it doesn’t cost me anything out of my pocket to go there. You conveniently left out the part where I said I paid for that healthcare in advance through my military service.
I guess you support sending America’s youth off to senseless wars, only to throw them to the lions when they return with their health ruined.
I have been covered by socialized medicine my whole life, and I haven’t a single complaint about it. When was the last time YOU had socialized medicine? That’s right, never. And yet, I know nothing of which I speak, while you are the expert on the subject.
And you wonder why I have such contempt for you? You make it sound like I am a two year old and I just don’t understand that you can’t get something for nothing. We already pay more per capita for healthcare than any other industrialized nation on the planet, and yet have 50 million uninsured and millions more underinsured.
In all honesty, with everything you know about Jesus Christ, would he support a free market healthcare solution that leaves millions of people uninsured, or would he support a single payer system where everyone is covered? Don’t dodge the question, either. I want to see you put it in writing that Jesus is as big a dick as you are.
phreedm,
One more thing and then I am done with you.
That’s funny. My neigbor had no problem sitting on his ass in the safety of his home while my wife and I went off to war to protect his right to sit on his ass. I think it is time my NEIGHBOR paid HIS DUES. My family has already paid theirs.
Oh yeah. I forgot. Soldiers are to be used and then thrown away. Way to support the troops, asshole!
Don’t ever address me again. You are not worthy of my attention.
Anyone else notice the mental disconnect involved in someone who has swallowed religious insanity whole saying that others have bought the lie hook, line, and sinker?
Suck it, Jeebus feti$hist.
phreedm was in the Army…? Holy cow… I thought they had standards… Although I guess with enough time anybody can be trained to clean a latrine…
Rusty
Where are you getting that phreedm was in the Army? You sure you’re not confusing him with Ren, because he used a quote from Ren in his 03/04/08 @ 19:07 post?
Thanks Karen, you’re right. Whew! It’s scary to think of 4-F Phreedy with a gun in his hands.