On today’s edition of “Meet the Press,” during which time Colin Powell dealt a body blow to the McCain campaign by endorsing Barack Obama, Powell made a brilliant observation that, frankly, I wish had occurred to me.
He commented on how people in the GOP party (he wasn’t talking about McCain per se, but the party in general) kept accusing Obama of being a Muslim. And he said the first and obvious answer is that Obama is a Christian and always has been. But the better and more appropriate answer should be–so what if he were? Why should some seven year old American kid who aspires to be president and happens to be Muslim be receiving the message that, because of his religion, he can forget about it? And Powell went on to describe a photograph he saw of a military grave with a mourning mother, and there wasn’t a cross or a star of David on the soldier’s tombstone, but instead the crescent of the Muslim. What does it say about this country, Powell wondered, that that kind of message is being sent out? That young Muslims can fight and die for this country but never be involved in running it.
It’s even more striking when one considers that back in 1960, JFK being Catholic was a HUGE deal because people contended that a Catholic shouldn’t be president because he’d be taking marching orders from the Vatican. One only hopes that forty years from now we’ll look back on the notion that a Muslim can never be president with the same “isn’t that a silly idea” attitude that we now look back on the thought that a Catholic–or for that matter, a black man–couldn’t ever be President.
PAD
• 
I had the same thought while I was watching Colin Powell this morning, that finally someone of some weight and importance is saying these words, that so what if Obama were a Muslim, why should that even matter.
Now, if he were Jewish, boy, then we’d have a problem. Oy!
Et tu, Powell?
Old joke: Al Smith watches the election results piling up, sends cable to Vatican: “Unpack”
Old joke: Al Smith watches the election results piling up, sends cable to Vatican: “Unpack”
is there video of this online???
is there video of this online???
Posted by BARON
is there video of this online???
No, Al Smith died in 1944; they didn’t have video yet, then
Posted by BARON
is there video of this online???
No, Al Smith died in 1944; they didn’t have video yet, then
video of Powell’s endorsement:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27265490#27265490
video of Powell’s endorsement:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27265490#27265490
Is there a transcript online of Powell’s endorsement? My computer doesn’t have speakers, and listening to audio through the headphones is a huge pain. I’d be very appreciative if someone could point me to the text.
I’ve been thinking much the same thing as Powell, regarding the possibility of a Muslim president, but at the same time, I think I know why no one else has said it out loud to the media. I’m sure that a Muslim could be just as dedicated and loyal a president as any Christian, but the reality is…there are an awful lot of people in this country who don’t feel the same way. Look at all those people who keep connecting “Muslim” and “Arab” to “terrorist,” as though there are no Muslims or Arabs who are born in the US and love their country. Look at all those people who keep bringing up Obama’s middle name, as if he chose it. As if a guy cannot be named Hussein and also love America.
I think a Muslim could be ready for the presidency, but I’m afraid this country isn’t ready for a Muslim president. It’s not going to be ready any time soon.
Transcript: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/19/powell.transcript/
Transcript: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/19/powell.transcript/
Transcript: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27266223/
I think the paragraph PAD referred to is on the second page.
I gotta say, as I was watching it live this morning, I welled up a little. I’m 23, lived in North America my whole life, grew up on Sesame Street, Buffy, Batman, and everything SciFi/Fantasy…and as a Muslim, there has always been that unspoken but ever present knowledge that me or my kids can’t really aspire for *anything* we want, even living in the US. People have been saying it, but never as well or as prominently as Gen. Powell just did. I’ve always liked him, even after the UN speech debacle, but my respect for him has grown tremendously today.
Transcript: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27266223/
I think the paragraph PAD referred to is on the second page.
I gotta say, as I was watching it live this morning, I welled up a little. I’m 23, lived in North America my whole life, grew up on Sesame Street, Buffy, Batman, and everything SciFi/Fantasy…and as a Muslim, there has always been that unspoken but ever present knowledge that me or my kids can’t really aspire for *anything* we want, even living in the US. People have been saying it, but never as well or as prominently as Gen. Powell just did. I’ve always liked him, even after the UN speech debacle, but my respect for him has grown tremendously today.
Sorry Alyson, go to the link that Yas listed, not mine. I thought that was a transcript, but it’s actually statements that he made after the MTP interview.
Yeah. I saw it live this morning. Quite a sight. It was made even more amazing by the fact that Powell has been saying for months that he won’t endorse anyone this year. His statements this morning almost made it seem as though he felt that he was forced to do this as an act of conscience against what he saw from the Republican Noise Machine and the McCain Campaign’s plumbing the depths of hate.
If you didn’t see it live, you missed quite a moment. You need to see the video (Meet the Press airs again later today on MSNBC) to see the full effect that trying to say this had on Powell. He seemed rather strained and felt compelled to explain himself before saying that he was voting for Obama in this election.
Again, it was quite a sight to see.
Yeah. I saw it live this morning. Quite a sight. It was made even more amazing by the fact that Powell has been saying for months that he won’t endorse anyone this year. His statements this morning almost made it seem as though he felt that he was forced to do this as an act of conscience against what he saw from the Republican Noise Machine and the McCain Campaign’s plumbing the depths of hate.
If you didn’t see it live, you missed quite a moment. You need to see the video (Meet the Press airs again later today on MSNBC) to see the full effect that trying to say this had on Powell. He seemed rather strained and felt compelled to explain himself before saying that he was voting for Obama in this election.
Again, it was quite a sight to see.
I’ll see if I can watch the vid at work tomorrow. Meanwhile, I also found a text article at HuffPo:
“http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/19/colin-powell-endorses-oba_n_135895.html
I’ll see if I can watch the vid at work tomorrow. Meanwhile, I also found a text article at HuffPo:
“http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/19/colin-powell-endorses-oba_n_135895.html
Actually, do read the article that I linked to. It has some interesting comments from Colin Powell as well.
Such as this comment on the McCain Campaign: Now I guess the message this week is, “We’re going to call him a socialist, Mr. Obama is now a socialist, because he dares to suggest that maybe we ought to look at the tax structure that we have.”
Actually, do read the article that I linked to. It has some interesting comments from Colin Powell as well.
Such as this comment on the McCain Campaign: Now I guess the message this week is, “We’re going to call him a socialist, Mr. Obama is now a socialist, because he dares to suggest that maybe we ought to look at the tax structure that we have.”
Yeah, I also read the MSNBC version, and it was a lot more helpful.
When I heard that Powell was about to endorse a candidate, I kind of expected it would be Obama. He’s been getting a lot of support from conservatives lately who aren’t happy with McCain and Bush. I think the fact that he can get so many people from both sides of the aisle on his side says a lot for Obama’s chances.
Yeah, I also read the MSNBC version, and it was a lot more helpful.
When I heard that Powell was about to endorse a candidate, I kind of expected it would be Obama. He’s been getting a lot of support from conservatives lately who aren’t happy with McCain and Bush. I think the fact that he can get so many people from both sides of the aisle on his side says a lot for Obama’s chances.
I have nothing but admiration for Colin Powell, he was the one good guy in the disaster that was the Bush administration.
Still, let’s say the obvious: I don’t think a theoretical Muslim President would be the same as a Catholic JFK 40 years ago.
There weren’t much Catholic organizations opposed to the US in JFK’s day, and there aren’t many now either, even with the Pope’s recent criticisms against American policies.
Now, there ARE many Muslims in the world that hate the USA. Not all, obviously, perhaps not even a majority of Muslims, but many.
It doesn’t mean patriotic American Muslims shouldn’t be allowed to run for President, but in all honesty, I’d say the fear many people have of a Muslim President isn’t so hard to understand. It’s still an irrational fear, in that someone that truly “hates America” would NEVER manage to hide it well enough in order to win an election.
And please, I’m not agreeing with the Religious Right here. I distrust Christianity as much as I distrust Islam. They partake of the same dangers, as far as I’m concerned they’re equally as threatening to the secular way of life that I cherish.
I have nothing but admiration for Colin Powell, he was the one good guy in the disaster that was the Bush administration.
Still, let’s say the obvious: I don’t think a theoretical Muslim President would be the same as a Catholic JFK 40 years ago.
There weren’t much Catholic organizations opposed to the US in JFK’s day, and there aren’t many now either, even with the Pope’s recent criticisms against American policies.
Now, there ARE many Muslims in the world that hate the USA. Not all, obviously, perhaps not even a majority of Muslims, but many.
It doesn’t mean patriotic American Muslims shouldn’t be allowed to run for President, but in all honesty, I’d say the fear many people have of a Muslim President isn’t so hard to understand. It’s still an irrational fear, in that someone that truly “hates America” would NEVER manage to hide it well enough in order to win an election.
And please, I’m not agreeing with the Religious Right here. I distrust Christianity as much as I distrust Islam. They partake of the same dangers, as far as I’m concerned they’re equally as threatening to the secular way of life that I cherish.
I’ve thought this exact same thing for months now, and couldn’t be in more agreement. I’m not sure you’re accurate in the impulse to lay the blame for this at the GOP (it actually began as a whisper campaign during the primaries–whether from the Clintons or another rival); but the abject tragedy of it all is that even the Obama campaign characterizes it as a “smear” (such as on its website “Fight the Smears”), as if there’s something filthy about simply [i]being[/i] Muslim.
It’s one of my great disappointments in the Obama campaign (among my many admirations) that he hasn’t taken a stand for that basic principle, and for the sake of political expediency is actually encouraging the opposite. I mean, would he be calling it a “smear” if someone accused him of being Episcopalian?
I’ve thought this exact same thing for months now, and couldn’t be in more agreement. I’m not sure you’re accurate in the impulse to lay the blame for this at the GOP (it actually began as a whisper campaign during the primaries–whether from the Clintons or another rival); but the abject tragedy of it all is that even the Obama campaign characterizes it as a “smear” (such as on its website “Fight the Smears”), as if there’s something filthy about simply [i]being[/i] Muslim.
It’s one of my great disappointments in the Obama campaign (among my many admirations) that he hasn’t taken a stand for that basic principle, and for the sake of political expediency is actually encouraging the opposite. I mean, would he be calling it a “smear” if someone accused him of being Episcopalian?
“One only hopes that forty years from now we’ll look back on the notion that a Muslim can never be president with the same “isn’t that a silly idea” attitude that we now look back on the thought that a Catholic–or for that matter, a black man–could never be President.”
PAD, you missed out an “n” here.
“One only hopes that forty years from now we’ll look back on the notion that a Muslim can never be president with the same “isn’t that a silly idea” attitude that we now look back on the thought that a Catholic–or for that matter, a black man–could never be President.”
PAD, you missed out an “n” here.
The picture Powell mentioned:
http://www.newyorker.com/images/2008/09/29/p465/080929_slideshowplaton16_p465.jpg
(it actually began as a whisper campaign during the primaries–whether from the Clintons or another rival);
I don’t know, Andrew. Conservative talk radio and some of the crossover radio guys on Fox News were pushing the “Obama as stealth Muslim” long before he became the actual candidate. They actually started that garbage as soon as he started to look like a possible contender. A lot of people wanted to lay that dirt at the Clinton’s feet, but a lot of the people spreading that filth were in no way rooting for Hillary and are actively anti-Hillary.
(it actually began as a whisper campaign during the primaries–whether from the Clintons or another rival);
I don’t know, Andrew. Conservative talk radio and some of the crossover radio guys on Fox News were pushing the “Obama as stealth Muslim” long before he became the actual candidate. They actually started that garbage as soon as he started to look like a possible contender. A lot of people wanted to lay that dirt at the Clinton’s feet, but a lot of the people spreading that filth were in no way rooting for Hillary and are actively anti-Hillary.
How many catholic presidents since JFK?
And there are a lot of Catholics in America.
What chance would Mormon or Jew have?
How about an ‘admitted’ agnostic?
Claiming an acceptable protestant denomination is still the most useful thing an american politician can do.
How many catholic presidents since JFK?
And there are a lot of Catholics in America.
What chance would Mormon or Jew have?
How about an ‘admitted’ agnostic?
Claiming an acceptable protestant denomination is still the most useful thing an american politician can do.
The British news broadcast Obama`s speech life and also repeated Colin Powell`s endorsement several times.
I absolutely agree with everything PAD said because I feel the same: It doesn`t matter what somebody is but who he or she is.
I doubt it would be a big deal here in Britain but from what I heard of the USA, I think a candidate who is openly gay would have even more problems than a Muslim. Am I right?
The British news broadcast Obama`s speech life and also repeated Colin Powell`s endorsement several times.
I absolutely agree with everything PAD said because I feel the same: It doesn`t matter what somebody is but who he or she is.
I doubt it would be a big deal here in Britain but from what I heard of the USA, I think a candidate who is openly gay would have even more problems than a Muslim. Am I right?
Heck, what about us atheists, who as recently as Bush I had a President saying we weren’t real Americans?
As for Jews, remember that Joe Lieberman is a very devout Jew, at least in terms of the rules he was reported back in 2000 to follow about the Sabbath and the like. I don’t recall any analysis post-2000 blaming Gore’s loss/narrowness of popular vote win on his running mate’s religion. Admittedly that’s the VP, but I don’t recall hearing anything about it having been a significant issue at all during the campaign.
A lot of people wanted to lay that dirt at the Clinton’s feet, but a lot of the people spreading that filth were in no way rooting for Hillary and are actively anti-Hillary.
Maybe not a lot but you don’t have to look far to find evidence that the Obama people thought Hillary was behind some of it:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-518585/Obama-turban-Barack-accuses-Hillary-smear-campaign-circulating-photos-dressed-Muslim.html
Supporters of Barack Obama have accused Hillary Clinton of using shameful “smear” tactics after a photograph of him wearing traditional African dress appeared on the internet.
…David Plouffe, Mr Obama’s campaign manager, said: “On the very day that Senator Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign has engaged in the most shameful, offensive, fear-mongering we’ve seen from either party in this election.”
Susan Rice, Mr Obama’s foreign policy adviser, claimed circulation of the photograph was divisive, and suggested “the customs and cultures of other parts of the world are worthy of ridicule or condemnation.”
But Mrs Clinton’s election team angrily dismissed the claims, saying it was Mr Obama’s response to the leak which was offensive.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/toby_harnden/blog/2007/12/06/hillary_clinton_aide_spreads_barack_obama_muslim_smear
Now a volunteer Iowa county coordinator for her campaign has been caught forwarding a deeply sinister email suggesting Barack Obama is a Muslim fifth columnist.
http://www.observer.com/2007/hillary-supporters-obama-being-muslim
Here are Hillary Clinton supporters Jim Bishop and his wife Shirley, in a photo taken after Clinton spoke last weekend at a Las Vegas high school.
I asked Jim Bishop at the time what he liked about Hillary more than Barack Obama or John Edwards, and he told me, “She has much more experience then either one of ’em.”
Then, without prompting, Bishop said,
“And more than that, Obama is a Muslim. He went to school in Muslim schools. They taught him to hate Americans from the second grade on. I don’t know how in the world he became a Senator. He was raised by a Muslim father and Muslim mother in Hawaii.”
When I told him that Obama was in fact a rather devout Christian, Bishop said, “Oh, no. No way.”
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/03/controversial-c.html
ABC News’ Kate Snow and Eloise Harper report: A controversial party guest was spotted at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s election night party in Columbus, Ohio Tuesday.
He was hard to miss. He was the one wearing the “Osama for Obama” t-shirt.
Columbus resident Todd Elbaum told ABC News his friend makes the t-shirts.
Elbaum did not hold back on his views of Obama when he was interviewed by ABC within full view of a Clinton staffer.
“The truth is he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim, his mother married a Muslim after divorcing his father. His grandfather was a Muslim. It doesn’t matter. But what does matter is when Obama said he was never a Muslim. He was a Muslim. He was born a Muslim. He was a Muslim for six years of his life,” Elbaum said.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3071083.ece
Clinton backer stirs the pot by referring to Obama’s ‘Muslim’ roots
Personal religious convictions again bubbled to the surface of the presidential campaign with a supporter of Hillary Clinton referring to the Islamic faith of Barack Obama’s father and Mike Huckabee releasing a new advertisement featuring a “floating cross”.
Mr Obama, a leading Democratic candidate, has increasingly invoked Scripture in speeches and talked about his “personal relationship” with Christ after false rumours spread across the internet that he was a secret Muslim.
The former senator Bob Kerrey, a notoriously outspoken politician and failed presidential candidate in 1992, stirred the pot when he endorsed Mrs Clinton and then proceeded to compliment Mr Obama for his understanding of Islam.
“I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim,” Mr Kerrey said. “There’s a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal.”
(Bill Here–I’m willing to give Kerry a pass on this one–I don’t think he was trying to say that Obama was a Muslim but I’m sure some Obama supporters saw it as a sly way to make the insinuation).
You know right now over at the Daily Show/Colbert Report half the writers/interns are are watching archives of fox news for every positive thing they ever said about Colin Powell and waiting for them to start bashing him.
You know right now over at the Daily Show/Colbert Report half the writers/interns are are watching archives of fox news for every positive thing they ever said about Colin Powell and waiting for them to start bashing him.
So the problem with a Muslim running for president is that people would be afraid he was a terrorist and/or would sell our country out to terrorists. Ok…
But doesn’t that seem like the worst possible plan for a terrorist? Run for president? They’ve been relatively successful with that whole suicide bomb thing. I can’t imagine they’d go for the Hail Mary of a presidential run.
Though I guess people that would be afraid that a presidential candidate might be a secret terrorist aren’t really going to think things all the way through.
A lot of people wanted to lay that dirt at the Clinton’s feet, but a lot of the people spreading that filth were in no way rooting for Hillary and are actively anti-Hillary.
Maybe not a lot but you don’t have to look far to find evidence that the Obama people thought Hillary was behind some of it:
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-518585
Supporters of Barack Obama have accused Hillary Clinton of using shameful “smear” tactics after a photograph of him wearing traditional African dress appeared on the internet.
…David Plouffe, Mr Obama’s campaign manager, said: “On the very day that Senator Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign has engaged in the most shameful, offensive, fear-mongering we’ve seen from either party in this election.”
Susan Rice, Mr Obama’s foreign policy adviser, claimed circulation of the photograph was divisive, and suggested “the customs and cultures of other parts of the world are worthy of ridicule or condemnation.”
But Mrs Clinton’s election team angrily dismissed the claims, saying it was Mr Obama’s response to the leak which was offensive.
blogs.telegraph.co.uk/toby_harnden/blog/2007/12/06/_
Now a volunteer Iowa county coordinator for her campaign has been caught forwarding a deeply sinister email suggesting Barack Obama is a Muslim fifth columnist.
observer.com/2007/hillary-supporters-obama-being-muslim
Here are Hillary Clinton supporters Jim Bishop and his wife Shirley, in a photo taken after Clinton spoke last weekend at a Las Vegas high school.
I asked Jim Bishop at the time what he liked about Hillary more than Barack Obama or John Edwards, and he told me, “She has much more experience then either one of ’em.”
Then, without prompting, Bishop said,
“And more than that, Obama is a Muslim. He went to school in Muslim schools. They taught him to hate Americans from the second grade on. I don’t know how in the world he became a Senator. He was raised by a Muslim father and Muslim mother in Hawaii.”
When I told him that Obama was in fact a rather devout Christian, Bishop said, “Oh, no. No way.”
blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/03/controversial-c.html
ABC News’ Kate Snow and Eloise Harper report: A controversial party guest was spotted at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s election night party in Columbus, Ohio Tuesday.
He was hard to miss. He was the one wearing the “Osama for Obama” t-shirt.
Columbus resident Todd Elbaum told ABC News his friend makes the t-shirts.
Elbaum did not hold back on his views of Obama when he was interviewed by ABC within full view of a Clinton staffer.
“The truth is he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim, his mother married a Muslim after divorcing his father. His grandfather was a Muslim. It doesn’t matter. But what does matter is when Obama said he was never a Muslim. He was a Muslim. He was born a Muslim. He was a Muslim for six years of his life,” Elbaum said.
timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3071083.ece
Clinton backer stirs the pot by referring to Obama’s ‘Muslim’ roots
Personal religious convictions again bubbled to the surface of the presidential campaign with a supporter of Hillary Clinton referring to the Islamic faith of Barack Obama’s father and Mike Huckabee releasing a new advertisement featuring a “floating cross”.
Mr Obama, a leading Democratic candidate, has increasingly invoked Scripture in speeches and talked about his “personal relationship” with Christ after false rumours spread across the internet that he was a secret Muslim.
The former senator Bob Kerrey, a notoriously outspoken politician and failed presidential candidate in 1992, stirred the pot when he endorsed Mrs Clinton and then proceeded to compliment Mr Obama for his understanding of Islam.
“I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim,” Mr Kerrey said. “There’s a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal.”
(Bill Here–I’m willing to give Kerry a pass on this one–I don’t think he was trying to say that Obama was a Muslim but I’m sure some Obama supporters saw it as a sly way to make the insinuation).
A lot of people wanted to lay that dirt at the Clinton’s feet, but a lot of the people spreading that filth were in no way rooting for Hillary and are actively anti-Hillary.
Maybe not a lot but you don’t have to look far to find evidence that the Obama people thought Hillary was behind some of it:
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-518585
Supporters of Barack Obama have accused Hillary Clinton of using shameful “smear” tactics after a photograph of him wearing traditional African dress appeared on the internet.
…David Plouffe, Mr Obama’s campaign manager, said: “On the very day that Senator Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign has engaged in the most shameful, offensive, fear-mongering we’ve seen from either party in this election.”
Susan Rice, Mr Obama’s foreign policy adviser, claimed circulation of the photograph was divisive, and suggested “the customs and cultures of other parts of the world are worthy of ridicule or condemnation.”
But Mrs Clinton’s election team angrily dismissed the claims, saying it was Mr Obama’s response to the leak which was offensive.
blogs.telegraph.co.uk/toby_harnden/blog/2007/12/06/_
Now a volunteer Iowa county coordinator for her campaign has been caught forwarding a deeply sinister email suggesting Barack Obama is a Muslim fifth columnist.
observer.com/2007/hillary-supporters-obama-being-muslim
Here are Hillary Clinton supporters Jim Bishop and his wife Shirley, in a photo taken after Clinton spoke last weekend at a Las Vegas high school.
I asked Jim Bishop at the time what he liked about Hillary more than Barack Obama or John Edwards, and he told me, “She has much more experience then either one of ’em.”
Then, without prompting, Bishop said,
“And more than that, Obama is a Muslim. He went to school in Muslim schools. They taught him to hate Americans from the second grade on. I don’t know how in the world he became a Senator. He was raised by a Muslim father and Muslim mother in Hawaii.”
When I told him that Obama was in fact a rather devout Christian, Bishop said, “Oh, no. No way.”
blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/03/controversial-c.html
ABC News’ Kate Snow and Eloise Harper report: A controversial party guest was spotted at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s election night party in Columbus, Ohio Tuesday.
He was hard to miss. He was the one wearing the “Osama for Obama” t-shirt.
Columbus resident Todd Elbaum told ABC News his friend makes the t-shirts.
Elbaum did not hold back on his views of Obama when he was interviewed by ABC within full view of a Clinton staffer.
“The truth is he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim, his mother married a Muslim after divorcing his father. His grandfather was a Muslim. It doesn’t matter. But what does matter is when Obama said he was never a Muslim. He was a Muslim. He was born a Muslim. He was a Muslim for six years of his life,” Elbaum said.
timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3071083.ece
Clinton backer stirs the pot by referring to Obama’s ‘Muslim’ roots
Personal religious convictions again bubbled to the surface of the presidential campaign with a supporter of Hillary Clinton referring to the Islamic faith of Barack Obama’s father and Mike Huckabee releasing a new advertisement featuring a “floating cross”.
Mr Obama, a leading Democratic candidate, has increasingly invoked Scripture in speeches and talked about his “personal relationship” with Christ after false rumours spread across the internet that he was a secret Muslim.
The former senator Bob Kerrey, a notoriously outspoken politician and failed presidential candidate in 1992, stirred the pot when he endorsed Mrs Clinton and then proceeded to compliment Mr Obama for his understanding of Islam.
“I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim,” Mr Kerrey said. “There’s a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal.”
(Bill Here–I’m willing to give Kerry a pass on this one–I don’t think he was trying to say that Obama was a Muslim but I’m sure some Obama supporters saw it as a sly way to make the insinuation).
i have to agree and give Powell credit where it’s due (not that he’s such an innocent player in our country’s politics): his statement about the GOP implying that muslims can’t help govern this country as americans was like the tolling of the liberty bell.
It’s hard to say which the Religious Right hates more: muslims, gays, or atheists? I’m afraid we’ll not see any US President that is any of those things in our lifetimes, even if the Religious Right’s influence wanes once Bush is out of the White House, they’re still a very powerful lobby.
I hate those guys, but the civil rights movements should learn from them about organization, dedication, energy, and mercilessness.
It’s hard to say which the Religious Right hates more: muslims, gays, or atheists? I’m afraid we’ll not see any US President that is any of those things in our lifetimes, even if the Religious Right’s influence wanes once Bush is out of the White House, they’re still a very powerful lobby.
I hate those guys, but the civil rights movements should learn from them about organization, dedication, energy, and mercilessness.
“As for Jews, remember that Joe Lieberman is a very devout Jew, at least in terms of the rules he was reported back in 2000 to follow about the Sabbath and the like”
Tyg, speaking on behalf of the Chosen People, we don’t want him. We’ll trade him off for a WASP to be named later:)
I’ve said it before. Powell is a classy guy. When he first came to prominence, I told my friends it was possible he’d be the country’s first black president.
I’ve said it before. Powell is a classy guy. When he first came to prominence, I told my friends it was possible he’d be the country’s first black president.