Prejudice Against Muslims? Who would have thunk it

McCain needs to prove that the Republican party cares about people of color

i think all any candidate should do is prove that they care about americans and what is good for all americans... regardless of color. otherwise, IMO, you are pandering to a special interest group.

cyclefiend2000

i think all any candidate should do is prove that they care about americans and what is good for all americans... regardless of color. otherwise, IMO, you are pandering to a special interest group.

well said

  And as to other posters reference to Obama being called a Muslim, I have not heard any of the media I listen to refering to his being muslim, nor to the possibility that he might be muslim so this must be people and places I do not listen to saying this.

 I have heard the general public wondering if he is muslim, but have not heard the media.

 Mind you I do not always listen to the news, it is something I do when I am bored and once a week I will look at certain news sites to see if anything is going on that I care about.

 As for choosing a president, I do so based on the issues and what the ones running say their stance is on those issues. I will not vote for anyone if they are not clear on the issues, but I really cannot recall having the media ever really influence me on whom to vote for.

 It is all about the issues

cyclefiend2000

 

McCain needs to prove that the Republican party cares about people of color

i think all any candidate should do is prove that they care about americans and what is good for all americans... regardless of color. otherwise, IMO, you are pandering to a special interest group.

I totally agree with you that that's all a candidate should HAVE to do, but unfortunately the media has forced everyone to play this silly game.

dgriego

  And as to other posters reference to Obama being called a Muslim, I have not heard any of the media I listen to refering to his being muslim, nor to the possibility that he might be muslim so this must be people and places I do not listen to saying this.

 I have heard the general public wondering if he is muslim, but have not heard the media.

 Mind you I do not always listen to the news, it is something I do when I am bored and once a week I will look at certain news sites to see if anything is going on that I care about.

If you're interested, here's a sampling of the media smearing Obama has been getting: http://mediamatters.org/items/200806130006?f=h_column

There's this:

Rush Limbaugh says Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden are "on the same page." Other conservative commentators have suggested an affinity between Obama and Hamas -- despite Obama's denunciations of the organization, and its description of Obama's policy positions as "hostile to us." Conservative columnist Mark Steyn has described Michelle Obama as "Kim Jong-Il dressed up with a bit of Oprah Winfrey dressing."

Michael Savage claims to "doubt" that Obama "would take our side" after a terrorist attack, adding that Obama would "march thousands of us into the hands of the enemy in order to gain what they would think would be a long-term peace. I think that they would gladly take the guns of the American military and turn them first on the American patriot, rather than turning the guns of the American patriot on the enemy within." Savage also asks, "Why are there no queries being provoked about Saddam Hussein -- I mean, Barack Hussein Obama?" Tucker Carlson has compared Obama's campaign to the Khmer Rouge, the brutal Cambodian regime that led to the deaths of nearly a quarter of that nation's people.

Washington Post reporter Jonathan Weisman responded to a question referencing the possibility of "Osama blowing up the Sears Tower" by writing, "How about Obama blowing up the Sears Tower! I never liked that building anyway."

And this:

Countless news reports have directly suggested Obama is secretly a Muslim, while others uncritically report the allegation without bothering to make clear that it is false. As is often the case, Michael Savage takes things a bit further, falsely claiming that "we have an unknown stealth candidate who went to a madrassas in Indonesia and, in fact, was a Muslim," and stating, "We have a right to know if he's a so-called friendly Muslim or one who aspires to more radical teaching."

Gratuitously invoking Obama's middle name -- Hussein -- is a favorite tactic used by conservative media figures such as Ann Coulter to associate Obama with Saddam Hussein. (Coulter claims that she does it not out of malice but "because I think it's funny.";) For some, Obama's actual name isn't enough: Right-wing radio host Bill Cunningham referred to Obama as "Barack Mohammed Hussein Obama."

You may not be influenced by this sort of garbage (and good for you for thinking for yourself!) but many people unfortunately are.

The highlighted links can only be accessed from the original article, they're not working if you click on them here.

Cassidys Mom

You may not be influenced by this sort of garbage (and good for you for thinking for yourself!) but many people unfortunately are.

True.  They're probably the ones swallowing all the crap dished up by idiots like Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter and the rest of the empty babbling heads.

Joyce

Well Rush is a talk show host and a lot of what he says, is said for the purpose of pissing off the other side, he is not really the news. And Savage, well I put him more in the comedian category and he is way to far right for my tastes. He trashes pretty much anything he does not agree with and he does it in a very distasteful manner. Both are entertainers IMO and not really news people.

 And as for his (Obama) middle name, I do not understand why he or anyone else gets upset when it is used, after all it is his middle name, if he does not like it, or if he thinks it paints a wrong picture then he should have changed it. I have no idea who Mark Steyn  is nor do I know who Tucker Carlson is, and last but not least I have never heard og Bill Cunningham.

 As for Ann, well she is a conservative author who sometimes has apperances on talk shows, but she is not what I consider to be the "media".

 I enjoy listenind to Rush at times, but because he is an entertainer you must take what he says with a grain of salt, I have read books written by Ann and my opinion would be the same. You could not pay me to read a Savage book, and I have only heard him once or twice on radio and did not like him, he is offensive. I may have my position on politics and it may differ from yours but neither of us are stupid, we just view the world through different lenses.

dgriego

Well Rush is a talk show host and a lot of what he says, is said for the purpose of pissing off the other side, he is not really the news. And Savage, well I put him more in the comedian category and he is way to far right for my tastes. He trashes pretty much anything he does not agree with and he does it in a very distasteful manner. Both are entertainers IMO and not really news people.

This is true, but a lot of people can't see that.   You would be amazed at how many seemingly otherwise inelligent people take every word out of these idiots mouths as gospel.  If Rush says it, you just know it's gotta be true.

Joyce

dgriego

I may have my position on politics and it may differ from yours but neither of us are stupid, we just view the world through different lenses.

Mark Steyn has written several books, he writes opinion pieces published in newspapers and magazines, and appears on radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh's.Tucker Carlson is on CNN and MSNBC. Bill Cunningham is a talk show host who appears regularly on Fox's Hannity & Colmes. Ann Counter has appeared on the Today Show numerous times, and is also regularly on Fox as a political pundit - she's given much more credibility than she deserves, considering she'll make up her own 'facts', just like Rush, and others do. 

But these are just a few examples of many, many such comments over a long period of time. Some of the people mentioned in the article could be considered part of the mainstream media, some are definitely out there, but the fact remains that many people listen to them, and they do influence opinions.

dgriego

And as for his (Obama) middle name, I do not understand why he or anyone else gets upset when it is used, after all it is his middle name, if he does not like it, or if he thinks it paints a wrong picture then he should have changed it.

The point isn't that there's anything wrong with Obama's middle name. I'm sure he likes it just fine, after all, he's had it for a long time, so at the very least he's probably used to it. The point is that most of us don't use our middle names when referring to ourselves, nor do other people when referring to us.

Do you know what John McCain's middle name is? No, don't look it up, I want to know if you actually know what it is. I didn't. You know why? Nobody ever uses it. Again, why? Because it's not relevant, it's an ordinary name that can't really be used against him in any way.

The only reason Obama's middle name is repeated over and over and over again as a tool to bash him over the head with is because it's the same as Saddam Hussein, former leader of Iraq. A Muslim country, that we're at war with. By constantly repeating Hussein every time they talk about Obama, they can build an association between Obama and Saddam, and Muslims, and by further association, terrorists - our enemies. There have also been many supposed slips of the tongue by right wing talk show hosts, where Obama was "accidentally" referred to as Osama. To create an association between him and Osama Bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind of 9/11. Our enemy.

You see how this works? THAT'S what's wrong with his middle name, that it's being used to imply things about him that aren't true, to create that little bit of doubt in people's minds about who he is and what he stands for, people who are intellectually lazy and won't go to the trouble to look up the facts. That's all they need to sway people - rumor and innuendo. And believe it or not, some people actually DO think he's a Muslim, and probably anti-American, and maybe even a secret terrorist sympathizer to boot.

So all these subtle and insidious digs work. 

Cassidys Mom

dgriego

I may have my position on politics and it may differ from yours but neither of us are stupid, we just view the world through different lenses.

 

Mark Steyn has written several books, he writes opinion pieces published in newspapers and magazines, and appears on radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh's.Tucker Carlson is on CNN and MSNBC. Bill Cunningham is a talk show host who appears regularly on Fox's Hannity & Colmes. Ann Counter has appeared on the Today Show numerous times, and is also regularly on Fox as a political pundit - she's given much more credibility than she deserves, considering she'll make up her own 'facts', just like Rush, and others do. 

But these are just a few examples of many, many such comments over a long period of time. Some of the people mentioned in the article could be considered part of the mainstream media, some are definitely out there, but the fact remains that many people listen to them, and they do influence opinions.

Don't mean to be harsh, but, boo-hoo.  Commentators like those that you mentioned are simply part of the political scene.  They are not going away so Obama's handlers had better figure out a way to manage their volunteers properly so they don't go making idiotic errors that risk alienating groups of voters and giving the other side more political fodder.  If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Sorry, but blaming those big old meanie republicans is SUCH a cop out.  The volunteers are the ones who made the mistake (come on, how could they *not* think that doing that would come back to bite them) and continued mistakes by said volunteers is only going to serve to damage Obama.  Therefore, they'd do well to get their act together.

sillysally

If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Great attitude! Let's have the person best able to sling cr*p and have it stick to other people, regardless of their actual views...be President...whee!

Politics is dirty because the American people allow it...no other reason. It's shameful. Because the Leader of the Nation, is not decided on a level field...but in a "who can hold the door shut longest while they take a dump so they can't take a picture", "who can hide their bodies best" contest.

sillysally

Sorry, but blaming those big old meanie republicans is SUCH a cop out.  The volunteers are the ones who made the mistake (come on, how could they *not* think that doing that would come back to bite them) and continued mistakes by said volunteers is only going to serve to damage Obama.  Therefore, they'd do well to get their act together.

What cop-out? I'm not BLAMING anyone but the people who did this. I'm merely stating that if Obama was photographed with Muslim women in headscarfs around him the right wing would have had a field day with it, and that is a FACT. If they haven't yet said that the terrorists want him to win the presidential race, they will, just like they did about Kerry. Based, as usual, on no evidence whatsoever, they just make it up as they go along. Obviously, these campaign workers knew that and were trying to protect him, but in the end it backfired. Really, he was screwed either way - prejudiced against Muslims if they're asked to move, "proof" that he's a terrorist sympathizer if he doesn't. How exactly could the situation have been handled to avoid either scenario?

Are you actually defending a political process based on lies rather than facts? If someone won't vote for Obama because of his stance on issues, there is nothing wrong with that. But the first clue that either side can't make a solid case for why anyone should vote for their candidate is when they have to make stuff up to smear their opponent with. What are they afraid of? If McCain is truly all that and a bag of chips, he should have no trouble winning the election on his own merits. And if Obama is truly that bad, they wouldn't need to perpetuate lies about him for him to lose.
 

rwbeagles

sillysally

If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Great attitude! Let's have the person best able to sling cr*p and have it stick to other people, regardless of their actual views...be President...whee!

Politics is dirty because the American people allow it...no other reason. It's shameful. Because the Leader of the Nation, is not decided on a level field...but in a "who can hold the door shut longest while they take a dump so they can't take a picture", "who can hide their bodies best" contest.

Politics everywhere is dirty.  Since I can remember (I'm 27) it's never been about the actual views, it's about how the candidate is packaged--image, media sound bytes, etc.  I've heard political types talk about for years that most people tend to vote for who they like.  Honestly, there is *very* little difference between Obama and Clinton.  Clinton most likely lost because she was not a charismatic as Obama and didn't have the right image.  Plus, Obama was treated (IMHO) better by the media than Clinton, and that always helps. 

It's not like this is a new thing--Obama needs to be prepared for it just like McCain.  People like Rush have the right to freedom of speech and their opinion just like anyone else, they've just found a big enough market so that they can broadcast it over the airwaves.  Any candidate needs to know how to deal with what guys like that put out there.

When it comes to dirty politics I wouldn't worry about how Obama will fair.  He comes from Illinois, where politics are about as dirty and corrupt as they get.  One governor in prison, one well on his way, pay to play politics, Democratic members of the state assembly putting out a hand out on how to impeach the Democratic governor, Democrats controlling the state and not being able to get anything done due to fighting amongst themselves, movers and shakers in Illinois politics (some of them buddies of Obama) being investigated and indited by the feds, the Daley machine in Chicago, etc, etc.      

Cassidys Mom

If they haven't yet said that the terrorists want him to win the presidential race, they will, just like they did about Kerry.

 I hate to say it but to some extent this was true. I have arab friends who listened and watched arab television and even they told me that most of the radicals were talking about their hope that Kerry would win the election. I guess the question would be, was it the terrorists themselves that desired that or just the radical muslim clerics who were fueling the fires.

 Also it seems like it would be common sense for the terrorists to desire Obama as president rather than McCain since he has already made it clear that he will leave Iraq quickly and whatever intelligence he is given as president will have no affect on that choice.

 They would be foolish to not want him as president. The US will leave Iraq, they all will receive citizen rights in a civil trial should they be captured and he (the president) will be focusing his attention on internal social programs.

I totally agree with you that that's all a candidate should HAVE to do, but unfortunately the media has forced everyone to play this silly game.

people who are that swayed by the media are pretty weak minded individuals. i like to do my own thinking, thank you very much.