Posted on 02/27/2008 6:35:46 AM PST by pissant
No less an authority figure than Karl Rove has warned Republican operatives from demagoguing Barack Obama's middle name.
At a closed door meeting of GOP state executive directors in late January, Rove said the safest way to refer to Obama would be to use his honorific, "Sen. Obama."
"The context was, you're not going to stimatize this guy. You shouldn't underestimate him," one of the executive directors said. Rove said that the use of "Barack Hussein Obama" would perpetuate the notion that Republicans were bigoted and would hurt the party.
Rove also said that Republicans should refer to Hillary Clinton as "Sen. Clinton," rather than "Hillary."
Right wing figures are set to ignore Rove's advice. Rush Limbaugh used Obama's middle name more than a year ago, and Ann Coulter regularly uses the middle name, once calling him "President Hussein." So does Michael Savage, who once asked whether Obama was a "so-called friendly Muslim" or one more "radical."
(Excerpt) Read more at marcambinder.theatlantic.com ...
A couple of years ago, weren’t the Dems derisively using the middle name of a prominent Republican - I forget which one - who had an unusual middle name?
Did your mother raise you to be so disrespectful, or did you learn it from your commanding officer?
Barely beating a terrible candidate like Al Gore (and Bush did beat Gore fair and square) is nothing to boast about. Especially when you had Ralph Nader's help.
Karl Rove gives thanks to the Democrats for nominating Gore and Kerry every day.
If his middle name were PoopyPants then I'd be all for it. But come on! Hussein is his legal name.
Why would a middle name enter into the equation? If Ronald Reagan's middle name would have been Hitler or Satan or JoJo, would that have been a deal-breaker for you? A person's middle name says nothing. It is not an argument, it is pure emotional garbage.
I sure hope Rove never "darkens the doors of the White House ever again."
He’ll probably be a lobbyist for Global Warming (like Ken Mehlman is now) or La Raza (Like Juan Mccain’s adviser) soon enough.
LOL, yikes, make that “utter”!
I’m kind of partial to “Malcolm O”...
McCain is a lousy bastard of a candidate, but the chick-like behavior is emanating from those that are pushing the purely emotional attack of emphasizing Obama's middle name. There is no substance or logic, no rational argument, just "ooga booga! Scary name! HUSSEIN!! Like Sadaam!!! His dad was muslim!!! Oooga booga!" Even if those were valid points, they are obvious and need not be stated. The folks that have that concern are not voting for him anyway.
Caution: Intellectual reasoning is highly unpopular here. Names and physical characteristics are the focus for political discussion.
I dunno - it painted a more amusing picture before. :-D
I think the better question is “are you trying to be my nanny?”
Would you be more happier with...
Gee, Karl, would you please be quiet and not worry so much about how I address Hillary or Obama?
If so, then I will consider yourself appeased, albeit, apparantly missing the point...
waahhhhhhh!!!
Perhaps we could just use hi initials? B-Ho?
Respect is earned, not automatic.
When someone pulls a PC stunt like that traitor to the cause Rove just did, he’s lost any respect he may have previously earned.
Its bad enough we have to deal with this crap from the left...now we have “thought police” on FR.
I am tired of being called a facist or a Nazi. I am tired of people saying I want to harm/starve/kill children or the eldery. This is my country and men such as Adams, Washington, Lee, Grant, Audie Murphy, Nimitz, Chesty Puller, Ike, Patton, MacArthur, Pershing, Gridley, McCandless, and yes - even John McCain along with his father and grandfather, risked their lives so that I may live free, with liberty not license. Many millions more unnamed soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen risked their lives, with millions paying the ultimate sacrifice, so that I may be able to say what I want.
They don't like the use of Hussein? Then explain the reason why we should not use it. Explain the connotation, the connection. Are you or are you not proud of the name? Explain yourself, Senator B. Hussein Obama! I say this as my right as an American citizen. By my right as a free man, established not by men or government but by God. I served in the United States Navy to not only protect that right for myself but also for my fellow citizens and - hopefully - eventually - for the entire world. And no one - not Rove, not Obama, not anyone on Free Republic - will silence me nor tell me what I can say or when I can say it.
Does the name Hillary Rodham Clinton ring a bell? Or Franklin Delano Roosevelt? Jesse Lee Peterson? Martin Luther King? Ronald Wilson Reagan? William Jefferson Clinton?
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