Posted on 02/24/2008 6:42:49 PM PST by jdm
I am usually quite proud of being a conservative. I know in my heart that the only way to enjoying liberty under the law AND equality of justice is through the application of conservative principles to government and society. And I am usually proud of the rational, reasonable basis on which most conservatives see the world and evaluate people and events.
Thats why it embarrasses me to no end to see fellow conservatives who actually believe that Barack Obama is some kind of Manchurian Candidate sent by Muslims to undermine American society. Or that Obama is a closet Muslim just waiting to take power before unmasking himself. Or perhaps most bizarrely, since Obama was born to a Muslim father, he is a Muslim whether he wants to be or not and that Muslims elsewhere will not let him forget his heritage.
There are other permutations to this theme involving Obamas middle name of Hussein which to some of my fellow conservatives is a dead giveaway that he is Muslim. And there are no end of theories, rumors, tall tales, and outright lies about Obamas Muslim childhood spent at this madras or that mosque which proves him to be a son of Islam.
Most of this idiocy takes place in comment sections of blogs and conservative boards where new Vince Foster murder theories still generate excitement. Occasionally, one of these stories goes mainstream and for a brief period, conservative are made to look like paranoid loons who believe Barack Obama is a cross between the anti-Christ and Osama bin Ladens long lost brother.
Well, today conservative stupidity regarding Obama and his supposed ties to Islam hit paydirt as in generating a ten on the laugh-o-meter. Evidently, the probable next president of the United States was caught in flagrante dilecto, dressed to the nines in what appears to be some kind of native garb (probably Kenyan) and with a (gasp!) turban on his head. To some of my unschooled, ignorant conservative friends, this is further proof that if we elect Obama president, there will be a department of Sharia Affairs.
The truth as Jim Hoft (via Sweetness and Light) shows, is a little less dramatic. The costume is that of a Kenyan tribal elder.
Now Obama already has some problematic connections to Kenya including his appearances for presidential candidate Raila Odinga, a distant cousin and someone whose recent actions in fomenting violence in Kenya following a crooked presidential election are extremely troublesome. (There have also been rumors of a deal between Odinga and the small Islamist party in Kenya that he would, if elected, establish Sharia law a dubious proposition and almost certainly a lie that has been picked up by some conservatives in this country and passed off as the truth.)
But the idea that Obama in traditional Kenyan garb proves hes some kind of closet Muslim or Islamic sympathizer is absurd. Kenya is 70% Christian and only 10% Muslim. To extrapolate that Obamas dress denotes anything other than acknowledging his birthright not to mention playing the gracious guest by donning the clothing of his hosts is irrational, stupid, ignorant, and totally without foundation.
But that doesnt stop some from allowing imagination to trump rational thought:
Over at Islamica magazine, they are acknowledging what the few of us fighting the great fight have been saying all along. Hussein Obama is Islams candidate. They call it a wink and a nod but shhhhhh dont let on to the fat, lazy infidels.
Expect the fantasy mongerers in the mainstream media to continue to scrub and whitewash (no pun) Hussein Obamas Islamic bonafides. The rabid fervor by the leftarded lemmings is Hitleresque.
A former Associate Publisher of The New York Observer should know better.
While writing this post, I received a comment on my articlefrom yesterday about Obamas radical friends. The wildly off base nature of most of the charges made almost make me believe Im living on a planet full of escapees from the loony bin:
Rick, check out these other Obama soulmates:
Cousin Raila Odinga, the losing Presidential Candidate in Kenya, whom Obama supposedly has almost daily conversations, has been linked to religious violence, burning of churches ( with parishioners in them), and other violence following his loss in the elections. Odinga was accused of making a secret pact with a Kenyan national muslim group to install sharia law in Kenya if he won the election. Oh by the way, check out the picture of Obama in Kenya tribal Muslim garb in 2006 at Sweetness and Light.
Tony Rezko, corrupt Syrian-Amerioan slumlord/ businessman and heavy political contributor to Chicago area democrats, who will be inducted this week I believe for corruption. This is the character, with a nineteen year relationship to Obama and his law firm, who put up the money for a portion of Obamas lot so Obama could purchase his $2.1 million home. Rezko it seems also has ties to politically connected types in Syria and the former Saddam regime.
It seems that it was true that Obama was reaching out in bi-partisan way- it just was to the parties of the Islamic radicals and not to the Republicans.
This is a guy who:
Wont say the pledge of allegiance
Wont wear an American flag pin.
Whose wife has never been proud of American before her husbands campaign.
Who belongs to a racist anti-white church in Chicago.
Who was enrolled as a muslim in Indonesia's schools and studied the Koran in afterschool clubs.
Whose middle name is named after Ali Hussein, grandson of Mohammad and the founder of Shia d Islam. Incidentally, Barrack is awfully close to the name Buraq, the winged steed that Mohammad rode to heaven on.This apostate muslim is the one who is to lead us on the War on Terror?
Pray tell, how is Barrack going to make peace between the Shia, Sunni and the Sufi, much less those other people of the Book, those infidel Jews and Christians? The muslim Takfiri have only been waging war on the insufficiently pious muslims and infidel for over thirteen hundred years, or didn't Barrack learn that studying the Koran as a teenager?
We as voters really need to hear from Barrack, how studying the Koran as a teenager affected and shaped his political outlook and worldview.
I receive these kinds of comments all the time and read them constantly on other blogs. What the commenter and other conservatives dont take into account about Obama is that he is much more of a calculating man than anyone generally gives him credit for. He attends a church in Chicago whose pastor is admiring of black racist Louis Farrakahn. But I doubt whether Obamas Christianity goes much deeper than his devotion to Islam which is to say his religiosity is a calculated element of his political personae. His attendance at Trinity United Church Of Christ in Chicago establishes his authenticity as an African American more than fulfilling any spiritual need the candidate may have.
And thats why I find charges that Obama is some kind of closet Muslim so absurd. The candidate may have been trained as a grass roots organizer using the playbook written by radical Saul Alinsky. And he may have been involved in radical leftist politics early in his career. But a man who has so carefully crafted a political resume by conveniently being absent for key votes or voting Present on controversial bills all the better to obscure how far left his politics go or what his true politics are it is not beyond imagining that whatever his religious beliefs, they are calculated to effortlessly merge with the rest of this image Obama is presenting to the world. There is no room for Islam in this image nor is there anything in the public record that would indicate Obama has even given his Muslim heritage if indeed his father was a member of the Islamic faith a second thought as an adult.
I would say to my conservative friends who continue to insist that this is a rich vein to mine that you are so off base as to be a laughingstock. Just because my middle name is David doesnt mean Im a Jew despite a long, illustrious connection of that name to the history and faith of the Hebrews. Hence, this nonsense about Obamas middle name being proof that he is a Muslim has got to stop. Theres no evidence that name was given to him for any other reason except the given one it was his fathers middle name as well.
Nor does Obama dressing up in local garb make him a Kenyan elder or a shadow Muslim. The fact that he is wearing a traditional headdress is irrelevant to what he believes. When Calvin Coolidge was photographed wearing a Lakotan headdress, no one came out and said Coolidge was a devotee of The Great Spirit. Politicians wear all sorts of funny hats and clothes. Its part of Americana. For Obama to be singled out for honoring his hosts by dressing in traditional garb is the height of stupidity and my conservative brethren should be ashamed of themselves.
I really wish this meme would stop. There is so much else to criticize Obama for that to start tilting at windmills by claiming hes a danger to our Judeo-Christian society is a waste of time, effort, and resources. I would imagine the candidate himself rather than being hurt by these accusations probably gets a good laugh out of them, so silly they are and so revealing of the stupidity that permeates a large subset of the right.
Get a grip, friends.
Isn’t it bad enough he’s a left-wing retard?
(I herewith apologize to our fine, upstanding community of developmentally-disabled citizens for suggesting they might have anything in common with the Magic Negro.)
His actions as regards the national anthem and wearing a lapel pin do not help him in this regard.
The actions of his admitted mentor and pastor of his church when he acclaims Louis Farrakhan do not help either.
His actions in support of the Islamic candidate in 2006 in Kenya do not help either.
So, look, I do not believe he is an active Muslim...but the ties are troubling at the best and something that should give people pause when electing a President, particularly when we are at war with Islamic Jihadists.
That's all. Nothing rascist or cooky about that in the least.
And all of this is in addition to his ideology and positions on the issues which nix him absolutely in any case. To me, it's all a part of a bigger picture that indicates that Obama would be a terrible choice for our Republic.
Pray tell, how is Barrack going to make peace between the Shia, Sunni and the Sufi, much less those other people of the Book, those infidel Jews and Christians?”
Only if he is able to show signs and lying wonders.
I guess it would never cross your mind to do some research to find out if it is true or not.
Not going to sit the election out... just voting for someone other than the Dem or Repub candidate.
“Isnt it bad enough hes a left-wing retard?”
hehehehe - Top Shelf Brother, made me laugh.
Yeah, it is enough, but more is always better.
Yes, I wonder why that would be. He’s no muslim. What could they possibly benefit from him?
I don't like it anymore than you do, but I want beat Obama like a rented mule. If that means voting for McCain, so be it.
“I hope that this A$$hole gets to dump Hillary BEFORE we all get to really join up and blow him out of the water.”
I agree, and March 4 seems so very far away!!
These ridiculous, baseless attacks against The Blessed Hussein must cease at once.
well when you have a guy who wants run away from Iraq faster than Hillary AND wants to talk to achmedinijad AND has Zbigniew Brzezinski as foreign policy adviser AND his name is Barack Hussein Obama and all the other things...well you have to put it all together.
You were the one who told me that it’s NOT true that BO is a Mooslum.
Then isn’t the onus on YOU, who instigated this argument to DISPROVE IT?
This fellow, in particular, can't be my belief-mentor because...
...he done call't me ig'nr'nt. I jes' ain't ig'nr'nt,'n I kent abide with nobody callin' me ig'nr'nt 'n then 'spectin' me t' bow t' his lap o' learnin'.
“So, look, I do not believe he is an active Muslim...but the ties are troubling at the best and something that should give people pause when electing a President, particularly when we are at war with Islamic Jihadists.”
Just a thought: Of what I’ve read over the years for him to have rejected Islam for Christianity would have earned him vociferous negative acclaim within the Muslim World. Haven’t heard a thing, have you?
Why is Rick Moran so worked up over this? I’ll trust my instincts before I trust Moran.
Farrakahn: A muslim and islamist.
As muslims are absolved from lying in the cause of their "faith", how do we know Obama's not?
What does fellow democrat Rep. Keith Ellison - a dyed in the wool convert to islam - say about this "apostate". Doesn't he have some kind of obligation in ridding the world of infidels?
I'll keep my suspicians open about Obama, thanks.
even Nader will get more votes
No thanks Rick, I’ll keep up my heckling. He may not be a Muslim, but he sure is sympathetic to them. That alone is enough to make me terrified of the prospect he may be President in a time of war against Islamic terrorism. He’s running his campaign like Barnum and Bailey and he deserves what he gets. Much of conservatism’s critism of Obama is tongue and cheek, not because we are revealing any “stupidity” about ourselves, on the contrary, we are exposing the idiocy of those who support and vote for this paperweight candidate who deserves the mocking he gets. And yes, I do question his patriotism.
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