Posted on 07/15/2008 5:23:01 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
I was watching Morning Joe today, and someone (I don't recall if it was Mika or Joe, or whom ...) was lamenting the fact that polling shows us that 39 percent of Americans (read yokels) mistakenly believe Obama attended a Muslim school in Indonesia, etc.
Jonathan Alter of Newsweek similarly mocks the notion, writing:
His stepfather sent him to a Muslim school. False. When Obama lived in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, his mother and stepfather sent him for a time to a Catholic school, and for a time to an Indonesian public elementary school, where he had a class in Islamic studies (as required by the state). When CNN and other news organizations investigated whether this was a "madrassa" (religious school), the answer was a clear "no." Girls did not have to cover their heads, prayers were not required, students came from many different religious backgrounds and the school was recognizably "public."
The only problem is that this contradicts Obama's own words ...
On page 154 of "Dreams From My Father," Obama writes:
"In Indonesia, I had spent two years at a Muslim school, two years at a Catholic school. In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell my mother that I made faces during the Koranic studies."
And on page 204 of "The Audacity of Hope," Obama has a slightly different recollection, writing:
"During the five years that we would live with my stepfather in Indonesia, I was sent first to a neighborhood Catholic school and then to a predominantly Muslim school."
(Okay, so this time he refers to the school with the qualifier "predominantly" ... but the words "Muslim school" are Obama's -- not mine. And if the quote from "Dreams From My Father" is correct, this "predominantly" Muslim school required "Koranic studies" -- a notion that Jonathan Alter acknowledges was part of the law).
HERE'S MY POINT: If there is confusion about whether or not Obama attended a Muslim school, it does not come from ignorant people ... rather, it comes from people who actually took the time to read his books -- and believe him...
As such, you could argue that the biggest source of the Muslim rumors is Obama himself. He's the one who wrote and published the rumors -- not some right-wing cabal.
Why is this important? The liberals who are vigorously trying to "set the record straight" act as if conservatives are the ones who pulled this out of thin air in order to fool a bunch of rednecks living in places where one must cling to guns and religion.
But Obama's own book says he attended the Muslim school. So if there is confusion, I pretty much have to think that he is to blame. And along those same lines, let me also point out it was a liberal magazine -- not a conservative one -- who published the controversial cartoon cover that has been derided as offensive.
Note: It really doesn't matter whether or not Obama attended a Muslim school. What does matter is whether or not he is telling the truth. And I think it is also important to note that this rumor was not started by conservative skullduggery, but by Obama's own writings ...
ping.
However, it can't be hi-lighted enough that Obama himself talks about studying the Koran, refuses to give any details about his 1981 Pakistan trip, the influence his Indonesian Muslim Step-Father had in his life, and why he knew the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslim’s in 1981.
It's like the Lewinsky scandal: It's not so much about the action, it's about the lies.
well, easy for you to say you obviously don’t have much notice on the political side of him all you see is what the media sends you... but, do you really want a president who sends the image of “ i understand what you poor people with nuclear weapons are going through, in fact lets sit down and have a tea party and talk it over,” listen the guy is a whack job, yea lets go sit down and talk to a guy that i assure you wouldn’t take two seconds to send a nuclear weapon in our direction!
Yes you are. Obama made two references to this school in his books, in one he called it "predominantly Muslim", but in the other he called it "a Muslim school" So it seems you're missing approximatly fifty percent...more or less.
If you had a Muslim childhood, have been a member of a Christian church for 20 years and somebody calls you a Muslim, then you feel offended, you might not really be a Christian but a Muslim pretending to blend in with your enemies.
Hey, the man promises change, and it’s change you’re gonna get. He’ll change at least once a week, twice on holidays.
I think the point in all of this is contained in your profile, so, I copied it and pasted it here - because you asked; “who cares?”
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” — John F. Kennedy
That statement is so true.
There are those of us that simply cannot imagine the day when “traditional American values are replaced.”
Therefore, we care — we care, those of us that have worn the uniform to preserve our American way of life.
We care about a man with no experience, with no real clear history, but willing to flip flop on any issue for political expediency (that makes me skeptical) - so, in some instances, we have take what he says at his word, in other instances we have draw are own conclusion, because at the end of the day, when we step in the both and pull the curtain that is the most important decision that will affect this nation for the next four years — its important that we get that absolutely right — “the future of our Nation depends upon us caring and getting it absolutely right.”
BINGO, we've got a winner! It's nice to hang Obama with is own words.
My boyfriend dared to listen to ipod during Qur’anic studies. The mullah honestly believed he was listening to Qur’anic commentary.
Yeah, whatever... What I wonder is: When are people here going to realize that:
None of this “Eeewww, he’s a closet Muslim” crap makes him any less eligible to be President.
It doesn’t matter to you. Let’s be clear.
Because he is allowing the media and the sympathetic to deny what he himself has written as true. The fact is this would not be any issue for Obama to admit if he had actually been "saved" at an actual loving, Christian church. Instead he chose an American-hating, black liberation church with many marxist roots. Such a church has many strong roots growing from the Farrakan wing of the American Muslim world and thus Obama's claim to love Jesus and all he stands for has no value.
Your final paragraph indeed speaks to the issues -- and the problems I have with Obama -- his inexperience, unclear background, expediency. He is a dangerous man to have in the White House.
I only take folks here to task about the "Eeewwww, Muslim" aspect of our criticism of Obama. It does us no credit, and it weakens our position.
Virtually all known terrorists have been Muslim. There is a clear, undeniable connection between terrorism and the beliefs of radical Islam.
But even if he -was- raised a Muslim child, it is not clear to me that his childhood would be the determining factor in his Presidency. He is clearly (to me anyway) not a Muslim now -- seen him bow down and pray five times a day lately? Me neither.
You may not share my belief in the strength of America and the Constitution, but I believe that both will weather this next administration, whether it's Obama, McCain, Clinton, or a draft choice to be picked later. Old Glory will still wave and we will still be Americans after four years of any of those clowns.
Frankly I worry more about Obama undercutting the 2nd Amendment, than whether he's a closet Muslim.
I don't fear "traditional American values" being replaced here. Liberty will survive Obama. His threat is nowhere near the power of the Soviet Union in Kennedy's day. I was 10 years old during the Cuban Missile Crisis and I remember it. This (today) is nothing by comparison to that.
Kennedy's words are indeed so true, and we will defend liberty with every ounce of energy we have.
I’m more worried about his Marxist upbringing.
Obama's muslim past will only continue to be exposed. Get used to it, it's not going away and there is nothing you can do about it. heh heh
He said he had visited 57 states. 57 states in America do not exist. 57 states in the quoran do.
Okay, point taken.
Note, though -- it would matter a lot to me if he were a practicing Muslim now. Him bowing toward Mecca five times a day would worry the hell out of me, frankly. I'm not too proud to admit a bias in that regard. I admit I am much more comfortable with a Christian as President.
My point was that there is specifically NOT a religion test for eligibility for President. That's all.
The Founders were wise in that regard, and we should recognize that.
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