My Muslim Faith?

[Brainster]

I'm going to say this is silly, but it's getting some attention right now. On a Sunday talk show, Obama made a verbal slip:

"Let's not play games," he said. "What I was suggesting -- you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. And you're absolutely right that that has not come."

The article notes that the "my Muslim faith" part was corrected immediately by Stephanopolous and Obama to "my Christian faith", but of course that did not mean it did not get picked up by the email crazies.

To his credit, Allahpundit quickly wrote that it was just a mistake.

Within 10 minutes of this airing we’d already gotten four or five e-mails about it; 20 minutes later, a bowdlerized version had already hit YouTube and begun circulating. I despise lefty sites for twisting conservatives’ words by selectively editing clips, so let’s cut this one off at the pass before it gets going. Here’s the full exchange with Stephanopoulos, making it perfectly clear that when he says “my Muslim faith” he’s referring to how the people smearing him see him, not how he sees himself. No mas, please.

However, Israel Insider picked it up less skeptically:

In one of the most astonishing gaffes in American political history, in a national televised interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulus, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama referred to "my muslim faith," confirming what researchers and political opponents have been claiming.

While Stephanopoulus several seconds later tried to correct him, saying "Christian faith," it was too late. The damage was done. Obama clearly did not mean his Christian faith, since he was admitting that "John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith." The term "Christian faith" would not make sense in that context.

Of course, if what Barack had said was, "John McCain has not talked about my faith being Muslim," it would have been both correct and not a confirmation of "what researchers and political opponents have been claiming".

I can't get a strong inkling as to where Israeli Insider falls politically (other than that it is clearly pro-Israel). For example, they have another article criticizing Palin's pastor for supporting Jews for Jesus.

To a certain degree, though, Obama got what he deserved. If you read the entire exchange, he was attempting to play the religion card from the bottom of the deck as Stephanopolous observed:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You mention your Christian faith. Yesterday you took off after the Republicans for suggesting you have Muslim connections. Just a few minutes ago, Rick Davis, John McCain’s campaign manager, said they’ve never done that. This is a false and cynical attempt to play victim.

OBAMA: You know what? I mean, these guys love to throw a rock and hide their hand. The…

And he returns to that theme later:

"My Christian faith," Mr. Obama said quickly. "Well, what I'm saying is that he hasn't suggested that I'm a Muslim. And I think that his campaign's upper echelons have not, either. What I think is fair to say is that, coming out of the Republican camp, there have been efforts to suggest that perhaps I'm not who I say I am when it comes to my faith -- something which I find deeply offensive, and that has been going on for a pretty long time."

Live by the sword....

 

[mrbaracuda]

Sooper sekret Muslim'o'stutterabama!

 

[GregHouseMD]

I think it very well could have been a slip, he probably meant "Christian" faith but he said Muslim.

Sometimes all it takes is a small slip like this.

John Kerry made a similar slip that took him out of the running in 2006 when it SOUNDED like he said if you didn't get a good education, you woumd up stuck in Iraq.

Regardless of what he really meant, and that's open to debate, he screwed up badly and it cost him.

This may or may not be a serious problem for Obama, it depends on who makes an issue of it.

 

[Upchurch]

meh. Everyone can have a slip of the tongue now and then.

 

[andyandy]

Live by the sword....

Remind me, who was it that was getting sanctimonious about the smears on Palin?

Surely not the same poster indulging in the borderline racist innuendo;

Obama equals funny name equals not really American equals muslim equals suspicious outsider [equals terrorist sympathiser]

Oh yes! It is.

 

[Dunstan]

I think it's pretty clear in the context of the interview that Obama meant to say "my Muslim faith" in the sense of "my alleged Muslim faith, according to these silly rumours." So I don't think it was a slip at all; he simply said something that could be taken out of context.

And of course, in the silly season of politics, anything that can be taken out of context, will be.

 

[mrbaracuda]

the borderline racist innuendo

Sure that's not your imagination? If not, please, elaborate!

 

[Upchurch]

I think it's pretty clear in the context of the interview that Obama meant to say "my Muslim faith" in the sense of "my alleged Muslim faith, according to these silly rumours."

That was my initial take too, but it amounts to about the same given that the allegation itself is false.

 

[David Wong]

This won't get any play outside of the hard core, conspiracy-loving BeAChooser and Brainsters of the world. I can't imagine a single swing over or independent being taken in by this sort of thing.

This is the equivalent to McCain saying, "They say I'm the same as Bush, but they are lying," and someone editing it down to "I'm the same as Bush" and declaring it a confession.

So here you have a whole string of statements about the "Obama is a Muslim" lies, and in the middle of it you have a string of words that, if carefully edited, have him admitting to being a Muslim. If this is a "gaffe" then any creative editing of someone's words can be a gaffe. You'd have to make sure to never put certain words together, even in the context of refuting them.

What is interesting to me is the mindset of the people who, having seen the original clip, intentionally edit it to remove the context, then forward it to people. Isn't there some kind of switch that gets flipped in their brain, saying, "If the only way to turn people against Obama is with bald-face lies made up from whole cloth, then maybe he's not such a bad guy after all?"

 

[Brainster]

Remind me, who was it that was getting sanctimonious about the smears on Palin?

Surely not the same poster indulging in the borderline racist innuendo;

Obama equals funny name equals not really American equals muslim equals suspicious outsider [equals terrorist sympathiser]

Oh yes! It is.

Okay, back that up with a single example of my borderline racist innuendo.

 

[andyandy]

Sure that's not your imagination? If not, please, elaborate!

Which part do you disagree with? Do you disagree that there is any borderline racism in implying how the funny sounding named Obama (who just happens to be black, well at least not white) is not really like the majority of Americans because he secretly happens to be a muslim? And plenty of dunderheads just see Islam as a violent religion of terrorists. It wraps up a fear of those who look and sound foreign, because perhaps they are not "proper Americans" and adds a pretty little bow of Islamophobia for good measure. But I'm sure you are going to tell me that there is no racism and no fear of muslims amongst any of the Republican base and that this slur just coincidently presses all their (non-existent) buttons.

 

[WildCat]

John Kerry made a similar slip that took him out of the running in 2006 when it SOUNDED like he said if you didn't get a good education, you woumd up stuck in Iraq.

Made for a funny photo op though!

As for the OP, a slip of the tongue does not a Muslim make.

 

[Brainster]

This won't get any play outside of the hard core, conspiracy-loving BeAChooser and Brainsters of the world. I can't imagine a single swing over or independent being taken in by this sort of thing.

You really need to work on that confirmation bias problem of yours. You appear to have a pair of glasses called "Brainster is an idiot" that you put on whenever you read a post of mine that prevents you from reading what I actually wrote. Here's a clue; when you see words like silly, email crazies, "to his credit", "less skeptically", etc., you should be getting a raging clue as to what I really think about it.

Meh, back to ignore you go, your reasonable posts in the polling thread notwithstanding.

 

[mrbaracuda]

Which part do you disagree with?

I have not seen enough of your accusations to form an opinion, so if you could just do what Brainster above us asks you to do..

Do you disagree that there is any borderline racism in implying how the funny sounding named Obama (who just happens to be black, well at least not white) is not really like the majority of Americans because he secretly happens to be a muslim?

Islam is a race? Or what? I don't follow.

Made for a funny photo op though!

Heh.

 

[andyandy]

Okay, back that up with a single example of my borderline racist innuendo.

The whole tenor of the "Obama is a muslim" smears have racist innuendo at their heart. I'm sure you're intelligent enough to see that. Now, whether you are peddling them directly, or simply peddling rumours which you know are false but know that others will believe, is something of a moot point given I was simply highlighting the gap between your sanctimonious reaction to the Palin smears and your indulgence in circulating dog whistle smears against Obama. Live by the sword and all that

 

[Brainster]

The whole tenor of the "Obama is a muslim" smears have racist innuendo at their heart. I'm sure you're intelligent enough to see that. Now, whether you are peddling them directly, or simply peddling rumours which you know are false but know that others will believe, is something of a moot point given I was simply highlighting the gap between your sanctimonious reaction to the Palin smears and your indulgence in circulating dog whistle smears against Obama. Live by the sword and all that

Like David, you really need to read the original post again and look for little clues as to what I think about this matter. They're not hard to find.

ETA: It seems like we have some real mind-readers here, folks who can tell what I really mean even though my words say the exact opposite. Sylvia Browne would be proud of you.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

ETA: It seems like we have some real mind-readers here, folks who can tell what I really mean even though my words say the exact opposite. Sylvia Browne would be proud of you.

 

[varwoche]

I think it very well could have been a slip, he probably meant "Christian" faith but he said Muslim.

In context, it's pretty clear he meant "my supposed Muslim faith".

 

[Darth Rotor]

Uh, does this get a vote for non issue of the week?

DR

 

[Wangler]

Uh, does this get a vote for non issue of the week?

DR

Agreed.

GOP folks had a cow when people lambasted McCain for his joke/gaff about how much income defines middle class.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program of Palin non-issues.