Obama and the giant blogosphere conspiracy

Stanley Jerusalem

Obama bin Laden. People like mel and other daily mail nobles really believe this.

Michael B

"Virulent rumors" - wow, that's an Orwellian styled category that effectively - and conveniently - covers a huge chunk of territory in the form of enabling propaganda blitzkriegs and shock troops typing away at their keyboards. The self-styled men and women and boys and girls of "light" - combatting the arch enemies of truth, justice and the (ever new) American Way.

Imagine, if you will, the reaction from certain political precincts if a President Bush had claimed he was setting up an "entire unit" to combat "virulent rumors" about him on the internet.

Amusing in a full-bore LOL manner, yet also to be taken seriously, utterly seriously, properly understood.

jerry

It is not possible that Obama's early experiences have not molded his current attitudes. These experiences include Islam, liberation politics within his church, his marriage to Michelle who seems to have supported black separation and victimhood, and left-wing deconstructionists who retain a sense of every problem, domestic or international, being due to class conflict. That he has gone to law school as many previous presidents does not speak well of his ability to unite the country, since the American legal system is adversarial in nature. What is it then in his background that recommends him to the American public as a potential healer of wounds.

Michael B

Also, one of the amusing notes here is that BHO has begun to sound like Hillary sounded a year or two ago, as both the presumptive nominee and the lady in waiting - waiting to be crowned.

Of course with Obama a somewhat different set of dynamics is involved, much the similarity is noteworther nonetheless; the spectre of entitlement, of simply waiting for the crown to be placed upon his self-anointed head, to recall Thomas Sowell's supremely fitting expression.

Steve in San Diego

It wasn't mere comments that are the real problem with the Obama web site; comments can be left by anyone. Rather, the problem is the *blogs* that were created there. The Obama site states that blogs will be reviewed, and only put up after they are approved by administrators. Either that's simply not true (problem) or site administrtors thought the nasty blogs were just fine (bigger problem).

Note also that this crap has been posted there for months.

FYI, mislabeling the blogs in question as just "comments" is a damage-control falsehood currently being used by Obama supporters. It was a lot more than just some comments.

Thank you for your time.

nyexpat

Born into a muslim family, attended muslim schools, attended a church that closely identifies itself with the Nation of Islam, openly and actively supports palestinian and other arab positions, employs many NOI staffers, has several close friends who are active Islamists,
I can't imagine why anyone would question his religious affiliation. I certainly don't.

Headless chicken

MP writes that “LGF is making hay with the fact that the Obamanables are belatedly taking (some of) this stuff down from the site while simultaneously insisting that its presence is nothing to do with them because the website has no moderators. Yeah, right.”

An interesting thought this - making people responsible for what gets posted on their blogs. Wouldn't that have interesting implications in these parts?.

David

I just wonder how you would react to an article in the Guardian demanding a hypothetical politician come clean about their Jewish roots and the effect they have on their policy towards Israel.

Kate

Obama's statement that he is a Christian is entirely dependent upon the fact that he was 'received' into Christian faith at Trinity United Church of Christ by the 'reverend' Jeremiah Wright. He states so in his book Audacity of Hope. On the basis of the fact that the 'church' website of TUCC says that its teachings are based upon the Black Liberation Theology of James H Cone and his 1969 book, BLACK THEOLOGY AND BLACK POWER, and by the sermons of not only Wright but also others who have preached their, and of that entity's support for the Nation of Islam, I reject entirely the premise that this is a Christian Church or that Obama, as a Member of it for 20 years (until only a few weeks ago), could be regarded as Christian. Indeed, the message of Black Liberation Theology is far closer to Islam's concept of dividing the world between Moslem and The Kaffir (the Other, non-Moslems, which the Koran lists as beneath pigs, dogs and excrement as among those items to avoid contact with, if one is Moslem).
James H Cone, Black Theology and Black Power, 1969: "What we need is the Divine Love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love...Black Theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy." As to the loathsome content of blogs on Obama's offical Campaign page, any blog, however large or small, is moderated, if it is to be taken seriously. The fact that these blogs are presumably not moderated arouses my cynicism: I think it more likely that they have been allowed by Obama's 'team' as a sotto voce means of sending a message to certain groups that, yes, Obama is your man. They are then removed, as were all those parties and people with whom Obama has associated, when they have served their purpose and become somewhat awkward, but these disgraceful people have been permitted licence by Obama to vent their hatred of America and of various races and religions on his site.

headless

“Obamanables” (abominable?), “crazed...moonbats” and “Obamanic” (manic / satanic?), all in MP's first three paragraphs above. Could this kind of language perhaps tell us something about the writer?

Mladen Andrijasevic

Robert Spencer has a different opinion than Daniel Pipes on the point of Obama's apostasy :
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015222.php

"So is Obama under a death sentence? Probably not. As far as I know Obama has never explained when he left Islam and became a Christian. This is a crucial point, for according to Islamic law an apostate male is not to be put to death if he has not reached puberty (cf. 'Umdat al-Salik o8.2; Hidayah vol. II p. 246). Some, however, hold that he should be imprisoned until he is of age and then "invited" to accept Islam, but officially the death penalty for youthful apostates is ruled out".

But I would agree that Obama was less than truthful when it comes to his past. He should have given and should still give the following speech: http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/12629.htm

Michael Okumu

While I can't argue against every single point that Mel has raised, I can say that she is spectacularly ill informed and tragically wrong in her analysis of Kenya and its political situation. I speak here as a Kenyan. Perhaps she should stick to writing about what she knows.

Martin Wickens

Melanie and others raise very good and fair questions about Obama. Why will he not discuss his past? Why does he deny things when former friends and teachers in school state otherwise? Someone is lying and the truth needs to be attained. It's not like he is going for a job at the local supermarket, there needs to be complete transparency.

Fair questions are being asked, nobody seems to be answering from Obama's camp.

headless

MP writes:

Obama has also said:
I've always been a Christian
and
I've never practised Islam.

She then goes on to try to show this is false. It takes some time. It involves Indonesia and investigations by Daniel Pipes. All of which would be entirely unnecessary if Obama has simply admitted that he had once been a muslim. So presumably he hasn't and MP is saying he's lied about it - what she actually says is, “he appears to have actively deceived the public about it”.

But a few paragraphs later she announces that “By his own admission therefore, he is a Muslim apostate...”

Which presents something of a puzzle and indeed to suggest MP may getting somewhat carried away with herself. Because if he hasn't admitted to being a muslim, how is he now supposed to have admitted to being an apostate muslim?

The clue is in the word “therefore”. Used here it a bogus accoutrement designed to suggest something logical. It relates back, but not to anything Obama himself has said, but rather to a point made by Daniel Pipes. So no admission, and no argument to which the “therefore” is the conclusion.

So what does all this show? Is it a stupid slip or something more dishonest, illustrating perhaps something about her approach more generally?

Well whichever it is it's clear she's happy to convict Obama anyway she can and she doesn't really care if her charges are contradictory – because she'll convict him on both anyway.

Stupid or disgraceful?

James Murphy

Once again in the forum of prohibited opinions Melanie's Great Bell intones with the ring of truth! I'd like to sound another dissenting voice in the wilderness of Obamania, and state a violently controversial - if obviously logical - truth: actually Obama's becoming 'the first black man to...' etc, etc, is, at best, a limited achievement in a moral sense; and, at worst - considered on its own subtly oxymoronic terms - a racist statement. Surely what ought to matter about Obama is not what colour he is, but whether or not he is a good man, an intelligent man, a truth-telling man, etc? Consider what's about to happen: we may have a man, who happens to be black, as the next USA president: he may turn out to be a dissembling, manoevring, embittered shyster, but because he's black we are told we must psychologically bow down before his every footstep on the road to change, (how shamlessly the left still wheel out their bath-chair cliches). - Thus are the bizarre, self-defeating superficialities and childlike enthusiasms of 'Left-field' thinking exposed to those willing to cast even a momentary glance behind the populist (BBC) veil

THX1138

This is desperate stuff.

Joshua

Why won't Barack Obama release his birth certificate?

Paul Weston

Whether Obama has any links to Islam, or indeed to black liberation theology, is arguable.

But by being arguable means it should be investigated.

The MSM should be ashamed of itself in its attitude toward a man who is elevated beyond reproach or investigation simply because of the colour of his skin.

I think a black president of America would be a good thing (especially if it was Thomas Sowell) but a racist president of whatever colour, a very bad thing indeed.

If Obama turns out to be the latter, it will set back race relations in America by decades.

The Left, with its ubiquitous anti-midas touch, is on very dangerous ground in its refusal to put reality before ideology.

steve

Where to start with such a ridiculous post. Pipes is not the first to make this claim about Obama being apostate. Edward Luttwak, a military historian, did so in the NY Times on 12 May. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/opinion/12luttwak.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin
The NY Times public editor after complaints approached 5 different Islamic scholars at 5 different U.S. universities all who said Luttwak's interpretation was wrong.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01pubed.html?scp=1&sq=Luttwak&st=nyt
Luttwak himself then produced his own Islamic scholar who also said his interpretation was wrong. Where is the evidence that Obama was raised a Muslim? Fox News previously claimed that he went to a madrassa while living in Indonesia but when CNN actually went to the school they found it was a non-denominational co-education school.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/ He also attended a Catholic school while he was in Indonesia.
So was he raised a Muslim by his atheist mother? Or how about his non-Muslim grandparents who he spent a number of years living with in Hawaii while he attended high school? Yesterday in a posting on here Ms. Phillips decried the BBC for promoting conspiracy theories through its tv programs and complained of the irrationality gripping Britain. Today she puts forward conspiracy theories floating around the Internet as representing some sort of secret truth. Please try to be consistent and live up to the standards you demand of others.

epaminondas

Amazingly, I actually don't care what he was so much as what he is. Altho we can be certain if there was any question of a republican hiding his religion, or birth status the entire news apparatus in the USA would come to a grinding halt until forensic archaeologists had exhumed every aspect of the lives of everyone who preceded Mr Obama.

However, he IS a christian.

He is a dangerously naive christian, and his appointments so far indicate quite clearly he is going to be a disaster for america.

He is Stanley Baldwin AT BEST

Paul Moloney

My favourite part is this:

"We are entitled therefore to ask whether the Muslim world supports him because it believes he is still a Muslim"

So what exactly is Mel suggesting here? That Obama has secretly communicated his non-conversion to the Muslim world? Sounds a bit like the paranoid theory about how all the Jews in the World Trade Center got a phone call to stay away on 9/11.

P.

stanley Jerusalem

Help! I've been hijacted.

I am not responsible for the first posting on this blog.
Please note the spelling

stanley Jerusalem

"A name made great is a name lost"
Ethics of the Fathers I,13. - Hillel [not me!]

Ann

"That Obama has secretly communicated his non-conversion to the Muslim world?"

Yes, hilarious and witty. Now for some facts: strictt Muslims believe that you cannot legitimately convert away from Islam. You always stay a Muslim, although you can be regarded as an apostate and punished.

S. Jerusalem: so, Wright never existed, yes?

Ann

"That Obama has secretly communicated his non-conversion to the Muslim world?"

Yes, hilarious and witty. Now for some facts: strictt Muslims believe that you cannot legitimately convert away from Islam. You always stay a Muslim, although you can be regarded as an apostate and punished.

Dee Ranged

Barack Obama is a Democrat from the same far-left mold of Carter. I contend that Obama if elected, will be the second term of Jimmy Carter.

The first signs of an Obama/Carter similarity began early on the primary race when the Illinois Senator began hiring former Carter aides and cabinet members to be policy advisers. The biggest name that surfaced was former national security advisor under Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brezinski.

Why Obama would want to be in the same room with Brezinski is mind-boggling. He was the first prominent politician to deny that Islamic extremism was or would become a danger to the world. In a February 2, 1979 memo to President Carter he claimed Islamic fundamentalism is not an imminent threat and will not gain prominence in the Middle East.

Like his former boss, Brezinski has the same "blame the Jews" mentality. The former national security advisor has publicly endorsed the views published in the John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt paper "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," which has provided endless ammunition for anti-Israel activists, Zionist conspiracy buffs and Holocaust deniers.

George P

The voters are entitled to know the truth – the whole truth – about whom they are voting for.

If there were a candidate from a Buddhist, Sikh or Jewish background (indeed from any religious background), they would be cross-examined ad infinitum about how their religion shaped their character and outlook. As it happens, the US has always voted for Christian presidents, but that does not mean that their religious character goes unexamined by the voters and the media – far from it.

The voters want to know what strain of Christianity they have followed, whether it has ever changed and why. In fact, they want to know – and are entitled to know – every single nuance and inflection of their faith and how it has affected their judgement over their life.

Take this year. Mitt Romney’s Mormon background put the Republican Party off him. He is not the first candidate whose non-mainstream religious background has been deemed to count against him. Whether you like or not – everything counts.

David (June 11th, 2008 7:16am), there has never ever been a Jewish US presidential candidate (although Joe Lieberman made history as the first Jewish candidate on a major presidential ticket in 2000). But, yes, you bet every part of their character – their religious character – would be cross-examined if there were – and quite right too. Yes, there would be plenty of chatter about their view on Israel. And why wouldn’t there be? America gets Israel (just like this British Christian gets Israel). If you don’t “get Israel” in America, you’d be unlikely to win many votes.

Headless (June 11th, 2008 8:47am), what are you complaining about? All Melanie has done is draw together the facts and credited a key source.

This is a very common pattern with Melanie’s critics on this blog, ignore all the evidence laid out before them and instead target Melanie.

Obama’s own primary school teacher Tine Hahiyary gives evidence about Obama’s early devotion to Islam. What do you say to that, "headless"? Zilch. And the same with the rest of the evidence.

All normal standards of scrutiny seem to have simply been abandoned by the mainstream media for this candidate. Why?

As Ali G might phrase it, is it cos he is Barack?

Paul Moloney

"He was the first prominent politician to deny that Islamic extremism was or would become a danger to the world. In a February 2, 1979 memo to President Carter he claimed Islamic fundamentalism is not an imminent threat and will not gain prominence in the Middle East."

Oh sure, Dee. It's only Democrats who underestimated Islamic fundamentalism. Not, say, Republicans like Reagan, when even went as far as arming fundamentalists in Afghanistan _and_ Iran.

P.

Jonny Mac

David - excellent point. I agree with Melanie on most things, but am dismayed by her smearing of Obama (as I am by her position on global warming). I would really like to see Melanie respond to David's point.

Paul Moloney

"strictt Muslims believe that you cannot legitimately convert away from Islam."

And neither do Catholics, did you know? You can never leave the Catholic church; you have to be excomminicated, and this is a pretty hard thing to do. I'm not sure what is exactly shocking about your statement.

P.

Dee Ranged

Jonny Mac

Melanie is certainly not trying to smear Obama.

She is attempting to unravel the truth of his background.

What is he deliberately concealing?

David M

Why does everyone seem to unquestioningly accept that Mr Obama is an African-American, a black man?

Isn't this a glaring example of anti-white racism? His mother was white, a European-American.

If Obama were described as white or European-American there would be screams of protest about denying him his African heritage.

Does his mother really count for nothing? Is that really acceptable?

June

What smears?

There are no smears here, just a catalogue of evidence. Screaming about it doesn't make it go away.

June

The BBC’s “unbiased” Gavin Esler:

“Surely once and for all the idiotic rumours that Barack Hussein Obama is a covert Muslim have finally been laid to rest.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1020378/How-battle-White-House-opened-Americas-old-wound--RACE.html

Unbiased? Or just uninquisitive?

London Calling

This is a smear campaign at its very best, Hilary lost, now Obama's a secret Muslim waiting to radicalise America and enslave all non Muslims, that’s if he's not first executed meanwhile for being a Muslim apostate, what propaganda is this?

'Obama, a Christian, is ‘some kind of Muslim Manchurian candidate, planted by Islamic fundamentalists to betray the country and it is very widespread’.

The above comment was a vicious comment by a blogger? doesn’t mean its true though does it?, all blogosphere’s have a vicious element, as witnessed here at times also, but I wouldn’t drag them all out to make a point.

MP 'Did Obama embrace Christianity as a tactical manoeuvre to get himself elected?

LC 'Did Melanie create a blog on the Spectator because she knew she would get a bigger audience in which to express her extreme views against Muslims, Melanie claims she does not represent the Spectator and writes what she feels regardless of moderation as nobody can moderate her views.

Strong stuff? nothing personal Melanie, just making the point that anyone can dig the dirt when the gloves are off, I am just surprised you entertained this propaganda, I would be very careful you don’t end up being accused as an extreme propagandist yourself.

Dr. Irene Lancaster FRSA

I would like to respond to 'David'. It is not a single playing field. Being a Jew, a Christian or a Muslim in today's society is not just representing the other side of the same coin, so to speak.

Let's take the BBC. The Head of Radio 4 is a Jew. This does not prevent the network from hosting a variety of programmes, such as The Sunday Programme, Today and others, which are more often than not typically BBC-ish in their attitude to both Judaism (i.e. condescending at best) and Israel (no adjective can adequately describe their attitudes here).

On Christianity, let's take Mark Thompson, the DG of the BBC, who is a practising Catholic. This didn't prevent either Jerry Springer or the the successful BBC attempt to stand down the general revulsion at that particular satire on Jesus Christ.

However, the attitude to Islam is different. It has to be, as the BBC, like other organisations, takes threats seriously and, on the other hand, has an appreciative and growing Muslim audience.

So, David, your comparison has no meaning in the real world, and is actually extremely offensive. Most Jews who work for the Guardian take the Guardian party line on Israel, as well as on other matters. Those who don't, tend to leave and work elsewhere. Melanie is a good example of this.

David M.

Dee Ranged at 11:54am.

Most informative. Thanks.

David Pollard

Wow. I can see there's good reason Ms. Phillips is known as "Mad Mel".

Simon

David says 'I just wonder how you would react to an article in the Guardian demanding a hypothetical politician come clean about their Jewish roots and the effect they have on their policy towards Israel.'
Exactly David. Well said. But that's far too complicated for her or them to grasp. Gormlessness is a product of brainwashing. All you'll get now is a rant from Ann or somebody similar.

Mike Morris

David

"I just wonder how you would react to an article in the Guardian demanding a hypothetical politician come clean about their Jewish roots and the effect they have on their policy towards Israel."

I'd be very concerned if a politician was so obviously trying to erase their jewish past. I would be asking why they are ashamed to be jewish or have had a jewish background? I certainly would not vote for such a candidate.

Jonny Mac

Dee: Obama may have lied about whether has ever eg prayed in a mosque. It is obvious why he would - the Republicans would seize on the fact to claim that he is a Muslim, which the American public would not accept in a President. If we accept that he is a committed Christian now - and I have seen nothing at all to suggest that is not the case - the question is why such a lie would matter. This is where Melanie is weakest, and where she comes periliously close to the position that Obama is not to be trusted solely because he had contact with Muslim traditions when he was growing up. That line is an appeal to bigotry and prejudice - in short, a smear - and is unworthy of Melanie's blog.

Ian C

Those of you who have been paying any sort of attention (as opposed to knee-jerkingly jumping to Obama's defence without question) will know that to have a muslim father is to be deemed a Muslim in the Islamic tradition. All Pipes and Melanie have said is that he is thus automatically regarded as a Muslim by other Muslims; that he DID attend Ilsamic education and mosques AND that he has denied the latter - when he was only a small boy so should not have been an issue worth dissembling over.

The over-riding point is that on these grounds, he will have to explain himself between now and November. It is especially remarkable (the point of Melanie's blog here) because the mainstream media have not picked up on it when that is at the root of the purposes of their existence. This is overlooked, like so many less important stories that they do carry.

patricia

Gee with vitriol like this levelled against a man whom Americans have so taken to heart, you have to ask why?

What is Mel so worried about?

That Obama fails to bend to AIPAC like Bush did?

That Obama actually leans on Israel to obey international law for once?

That Obama might not want to give Israel that hallowed green light for the destruction of Iran?

We should be told

Verity

Headless (and by definition, brainless) why would the CEO of Indonesia's flagship, Garuda, (a very nice airline, btw; I recommend it) be motivated to lie?

Dee Ranged - I enjoyed your 11:54 post. I have also said that Barck Obama is a Jimmy Carter clone, and they don't come much more inept than Jimmuh.

JonnyMac "I am dismayed by her smearing of Obama (as I am by her position on global warming)." Well, you certainly are easily dismayed, aren't you?

patricia

I thought you never read the independent or the guardian, cos they were 'sewers' ?

Unlike the Daily Mail of course.

michale

Melanie Phillips only ever acts on direct orders, or at least in co-ordination from or with the Israeli Aipac media militia, so I presume we are seeing this sort of crappola across the centralised ownership media of the Schpectator's US affiliates.

Jack W

Isn't it odd that a point kicked off by observations on the subject of radical raving blogs is itself part of a radical raving blog citing other raving blogs. There should be a figure of speech for that sort of thing.

Melanie's 2 sources are the "American expat in South East Asia" who runs an anti Obama blog and writes unacceptable things like "A young mulatto abandoned by his black Kenyan father and cared for by his white American mother, an anthropologist and Islamophile who hated America and subsequently went native." I'd be careful about quoting him, Melanie.

And Daniel Pipes, the man who said "What war had achieved for Israel diplomacy has undone." The man who advocated US military intervention in Lebanon. The man who used his tenure as a board member of the US Institute of Peace to constantly criticise the Bush administration of being over friendly to Muslims. So he'd be a Republican. But how does he make his point? See http://www.slate.com/id/2086844/ for Christopher Hitchens expanding of 2 points against his forms of argument, his ugly campaign to run Edward Said out of academia and his misreading of the lifting of the Rushdie fatwah, which he wilfully misinterpreted to try and keep that bogeyman alive. So he's not fussy about how he advances his cause.

Michael B

This is beginning to amuse greatly.

To so much as question Mr. Change™ and Mr. Believe™ in Change™ is to engage in "smears". Again, much of this coming from the same political and ideological precincts as those who stood aside or even participated in Bush/Blair=Stalin/Hitler styled rhetoric.

Are you failing to properly sanctify and bless BHO? Well, it can only mean you're forwarding smears, or will that be Smears™, given the rhetoric emanating from that camp?

nev

I have never before read such a pile of conspiracy laden crap! MP has failed to inform her readers that Obamas school in indonesia was an all faith public school. Many of Obamas classmates also claim that (jimmy as Obama was refered to was a practicing christian as reported on the BBC. MP should be reported for hate speech!

Sarah-Jane

Sorry, Patricia, have you had a different account from Obama's teacher Tine Hahiyary?

Do tell.

Maybe you were there yourself?

What do you know Tine Hahiyary doesn't?

Jonny Mac

Ian C - "so should not have been an issue worth dissembling over." Come off it. Melanie's post itself illustrates precisely why, in the US at the moment, this - a vague link to Islam - is EXACTLY the kind of detail worth lying over for someone wanting to be elected President. You still haven't explained why, if he did lie about this, which I don't accept, it matters. If he prayed in a mosque thirty-five years ago then...what exactly?

Bob Latchford

this ugly, undignified attempt to wrench Obama out of this supposed Islamic closet, as if unmasking him as a Muslim is akin to finding a rapist or murderer is vile, even by the low standards of the neo-con right. As mentioned further up this page, if this were a mythical politican being hounded to prove his supposed Jewish roots, I doubt whether Ms Phillips feet would have touched the floor. I suppose this behaviour can only get worse in the lead up to the election. For shame

Robert

Snopes.com has an entire page alredy devoted to the lies put at about the next President of the United States:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/obama.asp

THX1138

Looks like Mel is getting worried she knows Obama's going to win.

This is just like that awful piece in the Guardian by Zoe Williams before the London Mayoral elections & look what happened to Ken. This smells of fear & desperation & you all know it.

Emmet Sweeney

To Paul Moloney: The difference between Catholics and Muslims is that you don't get killed if you leave Catholicism; or has no one ever mentioned that to you?

Joshua

"LC 'Did Melanie create a blog on the Spectator because she knew she would get a bigger audience in which to express her extreme views against Muslims,"

Or, alternatively, does London Calling regularly post at the Spectator because he knows he will get a bigger audience for his extreme views about Israel and Jews?

Verity

David M - They are just respecting Obama's expressed wishes. He said he only relates to his blackness and his father's side of the family. He denies his white heritage. And he threw his white mother under the bus (talking about her "racism") a couple of weeks before he threw Pastor Wright under the bus. Obama's half sister or whatever in Indonesia said he has chosen to be black. See? In the bonkers world of Obama, genetics count for nothing! It's change he can believe in!

London Calling - Obama has been accused of being a Muslim (the clue being in his middle name, Hussein) since day one of his campaign. This hasn't suddenly popped up from nowhere. Where have you been?

Again, London calling makes a feeble little claim that Melanie is hosted by The Speccie so she can more posters, or something ... I didn't understand the muddled point, but then he pats himself on the back, saying: "Strong stuff? nothing personal Melanie, just making the point that anyone can dig the dirt when the gloves are off,". You must be joking.

Jack W warns with knowing menace, "I'd be careful about quoting him, Melanie." Good of you to warn an international print and broadcast journalist of (I'm guessing) around 20+ years' experience on who she should quote. Who the hell are you?

nev - an all-faith school, was it? Then why was it called a madrassah?

OGLiberal

Melanie Phillips, Daniel Pipes, Larry Johnson, etc = Bats**t Crazy

Man, he scares the hell out y'all, doesn't he? A liberal - a bi-racial guy, no less - is going to be president of the US and you just can't handle it. So you pull out any slander or rumor you can find to try to stop him. But it won't work. I'll be laughing my arse off in January when Obama is taking the oath of the presidency.

Melanie - Do you realize how effing silly and crazy you sound.

Sad, sad, sad...

yochanan

NO bama

Howard

Is this a joke? All you've done is quote partisan, rightwing bloggers who are (expectedly) doing all they can to take Obama down. The media generally ignores unsourced, partisan bullshit whether it's coming from the left or the right. It's not a "conspiracy" when real reporters ignore amateurish muckraking. I'm sure the same people conspired to prevent the world from knowing that Hillary Clinton is secretly a lesbian...

Henrietta

Am I missing something here?

When some sillier blogs carried stories about the alleged Michelle Obama/ Louis Farrakhan video, Melanie didn’t mention it. Why would she? There is no hard evidence to support its existence.

All that is raised in this blog entry is supported by evidence.

Barack Obama has one of the biggest election finance chests ever raised in history.

If these claims and the evidence provided to support them are not true, why not sue the people making them? He’s a lawyer. He knows the rules.

I hope Mr Obama wouldn’t be afraid of any dirty linen coming out in court?

And that he wouldn’t be afraid of perjuring himself on oath, surely?

Tom P.

This article has so many malicious lies in it that it would subject the author to libel at least in the U.S.:
1. Obama never went to a madrassa. That lie was thoroughly debunked by CNN and the educators at the Indonesia school Obama attended.
2. Obama never was a Muslim, never prayed at a mosque, and spent his formative years in Hawaii with Christian expats from Kansas.
3. The CEO classmate quoted in the article is a sham. Obama left Indonesia soon after turning 10 years old. Did the CEO keep in touch with Obama across the Pacific and how? Where is the sourcing?
4. Daniel Pipes as a source? He is one of the most radical men in America. He is far more radical than Jeremiah Wright or liberation theology.
5. Jeremiah Wright never practiced the Muslim faith or the Black Muslim faith. He was a doctorate student at the University of Chicago in the Ministry school until he took over at United Church of Christ.
6. Who has ever thought that Middle Easterners believe that Obama is a Muslim and who cares?
7. This magazine should be ashamed of itself with such lies and innuendo. Obama came clean about his past in his first book, before he was a politician and after he graduated summa cum laude as the Editor in Chief of the Harvard Law Review. He has more smarts than the combined intelligence of ten of these idiot writes or Daniel Pipes himself.

Dave

I find it hilarious that all of a sudden rightwingers who have consistently spoken out against Islam are now acting as if they were experts in Islamic law. It's kind of like allowing Hitler the last word when it comes to interpreting the Talmud.

B

So Obama married Michelle in 1992--16 years ago. And he converted to christianity because he wanted to get elected? How crazy ARE you? The man can't see into the future.

Kevin Kearns

Obama is going to be elected president and the next 8 years will drive right wing nut jobs over the edge because reality just simply refuses to conform to their delusional narrative.

This is going to be fun.

Charles

I think what we may be seeing in the recent comments is smear blow-back (or 'smear-back', as it is known in some smearing circles).

rf

"...the Obamanables are belatedly taking (some of) this stuff down from the site while simultaneously insisting that its presence is nothing to do with them because the website has no moderators. Yeah, right."

You do have some sense of how the Internet works, right?

ndm

The First Amendment to the US Constitution states:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances".

It is unfortunate that there are still some American voters who do not take the first amendment seriously and seek to impose religious constraints on the American Presidency. This affected Mitt Romney for his Mormonism and Joe Lieberman because he is Jewish – and now Melanie Phillips would apply it to Barack Obama because of what religion he might or might not have followed when he was a child.

It is one thing for an uneducated po’girl from the deepest south to invoke religion as a reason for choosing a candidate – but it is quite another for an Oxford-educated journalist supposedly wise in the ways of the world.

In her desire to trash talk the first amendment to the US Constitution, Melanie Phillips gave a full-throated shout to her anti-Americanism.

Verity

Tom P, it was Obama's people who first put it out that he attended a madrassah. The American press didn't suddenly come up with the notion.

After people who know what a madrassah is thought this was worthy of comment, Obama's people came back with, "Oh, he just went to an ordinary school. Madrassah is the Indonesian word for school, that's all." Several people who speak some Bahasa Meleyu pointed out that this just isn't true. So they changed their story yet again. This made people rather suspicious, especially given that his middle name is Hussein. Why did they lie about the school he went to?

Obama's pretty tight with Keith Ellison, isn't he?

Also, it would be an awfully good idea if you Obama-adorers could stop shrieking "RACISIM!!!!" every time anyone points out something negative about your hero. We dislike him and distrust him on his own merits; nothing to do with his skin pigment.

Panger

Please tell me that this post is a belated April Fool's joke.

donna

Well, here's the response I was just directed to use by the rapid response team ;^) :

We all receive the negative emails about Senator Obama, come across anti-Obama blogs and websites. I strongly urge you to reply to those emails and contact those blogs and websites with the following positive message. We need to unite the Democratic party, not fight those who are in disagreement.

Your future, our future depends on the upcoming Presidential election. I understand your concerns over Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama and your need to feel you must support a candidate other than Senator Obama.

The road to the White House is long and arduous but can be made easier by a unified Democratic party. If we are divided amongst ourselves our future is in peril. We are one in the same - democrats, republicans and independents. We all want a stronger America, a renewed face in the eyes of the world of leadership, compassion and fairness. A new direction. We are all united in the fact that we did not receive this under President Bush's administration.

There are rumors about Senator Obama's past. I urge you to check each rumor out - there are several sites which are excellent sources:

SNOPES: http://www.snopes.com
MEDIA MATTERS: http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/
COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW: http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/
FACT CHECKER: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/
POLITIFACT: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/
FACTCHECK: http://www.factcheck.org/
TRUTH OR FICTION: http://www.truthorfiction.com/

I truly believe Senator Obama offers a path to unity, truth, a strong democratic party and a new direction for the United States. Please come join us and help stop the division. United We Stand, Divided we Fail. I invite you a visit our web site at http://www.barackobama.com and help reshape the future.

The "team" isn't set up by Obama, by the way. We are self-selecting. Amazingly, people on the Internet are actually cap[able of organizing by themselves, without being directed to. What a concept.

And please quit publicizing LGF -- it makes them happy.

Ted H.

Do everyone please click the link Phillips provides for her quote from Emirsyah Satar and then read the long comment near the end of the comments by one 'Winang,' who very plausibly argues that the quote involves a serious mistranslation. (The argument is seconded by a subsequent Indonesian commenter.) I don't know Indonesian myself. Does Melanie Phillips? Did she have someone who does check that quote?

Note well: what Phillips is citing here is not a news article but a blogger's translation into English of one sentence from a news article. That blogger's own commenters argue at length and in detail that the translation is seriously mistaken, and the blogger has not replied to these criticisms.

Rob-NY

Melanie - It is great to know that you are a visitor to Little Green Footballs and Atlas Shugs. These are among the best political blogs available. I urge your readers to visit them.

ndm

Andrew Sullivan dishes Melanie Phillips one of his uncoveted Hewitt Awards given out for "the most egregious attempts to label Barack Obama as un-American, alien, treasonous, and far out of the mainstream of American life and politics."

Sullivan finishes off with: "What on earth happened to her?" Now there's a question in need of a good answer.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/06/hewitt-award--4.html

Jim

Is this an example of the sorry state of The Spectator these days?

One small thread:
Phillips exaggerates what Daniel Pipes actually claims, who in turn exaggerates what his own sources actually say. (Follow the link and employ the reading skills of a third grader.)

ALL that one can conclude is that taking the quoted Pipes evidence at face value (uncontradicted) Obama MAY have entered a mosque at some point as a child.

Wow. Journalism, R.I.P.

Ray

Christianity is a superstition just like Islam so what difference does it make if Obama is Christian or Muslim or worships some voodoo god? Organized religions are all stupid, and as soon as conservative get that through their superstitious, ignorant heads, the better.

David Lindsay

Good of you to admit that he's going to win.

After all, why on earth would the Old Right vote for McCain. "Invade The World, Invite The World", as 'The American Conservative' rightly dubbed him?

This is also the first time since Israel became an American political issue (it hasn't always been one) that support for the Likud line, regardless of who is in government in Israel, will be put to the test of a Presidential Election. It will be very interesting to see the outcome.

Fox News is already reduced to playing a clip of George Galloway endorsing Obama. How many Americans have ever even heard of George Galloway? That is how desperate the War Party is to get out its core vote now that its real preferred candidate is out of the race.

In other words, they know it's all over, but they want to make it look like it was ever a proper contest.

Verity

Donna, if you don't have anything unpredictable to say, don't parrot the predictable because no one reads boilerplate. Save yourself time.

And what you "truly believe" is of absolutely no consequence. I must say, I truly enjoy Charles Johnson's Little Green Footballs. A most engaging and entertaining blog with some very witty commenters.

TedH - What quote? Can you put up the link?

ndm - Andrew Sullivan asks "What happened to her!" Wow! Pot. Kettle. Sullivan used to be a lucid, engaging writer on the right and then he got derailed by gay marriage, gay marriage, gay marriage, blah blah blah and when he eventually emerged from the tunnel a couple of years later, he had morphed into a lefty. What happened to him?

Ray, I was wondering why the fundamentalist atheists hadn't come swooping in. Thanks for putting an end to the anticipation. It was making me nervous.

ndm

Verity -

It is ludicrous to describe Andrew Sullivan as a "lefty." Furthermore, your criticism of his support for "gay marriage, an issue on which he wrote the book, indicates you may have some issues with gay people - get over it.

Andrew Sullivan is a conservative writer distressed by the Republican Party's abandonment of conservatism. Furthermore he writes for two centrist/center-right publications, The Atlantic Monthly and The Sunday Times. Of course, since you are enthused by the wingnut la-la land of Little Green Footballs I'm not surprised you might consider anyone to the left of Mussolini to be a "lefty."

elizabeth

um, and we're to believe what DANIEL PIPES says? 'Cause he's uh, oh so rational and mainstream?

Ok. I'm a believer now.

elizabeth

actually, Obama was raised as an athiest. He went to a public school in Indonesia -- all public schools in indonesia are muslim.

ALso, it has been refuted by Muslim scholars that having a Muslim father he met briefly a coupla times does not make Obama a Muslim.

Although being born to a Jewish mother means you will never be anything but a Jew according to the Jews. But just because the Jews say so, does it make it so? Just because Muslims say that Obama is still a Muslim because the father he didn't know was one doesn't mean that all of a sudden, Obama is an evil subversive jihadist. What if he chooses not to be a Muslim? Is he genetically bound to be a scary jihadist? This is the most ridiculous argument I've ever heard.

Ted H.

Following up on my comment of 6:12 pm above, thanks for the correction in your update (which appeared since I left that comment).

Michael B

It's as if the political version of agoraphobia has set in. Get out into the wider world, folks. Questions will be asked. It's perfectly reasonable to do so. Perfectly. Reasonable. Even for the sainted nominee in question.

Even if the questions being asked result in the discovery that Obama has never attended a service in a Mosque, with any relative or as an individual, but instead results in the likelihood or the additional question that he retains some sympathies that other voters might want to consider, that is ok too. Yes, it is.

Asking questions is not tantamount to a smear. It wasn't with the current President, it wasn't with former candidates, it isn't for Obama either. Further, if language such as "virulent" is going to be applied, it should have some backing, some support. Smears can work in both directions, and that's the other factor at play here.

Besides, there's plenty of time to answer the questions in the negative, if that's what the answer in fact should be. More than enough time.

Xofis

And here I thought yellow journalism began and ended with the NYC rags.

Harvey

This is so bonkers I can only assume that April Fool's Day has come late this year. So glad the tradition of spoof journalism is alive and well and well done to all commenters for entering into the spirit of things...

Richard

Very interesting...
Thank you, Melanie.

Sarcastro

LGF, Pipes and Atlas Shrugged are your sources?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Adam

This is pathetic. You guys know that his Mom (who raised him) was agnostic, his parents (who also raised him) were Christian, and his father (who was not involved in raising him) was an atheist, who had been raised by Muslims.

And for this, Obama is a secret-Muslim? Holy crap, people.

alan143

Wonderful work Melanie, you’re our heroine!

There is one important point about Jeremiah Wright which seems to have been overlooked by the media. Christians who have read or heard his words know with absolute certainty that the man is NOT Christian. Therefore, Obama has NOT converted to Christianity.

Wright’s claim to be a Christian preacher is as appalling as if he claimed to be a devout Rabbi. Idiotic, and deeply offensive to true believers. I know the MSM and atheists enjoy holding uniformly rancid opinions about Christians nowadays, but this inability to empathize amounts to a staggering blindness to the truth.

If we really listen to Wright we hear: anti-Semitism, lies, domineering racist hatred, an obsession with damnation and hellfire, rotten little conspiracy theories and his undying love for the Nation of Islam. Can this torrent of poison leave any doubt (to a Christian) that Jeremiah Wright is a wolf in sheep’s clothing? – and a covert Muslim judging by the tenets I just listed? This might explain why 13% of Americans say that Obama is a covert Muslim too: because it’s so obvious!

To the MSM, Obama’s lies are probably just routine fodder, but it really matters to voters who trust scripture like this: http://www.bibleprobe.org/rev13.html

A final point from that chapter: “he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” Would that be the sword that beheadeth in so many video clips today?..

Neil B.

I'm not sure whether Obama was really a practicing Muslim as an adult, which would show genuine willful commitment. But in any case, Christians are supposed to revere converts to their faith above those who just had it easy, growing up with Christian faith drummed into them as impressionable children. Obama did become a Christian (however a raised eyebrow one might have about the particulars), so that means he made an adult choice for that faith. Christians should think all the better of him for it.

tyrannogenius

Jonathan

Melanie, irrespective of whom one supports for US president, this article is objectively piss-poor from the standpoint of reportage.

Intrigued by the links you provided, I went and read all of them, including Pipes' "article," and having read them, I am hard-pressed to come to any conclusion other than that you must not have read them. Because they do not support your article.

Pipes' article is absolutely the weakest sauce I've read in years. He makes a show of it, but he is at least intellectually honest enough to allow the facts to substantiate that the MMfA critique essentially vitiates his argument. There is nothing left standing to substantiate that Obama was a practicing Muslim in any but the most superficial, culturally accommodationist sense of the term.

What's worse, you reiterate the canard that Obama is an "apostate" from islam, when this silliness was dealt with almost a month ago by an Islamic expert (in both senses of the term):

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-eteraz/obama-islam-smear-changes_b_101337.html

If you're going to raise questions, that's fine. But before you do, please make sure they're really questions, instead of "questions," of the type that enables the degraded, smear-fueled politics that has blighted the US for the past 20 years.

Truthiness

I urge people to follow the link to American ExPat in Indonesia. You will see that this author is referencing misquotes and misquoting misquotes, and generally making quite a mess. For example, here is just one quote from Expat: "I can't stand it, you misquoted these two classmates over and over again. Barack Obama did not lie about his past. Please study my comments below very carefully.

Firstly, Emir said that he has not contacted Barry at all since he returned to the US (at age 10), so there is no way for him to know that Barack "converted" to Christianity when he married Michelle. Also, it was not Emir who made this statement. The statement that "Obama changed his religion when he married Michelle" is made solely by the writer of the article (probably from inference from the fact that he was a Muslim then and a Christian now). It is NOT a direct quote from Emir.

The detiknet article had a quote from Rony who said that "they often asked Barack to come with them to the musholla (prayer room). He looks funny wearing a sarong". This means that as children Barack's friends often took him along to the musholla. This is very different from saying that Barry himself is a devout Muslim.

Your quote that Barry was "previously quite religious in Islam" is not found anywhere in the article. You have misquoted both men badly. You also quoted Emir as saying "All the relatives of Barry's father were very devout Muslims". Again he has said no such thing. It was only the writer of the article said that "all of Barry's father's siblings are muslims." That's it, full stop. This is information that we already know. You have manufactured and inserted the words "very devout", out of thin air.

Your assertions that Emir said that there was "a very religious 'Barry Soetoro', one that was well versed in Islam and liked to recite his prayers" is false and again not stated anywhere in the article.

Please explain why you are doing this? I am currently assuming good faith in that you either misunderstood the articles or had someone translate the articles for you incorrectly.

Regarding why Obama was registered as a Muslim, please see my further comments below.

I am an Indonesian so I have firsthand knowledge of Indonesian public schools. Let us examine the facts. Senator Obama's father was a Kenyan Muslim, although in practice he is an Atheist. His Indonesian stepfather was a Muslim who practiced a moderate brand of Islam common among Indonesians. This is true and Senator Obama himself has pointed this out in his autobiography. While he was six, in Indonesia, being the son of a Muslim stepfather, it was quite likely that his official registered religion would be Islam. This is why, as an Associated Press article pointed out, Senator Obama's religion in the school records as a child in Indonesia was Islam. There is nothing wrong with this.

Indonesia is a secular nation, but not secular in the sense of complete separation of religion and state as in the US. So in essence you have to pick a religion when filling in forms to enter the school. I have to remind you not to get the wrong impression here. This does not mean that students in Indonesia are forced to be religious. It is just that Indonesians are a religious people, and the accepted practice is that religion should be taught in public schools. Remember that in all public schools in Indonesia, religion is taught (twice a week) to the students, according to his/her own religion , this includes Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. For the Christian classes, a priest may actually be called on to teach. Since Senator Obama registered as a Muslim, it is also likely that he attended the Islamic classes and was taught basic Islamic teachings, prayers, etc. Again, there is nothing wrong with this and this possibility should be openly acknowledged. Obama's former classmates assertions that Obama prayed and went to the Mosque was also most probably true, because he was living in a Muslim environment, both in school and with his stepfather at home. Remember that he was only six years old, a child at the time. And before that he also attended a Catholic school, where he would probably studied the cathecism.

There is no way that Indonesian teachers at the school would teach six year old students to hate the west or hate people of other religions. Since he was only six, doubtless he has forgotten most, if not all, of the things that was taught in his religion class. However, this experience would still be positive for him because it exposed him to a welcoming environment of Muslim kids who are his friends and classmates. This would allow him, on a personal basis, to be more tolerant and understanding toward Muslims around the world.

To summarize, Senator Obama was raised in a non-religious household and is now a committed and practicing Christian. There is no reason to believe that he was ever a devout muslim as an adult, or that his becoming a practicing Christian is insincere or calculated. He was baptized long before he entered politics, even before entering the state senate.

After returning to Hawaii at age 10 he was raised by his mother and grandparents, none of whom are Muslim. It would be a stretch to think that young Barry would stick to his Muslim teachings during that period. He does have Muslim ties as explained above, in addition to an international experience that not many people can claim. All of this should magnify people's estimation of him, not diminish it. I myself am a Catholic born and raised in Indonesia, and my outlook towards Muslims is very different from that of many Americans. To me they are simply friends and family."

Markus

At least Melanie comes clean about her Jewish roots, if that's possible, even if she pretends that that doesn't render her completely and blatantly biased towards the zionist cause to the total detriment and, if necessary, suffering and for example dragging into unnecessary conflicts of others who she doesn't give two hoots about (obviously the pals but also in actual fact the Brits, US and any 'useful idiots' she and people like her can attempt to manipulate).

Thinkster

In a rare break with tradition, I am going to risk saying that while some of these worries about Obama may be spot on, if he even starts to take any action that appears in the eyes of concerned (and powerful) Americans to threaten common sense and robustness when it comes to national security, Obama will not be allowed to get away with it. In other words, the only person who will suffer if this situation arises will be Mr. President. We were able to toy with Russia, but recent history has proven that we cannot toy with the new threat. For it is too volatile.

Verity

Pete Hoskins, one of my posts - of which I did not keep a copy - has been sucked into cyberspace and beyond! Can you find it or do I have to reconstruct it? (I can't plough through all the other Speccie blogs to find your email address again. Was it phoskins@ or was it p.hoskins or peterhoskins ... I'm sorry. I'll make a note next time.

Harvey, I always enjoy those "I thought April Fool's Day must have come round early" posts. It's such an amusing and ironic thought that it is definitely worth one or two mentions a day on various blogs - especially as everyone who writes it does so with an air of ironic revelation.

fleety3000

Also I think that seein though the Spectator usually gets such so little comments on its articles you saw this cheap shot as a rather easy way to garner some attention and prove your worth.what is the question is wheter the article is merely a bit of provication or just another example of your knee jerk xenaphobia.

Theron

Some major nuts here, including Ms. Phillips. Hope you folks remember to take your meds.

Jonathan

Markus wrote:
"At least Melanie comes clean about her Jewish roots, if that's possible, even if she pretends that that doesn't render her completely and blatantly biased..."

Markus, sod off. That is not a critique of this article. It is you being a bigoted idiot, full stop.

Bob

My condolences to each of you who believe tgis tripe. In your minds, we will be led by a Muslim as the President.

C Johnson

Mel's afraid of the Warrior Princess! ("xenaphobia")

Obama's pattern is to deny, issue personal attacks, then quietly retract and say it was never a big deal i