Princess Obama Derangement Syndrome
My oh my, what a firestorm I appear to have started with my remarks two days ago on Obama’s background! It was wholly expected, of course, but nevertheless the posters’ comments are so revealing. They graphically illustrate the way in which Obamania has quite obviously destroyed the capacity for reason.
First, it is quite clear that any questioning at all of Obama’s background is entirely off-limits. Next, the posters fail totally to grasp that the real point isn’t what faith he professed or was brought up in as a child – it is the fact that he has not told the truth about his early background. Then, some even compare such questioning with the ‘truthers’ who allege that 9/11 was perpetrated by a conspiracy between America and Israel. They thus demonstrate that they cannot tell the difference between rationality and lunacy, evidence and fantasy, failing to grasp that the sole reason for the questions about Obama is the many discrepancies in the accounts of his early life -- including his own accounts -- plus his many questionable associations.
Ignoring all this substantive evidence and the legitimate questions to which it gives rise (can you imagine how they would be slavering about all this were Obama a Republican candidate??) they instead hurl insults at both me and my sources such as Daniel Pipes – a fine and authoritative scholar (and who has also exposed those who claim he has peddled falsehoods as themselves peddling falsehoods) whose own observations about Obama’s background are clearly and reliably sourced and are couched in Pipes’s characteristically cautious manner -- and then annouce that they have won the argument hands-down!
Oh dear. America really does have a problem here. Looks like what I wrote months ago, that the Obama phenomenon might mean the Americans too are succumbing to Princess Diana Derangement Syndrome, was a serious understatement.
To address a few specific points which have come up and which are not merely hysterical abuse. First, it’s been pointed out that Robert Spencer has said Islam does not mandate the death sentence for children who become apostates, a point subsequently acknowledged by Daniel Pipes. I don’t see, however, that this alters anything. The death sentence is mandated for adults who renounce Islam. The fact that all that is known about Obama’s Muslim roots relates – as I wrote -- to his early childhood is irrelevant. For as Spencer also notes, the real question is therefore when Obama converted to Christianity. By his own account, he did so when he was received by Pastor Wright into the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago some twenty years ago (although at other times he has also said he was ‘always a Christian’). In which case Pipes’s argument remains absolutely salient.
As for the ‘Islamic experts’ who poured cold water on a similar argument by Edward Luttwak in the New York Times -- who are hailed as Voices of Absolute Truth by my more excitable commenters despite the fact that they know zilch about them -- these prove nothing other than the existence of commentators who sanitise Islam.
Those who still insist that Obama was never brought up as a Muslim ignore the numerous reports of his Islamic education as a young child -- including his own statements, as in this deeply respectful article in the New York Times by Nicholas Kristof:
He once got in trouble for making faces during Koran study classes in his elementary school, but a president is less likely to stereotype Muslims as fanatics — and more likely to be aware of their nationalism — if he once studied the Koran with them. Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as ‘one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.’
Next, the assertion that Obama and Raila Odinga are not cousins – by a poster who says he is a Kenyan and therefore knows about such things. Well, one might think that Raila Odinga himself might have a rather better claim to know. This is what the Telegraph reported:
Kenya's defeated presidential challenger Raila Odinga has claimed to be a cousin of Barack Obama and said that they had discussed his country's post-election violence. Mr Odinga, 63, said that the US senator's father, from western Kenya's Luo tribe, was his maternal uncle... Mr Obama has not commented on the Kenyan opposition leader’s claim to be a relative.
As I have already said -- but let me repeat very slowly for those suffering from Princess Obama Derangement Syndrome – the concerns about Obama’s Muslim antecedents arise from the fact that a) he has tried to conceal them and b) that he has a puzzling number of indirect connections with radical Islamists or their supporters.
1) He has gone out of his way to support in Kenya Raila Odinga, head of the Luo tribe, who promised to introduce sharia law if elected. Obama interrupted his New Hampshire campaign to speak by phone with Odinga. As the Investor’s Business Daily has reported, his half-brother Abongo ‘Roy’ Obama is a Luo activist in Kenya and a militant Muslim who argues that the black man must ‘liberate himself from the poisoning influences of European culture’ and urges Barack to embrace his African Muslim heritage.
Barack Obama has said he disagrees with his brother. But as the IBD has also reported:
In 1991, when Obama joined the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, he pledged allegiance to something called the Black Value System, which is a code of non-Biblical ethics written by blacks, for blacks. It encourages blacks to group together and separate from the larger American society by pooling their money, patronizing black-only businesses and backing black leaders. Such racial separatism is strangely at odds with the media's portrayal of Obama as a uniter who reaches across races. The code also warns blacks to avoid the white ‘entrapment of black middle-classness,’ suggesting that settling for that kind of ‘competitive’ success will rob blacks of their African identity and keep them ‘captive’ to white culture.
2) His mentor, the black power-supporting Christian pastor Jeremiah Wright, is a close associate of Louis Farrakhan, the demagogue leader of the black power, Jew-hating militant organisation Nation of Islam. A number of Obama’s own staffers have been members of the Nation of Islam.
3) Tony Rezko, who was recently convicted of fraud, money laundering and bribery conspiracy, has been a major supporter of Obama and contributor to his cause – the full extent of which Obama tried to conceal. The Chicago Sun-Times reported:
During his 12 years in politics, Sen. Barack Obama has received nearly three times more campaign cash from indicted businessman Tony Rezko and his associates than he has publicly acknowledged, the Chicago Sun-Times has found. Obama has collected at least $168,308 from Rezko and his circle. Obama also has taken in an unknown amount of money from people who attended fund-raising events hosted by Rezko since the mid-1990s.
He also did a land deal with Rezko in 2005, buying land from him to enlarge his own adjoining house at what has been reported to be a discount -- a transaction Obama has subsequently called ‘bone-headed’. In a further twist, as the Times reported earlier this year, a British-Iraqi billionaire, Nadhmi Auchi, who is said to have had connections with Saddam Hussein and who was convicted for corruption in France, lent millions of dollars to Rezko just weeks before that ‘bone-headed’ land deal.
But what has received far less attention is Rezko’s connections with the Nation of Islam. Reszko, born in Syria, was a business associate of Jabir Herbert Muhammad, the son of the founder of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad, serving as a vice president and general manager of JHM’s firm Crucial Inc. And finally, Rezko was bailed from jail by Ali Baghdadi, the ‘Middle East adviser’ to the Nation of Islam.
Who know what all this adds up to? But isn’t it rather important that someone finds out before November?
To repeat once again for sufferers from PODS: the issue is NOT Obama’s religion, now or in the past. It is the many questions which need to be answered about a) why he has sought to conceal his early background; b) why he has so many indirect associations with radical Islamism; and c) whether these two questions are in some way related.
Anyone who doesn’t think all this cries out for proper investigation is either a fool or a knave.
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Michael B
June 13th, 2008 12:43amWell done. Hear, hear. Some particularly noteworthy passages here, particularly revealing of the comic and tragi-comic theatricality exhibited by our would-be moral exemplars.
field
June 13th, 2008 12:43amI think I'd certainly want to know about the birth certificate - is he really denying access to that?
Secondly I'd like to know exactly how he was received into Jeremiah Wright's "Church".
The Church's similarities and connections with the Nation of Islam are puzzling to say the least. "Entryism" and the creation of front organisations are of course well established ploys in all forms of human organisation. Not to say this is the case, but one can ask why JW is on such good terms with Nation of Islam and what Obama's role in the Church was. Was he a simple member of the congregation or something more?
eric
June 13th, 2008 1:08amfirst and foremost, you are not african,if you were,you would understand that being one's cousin or uncle is not the same as in the west. obviously,you are not an anthropologist neither. Good luck in your indeavors.
Lee Jakeman
June 13th, 2008 1:38amYou sometimes get the impression that Obama is DESTINED to become the first black president of the United States. The problem with DESTINY is that no-one can ever argue against it. Of course, if Obama screws up big time, then that will be our DESTINY too. Let us pray ....
Bobby
June 13th, 2008 1:50amThere is about the same number of Muslims and Christians in the World; they are similarly rich, influential, connected. Saying a major political figure has two-degree connexions with radical Islamists is. . . obvious.
Bush has two-degree relations with Hilter, Osama bien Laden and probably worst.
Al Ramy
June 13th, 2008 2:06amBravo, you and Ms. Anne Kyle Shiver, of NRO/American Thinker
sample: http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/06/obama_black_liberation_theolog_2.html, though many more can be checked in the A.T archives) are two brave women who do not buy the pathetic lies, denials & flip flops of Mr. BHO. Just like the previous wet pretender JF Kerry, his entire quest is based on the hope that the public will figure what a fraud he is. We dodged a big one with that gigolo (JFK, specializes in older rich women) but now we face this Bolshevik retread. Sadly the entire U.S media with few rare exceptions, mainly on the web, tell it like it is. Keep it going because the deafening sounds of the tickled chorus of so called American journalists is deafening, they are utterly beside themselves, this also goes for the entire EU press.
BA
June 13th, 2008 2:14amYou wrote: Anyone who doesn’t think all this cries out for proper investigation is either a fool or a knave.
This is one of the better articles I've read on this topic, and I fully agree with your conclusion.
Thank you.
Bill M
June 13th, 2008 2:41amI hope you understand that most of the American press suffers from PODS. I can't wait to read the responses from more PODS sufferers. Their contorted, twisted reasoning makes them better candidates for performers at Cirque du Soleil than engaging in rational debate.
Kris from U.S.
June 13th, 2008 4:21amMelanie -you go, girl! I went through the comments from the other day fairly quickly. You have hit the nail on the head as re: Obama. It's nice to read such clear-headed thinking. Thank you.
Mike Higgins
June 13th, 2008 4:28amConfusing rhetoric for values blinds you to hypocrisy. 2Titus 4:3-4
Citizen Mike, USA
Yitzy
June 13th, 2008 4:36amRight on!
deranged
June 13th, 2008 5:01amyou'll probably accuse me of "obama derangement" as well, but come on, if this were true, why can't you find any reliable sources? Daniel Pipes? LGF? Some random expat blogger?
Fat Man
June 13th, 2008 5:16amWhy would Muslims want to kill Obama for being an apostate before he has a chance to surrender to them?
James C
June 13th, 2008 5:41amMs Philips as usual, you are spot on. I am very worried about Obama. And so should you be America. He is a trojan Horse.
ajmalkov
June 13th, 2008 5:46amMel, re the Rezco land deal:
You have it almost right. Obama wasn't just trying to "enlarge" his own property. The seller insisted upon selling the house and neighboring parcel at once for about $2.9 million, and the Obamas couldn't afford the package. So in order for Obama to be able to buy the house at all, "Mrs. Rezco" bought the parcel at market price ($625K), while Obama got the house for $300,000 below the asking price ($1.65m). Later the Obamas bought part of the parcel from Mrs. Rezco to enlarge their yard. They paid $30,000 above market price for it.
Basically, the Rezkos' investment enabled the Obamas to get a sweet deal on their house and the yard of their dreams.
All this while it was well known even to people outside the Rezco-Obama circle that Rezco was being investigated by the federal government for fraud. The fact that Rezko was a political fixer currying favor with Obama did not seem to occur to him until recently, after a 20-year friendship.
By the way, I thought the Obamas were supposed to reject middle-classness. Has anyone seen the house on Google? It's HUGE.
Dwayne Felder
June 13th, 2008 6:09amDear Miss Phillips:
Please know that I am one of your readers, who consider your writings to be a refreshing breeze of truth.
Jen06
June 13th, 2008 6:18amBorrowing a comment I read about this article: There is nothing so refreshing as a clear mind expressing itself in clear, well-modulated prose.
(Thanks, buzzsawmonkey)
Holly Moffat
June 13th, 2008 6:21amThank you!! Sad I had to go to England to get the truth.. huh?
Please keep on it.. as we know that Obama is a the great "Deceiver".
Commondog
June 13th, 2008 6:41amI must admit that the Obama phenomenon is one about which I need to know more, and I have therefore read with interest, and without comment, the reactions to MP's former postings.
Thank goodness this commentator is providing such evidence (yet again) as helps people like myself to form an opinion broader than the current bout of - what could reasonably be called - courtship between Mr Obama and the British public; the media acting as matchmaker.
Mladen Andrijasevic
June 13th, 2008 6:58amIt is indeed quite extraordinary that the candidate for the president of the United States is lying about his Muslim past and that nobody is taking him to task. Melanie is quite correct in emphasizing that the crux of the problem is Obama’s CONCEALMENT of the fact that he WAS once a Muslim. Not only that, he is trying to confuse the issue by claiming that many are saying that he is a Muslim NOW, which is not the point people are making. In short :1) There is enough evidence proving that Obama was a Muslim in his childhood and he is still trying to conceal that fact. 2) Why is the mainstream media not questioning this concealment?
George
June 13th, 2008 7:23amSo why isn't McCain making a big fuss of the fact that Obama has lied? Is it because lying is not such a big deal anymore?
Ian C
June 13th, 2008 7:34amAnother 158 'comments' by lunchtime...........?
CK
June 13th, 2008 7:39amOr rather, Melanie Phillips Derangement Syndrome.
Roger Cotton
June 13th, 2008 7:44amBravo! Well-documented and reasoned.
Not all of us in America have fallen stupid under the spell of the Obamessiah. In fact, I am deeply offended that some obstensibly compare him to Christ!
All blasphemy and idiotic analogies aside, it is apparent that the Liberals in our Media and Government have manipulated his nomination.
For that, I do not consider these subversives "Americans." To seek to economically destroy this nation, and to impose freedom-restricting Socialist policy is NOT American.
The Obamites may succeed in getting thie empty-suit elected, but the true Silent Majority of patriotic Americans will ultimately rise up and confront those who would deign to lord over We the People.
It is my hope such a thing never needs to happen. But, Americans, once pushed too far, push bash farther.
Irf
June 13th, 2008 7:45amMel, you really have gone stark raving mad. When you quote morons like Robert Spencer and Daniel Pipes, it means you havce effectively joined the looney-far-Right brigade. I pity you.
headless
June 13th, 2008 7:55amWhen I am a small boy, I sometimes go with my father to church. At school I am registered as CofE and I don't opt out of RE. Forty years later I deny I have ever been a practicing christian.
Well no I don't unless I want to be accused by MP of deceiving people.
Pathetic. But look at the Pipes site MP relies on. This is what MP's case against Obama amounts too.
Ron
June 13th, 2008 8:13amIt has been reliably reported that Obama signed up to the "Black Value System" at the Trinity United Church of Christ. It includes the words "Pledge Allegiance to all Black Leadership Who Espouse and Embrace The Black Value
System.". Replace "Black" with "White" and imagine how long a politican who had once signed it would last.
Paulo
June 13th, 2008 8:23amyaa . . come on American journalists -- do your jobs. This kind of thing is what you went to journalism school for, isn't it? Start digging
Michael Asher
June 13th, 2008 8:49amMelanie, we're not all suffering from PODS but this might help fight it:
http://www.affinityfilms.com/Disassociator.jpg
LauraInCali
June 13th, 2008 8:50amI am one of a large group of Democrats who don't have Princess Obama Derangement Syndrome. We will do whatever we possibly can to expose Obama and take back our party. The US media has the POD syndrome Too! Rather sad really. Thanks for your brilliant article. JUST SAY NO DEAL! PUMA POWER BABY!
yochanan
June 13th, 2008 9:12amNO bama
Marwan
June 13th, 2008 9:24amI think the Obama phenomenon is based on mass hope that the possible first black president is'nt the vapid, shifty unprincipled loser he appears to be. Unfortunately I fear that what you see is what you get ; a nullity.
Jonny Mac
June 13th, 2008 9:55amMelanie - I'm sorry, but you're beginning to look disingenuous. At the start of this post you claim that the key issue is and always had been that, on the facts as you believe them, Obama lied, rather than what (you say) he lied about. That certainly didn't come across from your initial post. Later on in the post you move from that position back to your original position of the importance being what (you say) he lied about, and why. You have established no link between his early life and what you say are "indirect associations with radical Islam"; you simply raise the possibility. That, I'm afraid, is a classic smear. I might as well say "I saw Melanie Phillips in the pub last night. That pub is frequented by known drug dealers. What is the nature, if any, of Melanie's relationship with drug dealers? Is she even one herself? I'm not saying she is, but as she's a major journalist who sounds off on moral issues, isn't anyone even going to investigate?" Find out the facts yourself and then present them. Don't just say "who knows what this all adds up to". That's smearing; it's gutter journalism, and it's deeply unworthy of you. (Please note: on other issues I agree with you and have great respect for you. I just think you've got this badly wrong, and it's damaging you.)
Mladen Andrijasevic
June 13th, 2008 10:11amlrf writes: "When you quote morons like Robert Spencer and Daniel Pipes, it means you have effectively joined the loony-far-Right brigade."
This sentence reminds me of the time in 1974 when Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the USSR and thousands of Russians were supporting the decision in meetings in schools and factories without having read any of his books. It is obvious that lrf never read Spencer’s “The Truth about Muhammad” in which Spencer used only Muslim sources, (Ibn Ishaq for example), nor did he read any of his articles on jihadwatch or the Koran blog which is at the moment at Sura 28. Daniel Pipes has the best prediction track record of any analyst I know . He accurately predicted that the Israeli-Syrian negotiations in 1999 would fail, and his analysis of the Oslo peace process proved correct.
It is sad that people in the West in their ignorance and lack of arguments resort to insults
instead of checking the facts. One could understand why Russians behaved the way they did – refusal to join the crowd could mean losing your job or ending in a psychiatric clinic - but how to explain calling other people morons and refusing to access information available at your fingertips?
steve
June 13th, 2008 10:44am"As for the ‘Islamic experts’ who poured cold water on a similar argument by Edward Luttwak in the New York Times -- who are hailed as Voices of Absolute Truth by my more excitable commenters despite the fact that they know zilch about them -- these prove nothing other than the existence of commentators who sanitise Islam."
Talk about a blanket slur on your part. The NY Times public editor approached 5 different Islam experts at 5 different universities all who said Luttwak was out to lunch. Luttwak then produced his own expert who also disagreed with his view. Practice what you preach when it comes to conspiracy theories and irrationality.
Sue
June 13th, 2008 10:45amField: You ask what role Obama has or had in the racist Trunity United Church of Christ: according to his 2006 tax return, made public by his campaign staff, he made a donation of $26,500 to that body.
Yoyo
June 13th, 2008 10:47amOh, Jonny Mac. "I saw Melanie Phillips in the pub last night. That pub is frequented by known drug dealers. What is the nature, if any, of Melanie's relationship with drug dealers?"
What is the parallel between sitting in a room with someone and accepting funding from them and then not revealing the fact that you've accepted money from them, a la Rezko?
Obama did not sit in a room with Raila Odinga, he went all the way to Africa to support this radical Islamist. Why?
Likewise, he didn't sit having chill-out beers with Jeremiah Wright, he hugged him to his bosom. This isn't some casual acquaintance, this was a relationship based on sharing views. They may not be carbon copy views, but Obama clearly had Mr Wright on a pedestal for 20 years - and he was on that pedestal because of his views. Why?
Glenda Slagg
June 13th, 2008 10:48amAh dontcha just love American elections.
On one hand there is the secret service working round the clock trying to keep Obama alive and on the other, a team of elite make-up artists working round the clock to trying to make McCain look like he actually is still alive!
Nick Kaplan
June 13th, 2008 10:52amMelanie; although I have been against Obama due to his empty rhetoric and (to put it mildly) dodgy associates for quite some time, I was thoroughly unconvinced by your last blog on the ‘blogosphere conspiracy.’ However, having read this blog it confirms that this was my mistake in misreading what you were saying. You are completely right and these issues must be investigated to the fullest extent and Obama must explain his own position regarding them.
jbjd
June 13th, 2008 10:56amThis article reminds me of the slogan popular during Watergate: it's the cover-up, stupid! As to PODS... I only hope that, just as they did in the primary, given the facts, and on more rational introspection, the voters will come to their senses and reject the stealth campaign of the DNC to install Senator Obama as the President of the United States, when he is incompetent even to be a part-time state senator from Illinois.
patricia
June 13th, 2008 11:09amYou did what you always do - quote some deranged Zionist conspiratorialist source - in this case the New York Lunatic Daniel Pipe - and make it sound supreme and unassailable.
More objectivity.
Learn to hide those bloodthirsty fangs under your curled up bottom lip a little.
Please.
Charles
June 13th, 2008 11:34am** PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT **
Anyone (British) who wants to know a bit more about how this smearing business works in the USA should check the following link:
www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/berman
fleety3000
June 13th, 2008 11:59amGood Journalism Derangement Syndrome
You could write an equally fuzzy innuendo-laden post about John McCain:
His 5 years in the Hanoi Hilton.
His chief advisor's real links to dictators around the world.
His courting of John 'Catholism is the great whore' Hagee.
But its not worth it really worth it because its much easier to pick huge holes in his actual policies.
David Adams
June 13th, 2008 12:14pmPerhaps Obama is really being set up for a fall; all this mindless adulation by the press and the unwillingness to question anything about him makes me think he's going to be the fall guy when the poop hits the fan.There is just too much expected of him and too many factions pulling on him for this kid to handle without imploding. He is not 'eloquent', he is not smart and if he had any 'vision' he'd get out while the getting is good.
Ken Besig
June 13th, 2008 12:16pmJust yesterday, Barack Obama's other brother, Malik who is also a Moslem, told a reporter that his brother Barack would be able to relate to the international Moslem community because of his own Moslem background. I would think that this would end any controversy about Barack Obama's antecedents.
steve
June 13th, 2008 12:16pmfield: isn't this is birth certificate:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/birthcert
fleety3000
June 13th, 2008 12:20pmYou say 'obamamania has destroyed capacity for reason' yet your post is full of half truth and rumour and shows no reason whatsoever.
You also mention Daniel Pipes 'cautious manner' and he may be a perfectly good scholar but you must mention that he was an advisor to Rudolph Guliani.
Lastly you reiterate your charge that Muslims might want to kill Obama and this seems to be a reason to not vote for him which seems to be extremley cowardly.
Sean Healy
June 13th, 2008 12:27pmOh for goodness sake. You think all the kids going to (Catholic run) State schools in Ireland are de facto Catholics? Because nobody in Ireland thinks that. It is completely unremarkable that someone going to school in Indonesia would have studied the Koran.
Melanie, you're paranoid ranting on this reminds me of those nutters always on the look-out for 'secret Jews'. Lay down the crack pipe, lady.
Augustus
June 13th, 2008 12:51pmI agree that a vote for Obama is quite certain to lead to the mushrooming of all manner of Middle Eastern connected organizations in America who will embark on countless bombing campaigns in the name of Allah and Islamic values. Their footholds in South Africa and other African states are already established, and Obama with his degree in masterly deception would be the prized Trojan Horse for these ventures to succeed. Americans really must be truly nuts to even contemplate wanting such a man under present day conditions.
nadeem afzal
June 13th, 2008 1:11pmDeary deary me Mel, you sound absolute pathetic don't you?
using Daniel Pipes wow he is never wrong!!
Oh beautiful, intelligent Mel are you ever wrong???
PODS- Philips Obviously deranged Syndrome.
QuickRob
June 13th, 2008 1:33pmThis is all very disconcerting.
The fact that many on the American and European left are too busy falling all over themselves in adoration of Obama to actually examine the man, his policies, and his past is very unsettling.
If these people don't even have any interest in learning about their beloved candidate, then democracy is surely not something they are intelligent enough to use to their advantage, but will instead use to their painful disadvantage.
Rick
June 13th, 2008 1:43pmRevelations of Obama's shady business dealings or his connection with radical Islam mean nothing to the lemmings that are blindly following their messiah to that sea of "change you can believe in".
The world's liberal press has orchestrated one of history's more impressive coups. Get the masses hysterical over "global warming" (now "climate change") with predictions of man's extinction and vilify any and all who stand up against Islam's radical millions and poof! - present the world with the next Christ, the next Saviour, the Black Messiah.
Brilliantly done. But can America survive it?
LuAnn Ruse
June 13th, 2008 1:51pmThe democratic party in America is under the assumption that the 18 million people who voted for Sen. Clinton will develop amnesia from now until the November election, then wake up, join hands, and gleefully throw their support to the Obamanation. It will not happen. We've known about Obama's questionable associations for months and the more they are pointed out, the less we hear about it. The main stream media in America, with the exception of FOX News, are on the Obama love train...refusing to vett the man and refusing to vett his associates.
We know better, and most of us will either vote for McCain or not vote at all. Obama, the "uniter", has divided this country.
Obama is so ill-prepared to lead our nation that it is sickening to know there are so many idiots supporting him, especially the democratic elite party elders. It should not be surprising, though, because they can control Obama...something they could not do with Sen. Clinton.
NO OBAMA '08!
Harry
June 13th, 2008 1:55pmWell, some of the Obama supporting commenters have proven your point. They certainly do lack reasoning ability. I'll see if I can not give them a clue to help them along life's pathway.
First, it is not the person who says something that matters, it is the idea. Is it true or not? This is where you look at the facts. I see people rejecting what some people say because their saying it makes it propaganda. That is nothing but an ad hominem attack, which of course is completely worthless. What about people who propagandize for the truth? Oh, I forget. You people don't believe in any truth ever. More evidence of your lack of reasoning ability.
Second, logic depends on the ability to understand the association between ideas. i get the distinct impression that some here are incapable of comprehending a reasonable line of thought. This involves logic and reading comprehension. Actually reading a book might help.
Third, some people suggest that a wonderful practice is actually thinking about what you want to say before you say it. Something along the lines of Better to be thought a fool than opening your mouth and proving it.
David Appletree
June 13th, 2008 1:56pm"To repeat once again for sufferers from PODS: the issue is NOT Obama’s religion, now or in the past. It is the many questions which need to be answered about a) why he has sought to conceal his early background; b) why he has so many indirect associations with radical Islamism; and c) whether these two questions are in some way related.
Anyone who doesn’t think all this cries out for proper investigation is either a fool or a knave."
-well stated and TRUE.
Galus, USA
The JIDF.org
Leona
June 13th, 2008 2:12pmSean Healy, I don’t know what sort of school you went to. Whatever sort it was, you didn’t learn how to comprehend, did you?
This isn’t about being de facto anything.
It’s about being less than truthful about your past and why that is.
Jeff
June 13th, 2008 2:29pmAccording to Obama supporters, there is something wrong with being a Muslim.
JDW
June 13th, 2008 2:42pmMelanie, I wonder why you even bother. The Obrainwashed can't be convinced of anything. Obama's as pure and disturbing example of a cult of personality if their ever was one. Leftists always march in group-think, lock step. What's worse is that Obama will win by default because McCain is just really an awful, terrible, lousy, unloved candidate.
Verity
June 13th, 2008 2:45pm2:42 pm Patricia - If I came into your house and started instructing you on your demeanour, you'd think I was either very coarse or very bonkers. This blog is the private property of Melanie Phillips and she is free to concuct it as she chooses.
Equally, you are free not to frequent it.
Bobby, no there aren't around the same number of Christians and Muslims in the world. Islam has around 1.5bn and Christianity in excess of 2bn- some hundreds of millions more in other words.
Eric says: "you are not african,if you were,you would understand being one's cousin or uncle is not the same as in the west". So tell us, Eric, how do they define "maternal uncle" over there in Africa?
Nelson
June 13th, 2008 2:46pmBarack Obama, a mile wide and an inch deep. Yet, the American media won't even dig that deep. It amazes that the media refuses to see the things that are as glaring as Las Vegas at night.
Kyle
June 13th, 2008 3:28pmWhile I agree that all candidates' pasts should be investigated properly, I have doubts as to whether any such action could be undertaken in our society of right-wing bigots and hype-peddlers. I can understand his reticence to discuss religion when almost half of America, it seems, is already convinced that he's some sort of Muslim Manchurian candidate. Do you want the truth on all sides, or do you only really care about finding new gossip to share with Republican friends?
Can I imagine how "they" would be slavering about "all this" were Obama a Republican candidate? Ignoring the fact that Republicans scarcely seem capable of nominating anybody who has even MET a Muslim (Saudi oil barons notwithstanding), yes, I can imagine what would happen: the whole thing would be promptly ignored. Who in America knows about the Keating Five scandal? Who knows that McCain dumped his disfigured first wife to marry a rich, attractive, politically-connected new one? Who is willing to discuss the outright danger of electing a president possibly suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder? Or the fact that he is rapidly dismantling whatever "maverick" traits he ever had to pander to the Right and fall into step with Bush?
Furthermore, this article and its broader argument ignore one other little aspect of a candidate: his plans for the future. Obama's handling of his race, the tone he is setting, and his planned policies are better than McCain's in every way.
I realize this article doesn't explicitly endorse McCain, but in a two-man race it tacitly does so. A McCain win would be disastrous for the world.
Joseph
June 13th, 2008 3:33pmI love how people think they make a brilliant point when they simply accuse Melanie or the people she sources as being the "far right" or "Zionist" or my favorite, "Zionist New Yorker." And then accuse Melanie of being hateful.
You sophisticated Europeans you! Just keep telling yourself that you have nothing in common with the anti-free market, anti-American, anti-Jewish European Fascists of the Early Twentieth Century.
Adina Kutnicki
June 13th, 2008 3:34pmThe only part I was unaware of is Rezko's Syrian/Nation of Islam roots, and Obama's staffers being part of the anti-white/anti-semitic Nation of Islam.
Talk about smoking guns! If there were ever a reason to suspect a Manchuerian Candidate this is it.
Isn't it noteworthy that everywhere you turn an Islamist connection surfaces around the corner? By the way, those who wish the US to disintegrate, and those who hate the Jews, are foaming at the mouth to see him elected.Hmmm. Others who support him are also very uninformed as to the above. Surely it is our duty to demask OBAMAMANIA!
raymond joseph douglas
June 13th, 2008 3:52pmOur media and our liberal-left,are desperate for a Obama Presidency.They think such a victory will make the muslim world like us.They are wrong.They will only accept us when we adopt their religion and not before!
vwman
June 13th, 2008 3:55pmAs far as the Obama background, I feel he has never left the muslim roots as illistrated by the type of "christianity" that has been revealled at Trinity, Pastor Wright specifically.
Joseph
June 13th, 2008 4:02pmKyle,
All you do is hurl insults at Republicans. Melanie, and "the Republicans and Right-wing bigots" aren't saying he's a Muslim Manchurian candidate. That's just a typically dishonest leftist tactic to avoid any honest debate with people they disagree with by simplifying their positions and calling them names.
Melanie is simply pointing out the fact that Obama continues to lie and misrepresent himself. That's a perfectly legitimate discussion to have during a presidential race.
Difference in policies are also a legitimate debate.
Obama wants to pursue the failed policies of the European Left. McCain isn't that great either, that's for sure.
But just because you believe in total state control of people's lives, don't tell yourself you are automatically on a higher plain than people who disagree with you.
It is Obama who is surrounded by racists. Real racists. That's who you support. So before you call anyone else a bigot, look in the mirror.
London Calling
June 13th, 2008 4:03pmA firestorm indeed, or was that the intention?
Revealing? indeed it was.
‘And questioning at all of Obama’s background is entirely off-limits?’
No, it was fairly debated and was on and over the Limit.
But based on vicious bloggers and smokes his pipe accusations,
the bottom line is......
This is still Propaganda based on whether Obama was a Muslim,
whether Obama Lied, whether Obama will make a good President
and whilst these maybe important questions that need answering, the witch hunt lynch mob rhetoric has –revealed- just how dangerous rumours and speculation fires up into a frenzy of public Trial without the accused present, yet the defence steaming ahead regardless.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 (New International Version)
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Oh Yes, a Firestorm indeed …that of which evolved swiftly into a mirage of delusion…
London Calling
June 13th, 2008 4:03pmA firestorm indeed, or was that the intention?
Revealing? indeed it was.
‘And questioning at all of Obama’s background is entirely off-limits?’
No, it was fairly debated and was on and over the Limit.
But based on vicious bloggers and smokes his pipe accusations,
the bottom line is......
This is still Propaganda based on whether Obama was a Muslim,
whether Obama Lied, whether Obama will make a good President
and whilst these maybe important questions that need answering, the witch hunt lynch mob rhetoric has –revealed- just how dangerous rumours and speculation fires up into a frenzy of public Trial without the accused present, yet the defence steaming ahead regardless.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 (New International Version)
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Oh Yes, a Firestorm indeed…that of which evolved swiftly into a mirage of delusion…
Verity
June 13th, 2008 4:09pm4:09 pm Well said, Joseph 4:02!
Charles
June 13th, 2008 4:11pmJoseph says: "You sophisticated Europeans you! Just keep telling yourself that you have nothing in common with the anti-free market, anti-American, anti-Jewish European Fascists of the Early Twentieth Century."
Our answer: Well we certainly have less in common with them than Prescott Bush did - go Google.
Carol
June 13th, 2008 4:15pmCharles posted something about a "smear". How is telling the whole truth a smear?
His attachment to communists and the NOI should be a deal breaker.
Red Ruffansore
June 13th, 2008 4:18pmMelanie, you give me hope that Europe will see through this charlatan. I see no hope here though, the alphabet soup press here is in the tank for the ObaMessiah and will tolerate no unkind thoughts of our saviour. Just his utter lack of experience at anything other than writing a book should give one pause, looking at his history ought to make a rational person run the other direction screaming. I don't profess to care for McCain in any fashion but good grief, it's a no-brainer, Obama is a disaster on any given policy that comes to mind. I'm sure the DNC thinks they'll slip the bridle on after the coronation but once he has the crown on his head, Obama will auger this countries economy into the ground faster than a plane flown by terrorists.
RV
June 13th, 2008 4:18pmI thought I would focus on the Kenyan connection.
Melanie says:
The concerns about Obama’s Muslim antecedents arise from the fact that a) he has tried to conceal them.
Could we please have some evidence of this? Most of the evidence seems to come from Obama's own writings about his childhood.
MP then goes on to say:
b) that he has a puzzling number of indirect connections with radical Islamists or their supporters.
The 1st example MP mentions is Raila Odinga:
1) He has gone out of his way to support in Kenya Raila Odinga, head of the Luo tribe, who promised to introduce sharia law if elected.
According to Wikipedia Raila Odinga is of the Anglican faith[24]. He was accuused by his opponents of promising to introduce sharia law for Muslims if elected. This is something both he and Kenyan Muslim leaders have denied.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7115387.stm
There also seems to some confusion over whether they are cousins as we would think of it. Obama's father is supposed to be the brother of Raila Odinga's mother. But according to this site (if I am reading it correctly) Barack Snr had two sisters called Sarah and Auma:
http://genealogy.about.com/od/aframertrees/p/barack_obama.htm
Whereas Raila's mother is called Mary Juma:
http://www.jaluo.com/wangwach/200710/Leo_Odera_Omolo102507d.html
I think they maybe cousins in the sense that they are part of the same clan or very extended family. They clearly know each other but I'm also not clear in what way Obama he has gone out of his way to support him. Is this the phone call? The closest I can get is various accounts of Obama's 2006 trip to Kenya mentioned on anti-obama websites.
Here is a 2006 report on that trip to Kenya:
Obama's Criticism Irks Kenyan Government
Government Says Obama Is A Stooge For Political Opposition
by Mike Flannery
(CBS) There are signs of tension between Sen. Barack Obama and African leaders. On Monday, Obama stepped up his criticism of government corruption in Kenya.
But as CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, the government fired back, saying Obama is a stooge for an opposing political party.
A surprise raid that seized and burned copies of Kenya's oldest newspaper, The Standard, still prompts journalists there to call last March 2 the darkest day in the more than 100 years they've been publishing.
"For us as an institution, I think it was the lowest point in the history of this newspaper," News Editor Douglas Okwatch said.
It was because of that raid that Sen. Barack Obama went to the Standard's offices. He declared that democracy can't work without freedom of the press and freedom of information.
"It is not just a loss for the Standard. It's a loss for the people of Kenya. So my hope is that this is one episode that won't be repeated," Obama said.
At the University of Nairobi two hours later, the senator offered more pointed criticism, something he's done almost every day since arriving last week. After remaining largely silent, the government of President Mwai Kibaki is beginning to respond, suggesting that Obama may have fallen under the spell of opposition leader Raila Odinga.
A potential presidential candidate himself, Odinga's been at Obama's elbow here fairly often and is a member of the Obama family's Luo tribe.
"Sen. Obama has to look at critically about where he's receiving his advice from," said government spokesman Dr. Alfred Mutua. "Just because somebody, somewhere wants to run for president and is using Sen. Obama as his stooge, as his puppet to be able to get to where he wants to get to."
Stung by Obama's continuing criticism of corruption in Kenya, government spokesman Alfred Mutua placed an ad in several newspapers. He reasserted that no bribe money was extorted from CBS 2 News during a customs dispute at the Nairobi airport that has now been widely publicized here, calling it instead a case of miscommunication. The $840 was returned to CBS 2 after Obama complained. Mutua said it was legitimate customs duties, but he could not explain why we were charged double the maximum amount allowed under Kenyan law.
Joseph
June 13th, 2008 4:22pmThis is what we have to fight against. Anyone who dares apeak honestly about Obama will be demonized, called a racist. The totalitarian impulses of the Left are running on high-octane, and they are circling the wagons around their Obama.
I frankly don't care whether Obama was born a Muslim or not. I'd vote for a pro-free market, anti-big government Muslim over a leftist Jew or Christian anyday -- but I don't want to go over the head of identity-politics obsessed leftists.
The problem is, Obama is a hardcore leftist (oops, we're not even allowed to call him liberal!)
It is amazing to see how much the left project themselves onto those they disagree with. The fact that Obama is surrounded by racists and corruption is irrelevant because the saliva is already dribbling down their collective chins at the thought of the coming utopian salvation Obama will bring to America and to the world.
Obama is now a religious figure, and the irrational arguments of his supporters is fascinating.
We can't be intimidated by these people. Obama is what he is, a neo-marxist. And that's what we will get. And the utopia he will bring will be just as wonderful as all the other Marxist utopias in human history.
Melanie, keep up the good work! I love the way you make the blood of these Leftist drones boil.
Joseph
June 13th, 2008 4:30pmCharles,
Wow, George Bush! Good come back! However did you think of that?
George Bush will be gone from office soon (and I'm glad about that, trust me), and people like you will one day have to start dealing with the truth.
d1carter
June 13th, 2008 4:45pmKeep fanning the fires, Mel. The American MSM will never ask these questions.
David Lindsay
June 13th, 2008 4:46pmOh well, even cheerleading for John McCain by opposing Barack Obama is better than cheerleading for Kelvin MacKenzie by opposing David Davis, I suppose.
"his many questionable associations"
Compared to whom? No one associated with him is an unrepentant disciple of Max Shachtman, or an unrepentant founder-member of Trotsky's Fourth International, or an unrepentant veteran of the Trotskyist alcoves fighting the Stalinist ones at City College of New York.
Whereas Bush is surrounded by such people, and several (notably Robert Kagan) are also close to McCain.
Why is John Hagee acceptable if Jeremiah Wright isn't? (Why do you like Christian Zionism so much? It is a five-act play in which the Jews disappear at the end of Act Four.)
And why (although this does seem a bit obvious, considering the alternative) have prominent morally and socially conservative Democrats (who are much more left-wing economically than liberal ones - it's like the difference between the Old Labour Right and New Labour) come out for Obama? Or are they "questionable associates" as well?
Joseph
June 13th, 2008 4:54pmRV
Melanie has detailed quite well about how Obama lied about his childhood. Go and look. And why are Obama's own writings not legitimate evidence?
According to this BBC story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7176683.stm
Odinga himself claims to be Obama's cousin. I believe him.
Shevvers
June 13th, 2008 4:57pmIf Americans are really stupid enough to elect this guy, we deserve to lose our supremacy to Europe.
Joseph
June 13th, 2008 5:04pmOdinga says Obama is his cousin:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7176683.stm
Charles
June 13th, 2008 5:14pmJoseph asks: "However did you think of that?"
The answer: Pure serendipity! Our ex-Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, once described George Bush's administration as "crap". Google the names 'Prescott' and 'Bush' and, hey presto, one finds Nazis. And with that I've just proven Godwin's Law, once more.
fleety3000
June 13th, 2008 5:18pmObamas father was actually an atheist when he war born and so was his mother which so cant really see anyone having a problem with this.
RV
June 13th, 2008 5:23pmI don't know if they are cousins. I just tried to find evidence to share.
It is all a bit irrelevant even if Odinga is his cousin. He is an Anglican christian not a muslim. What does it prove?
fleety3000
June 13th, 2008 5:28pmEven your colleague Clive Davis is now exposing your extremley weak sources.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/clivedavis/769621/quintessiential-ny-icon-sold-to-jews.thtml
But I suppose hes just another obamamaniac.
Charles
June 13th, 2008 5:34pmThere's got to be a song in this Obama Odinga thing? It's got such a great rhyme. I'm thinking along the lines of "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" (the one about potato - potaeto, tomato - tomaeto). Any songwriters out there?
Joseph
June 13th, 2008 5:36pmI know this is hard to grasp, but John Hagee and John McCain have nothing to do with each other. Hagee endorsed McCain, which McCain eventually rejected. The difference is that Wright was Obama's spiritual mentor with whom he had close ties with for twenty years. That's the difference.
As for the other babble about Trotsky and Stalin and Kagin and Bush..... I mean really.
Charles,
I agree with Prescott that the Bush Administration is largely crap... that doesn't change the fact that European intellectuals prior to WWII were in love with the idea of collective salvation by the State, hated American Capitalism, hated any concept of free markets, hated Judaism and Christianity, and many suspected Jews of pulling the strings behind the curtains just like the great intellectuals of todays British Academeic unions.
fleety3000
June 13th, 2008 5:37pmThe New York Times Obumsman has also heavily criticised edward luttwak's article
'but they [op-ed writers] are not entitled to get the facts wrong or to so mangle them that they present a false picture'
David Lindsay
June 13th, 2008 5:50pm"As for the other babble about Trotsky and Stalin and Kagin and Bush..... I mean really."
Yes.
Really.
The Chocolate Orange Registrar
June 13th, 2008 5:53pmShevvers - The One-worlders in mainland Europe would love him to come over so they could elect him President of Europe for life! And beyond!
Kyle
June 13th, 2008 5:55pmJoseph,
Call what I said insulting if you will, but I never said that anybody is currently calling Obama a Manchurian candidate. I said that many people are already convinced of this lie, or something similar to it. This is politics - one needn't repeat the lie, just add fuel to the "firestorm." The damage is already done.
I simply find it amazing that an entire party of war criminals (among other things) is getting a free pass while pundits offer us snarky "Princess Obama Derangement Syndromes" and the like. I'll admit Melanie falls on the reasonable side of things, but on the other hand I don't believe this article takes us any nearer to a place where (often tangential) connections to Muslims and black people aren't used to scare up conservative votes.
PA Pundits
June 13th, 2008 6:01pmGreat Post!
People seem to be blinded to reality much more now than at any other time in history.
Keep up the good work!
Ed
The Chocolate Orange Registrar
June 13th, 2008 6:09pmEric - I see you have not yet sent us the African definition of "maternal uncle".
Jack
June 13th, 2008 6:15pmI think you do not understand enough about American history to understand why people object so strongly to people questioning his background. Questioning who the guy is and where he came from seems to be as close to overt racism as anti-Obama people can get.
Katie W
June 13th, 2008 6:20pmWhy is it "princess" and not "prince?" I think you are being a bit sexist here.
Joseph
June 13th, 2008 6:38pmDavid Lindssey, I know you think you are brilliant.
Whom are you referring to when you say "socially and morally" conservative democrats? Who are these economically conservative Democrats? Is it Pelosi? Is it Reid? Is it Boxer? Feinstein? Clinton? Which democrat are you specifically referring to? And what does that have to do with whom Obama has surrounded himself with for the past two decades?
I love this! These are the same people who yelled "case closed!" after seeing a photograph of Cheney shaking hands with Saddam Hussein, but questioning Obama's ties are somehow unnaceptable.
And diverting attention to George Bush doesn't change one single fact about Obama. It just shows how weak your arguments are.
So Kagan went to City College of New York? My God what a bombshell.
Do you know how many Marxist professors teach at Colleges?
How about Obama IS a Marxist.
yeah, really.
steve
June 13th, 2008 6:44pmJoseph: That is simply wrong about McCain and Hagee. McCain sought his endorsement and while he distanced himself from some of Hagee's outlandish views he has not rejected the endorsement. I'm looking forward to Melanie going after McCain over these extremist connections.
Joseph
June 13th, 2008 6:45pmJack,
I totally agree with you. Everyone knows America is a vile racist country, and anyone who doesn't vote for Obama hates Black people.
Joseph
June 13th, 2008 7:04pmSteve,
You are simply completely wrong about McCain and Hagee. They had NO ties for the past twenty years. Obama and Wright did.
Obama sat in Wright's church for twenty years, the title of Obama's book "Audacity of Hope" comes from a sermon of Pastor Wright, which Obama details in said book. Wright married the Obamas and baptized their children.
Find me one speech or piece of writing by McCain in the past two decades affirming his close relationship to Hagee.
Tying Hagee to McCain is a pathetic attempt to divert attention away from Obama's long, close ties to a hate-filled racist left-wing demagogue.
If you can prove to me that McCain ever sat in Hagees church then I would consider that an issue. I would be honest about that.
But why bother, I mean, everyone knows that if you don't like Obama, it's because you hate black people.
Joseph
June 13th, 2008 7:06pmSteve,
McCain DID reject Hagees endorsement:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/22/mccain.hagee/
Ann
June 13th, 2008 7:13pmWhy is it "princess" and not "prince?" I think you are being a bit sexist here -
because this is akin to Diana-mania.
Ann
June 13th, 2008 7:15pmI agree with Prescott that the Bush Administration is largely crap -
ROFL. A tinpot, useless, ignorant, illitetate, incompetent, mendacious bully's opinion is what you base your views on?
Joseph
June 13th, 2008 7:23pmAnn,
I don't even know who Prescott is, but I believe you. I do think the Bush administration failed miserably in many respects, but I reject the anti-Bush hysteria which is not based in reality. When he is gone, people are going to be slapped in the face by the fact that Bush is not and never was the source of the great evil in our world today.
But thanks for informing me about Prescott, I will never agree with a politician I've ever heard of ever again, I was just having fun with Charles.
christina
June 13th, 2008 7:28pmAnother republican talking up republicans and talking down demorats... WONDERFUL.
I wish you would have spent this much time on Iraq, maybe we could have prevented that failure.
MelanieL
June 13th, 2008 7:33pmWell said Melanie. Obama has benefited from a remarkable lack of curiosity by the American MSM. Scratch the surface of the persona he presents to the world, and a much shadier picture emerges - lies, half-truths and worrying associates. Please keep asking the questions - the truth needs to emerge and soon.
LarryJohnsonisatoolbag
June 13th, 2008 7:40pmThe deadenders even have transatlantic reach! This place is swarming with them. Do you have any idea how crazy and deranged the lunatic fringe (NoQuarter) sounds like? Obama = Hitler. That is pathetic! LOL! You people are sad.
sjl106
June 13th, 2008 7:52pmThe majority of the Dems do not have the "Princess Obama Derangement Syndrome" that is why the majority voted for Hillary, we know obama is a fraud and that there is something seriously wrong.
Jody
June 13th, 2008 7:53pmOff-limits, no. Idiotic, yes.
Jakester
June 13th, 2008 7:57pmSorry Melanie,
Before you write me off as a troll, I agree with you 90% of the time. But it seems that every critic of Obama goes off on this phony tirade about he/she is not supposed to criticize Obama based on some Obama fan's unqualified support. Then commentor goes right for the gut and attacks Obama over his Islamic connection, the contemptible Rev, Wright, etc etc. All the while they claim that they are being censored from doing their critique by some vague force of PC that hasn't seemed to still their keyboard or voice one iota. You sound like Rush Limbaugh in your disingenuous claims of censorship
fleety3000
June 13th, 2008 8:00pmThe whole point about hagee is this; in the 2000 primary campaign mccain then somewhat of a maverick described people like hagee as 'agents of intolerance' for the hate they preach quite admiraly. This time round he actively courted hagees endorsment mindful that he needed to reasure the base of the GOP.He only rejected the endorsment after some of hagees worst comments came to light.however mccain still portrays himself as a real maverick when infact over the last 6 or so years hes been rather cynical.
Tim USA
June 13th, 2008 8:01pmIgnore steve he is a known Obamaton troll. The Obama birth certificate he points to is a blatant fake missing several important items such as registrars seal and signature and containing artifacts around the state seal and all text that a genuine birth certificate would not have. If he was to atcually release his genuine birth certificate, it would not be to dkos an Obama rag. It was someone at dkos manufactured the so called birth certificate that was later posted on the Obama campaign site. An actual release from the campaign would surely be made to actual reporters for a network. Not some left wing nutbag who could care less about facts only his own twisted agenda.
Charles
June 13th, 2008 8:07pmJoseph,
I fear you may also have offended Ann (and countless others) by including the words "Prescott" and "intellectual" in the same paragraph.
Although it is true that the country is going to the dogs, we do try to maintain certain proprieties. Kindest regards from Old Blighty, nevertheless.
Susan cox
June 13th, 2008 8:14pmI hope you will allow me to make comment as an American citizen: Thank you for telling the truth and confronting Mr. Obama's deceit head-on. I only wish the American Press had half your objectivity.
Liz from USA
June 13th, 2008 8:17pmRight on! It's scary the way the press over here has "drunk the kool-aid." If you don't go online and really look for it, the truth is no where to be found.
Scary is hardly the word to describe this election. The consequences are unimaginable. Those who are against Obama are dismissed as "racist" or "feminist" if they are a Hillary supporter. Apparently there are millions of knaves and fools, but I don't think the populace will go for it in the end. And, although his defeat will widely be attributed to race, it wouldn't have been about race at all until his campaign made it that way.
There are pockets of idiots that are racist, but for the most part in American white society, one is considered the lowest of the low (by other whites) is one is racist.
ritamary in cali
June 13th, 2008 8:28pmThis life long Democrat thanks you for calling attention to the very problematic deceptions concerning Obama's past. Too bad the corporate media in the United States has again not only neglected to report the facts but has jumped on the Obama bandwagon. As the corporate media hyped George Bush's candidacy for president in 2000, acted as cheerleaders for the invasion of Iraq, and viciously attacked Hillary Clinton, I fear we are on the road to another disaster due to the media's failure to do their job.
Barbara
June 13th, 2008 8:53pmI believe that Obama has duped a great percentage of the American voting public...Obama is Muslim; Obama is a racist radical; Obama and his wife are not patriots nor do they love this country. Michele Obama wore "the color purple" when Obama got the DNC nomination...Oprah W. wore "the color purple" when she endorsed Obama....how much more evidence do we need to present to confused Americans (white voters) that they are supporting someone that desires to destroy this country as we know it.
Disgruntled American Voter
Verity
June 13th, 2008 9:17pmWhy certainly, Jack. No one here finds Obama an over-ambitious, sly, conniving, rather suspect, vacuous, under-qualified individual not overly attached to the truth except those racists among us! We are making it all up because we don't respect black people (like Colin Powell and Thomas Sowell, for example)! I am afraid it is you, old chap, who seems not to have the ability to judge black people as fellow human beings and admit that some of them are simply awful. Some are even as mendacious and sly and over-ambitious as Tony Blair.
Joseph, regarding the mendacious, sly, fat, slobby, gobby, loutish, greedy, thick-skulled incompetent (and this is just how his friends describe him) John Prescott, I do not think you would want to be in the same room as this individual.
Christina complains that we are Republicans "talking down demorats... WONDERFUL".
Demorats! Wonderful indeed! Thank you!