Barackface

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Barack Hussein Obama And The White Boys In The Media

Reminds me of the Buddhist monks in California that the right wingers went after in 1996, and the Dems failed to defend. Oh look at them Buddhists, they are giving money to Al Gore! As if being Buddhist is dirty. The donations were small, pocket change.

Times, they are a changing. These whities are just going to have to measure up. This might be a US presidential campaign, but it will take place in a globalized world. Racists jokes are offensive, they are not funny. These white boys are going to have to find other ways to bond.

Imagine making fun of the Rodham name. Rodham is Hillary's middle name. Or Jefferson, like in William Jefferson Clinton, or the Jefferson Davis pie, named after a guy who was on the wrong side in the civil war. Or Herbert Walker, like in George Herbert Walker Bush, or just plain W, W like in George Dumbo Bush.

It is offensive enough when right wingers do it, and they stand to pay for it. They are going to get hit back. Hard. But these supposedly mainstream white boys in the media, what are they up to now?

Fitzerald, like in JFK.

I once met a guy at my college in Kentucky who talked of Arabs as sand n______s. This was way before 9/11.

Those who see the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as wars against Islam deserve to go down in defeat. The Al Qaeda are like the KKK. No Muslim elected them. They don't hold offices. They are a few thousand in an ocean of hundreds of millions of extremely poor Muslims who just want the best by their families.

Obama is not Muslim. But what if he were a Muslim American? This question is personal to me because I am Buddhist.

Within the framework of religious diversity, I appreciate the various faiths, Chistianity, Islam, Judaism, and all the rest of them. There is going to be mutual respect. Take that framework out, and I don't give a f____ about Jesus.

Let this election be about ideas and who can best lead the country in this new century where globalization and the internet are all the rage. I think someone with a cosmopolitan message stands a good chance. Obama got to know paddy fields as a child, like I did. We bond.

Don't throw stones from your glass house.

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The Audacity Of Gravitas: Restore Intelligence To The White House
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Barack Obama: This Is A New Century
Barack Obama: New Approaches To Old Problems
Switching To Obama

In The News

The Obama backlash. It's started. Chicago Sun-Times a body of anti-Obama material is surfacing--centering around his record and his religious beliefs and yes, his middle name, Hussein. It's a backlash--and a foreshadowing of what is to come. ....... Schlussel: Should Obama be president "when we are fighting the war of our lives against Islam"? ......... several media figures have taken it upon themselves to issue warnings to Obama of a purportedly ruthless Clinton operation that will attempt to win by brute force, or, as Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund put it, "haul out the brass knuckles." ......... Dick Morris falsely claimed that Obama has "never introduced a bill" in the Senate .......... right-wing pundit and regular MSNBC guest, Debbie Schlussel ....... Answering her own question, she wrote: “NO WAY, JOSE ... Or, is that, HUSSEIN?” ....... the bigoted conservative attacks against Senator Obama ...... The public discourse surrounding Senator Obama has devolved into a petty game of who can say his middle name more often or insult his character and ancestry with the most zeal. It’s time for this bigotry to stop. News outlets like MSNBC can make the first move. They shouldn’t give people like Schlussel airtime to spew their hate-filled conspiracy theories because when they do, they undermine their own reputations as legitimate news organizations.”......... numerous media figures have gone out of their way to highlight Obama’s middle name in recent weeks, a detailed accounting of which is available below or online at the following link: http://mediamatters.org/items/200612200005 ...... on November 7, co-anchor Chris Matthews remarked that Obama's "middle name is Hussein" and suggested that it would "be interesting down the road." ........ On November 27, MSNBC host Tucker Carlson referred to radio host Bill Press as "a true member of the Barack Hussein Obama fan club." ...... During the November 28 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, Republican strategist Ed Rogers referred to "Barack Hussein Obama." ....... On the December 5 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, senior political correspondent Carl Cameron told viewers: "Though he's written two books about himself already, most people know very little about Barack Hussein Obama Junior's uncommonly privileged life." ....... On the December 11 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, correspondent Jeanne Moos noted that "[o]nly one little consonant differentiates" Obama and Osama. She then added, "[A]s if that similarity weren't enough. How about sharing the name of a former dictator? You know his middle name, Hussein." .......... On the December 11 edition of The Situation Room, CNN senior political analyst Jeff Greenfield compared the similarity of Obama's "business casual" clothing to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's "jacket-and-no-tie look." Greenfield concluded the segment by saying: "Now, it is one thing to have a last name that sounds like Osama and a middle name, Hussein, that is probably less than helpful. But an outfit that reminds people of a charter member of the axis of evil, why, this could leave his presidential hopes hanging by a thread." He later explained on the CNN website that he was making "a joke." .......... On December 13, Matthews teased another interview with Rogers by describing the strategist as "the one who just loves Barack Obama's middle name Hussein." ...... On the December 14 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh gave Obama a "nickname" -- "Barack Hussein Odumbo" (in reference to Obama's "big ears"). ....... On the December 14 edition of Hardball, NBC's Mike Viqueira announced "a man named Barack Obama, whose middle name, incidentally, is Hussein, running for president."
Obama smackdown, round 1: his tainted blood Houston Chronicle Many months ago, readers began asking me whether Barack Obama is Muslim. [Apparently Schlussel's readers are unfamiliar with Google or Wikipedia. Or she's just making it up. - JW] Since he identifies as a Christian, I said, "no," and responded that he was not raised by his Kenyan father.......... In Arab culture and under Islamic law, if your father is a Muslim, so are you. And once a Muslim, always a Muslim. You cannot go back. In Islamic eyes, Obama is certainly a Muslim. He may think he's a Christian, but they do not. ....... Imagine that - he's interested in the land of his parents. Unbelievable! (Excuse me while I go erase any signs of my own interest in Ireland, where my parents were born.) She closes the column hinting darkly that Obama cannot help but betray America.
Pins for Obama's balloon Washington Times Did you know Sen. Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein? You do now. ... Make no mistake: If he decides to run for president, quite a few people will be reminding you of it. Those people are not his friends. .... Republican consultant Ed Rogers' frustration was showing in the way he emphasized Mr. Obama's middle name on MSNBC's "Hardball": "Count me as someone who underestimates Barack Hussein Obama," he said, pronouncing "Barack" in a way that rhymed with hard rock. ...... Conservative radio windbag Rush Limbaugh similarly delights in mocking Mr. Obama's full name. El Rush-bo even posted a caricature on his Web site of Obama with huge floppy ears and the title "Barack Hussein Odumbo." Cute. Sort of like the class clown taking on the class valedictorian and prom king who is also basketball team captain. ..... he joked about the middle-name thing with just the right tone: astute, self-deprecating humor. His middle name is no big deal, he says, "when you are already starting with 'Barack Obama.' " ...... he tried marijuana and cocaine in his wayward youth, a refreshingly straightforward and revealing contrast to President Bush, who dodged probing drug questions as a candidate, and President Bill Clinton, who claimed never to have inhaled.
taking a second look at Barack Obama Kansas City Star
Video: Carol Marin Explores Obama's Political Past NBC5.com
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Inexperience won't hold Obama back Wisconsin State Journal
Bill Clinton a looming force in Hillary's race Scotsman
Hint: He's tall, in the Senate, on TV a lot Chicago Sun-Times
US has `never had a mother' be president, Sen. Clinton says San Jose Mercury News

Obama to decide on White House run this week Chicago Tribune Another bit of Obama news is this. Gallup's pollsters are reporting today that nearly half of the public doesn't know who he is.

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