Going After Obama

Upon seeing the **ahem** mistake on CNN's Situation Room and reading about the furor it caused, I decided to dig a little deeper.

I found a December 18 column headlined "Barack Hussein Obama: Once a Muslim, Always A Muslim" posted on the website of Debbie Schlussel.
She argued that because Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) middle name is Hussein, his father was of Muslim descent, and he has shown interest in his father's Kenyan background, Obama's "loyalties" must be called into question.
I remember exactly the same argument being made before John F. Kennedy was elected. The Republicans asked in seeming seriousness whether he would be loyal to the American People or to the Pope.

And a column in Media Matters pulled together a number of references:
' * During MSNBC's special election coverage 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 11 edition of CNN's 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."

* 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." '
[N.B: As opposed to which recent presidential candidate who has been underprivileged? -- two crows.]
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Migosh! There's an awful lot of manure in this stable for there not to be a pony in here, somewhere.
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In today's climate--with a return to our uglier, intolerant side gaining more and more media attention--it's certainly difficult to pass off all these remarks as 'jokes' and 'mistakes.'