A little anti-Muslim bigotry at a Palin rally:
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. – “John McCain! Not Hussein!”
So goes the latest popular chant on the campaign trail with Gov. Sarah Palin, demonstrated at a morning rally in central Florida.
Ms. Palin was midway through her stump speech when a group of supporters began shouting it in unison, drowned out a few seconds later as Ms. Palin talked over them.
A similar chant, “Vote McCain, not Hussein,” was heard at a campaign event for Ms. Palin in Williamsport, Pa., earlier this week.
Senator Barack Obama’s middle name is Hussein, a fact that some of his opponents say proves that he is a Muslim. Mr. Obama is, in fact, a Christian.
After the rally in Florida ended, two of the people leading the chant explained why they did so.
“Because it rhymes,” said Shirley Mitten, 64, a volunteer at a pregnancy center and a resident of Brooksville, Fla.
She said she does not know if Mr. Obama is a Muslim. “He says he’s not, but we have no way of knowing,” Ms. Mitten said.
(…)
The middle name Hussein, [Mitten's husband] said, added to the suspicion. “I guess Obama was named after Saddam Hussein,” he said.
Except for the fact that the Ba`ath Party coup, helped along by the C.I.A. incidentally, that brought Saddam to power didn’t happen until two years after Barack Obama was born.
November 1st, 2008 at 11:22 am
Clearly his parents changed his name to Hussein after the coup, and that’s why he won’t release his birth certificate.
Um, nope, I can’t even pretend to think that way. It makes me itchy. I take it back.
But prepare for four years of this nonsense. Maybe eight.
November 1st, 2008 at 3:48 pm
So the campaigners found a way to rhyme McCain with Obama’s name, this is a big deal? It’s like if Hillary was running, and they said “McCain’s Got ‘Em, Don’t Vote Rodham!”
Of course, this HAS to be turned into some kind of a statement about McCain supporters being a bunch of racists, right? C’mon now, you’re over-reaching just a tad, here.
By the way, credit me for coming up with that Hillary chant off the top of my head
November 1st, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Phil,
The repeated emphasis upon a middle name that Obama doesn’t even use in regular correspondence is clearly aimed at perpetuating a stereotype and reinforcing the false notion that he is a “secret” Muslim.
It’s been going on since the Democratic Primaries, and it’s pretty disgusting, as I noted back then:
http://tinyurl.com/6qm59p
and
http://tinyurl.com/6nuuor
November 1st, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I think wulf is right. Republicans have got to get a handle of this fear they have of being called a racist.
My middle name is Omega, yet I am not Greek I am black. If a political oponent wanted to make a political slogan using my middle name, it’s not out of the political ballpark.
Liberals turned Sarah Palins white suite coat into a racist isuue. You cannot let people this far gone menatlly, dictate what you will do in a race.
If the Party was that scared of being call racist, they should have more black candidates that they can run against black candidates.
For crying out loud, people, run a campaign here.
November 1st, 2008 at 10:24 pm
My bad; my agreement was with Phill C.
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 am
Tsk, tsk. Dems demonize Palin, make her the stupid devil incarnate, and all you little girls can do is whine when some McCain supporters make a little nursery rhyme. You lower the tenor of the discussion, you have no standing to complain when it comes back to you in spades. Ooops. Now I’m a racist.