Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Rove: Don't "Hussein" Obama
The Atlantic ^ | 2/27/08 | Marc Ambinder

Posted on 02/27/2008 6:35:46 AM PST by pissant

No less an authority figure than Karl Rove has warned Republican operatives from demagoguing Barack Obama's middle name.

At a closed door meeting of GOP state executive directors in late January, Rove said the safest way to refer to Obama would be to use his honorific, "Sen. Obama."

"The context was, you're not going to stimatize this guy. You shouldn't underestimate him," one of the executive directors said. Rove said that the use of "Barack Hussein Obama" would perpetuate the notion that Republicans were bigoted and would hurt the party.

Rove also said that Republicans should refer to Hillary Clinton as "Sen. Clinton," rather than "Hillary."

Right wing figures are set to ignore Rove's advice. Rush Limbaugh used Obama's middle name more than a year ago, and Ann Coulter regularly uses the middle name, once calling him "President Hussein." So does Michael Savage, who once asked whether Obama was a "so-called friendly Muslim" or one more "radical."

(Excerpt) Read more at marcambinder.theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: barackhusseinobama; billcunningham; husseinobama; karlrove; larrysinclairsboy; obama; rove
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 181-200201-220221-240 ... 301-314 next last
To: Dane

Was it Rove’s idea to call Bush by his middle initial? I think I even have a W hat. Fair is fair.


201 posted on 02/27/2008 8:21:55 AM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 193 | View Replies]

To: pissant

Personal religious convictions again bubbled to the surface of the presidential campaign with a supporter of Hillary Clinton referring to the Islamic faith of Barack Obama’s father and ...

The former senator Bob Kerrey, a notoriously outspoken politician and failed presidential candidate in 1992, stirred the pot when he endorsed Mrs Clinton and then proceeded to compliment Mr Obama for his understanding of Islam.

“I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim,” Mr Kerrey said. “There’s a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal.”


202 posted on 02/27/2008 8:26:25 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: The Ghost of FReepers Past

Seems to me I recal “Prescott” being alluded to by Dems to show the blue blood lines of the Bush’s.

Listen, this is no bid deal, it’s just red meat stuff, playful stuff. The serious part is that you can’t allow the media to dictate the rule of the game...because they will.


203 posted on 02/27/2008 8:27:52 AM PST by rbmillerjr ("bigger government means constricting freedom"....................RWR)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 201 | View Replies]

To: pissant
Bush went by his middle initial:

The left played with it all the time by calling him Dubya. They probably still do.

204 posted on 02/27/2008 8:28:02 AM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: The Ghost of FReepers Past
"Mr. Untouchable"

Don't disrespect one of the great law-enforcement men to ever grace this great nation by comparing him to that scrawny communist B. Hussein Obama.


205 posted on 02/27/2008 8:29:34 AM PST by Emperor Palpatine ("There is no civility, only politics.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 196 | View Replies]

To: Emperor Palpatine
it could work...
just use initials for the uniforms
Imagine the sea of PRC's on the field
& get bigger signs,
if not-
change their names
I'm sure they pay someone the big bucks
to help them with these things...
206 posted on 02/27/2008 8:29:37 AM PST by firewalk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 199 | View Replies]

To: rbmillerjr
Listen, this is no big deal, it’s just red meat stuff, playful stuff. The serious part is that you can’t allow the media to dictate the rule of the game...because they will.

Exactly. Everyone should lighten up and have some fun with it.

207 posted on 02/27/2008 8:29:53 AM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 203 | View Replies]

To: The Ghost of FReepers Past
If it doesn't matter then it shouldn't matter if we have a little fun with it.

Go on and have fun with it. I am not saying you shouldn't be allowed. My point of view is that it doesn't hurt Obama, and it likely helps him. The lefties have always had their juvenile double entendre with "Bush". Tee-hee, that means pubic hair!

Nobody has ever lost an election because of their middle name. Emphasizing something as meaningless as a middle name simply splashes mud on the rationality of any argument that follows.

208 posted on 02/27/2008 8:30:10 AM PST by shempy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 200 | View Replies]

To: Emperor Palpatine

LOL! I’m sorry.


209 posted on 02/27/2008 8:30:42 AM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 205 | View Replies]

To: Tulane
He may not be the best policy advisor

Theres the understatement of the year. The fact that that dolt Bush relied on him heavily for policy prescriptions is why we're in the economic and political mess that we are.

210 posted on 02/27/2008 8:33:32 AM PST by Nonstatist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: F15Eagle

The boy’s name Hussein \hu(s)-sein\ is pronounced hoo-SAYN. It is of Arabic origin, and its meaning is “good; small handsome one”. The name of a prominent person in Shiite Islam and a royal name in Jordan.

Shiite Islam


211 posted on 02/27/2008 8:35:59 AM PST by redstateconfidential (If you are the smartest person in the room,you are hanging out with the wrong people.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 184 | View Replies]

To: NautiNurse
"So like a woman!"



Get over it, sister.....
212 posted on 02/27/2008 8:38:25 AM PST by Emperor Palpatine ("There is no civility, only politics.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 198 | View Replies]

Comment #213 Removed by Moderator

To: Clemenza
Some folks on this site are acting like the Inquisitors in Spain and Portugal

..and some folks on this site are acting like Thought Police; we have an opponent, at least most of us do, who, while sounding "positive", is actually the most negative campaigner we've ever had. How so? By saying that the greatest country ever known to man will not be any good until HE gets behind the wheel. He talks of "change", which is nothing more than a truism in that all elections where the incumbent isn't running are about change. The difference is that he is advocating, not merely a midcourse-correction or a mild tweaking, but a full-blown U-turn into an alleyway that looks suspiciously like Euro-socialistic multiculturalism. I call negative on him because nowhere, never, does he extol the virtues of this country. His wife's misstep was no aberration; it reflected a deep-seated discontent with this country. We cannot have someone like that slip by into the oval office simply because people were worried about offending these bastards.

Now, caution is well-advised; but all angles of tactical and strategic attack on him must be explored. When we hit on a few good ones, let's press them; but let's don't reject tactics out of hand simply because they seem politically incorrect.

My personal favorite tack at the present time would be to praise the greatest country and people in the world while contrasting it with his negative assessment of it. I don't think the people in this country much appreciate the warped amusement-park mirror he's been holding us up to.

214 posted on 02/27/2008 8:42:54 AM PST by Migraine (...diversity is great... until it happens to YOU...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 178 | View Replies]

To: Emperor Palpatine

I saw that this morning on Fox & Friends. Gosh, the man is already planning the movie on his life?


215 posted on 02/27/2008 8:49:58 AM PST by Miss Didi ("Good heavens, woman, this is a war not a garden party!" Dr. Meade, Gone with the Wind)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 177 | View Replies]

To: pissant
Michael Savage, who once asked whether Obama was a "so-called friendly Muslim" or one more "radical."

Well, let's see here


216 posted on 02/27/2008 9:08:45 AM PST by OrioleFan (Republicans believe every day is July 4th, but DemocRATs believe every day is April 15th. - Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant

the Moveon/ Soros/ MSM alliance is going to blowtorch McPain with cheap shots. Unilateral disarmament does not work. McPain will have to find out the hard way AGAIN.


217 posted on 02/27/2008 9:10:47 AM PST by Rosemont (NY Times: Out to slime McPain and crown Hussein)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant

You mean, like the way Hillary refers to Pres Bush as “George Bush”?


218 posted on 02/27/2008 9:13:03 AM PST by NYC Republican (Root for Hillary. She's evil, but beatable in the GE, Obama may not be.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cake_crumb

If Obama doesn’t like his middle name, and is offended when it is used, he should take it up with his mama. She named him.


219 posted on 02/27/2008 9:13:39 AM PST by berkley
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: pissant
Would somebody have asked, "Don't 'Fitzgerald' Kennedy?" when he was running as (or not wanting to be seen as) the first Roman Catholic president?

-PJ

220 posted on 02/27/2008 9:16:11 AM PST by Political Junkie Too (Repeal the 17th amendment -- it's the "Fairness Doctrine" for Congress!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 181-200201-220221-240 ... 301-314 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson