Posted on 02/28/2008 4:48:55 PM PST by mdittmar
Rep. Keith Ellison said Wednesday that attempts to insinuate that Barack Obama is Muslim won't have any effect on the presidential candidate, arguing that Americans won't fall for such a "bigoted" appeal.
Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat and the first Muslim member of Congress, also said he has no doubt a Muslim could be elected president.
Rumors have circulated on the Internet for months that Obama, who is Christian, is Muslim, and the issue kicked up again this week with a photograph of him dressed in traditional local garments during a visit to Kenya.
The Drudge Report posted the photograph and said it was being circulated by "Clinton staffers," but Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has denied knowing anything about it.
Also, a radio talk show host warming up a crowd for GOP presidential candidate John McCain referred repeatedly to "Barack Hussein Obama" and called him a "hack, Chicago-style" politician. McCain denounced the comments.
"It's a deliberate attempt to associate him with things Islamic," Ellison said of the use of Obama's middle name.
"There has been a concerted effort to whip up fear, anxiety, bigotry against Obama based on his Muslim roots, but he is in fact a Christian, and on top of that, those people's efforts are going to fail," Ellison said. "And they won't fail because he's proven that he's really not a Muslim; they'll fail because Americans will come to the conclusion that the organizing principle of our nation is freedom of worship."
Obama's father and stepfather were Muslim, and he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, a largely Muslim country — but Obama was not raised Muslim.
"Assuming that the American public is bigoted, and infused with religious bigotry against Muslims, is incorrect," Ellison said.
And he insisted that a Muslim could become president.
"Look, we elected a Catholic," Ellison said. "Mitt Romney was a viable candidate in this race. I don't think that his decline had to do with him being Mormon." Romney, a GOP candidate, dropped out of the race earlier this year.
"So I think that certainly America could elect a Muslim president," he said. "America could elect a woman president. I think we probably are going to elect a black president. And we'll all be better for it."
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which fights anti-Muslim bigotry, said he agreed with Ellison.
"There clearly is a level of anti-Muslim attitude in our society, but I think it's still a minority," he said. "It's a vocal minority, but it's still a minority. The majority of Americans respect people of all faiths, and I think while taking faith into consideration, it would not be the main factor in their voting."
Hmmmm?!?!?!?!?!
Well, why, is it a "smear" to call someone "muslim?" I don't quite get this [feigns confusion].
what's wrong with being a Muslim, CAIR? Why can't obams be the first Muslim president?
He's not worried.
Now why would Ibramin want to distance himself from a Hussiyen? I think he protestest too much. Worse help OBH can get is from Ibrahim Hooper. It’s Hooper, not Gadahne, right?
Now why would Ibramin want to distance himself from a Hussiyen? I think he protestest too much. Worse help OBH can get is from Ibrahim Hooper. It’s Hooper, not Gadahne, right?
Profuse apologies from McCain to CAIR inbound in 3...2...1...
As a serf living in the caliphate of Ellisons domain, all I can say is, Go pound sand marxist, and take your new sales, gas and soon to be clothing and food tax with you!
CAIR...bite me. There are many Muslims I respect. You and your members are not in that group.
If it's slander, sue us. If it's factual, shut up.
What did CAIR say? Can’t hear a thing. I have a HUSSEIN im my ear.
Obama Hussein. Says it all.
Ellison says, “Americans won’t fall for such a “bigoted” appeal” He is right! The American’s he speaks of are the fools who ask no questions and follow blindly to the chants of CHANGE, HOPE and UNITY! WE ARE ALL DOOMED IF THIS COMES TO PASS!
That's as Muslim as you can get.
Flock them ,we shall see.
Go ahead you Obama boobs
Keep harping on the bogus smear tactics
It will only insure more people know about Obama
Me thinks a ‘Sister Soujah’ moment is coming,or maybe not;)
We keep getting told Barak Hussein is a Christian. In that case, when and where was he baptized and what is his baptismal name?
It appears that the Islamofascists intend to use fear and intimidation to get Barack Hussein Obama elected. I think 9-11-01 terrified the people in the country more than we ever knew. We surrender! You guys win!
I’d suspect Obama’s church doesn’t give any special Baptismal names ~ that’s something Catholics do.
That’s smart: have a terrorist front group like CAIR stick up for you. Hold on—these terrorist enablers/sympathizers DO want Hussein Obama to win. Why, I wonder? The question is quite legitimate.
Who cares what CAIR thinks.
I’m surprised that CAIR hasn’t issued a fatwah against Obama for converting to Christianity and being an apostate. Maybe they’re leaving that up to overseas cells.
Oh, OK, but still, most people I know, in fact all, who became Christians in their teens or adulthood, whether “born again” types or more traditional, all consider baptism essential, as an entrance to the church but also as a sacrament. Because they were not baptized as infants (parents were Jewish, atheist or some other), they are baptized according to the rites of the church they join. There are different types (one rather far-out church of a friend of mine baptized all their new converts in the ocean) but I would think anyone calling himself a Christian and called upon to prove it (due to a questionable and vague childhood with an atheist Mom and Muslim Dad) would first and foremost happily point to the day of his baptism.
His baptism day has been reported. There seem to have been witnesses. My comment addressed this business of “baptismal name”. This is essentially a Protestant country (where even the unbelievers act Protestant) and virtually no Protestants give a child a “baptismal name”. They simply use the name you had.
It is what it is. If he chooses to call the truth a smear, well, so be it. Obama will not make it to the White House in November, truth is powerful.
Folks can’t help the name their parents gave them. The Anglican Bishop of Rift Valley in Kenya is named Alpha Mohammed. And he’s definitely a Christian—one of the ‘Global South’ Anglicans who are still identifiably Christian and object to the nonsense that passes for religion in the Episcopal Church, Church of England and Anglican Church of Canada.
And his mother was militantly and proudly atheist. How was he NOT a muslim? If he converted, fine, but Obama and his retard followers need to stop lying about it.
I haven’t heard Obama stand up for himself yet. He should get out there and say that he is proud of his heritage and his name. Maybe he doesn’t want to lie publicly. Where is he on this? Where is his wife on this? Let him defend himself.
I haven’t heard Obama stand up for himself yet. He should get out there and say that he is proud of his heritage and his name. Maybe he doesn’t want to lie publicly. Where is he on this? Where is his wife on this? Let him defend himself.
There were plenty of Hitlers back in the 1930s.
After he pulls the troops out of Iraq and Afganistan, he wants to talk nice, face to face, with Al Sadr, Ahmadinijabber and assorted terrorists so that they will stop killing us. Yeah, right! The guy is clueless and dangerous to the Nation!
There were plenty of Hitlers back in the 1930s.
When I hear the name Saddam HUSSEIN I don't think of big lovable fuzz balls.
Excellent Point !
This must mean that Obama is a Muslim.
bttt
Right. A Christian. Then why are Muslims supporting him? Per the Koran, that's forbidden.
There is a lot to ponder in what you say. How did this guy end up Christian?
Maybe to run for office.
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