Posted on 02/28/2008 4:25:56 PM PST by tobyhill
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan formally denounced on Thursday the Tennessee Republican Party's use of Barack Obama's full name in a recent news release questioning the Illinois senator's commitment to Israel.
"The RNC rejects these kinds of campaign tactics," Duncan said in a statement. "We believe this election needs to be about the critical issues confronting our nation."
The statement in question, which was released Monday, said the state party is joining a "growing chorus of Americans concerned about the future of the nation of Israel ... if Sen. Barack Hussein Obama is elected president of the United States."
It also included a photograph of Obama from a 2006 trip to Kenya, in which he is dressed in traditional attire.
The news release was sparked by recent praise for the senator from Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan, who has made derogatory remarks about Judaism and has indicated his support for Obama.
At Tuesday night's MSNBC debate, Obama said he denounced those comments and did not seek Farrakhan's support.
On Wednesday night, the party removed both the photo and the reference of "Hussein" from the statement after Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander called to express his belief that using them had become a distraction, Tennessee GOP Communications Director Bill Hobbs said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
A lot of both!
There are plenty of issues on which the Republicans need to grow a pair. This is not one of them. By denouncing, they have it both ways. The issue stays in front and center, but they can look like good guys.
I saw an interesting tribute to William F Buckley earlier that said that he was a conservative who never had to attack with silly arguments because he always had reason on his side.
No big deal to anyone with a shred of intelligence.
The writer went on to say that many in the current crop of conservative commentators do not have Buckley's style or intellect and can do nothing but insult, pander to the lowest common denominator, and attempt to rally the masses to whatever "outrage" they can find this week.
I thought it was spot-on, to be honest. I have a feeling that John McCain, Karl Rove, and the GOP leadership who have come out against this know it too.
I do know that they are abreast of the latest internal polls and that they know how this is going over with the electorate. Given their universal condemnation of the subject, I'm guessing the answer is "not well".
He won’t use Hussein.
He won’t wear the American flag, (or put his hand on his heart)
He wants to make friends with Islamic Cultists.
He defends Saddam and Sons.
He wants to give Iraq to the terrorists.
He belongs to a racist church.
His wife hates her country.
He wants to reduce US military defenses.
Since no one really knows him, he is really a stranger, has done nothing while in the Senate, how is he even a consideration for President of the United States of America?
Would Barack H*ssein Obama be acceptable?
Yeah, never mind Franklin Delano Roosevelt, David Dwight Eisenhower, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard Milhous Nixon, Ronald Wilson Reagan, etc. etc. etc.
Don't say Barack HUSSEIN Obama.
This is surreal beyond belief. We're in a WAR with radical Islam and we have a man such as this running for President. And we're being commanded to question NOTHING about him.
I agree that some of the tactics are rather juvenile (and for me to say that means that they must be really really childish!) but McCain’s people and the GOP should have done all this quietly and behind the scenes.
But what they ended up doing was tossing supporters under the bus, embarrassing supporters, and showing once again that McCain would rather be praised by the Dems than supported by the GOP and others.
A backstabber.
Perhaps it is true that McCain wants to run a "clean campaign", etc. Perhaps that is why he attacked the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth recently too. I am unaware of any ethical lapses on the part of the SBVforT, but perhaps I'm not very intelligent and just don't know.
And maybe, just perhaps, John McCain and the RNC want to attract moderates, although I believe they've already done that. And perhaps they want to attract crossovers when some of Oslima's Kool Aid drinkers wake up and realize how ugly the guy is they went to bed with last night. Maybe McCain and the RNC don't believe they need conservative voters to win. Maybe the RNC, which was reported to be lagging behind the DNC in fund raising, doesn't need conservative dollars. Maybe the RNC and McCain want to continue to reach across the aisle, we've seen how successful that's been. Maybe the RNC and John McCain don't care about the farm team of down the slate Republicans, and are only in it for one last shot at the White House?
Or perhaps its really all about being a kinder gentler Republican Party. We've been heard that before, including us unintelligent people, done that, got the T-shirt, and the screwing that went with it.
John Sydney Mc Cain....
“”””Wimpy GOP determined to lose””””
If we’re trying to win by using his middle name then we deserve to lose. The reason not to use it is that it makes us look weak.
Sorry? can’t hear a thing they are saying. I have this HUSSEIN in my ear....
But you would be using it to disparage him wouldn’t you be?
Pathetic and stupid. He is easily beat and this kind of crap will actually help him.
Hussein Obama.
It will communicate.
Abu-Jihaad, an American-born Muslim convert formerly known as Paul R. Hall, is accused of leaking information that could have doomed his own ship. He was a Navy signalman and received an honorable discharge in 2002.
Maybe Obama could change his name to Paul R. Hall?
Abu-Jihaad, an American-born Muslim convert formerly known as Paul R. Hall, is accused of leaking information that could have doomed his own ship. He was a Navy signalman and received an honorable discharge in 2002.
Maybe Obama could change his name to Paul R. Hall?
“We believe this election needs to be about the critical issues confronting our nation.”
It’s pretty obvious that a lot of folks think his middle name actually is a critical issue.
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