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The internet is a powerful thing. So concludes President Barack Obama in an extensive sit-down interview for ABC with Barbara Walters, who ventures to ask the President (and the First Lady) where the rumors the President is Muslim generate their strength. While he declined to lay blame or assign motive, President Obama asserted, once again, that the rumors are untrue and that both he and his family benefit from their lives as Christians. Opening with a question about the impact of his faith on his life, Walters asked point-blank why President Obama thought the rumor of his religious background had...

AS a schoolboy in Jakarta, Barack Obama attended Muslim prayer sessions with his classmates against the wishes of his mother. The US President's former grade three teacher said that Mr Obama - who was known as "Barry" when he attended the Menteng One school in Jakarta - studied the Koran and went to classes on Islam, despite the objections of Anne Dunham, a Roman Catholic. The teacher's recollections will add to speculation about Mr Obama's links to Islam during his much-anticipated visit to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, as part of his ten-day tour of Asia. His middle...

August 28, 2010 Cordoba Mosque Developer's Run-ins with Cops and Money Problems Clarice Feldman The New York Daily News reports Sharif El-Gamal, the developer of the Cordoba Mosque has had 7 run ins with the law and money difficulties: Years before his latest real-estate project ignited an uproar, Sharif El-Gamal racked up at least seven run-ins with the law, including a bust for patronizing a prostitute. "I regret many things that I did in my youth. I have not always led a perfect life," El-Gamal, 37, said in a statement to the Daily News. His most recent arrest was for...

Obama admits that he is a Muslim. Obama bowing before a Muslim king. Obama talking about his Muslim family. Obama quoting from the Koran.

The number of Americans who believe -- wrongly -- that President Obama is a Muslim has increased significantly since his inauguration and now account for nearly 20 percent of the nation's population. Those results, from a new Pew Research Center survey, were drawn from interviews done before the president's comments about the construction of an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, and they suggest that there could be serious political danger for the White House as the debate continues. The president's religion, like his place of birth, has been the subject of Internet-spread rumors and falsehoods since before he began...

The Mosque That Cannot Be Ignored After six U.S. Marines fought their way to the peak of Mt. Suribachi in February of 1945, I doubt that there were any citizens of Tokyo who viewed the raising of the American flag over Iwo Jima as a form of "community outreach." To a man, they knew exactly what it represented. Triumphant armies have always planted their symbols and standards at the conclusion of battle, and I believe that even the most progressive elements of Japanese society must have averted their eyes - to avoid the pain of loss, and to avoid a...

President Obama carefully backpedaled on his support for building a mosque near Ground Zero, saying yesterday that he was merely defending the legal right to religious freedom -- but not giving the project his stamp of approval. "I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding," Obama said. "That's what our country is about. And I think it's very important, as difficult as some of these issues are, that we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about." The backtracking came as the president's approval...

PANAMA CITY, Florida (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Saturday backed off remarks that appeared to endorse a proposed Muslim cultural center near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York City, saying he only supported the organizers' right to build it. At a White House event on Friday, Obama seemed to offer his support for the construction of Cordoba House near the site known as "Ground Zero" in lower Manhattan. U.S. conservatives and many New Yorkers object to the project. The 13-story building will include meeting rooms, a prayer space, an auditorium and a swimming pool....

”If you check President Obama’s last trip over-seas, his wife left just after their visit to France. She has yet to accompany him to any Arab country. Think about it. Why is Michelle returning to the states when ‘official’ trips to foreign countries generally include the First Lady.” Shepard Smith, Fox News….Here’s one thought on the matter. While in a Blockbuster renting videos I came across a video called “Obama”. There were two men standing next to me and we talked about President Obama. These guys were Arabs, so I asked them why they thought Michele Obama headed home following...

Even as momentum for Iran sanctions grows, containment seems only viable option,” reads a Washington Post headline from April 22. Leaving aside for the moment the dubious character of the first half of that assertion, is it really true that containment is now the “only” option? It is certainly true that nearly everyone in Washington — from administration officials to the permanent civil service to the foreign-policy establishment — believes that, and has believed it for at least a year, if not longer. The intellectual groundwork was laid long before President Obama came into office, in part as a way...

Barack Obama is lying when he insists that he has never prayed in a mosque and was never a Muslim, a prominent Middle East expert and journalist says. Daniel Pipes, founder of the Middle East Forum think tank, says he fully accepts that Obama is a Christian now. But there is strong evidence that Obama received a Muslim upbringing during his years in Indonesia, Pipes said. It's fine with me that he was a Muslim and a convert to Christianity, Pipes told Newsmax. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is a convert from Hinduism. I have no problem with his conversion. What...

Republicans have jumped all over Barack Obama's statement in a George Stephanopoulos on "This Week," on ABC on September 7. "Let's not play games," he said. "What I was suggesting -- you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith." The Main Stream Media have largely ignored the statement because members of the MSM believe it is there job as Good Democrats to make Barack Obama look good. Even the Republican oriented Washington Times criticized Republican bloggers for their treatment of the subject. "But illustrating the difficulty of preventing false rumors about his faith from spreading,...

Barack Obama makes his first campaign visit today to his alma mater, Columbia University. Just don't ask the prolific self-diarist to talk about his undergraduate days in Morningside Heights. The Columbia years are a hole in the sprawling Obama hagiography. In his two published memoirs, the 47-year-old Democratic nominee barely mentions his experience there. He refuses to answer questions about Columbia and New York -- which, in this media age, serves only to raise more of them. Why not release his Columbia transcript? Why has his senior essay gone missing? Now in our view, the college years shouldn't normally be...

A bright young student recently asked me this question in defense of her Messiah, Barack Hussein Obama...“Mr. Williams, my family name is Irish. Does that make me a terrorist member of the IRA?” After pointing out that she had made no effort to hide her ancestry, I answered, “No, but it does make you Irish.” Just because most Americans have never seen his name printed in native Arabic characters, باراك حسين اوباما – does not mean that he is not Arab. In fact, his Arab name is at the very least, a strong indication that he may be of Arab...

Barack Obama caused another stir over his ties to Islam on Sunday when he noted that “John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith” in an interview with George Stephanopoulos. Stephanopoulos immediately corrected him, and Obama backtracked to say, “my Christian faith…What I’m saying is that he hasn’t suggested that I’m a Muslim.” A few pundits tried to make something of this, attempting to revive the “Obama is a Secret Muslim” rumors, but there really wasn’t anything more to it than a verbal stumble. Obama is not a Muslim, and there is enough to question about training, experience, ideology,...

Crossposting from another thread... The Muslim observance of Ramadan started on Sept 2, and lasts until Oct 1. Muslims are bound to fast from both food AND drink during daylight hours. I'm just wondering if Obama is making all of these major-league gaffes lately because he is fatigued from fasting?? The timeline makes sense, since he has been gaffe-crazy since about that date. Has anyone seen Obama eating or drinking in public during daylight hours???

Remember when Nicolas Kristof said of Obama here: " Mr. Obama has spoken respectfully of Islam (he told me last year, on the record, that the Muslim call to prayer is “one of the prettiest sounds on earth at sunset”). Apparently it has been scrubbed from the New York Times web site. Check that out. On the day Obama's freudian slip, "my Muslim faith" - that classic Obama quote disappears. What are they afraid of?

Barack Obama’s campaign brushed off suggestions Monday that a verbal gaffe the Democratic candidate made during a weekend television interview is anything more than just that. In an interview Sunday with ABC’s “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos, Obama tried to suggest that FOX News and others “closely allied” to Republicans are promulgating the notion that the Illinois senator is Muslim. Asked about whether McCain himself has done anything to suggest he’s Muslim, Obama said, “Let’s not play games. What I was suggesting — you’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. And you’re absolutely right...

Barack Obama was on This Week With George Stephanopoulos September 7th, Obama slipped and mentioned “His Muslim Faith” during the questioning. Freudian Slip? You decide.

Did Barry misspeak when he talked about his faith on This Week With George Stephanopoulos?