Obama the Arab - Another Ignorant and Mislead McCain Supporter
October 11, 2008
Article from CNN: Rage Rising on the McCain Campaign Trail
John McCain tried to quell a raucous crowd in Lacrosse, Wisconsin yesterday. The media played a couple excerpts from the rally, as well as, an afternoon town hall event in Minnesota where one misled and ignorant McCain supporter said:
“I don’t trust Obama. I have read about him and he’s an Arab.”
McCain, to his credit, retorted immediately with the following:
“No ma’am, no ma’am. He’s a decent family man…[a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. That’s what this campaign is all about.”
Two key points here; 1) McCain did not really have a choice, it’s not as if he could have agreed with the woman and not been hammered by the media for defending such an ignorant position. 2) Some pundits are implying this woman, like others, have been misled by far right media and the McCain campaign has not done a good enough job tamping down the negative rhetoric.
McCain is in a real pickle here and it is his duty to make sure these rabid supporters do not end up attempting to take Obama’s life when he becomes president. Furthermore, I feel McCain’s conscience is starting to come back around – this display was vintage McCain, the McCain everyone remembers, the maverick. The problem is he has a base, which thinks being a maverick means winning at any cost.
And to the poor old woman who thinks Obama is an “Arab.” This is disturbing dialogue, really. And it is not just a matter of being misled. This is an ignorant statement. An “Arab” is one who comes from a genealogical and cultural group of people who have roots in the Middle East. There are Arab Jews, Arab Christians, and Arab Muslims. Now, if she was trying to claim he is “Muslim” then this is a different story. However, I hate to break it to her, Obama is not Muslim, he is Christian.
On the whole, it was a bad day for McCain supporters and a good day for John McCain.
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[...] Barack Obama has been pegged as a Muslim and Arab by media outlets and even though John McCain himself attempted to correct some of this information; some Americans STILL believe this, despite clear evidence to the contrary. As an American it [...]