If you disagree, you’re ‘equally suspect’

January 20, 2007

It’s not my intention to belabor the point, but I have an important follow-up to yesterday’s item on Barack Obama and the Indonesian school he attended as a six year old.

To briefly recap, some of the more hysterical elements of the conservative movement would have us believe that Obama has secret “Muslim heritage,” may have been taught radical Wahhabism, and may be disloyal to the United States. The attacks, by any reasonable measure, are not only false, but breathtakingly stupid, but that didn’t stop far-right media figures from jumping on the story anyway.

As a coda, I wanted to highlight the comments of Debbie Schlussel, a far-right blogger who started pushing this nonsense about a month ago. Here’s what Schlussel added to the story yesterday:

The facts about Obama’s Muslim background raise a LOT of questions. Legitimate questions about a religion dominated by extremist strains that openly call for the destruction of America and the West.

Anyone who does not want to look into the questions and, instead, attacks those who ask them, is equally suspect in their intentions and attitudes toward the continued freedom of this country.

Putting aside the fact that Obama doesn’t have a “Muslim background,” and there are no apparent questions at all, it’s that other point that stood out for me.

If you believe that these scurrilous attacks on Obama are without merit, according to Schlussel, you are “equally suspect” and deserve to be accused of disinterest in “the continued freedom of this country.” Think about that — to disagree with obvious nonsense, and to criticize those who spread obvious nonsense, necessarily means you’re unpatriotic and may be an enemy.

Greg Tinti, a conservative Republican with whom I disagree on most issues, took Schlussel on quite effectively.

In this “debate” over Obama’s connection to Islam and loyalties to the US, I find it interesting that those on Schlussel’s side of the argument haven’t produced anything that Obama has done in the subsequent years following his childhood to prove that he’s a Muslim or sympathetic to radical Islam. Nothing.

I can only assume that they believe that Obama is so manipulative that he’s lived his entire life here in the United States as the ultimate sleeper jihadist — attending Columbia, going to Harvard Law, editing the Harvard Law Review, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago, becoming a state Senator, and finally a US Senator — only to finally achieve his goal of becoming president and instituting Sharia law on the US.

Ridiculous.

And yet, Schlussel has the balls to question the patriotism of everyone who questions her extreme paranoia…. Seriously, Debbie: Coulter called. She wants her schtick back.

Tom Bevan, another conservative, added that Schlussel’s comments were “repugnant.”

I mention all of this for two reasons. One, to highlight the unfortunate McCarthyism that some on the right still embrace enthusiastically. And two, to remind us all that, despite our serious disagreements, there are still some sincere voices on the right who want no part of it.

You know, all this proves is that these people are fucking lunatics who need to be placed in rubber rooms. Yes, they’re dangerous, and after we whip their ass in 2008 we need to go after them, go after their organizations, and break them.

As to Osama being in any way possible a “radical” Moslem, the facts about Islam in Indonesia is that until the past 8 years, it was probably the most moderate, most tolerant version of Islam anywhere in the world. If he did go to a Moslem school, that’s the kind of “religion” he heard.

I know, taking the facts and trying to convince some halfwit hillbilly bimbo who slept through school in the back of the class is impossible, but them’s the facts.

Most of these halfwits on the Right are people who would never have been noticed had there not been a computer available and access to the internet. They get on, say something shrill, attract readers, say something more shrill and attract more readers,and… for the first time in their miserable little life they aren’t being told by someone to STFU and get back to work. They’re really pitiable.

But it’s more fun to kick them in their fat assets.

  • Well, Obama does have a “Muslim background”. Two parents and a step-parent who were Muslims–practicing or not. He lived in a Muslim country when he was little. All this to say, GOOD! What an advantage to have more exposure than 99% of Americans have had to one of the dominating forces in the world. Makes him uniquely qualified to lead the country in the future.

  • “Seriously, Debbie: Coulter called. She wants her schtick back.”

    Oh my freaking god, this is so funny I’m going to engrave it on my wall. Nailing two of the most heinous females on the planet in one go. Brilliant!

  • Hate, fear, self-righteousness and an introspective deficiency can lead one to believe, say and do some really stupid things.

  • #4 & #6…. ummm yeah…. Looks like you’ve either got a true moron or a troll, lol.

    But on to more seriously topics: it’s infighting among the right like this, the fighting between their batsh*t insane wing and the more moderate one, about Obama that makes me believe strongest in his suitability for president. They can’t even agree among themselves on what slurs to try against him; he’s like a teflon-coated political version of Steve Jobs (if you’re a geek you’ll know what that means, lol).

  • Fox “News” has picked up on this as well, implying that Obama is somehow a “Manchurian candidate” who, when we least expect it, will reveal his radical Muslim agenda and destroy us all as we sleep, or something like that.

    I wonder how much of this is intended as a preemptive strike to also wipe out McCain before his candidacy can begin.

  • I think Ms Schlussel needs to be introduced to Mr Jefferson (courtesy of a few threads down):

    “all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities”

    Why does she hate America?

  • Shlussel’s article is reminiscent of this spin piece (POS) that came out before Elison took his oath and said we should question Elison’s loyalties because of his religion. I was struck by the fact that at the same time this mental toilet paper was on the Jerusalem Post website, there was an article saying there was a record number of Jews in Congress

    In other words, the Jerusalem Post makes a stink about the first Moslem in Congress at the same time noting a record number of Jews in Congress. This would make me take into consideration the first article and that it could cut both ways. I would wonder how many people mentioned in the second article would support Bush and war with Iran. Our current calm before the storm is because anti-missile systems are being placed among countries like Qatar which have been threatened with Iranian retaliation if a war starts. Schlussel’s article is a culmination of Moslem bashing (Goebbels proved you have to demonize the enemy through propaganda to make it more palatable to commit violence on them) and Republican despair at their own failures. A dying animal will thrash around before it breathes its last.

  • Boo hooo… I missed seeing the comments by the Premature Ejaculation TinyTroll (3, 4 and 6)… Were they fun?

  • One of the strengths of Christianity has been its openness to conversion. Once an individual accepts Jesus as his/her personal savior, the past is erased.

    I find it fascinating that the right wingers, so beloved of the Religious Right, forget this basic fact of Christianity. It is a religion based (originally) on forgiveness.

  • The post by Debbie Schlussel to which CB linked is truely odeous. I am not very familiar with her – I did hear her once on local talk radio. She was on to discuss her belief that Michigan mosques were really hot-beds for violent anti-American jihadis. All I recall from that episode was her rude berating and bullying of the host because he was not as “well informed” as she on the issue for which she held herself out as some sort of expert. Her “Omigod you are such a dummy” approach to a popular, centrist, local talk show host did not do much to raise her credibility. She seemed to think that ridiculing the knowledge of others added to the “luster” of her own. Her “technique” was reminiscent of that of the daughter of Fred Phelps. After reading her post, I hope her influence is as limited as her social graces seem to be the day I heard her speak.

    Her post is classic fear and smear stuff. And I found this quote every bit as distrurbing as the one cited by CB:
    “Barack Obama very conspicuously omits these important facts. He’s never directly addressed them and didn’t return the Insight Magazine’s reporters queries about his Muslim background. Why? Why can’t he acknowledge his Muslim background and disavow it? Don’t watch for him ever to do that. And that’s why it’s suspicious.”
    Ms. Schlussel certainly could benefit from a copy of the Virgina Statute for Religios Freedom. How dare she demand Barack Obama “disavow” a part of his life (a) no reasonable person could deem in need of disavowal and (b) over which he had no control? It would be laugh-out-load funny, if she did not have a platform for spewing her venom.

    I also find it more than a little comical that people are noting stating conspiratorially that Obama’s “official” biography doesn’t start until age 10. Good grief.

  • For rightwing nutjobs, Obama’s supposed Muslim background is huge weakness for him, but for everyone else, its actually a strength. Normal Americans are concerned about racism against Muslims in connection with the war on terror. Having a president with a connection to that religion and that part of the world greatly alleviates that concern.

  • CB—wouldn’t it be more fun to replace “comment deleted” with something along the lines of “incoherent bleating deleted?” I can’t think of a more enjoyable way of rejecting the Reich’s message than to suggest that they’re merely “the sheep among us wolves.” The more we laugh at them, the wackier they’ll get; thus convincing an even greater majority of the People that their message of xenophobia is just an empty basket….

  • I have seen more and more conservative people questioning the ridiculous stuff that some of the fringies insist on still peddling.
    I think the other side is getting fed up with it all. After 20 years of hate and nastiness and it ending up with a seriously impaired president as thier standard bearer, more and more they are questioning things.
    I do believe, as the wingers on the far right are getting more silly, they are embarassing the more realistic repubs and I think as a whole, as a country people in general of sick of it all.
    As a supporter of Senator Obama, I am pleased to see some of the more realistic repubs speaking out that enough is enough.

  • What amuses me is all these wingnuts and theocratic reactionaires who seem to believe that conversion to Christianity doesn’t stick. I thought they believed theirs was the greatest and truest faith in the world, yet they believe that anyone who joins is still suspect (Obama, George Felix Allen Junior, etc.) even if they are a generation removed from conversion. Makes you wonder when these deep sleeper agents of Woton are going to come out and try to bring back the worship of the pagan gods 😉

  • Ya know, if conversion to Christianity doesn’t stick, doesn’t that imply that the President’s sobriety might be in question?

    My understanding was that finding Christ was what supposedly turned George Bush from a petulant priveleged wastrel and drunkard into a decent and honorable man. Yet Bush was drinking hard a lot more recently than Obama was in Indonesia. So, if we have to worry about Obama, don’t we need to be more worried about Bush and the bottle?

    I have such trouble following conservative ‘logic.’

  • So… are they questioning the patriotism of everyone who’s converted from Islam to Christainity, or just the ones who might become president and happen to be Democrats?

    Idiots.

  • Vwcat, you are right. As a conservative and someone who did vote for Bush in 2004, to say that some of us on the right are embarassed is an understatement. I am not ashamed of my conservatism, I am ashamed at the ignorance and race baiting of those like Debbie Schlussel who do what they do in the name of conservatism.

    I can have my disagreements with Barack Obama on things like abortion or taxes. However, if Debbie Schlussel thinks that I should have a problem with Obama due to his middle name then she is ought to join the KKK as far as I am concerned. Obama’s dad was a Muslim……so what, his mom raised him.

    Obama spent time in Indonesia…..so what, maybe if Bush spent some time overseas as a young man, he wouldnt be he know-nothing assclown he is today. Belevie me Vwcat, some of us on right have finally seen the light, but people like Schlussel want to keep us in dark but its not going to work. I may not vote for Obama, but if he becomes president, I highly doubt he is going to institue Sharia Law in America.

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