I’m an Obama supporter. That isn’t my point here. If you support McCain or one of the independents, I encourage you to read on. I promise I won’t use Obama magic on you and make you a convert. (You are supposed to be smiling at this point)
I’ve had many good discussions with solid republicans. And I always make the point that I am not a Democrat. I refuse to be put in a box. For a variety of reasons, I find myself more in agreement with Democrats at this point. So how then can I have productive and interesting conversations with conservatives, right wingers and republicans? Simple. My interest is in building bridges, not being divisive. I could say “Obama is cool” and my counterpart would reply “McCain is cool”. Neither of us get anywhere. Neither of us has convinced the other. We’ve done nothing more than annoy each other.
What if instead I concentrated on some principles. First, I recognize that no one is perfect. Far from it. My candidate is an idiot at times. And his opponent sometimes has good ideas. That’s just the truth. And I can tell my conversational partner what I like about his candidate and what I don’t like about my own. I’d like to know what my conversational partner thinks along the same lines. So we build bridges instead of building walls. There is an assumption of basic decency and politeness. For example, it is pointless to tell someone that their candidate is an idiot or try to spew some emotion based nonsense that isn’t true. The more we can talk about ideas the better. I can accept that my conversational partner does not like a policy policy position that my candidate has taken. And, if done politely, I can say that I don’t like certain characteristics of his candidate. He does not have to agree. But I can tell him in a non-threatening way that is not designed purely to irritate him.
If I come to a point where we disagree on some point of fact, we can agree to research it. I don’t know everything and neither does my friend. That is what the Internet is for. Who knows, you might learn something. I know I do.
Be prepared to hear things that don’t ring true to you. Your opposite will often hold views that seem to come right from the current political headlines even if they aren’t accurate. Keep it polite and talk about ideas. Ask questions with a genuine desire to learn what they think. And don’t be sarcastic.
I don’t claim that you will convince anyone of anything. But you will find stimulating dialog and gain respect from uncommon places. I’ve had some great conversations with people that I would not have thought I could. And I’m better off for it. I hope you can too.
I’m doing something I never do. Analyze and defend a political candidate. If there is an obvious falsehood against a candidate, I’ll point it out. But I came across this video and I was shocked. The number of false or misleading information is stunning. The convoluted logic and all out paranoia struck me. The kicker is that there are completely rational intelligent people who are eating this stuff up. It reeks of some sort of grandiose conspiracy theory.
The entire video is designed to created fear. It is largely an attempt to link Obama with being a muslim, terrorism and communism.
The first part starts with Senator Kennedy confusing the names Obama and Osama. This is a mistake that has been made by many. Regardless of that. What does that prove? Nothing really. But what it does is say the name Obama and Osama in the same sentence. It is trying to create a psychological link. An association.
Next we go to Ann Coulter on FOX using the name Barack Hussein Obama. What does this prove? Nothing. But it is making a link. Presenting no facts, they continue to build the association.
Next we see a picture of Obama with a photoshopped beard and headdress with the name Hussein Obama at the top. What does that prove? A blatant attempt to paint Obama as a muslim or some sort of foreign type. Nonsense. If you are a rational thinking person, at this point you should be saying to yourself that this is some sort of joke.
“While we are at war with terrorism,” the voice says. Can America elect a man with not one, not two but three Islamic names?” Play that against a backdrop of war.
What? Am I missing something? WTF does a person’s name have to do with anything? It is all a means to show negative images while repeating his name. Call it brainwashing because that is what it is. We now have four attempts to simply link Obama with being a muslim. All done without presenting any facts.
Next we see Ann Coulter calling him “president Hussein”. What? Since when do we call our president by their middle name? Do we call President Bush President Walker? Was Clinton president Jefferson? Was the president’s father president Herbert? The name Hussein is of course linked to Saddam Hussein. And this is an attempt to forge that link in the minds of viewers. I would hope that rational people can see what is happening here.
Is Senator the most liberal Senator? He is if you ask the National Journal. The National Journal voted Kerry the most liberal Senator. They are a right wing publication. They are supposed to do this because it helps their team. It seems like any Democrat running for president gets that label. The disturbing thing about this is that it almost never gets refuted when stated. I’m refuting it here. Don’t accept this label. It isn’t true.
The narrator then tell us these are the “Footnotes of interest”. Really? Are these the most important things about the man? I want to take the person who is seeing that and shake them by the shoulders and ask them if the attempts to make Obama seem like a muslim is really the most important thing. No, these are not important at all. This seems like the points of interest for someone trying to attach as many negative labels against the man rather than try to get some facts and really analyze what he said and wrote.
Next we get the tired falsehood that Obama attended a muslim school. Obama never attended a muslim school. That’s been debunked.
There is a rumor that he was sworn into the Senate on a Quran. Not true. He was sworn in on his family bible. Dick Cheney was there to witness.
Obama voted present many times in Illinois. True. That was never clear to me why. I don’t know what that is such an important point in this video. The narrator fails to examine what Obama did vote on. Once again, the video fails to focus on facts and only tries to point out things that advance the angle the narrator is interested in.
Obama refuses to wear the flag pin. First, he does wear the pin sometimes. This is recent. Originally, he had some notion that he would not wear the flag pin for some reason. I don’t understand it to be honest. But why does this matter? We have a dress code for presidential candidates now? Just how many pieces of Flare is he required to wear? And should he just settle for the minimum flare? Facts please. And, if you don’t mind, facts that actually matter.
Next we get to that now famous photo of Obama not holding his hand over his heart during the national anthem. That did happen once. I have never seen that this has been repeated. And the photo is now omnipresent. It was a mistake. He should have. But to extrapolate this to mean that he never does is intellectually dishonest. I ask you, my reader, if this was such a horrible mistake that you won’t vote for him? I refuse to believe this.
Now we get to Rev Wright. I don’t think Obama handled the Wright situation perfectly. I think he handled it poorly. Rev Wright’s statements evoke a strong emotional response. And it can now be used against him. It is a pity. Obama screwed up. Barack Obama publicly denounced the statements. What more should he do?
Michele Obama is proud of her country for the first time in her adult life. Bad choice of words I think. No one is perfect. Are we now to hold the candidate’s spouse accountable?
More Rev Wright. Oh brother.
Rev Wright didn’t let Sean Hannity speak. That is probably a good thing. What this has to do with Barack Obama is beyond me.
A Che Guvera flag in an Obama office in Houston. Apparently this was put there by a person responsible for setting up the office. With so many volunteers, there will be some that are not in the main stream. Does the presence of this flag reflect on Obama himself?
Next we seek the old communist symbol and an attempt to try it to link Obama. There is no logical statement made here. Only the utterance of all these in the same sentence. Here is what it is implying. Obama has a Che flag in one of his offices. Rev Wright refers to Dr Cone who is a proponent of black liberation theology. Black liberation theology is linked to communism. Obama was mentored by Rev Wright, therefore, Obama is communist. Whew, I got that one out. And they accuse the left of having tinfoil hats.
Obama screwed up with the “typical white people” comment. Do you think he is racist? Does he hate white people? The overwhelming evidence is that he is not.
More Rev Wright blah blah blah. How many times do we have to remind everyone that Barack Obama is not Rev Wright. I certainly would not vote for Rev Wright. But he’s not running for office.
Let’s throw in Louis Farakan now and a few photos of Castro. Then throw in Khadafi.
The narrator now states that Obama is open to meeting with “terrorist leaders”. Go back and read what he said please. Seems like the current plan with those countries isn’t working. So why not try something different? And this idea is “so radical?” The narrator is some sort of foreign policy expert? Someone please let him know that President Bush is taking this exact approach with North Korea. And this succeeded.
By now, you should have got two messages. Barack Obama is a muslim. And he attends a radical black church. Someone please explain to me how he can be Muslim and Christian at the same time. You cannot have both. Please pick one.
Now this bunch of mostly weak “evidence” is supposed to be taken seriously.
Obama eventually did disown Rev Wright. The video must be old.
I can sum this whole video up:
Obama
Unpatriotic
Unknown
no flag pin
Muslim
Osama bin Laden
Rev Wright
Castro
Black
Rev Wright(again)
Communist
Louis Farakan
Khadafi
Terrorist
Kim Jung Il
Marxist
Terrorist
Anti-Christian
no flag pin
won’t respect national anthem
Rev Wright
