When the Clark County Republican Party got caught posting the “Obama is a Muslim” smear on the front page of their official web site, I suppose you could’ve just chalked it up to stupidity or venality or wankery (or all three.) But now that a second county Republican Party has been caught officially peddling the exact same lies… well… that establishes a pattern.
A comment on Slog, (via Jon Devore) points us to a January 19, 2008 opinion piece in Aberdeen, WA’s Daily World, in which assistant editor Dan Jackson rails against the “mostly untrue and hugely inflammatory” email that has made its way into his and millions of other inboxes. But….
The most galling and appalling thing about this e-mail is how it got to my inbox. It was passed on by a local citizen who had received it from Cathy Colley, the chairwoman of the Grays Harbor Republican Party.
If it were just from joeblow@yahoo.com, I’d groan about it and maybe even respond to the writer that it was racist and untrue. I doubt I’d be writing this column.
Clicking the “send” button doesn’t require a degree in law or political science — nor should it — but when you’re the Republican Party chairwoman, you should know better than to forward something inflammatory that hasn’t been vetted.
Or, to forward something inflammatory that has been vetted, and totally debunked both here and here.
Two Republican Party organizations have now been caught officially pushing the same racist lies about Barack Obama, suggesting a common theme, if not a coordinated campaign of hatemongering and innuendo. It is time for state GOP chair Luke Esser to hold party officials accountable for their actions, or be held accountable for his own.
Maybe not growing up in the country makes me not understand your reasoning. But why is the context of the post (supposed muslim background etc) racist. It’s religious, but racist ? Now I don’t agree with it, but like to understand why you call this racist, and not what it really is.
Maybe someone can explain this to me so I understand this better.
So, Dino, what’s your position???? Two Washington State County Republican organizations have broadcast proven lies about the Republican Candidate. Are you going to do the moral thing, and chastise them, and insist upon the resignation of the chairs of those organizations?
Republicans are making a strong case that the lobotomy should again become a standard medical procedure.
There goes those silly Republicans again.
What else can anyone expect? It’s the party of PuddyStupid and Pooper Scoop.
Luke Esser is in the loop and is just fine with such tactics, so you won’t see him stepping in to silence the racest remarks published by his county chairs.
I think it’s more fun to watch Hillary and Obama go at it. Typical modern-day whiney liberal Democrats they are. Mud- slinging back and forth, and like this last Congressional session, didn’t get a fucking thing done. If that’s the party you want to lead, then you’re all dumber than you look. (and especially to you Roger “where’s the handouts?” Rodent.)
Mark – how dumb is your leader, Mr. Bush? He has the vocabulary of a two year old, if that.
@7:
There’s the typical liberal way; paiting anyone that happens to have some conservative views as a Bush lover. I don’t like him either. Have fun with your ignorant blind-labeling practices you uneducated little worm.
Oh, dear…that must mean you haven’t a friend in the world.
I don’t like him either.
Not right wing enough for you, huh? Well I hope your candidates go to his right if that is at all possible.
It will be the end of the GOP for a very long time…
Just watch all those county GOP website serving up bat shit insane e-mails seething with hate.
And then watch the droves run away from that bankrupt, corrupt party.
anyone can answer my question ? Seriously, trying to understand…Goldy ?
12 – Calling a black political figure a Muslim when it’s not true and hinting that he took his oath of office on a Koran is comparable to planting a burning cross on his lawn.
This e-mail was spread around by the tens of thousands. It was only a matter of time before it would filter up into official Republican speak.
It’s how this party operates – on the hate and fear principle.
Thanks for the answer, but I still don’t understand what that has to do with race (black, white, Asian, etc). There are many black muslim people and many black christian. So if I call a white guy muslim and he’s actually baptist…would that be racist too ? I understand the misleading and discriminationg info, but why is this “racist”. Would it be racist to call a Mexican catholic when he’s actually lutheran ? I don’t get it. Unless being muslim is derogotary and then it would make sense …but I don’t think that’s the issue here ?
Still puzzled.
Mark – way to go, making false accusations. I did not label you as anything. You label yourself as a lie, cheat and thief. I did not claim you were a Bush lover – I did not pait (paint) you anything – you must have a guilty conscience. You posted a comment regarding “a do nothing (Democratic) congress” – I suppose the Republican Party and Administration has nothing to do with it. Only like a FUCKING IDIOT REPUBLICAN (CONSERVATIVE) to cry like a little baby.
BG ..
The American term racist is perjorative, not meant to classify but to decry.
This thihng is racist because it unsubtly attempts to associate BHO with the bigotry and (all to real) racism of the muslim world. If it makes oyu feel better this is no more or no less than some white folks calling me a nigger lover a few years ago. Was that racist?
BTW, as a Jew I live with this all the time. The majority of Americans think we are a “race.” So when the comment that I have relatives who run the NY Times (I wish), they are not making a nice comment about my circle of affluence, they are saying .. see, a Yid, they are all alike.
Bottom line, call kit what you will. It is unaerican and more than enough reason for my default position on any politcal choice to be demo until these bozoes clean up ther effin act.
May the O encircle you with oneness, patriotism and grace.
Blessings from the first church of Obama .
BG could it because Obama is black and the fact that racism does exist, and that an attack of false accusations against him could have been spread because some people that may want to discredit him for the fact that he is black? What I find more interesting regarding these lies is the fact that they are spread by, if not by racist individual, then by a political party that so much likes to speak about being on the high road of religion – yet they forgot that “thou shall not lie” and thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” are two of the Ten Commandments.
14 – Ok Obama is black and has some Muslim background and upbringing but that’s all long behind him and he attends a Christian church. Many people attracted to the Republican party have called him “Barack Hussein Osama”. The e-mail doesn’t say “Osama” but it sure does mention “Hussein”. Believe me the implication is there. Just go to the comments section of any right wing american blog.
This kind of hateful epithet evokes images of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden – evil guys to be sure but these images are used to arouse bigoted responses against Arabs and then associate those bigoted responses with Obama, a black man.
Yes, the racist undercurrent is there and is being whipped up by this e-mail chain letter that has filtered up into official Republican websites. It should never never have gotten that far but rank and file Republicans can’t help themselves – it’s who they are.
It’s a bit complicated but people’s emotions and prejudices are complicated things.
Sorry Goldy – but I have to cite you for inappropriate grammer. Accountable and republican should not be used in the same sentence.
For my freinds who once doubted Barack’s blackness….
Years and years ago, someone asked Albert Einstein how it was that he had come to know that he was Jewish. Of curse Albert had been born that way but he lived in rather tolerant times when German Jews were easily accepted and often converted.
So, Al, tell us?
Al said, he really has not felt Jewish until he got a letter form Hitler offering to make Einstein and instant Aryan of he would work in Germany.
I supect Barack is gong through the same thing. Thanks to the repricans any doubt in any ones mind about the AMERICAN family, two professionals .. a guy and a girl as parent, two great kids now KNOW they are Black!
BTW .. I invented the term Reprican .. it stands for a Republican w/o the public.
Barack is black?
Whudathunkit?
YLB I think PuddyBrain wants your attention.
What the R’s are really trying to do here is see to it that they get to bash another Clinton in the general election. Let’s face it: how the hell are they gonna fire up their base against Obama without playing the race card? They are just trying to splinter the Dem’s and ensure lot of bad blood after the convention so they can max out the hate machine against their favorite target; a Clinton. Yeah I know she’s got ‘high negatives” but this is gonna piss backwards on them this time.
Here’s an interesting thought…….
What if the MSM really did have a preference for Hillary? But not for the reason you might think. Let’s face it, if she wins the nomination, it’ll lead to the messiest, dirtiest, campaign ever. Plenty of grist for the mill, if you know what I mean. More so if she won the White House, more grist for the next four years watching (and reporting upon) every microscopic detail and calling it ‘scandal’ to titillate the masses. Even with the clumsy smears we’ve seen, an Obama nomination, victory, etc., would be a church social by comparison, and not providing the juicy tabloidesque headlines that a Clinton run would….. not to mention relentless revisiting of the previous Clinton presidency in lurid detail.
Joe spoken like a true Republican. Patriotic and a Pledge of dis-allegiances.
I doubt it’s a coordinated campaign. These jackasses all read the same GOP e-mails which push the same little racist buttons embedded in each of their mentalities.
This crap turns off more voters than it turns on, so the more of it they do, the better.
Excuse me?
What did you call me?
Of course I hate to see this going on in my state, not only because today’s Republicans are reminiscent of the Nazis, but more importantly because I don’t want a one-party society. Politics is healthier if we have two competitive parties, but the WSRP is so crazy we’re headed toward a Democratic Party monopoly in Washington. That’s not good.
This kind of campaigning is the work of shrill little frightened people. They’ve bought into their own lies so much they now think their world will come to an end if a black Democrat is elected president.
@1 Because Republicans think of Middle Eastern Muslims in racial terms, and their effort to identify Obama with that group is an attempt to play on the racial fears (as well as religious bigotry) of their sympathizers.
I was attempting to make a valid point about something I’ve perceived in the coverage of the nomination process. I’m a fourth-generation Democrat, and fucking proud of it. If you’ve been paying attention, I just ran my precinct’s Democratic Party caucus down here in Reno.
Explain yourself.
@6 What rock have you been living under? Fratricidal quarreling among Democrats is as old as the party itself. That’s our normal state of affairs. Unlike the GOP, we don’t have a prescribed, top-down, mandatory ideology. Enjoy the show while it lasts, because long before November, we’re going to be united toward a single goal: Exterminating the GOP as a force in American politics.
Tories, Whigs, Know-Nothings … whatever they call themselves … they should all be neutered so they can’t breed, so our country can be rid of them for once and for all.
@14 “Unless being muslim is derogotary”
Try going to any Republican caucus on Feb. 9 and announcing you’re a Muslim and see if they consider that derogatory.
Obama says hes Baptist. Why does his house have a pointy
gold dome on the roof? If he wins the White House I wonder
if that too will have gold domes on the roof?
Uh putting the racist issue aside, if the Internet has multi websites that state that Obama’s real father is Muslim from Kenya involved with the MauMau’s and someone is a little concerned with the info they got from many sites on the WEB, is someone saying they shouldn’t ask any questions? Fact is that his step-dad was Muslim too and facts aren’t racist.
In fact there are facts about many of the candidates I’m sure followers of theirs will deny or sugar-coat.
BG,
In the U.S., “Muslim” often is interpreted in racial/ethnic terms, as equivalent to “Arab” (although according to federal racial criteria “the historic peoples of the Middle East” are classied as Caucasian or white — originally established before much Arab immigration & probably intended to explicitly treat Judaism as a religion and Jewish people as part of the white “race” not a separate race). Despite that official race classification, U.S. popular culture sees “Arabs” (erroneously including Iranians & maybe even Pakistanis) as racially distinct, “brown” in some sense. When public outrage at “Muslims” for some event leads to physical attacks, the people who get attacked are picked out on physical appearance. A friend of mine was assaulted on the Boston subway system during the Iranian hostage crisis. He is a somewhat dark-skinned Jew.
So it’s partly racist because it appeals to anti-Muslim anger and hatred within a known popular culture that treats Muslims in a racialized manner. Your educated analytical point doesn’t change that fact of how race works in America.
Then, as others have pointed out, it is an attack on a black man. The idea that Obama took his oath of office on a Koran draws on a real event, only the office-holder was white. Part of the intention pretty clearly is to deepen latent racial prejudice among some readers.
But in another way you are right. To restrict analysis of thing to racist aspects is not to do it justice. It very much is concerned with religion — it seeks to vilify Obama with association with both Islam and atheism (via his mother, check out the Snopes.com to see a different picture), so, above all NOT CHRISTIAN, an unAmerican to those who wish to see the U.S. as a Christian Nation. It also is xenophobic, trying to make Obama look as foreign as possible, emphasizing his unusual name & adding the Arab (Hussein as an historical figure in Islam was an Arab)/Muslim middle name, falsely saying that his Kenyan-born father returned to Kenya after his parents divorced (he went to Connecticut), stressing the alienness of his stepfather, his having lived and gone to school in Indonesia.
So it is racist, and anti-Muslim, but above all it draws on a protean xenophobic ethnocentrism that links various prejudices in irrational ways in order to appeal to the broadest range of prejudices and hatreds among its diverse audience.
Interesting site, Some media matters posters have put up links to this. Its local for me, which is good. I assume some have notified some of the media on this, I haven’t seen a word on this else where.
For Mark, a pointy gold dome on a roof? Describe it, is it a big dome on the roof? A wind vane size? Does the dome fit the rest of the architecture. Who built it and when. Domes are not usually pointy, fill in the details please.
Oh yah, he thought later. Onion domes like on that church in The Red Square. So He’s really Greek Othodox then?
@39 Weston??
Is that your name or are you a follower of the Westons?