Yesterday, I wrote about Barack Obama’s supposed slip of the tongue when he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that John McCain has not personally been involved in spreading the smear about that Obama is secretly a Muslim. In the context of the discussion, Stephanopoulos was asking Obama about his accusations that Republicans have been suggesting that he has “Muslim connections” and seeking his response to the McCain campaign’s insistent that they have never done so.
In the course of the discussion, Obama admitted that Stephanopoulos was “absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith” but went on to say that there clearly were deliberate efforts on the part of Republican activists to spread that idea that Obama was not a Christian.
And now, in an a move that surprises absolutely nobody, Republicans and right-wing activists are using this very exchange to further spread the idea that Obama is really a Muslim by taking his use of the phrase “my Muslim faith” absurdly out of context and citing it as proof.
Because they are apparently too dense to understand this on their own, let’s take a walk through the relevant portion of the transcript:
OBAMA: 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 that that has not come–
STEPHANOPOULOS: Christian faith.
OBAMA: -- my Christian faith. Well, what I'm saying is that he hasn't suggested–
STEPHANOPOULOS: Has connections, right.
OBAMA: -- that I'm a Muslim.
It was Stephanopoulos who misunderstood Obama’s point and erroneously tried to correct him, at which point Obama explained that what he was “saying is that [McCain] hasn't suggested that I'm a Muslim.” Perhaps he should have said “my supposed Muslim faith,” since that is what he obviously meant, but his use of the phrase “my Muslim faith” was perfectly clear in context . For some reason, the Rights seems to think that Obama really meant to say “John McCain has not talked about my Christian faith,” but within the context of the discussion that was taking place, that would have been a complete non sequitur and wouldn’t have made any sense.
For anyone with an IQ above 9, the point that Obama was making is perfectly clear, but that isn’t stopping people like Janet Folger from seizing on this exchange and using it to further spread the very smear that Obama was decrying:
I've misspoken before. I've misspoken before on national television. I've mixed up words, reversed orders, but I have never once misspoken concerning my faith and the God in whom I trust. Even in the most heated debate on Islam, never did I ever utter the words "my Muslim faith." Nor, even when talking about Buddhism, have I ever slipped up and referred to "my Buddhist faith." Ever. Why? Because my Christianity is so ingrained in me, so a part of who I am, that the thought of adhering to a false religion is so foreign, so blasphemous, that the words would never cross my lips.
Not the case for Mr. Obama. On ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, 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 that that has not come."
Matthew 12:34 says: "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."
Notice that Obama didn't correct himself. He was "corrected" by George Stephanopoulos who interrupted Obama, with the words: "Christian faith."
Let's just say he misspoke. Did Obama misspeak when he told the New York Times that blasphemy was one of the "prettiest sounds on earth at sunset"?
That's right. In a Feb. 27, 2007, interview with the New York Times' Nicholos Kristof, that's how Obama described the Muslim call to prayer. That prayer, which Obama recited with a "first-class [Arabic] accent," begins with this:
Allah is supreme!
Allah is supreme!
Allah is supreme! Allah is supreme!
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that Muhammad is his prophet ...
Really? No god but the false god Allah is the prettiest sound on earth? Really.
Speaking of slip-ups, here's the clip of Obama saying he's visited 57 states. He's such a "global citizen," perhaps the 57 member states of the "Organization of the Islamic Conference" was more second nature to him than our own 50 U.S. states.
While Obama's campaign site declares: "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim" and "was not raised as a Muslim," the records say differently.
