Barack Obama was on ABC’s “This Week” yesterday and, during the course of the interview, the issue came up regarding the incessant rumors that Obama is really some sort of secret Muslim. The issue at hand was whether or not the McCain campaign had ever directly suggested that Obama was a Muslim or questioned his Christian faith, to which Obama replied that they had not, but that there clearly was a concerted effort on the part of conservative commentators and activists to confuse the American public about the issue. During the course of the discussion, Obama made this point:
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. And I think that his campaign’s upper echelons have not, either. What I think is fair to say is that, coming out of the Republican camp, there have been efforts to suggest that perhaps I’m not who I say I am when it comes to my faith — something which I find deeply offensive, and that has been going on for a pretty long time.
Obviously, the point Obama was making was that McCain has not personally spread the smear about “my Muslim faith.” Seems pretty straight forward, right?
Sen. Barack Obama’s foes seized Sunday upon a brief slip of the tongue, when the Democratic presidential nominee was outlining his Christianity but accidentally said, “my Muslim faith.”
The three words — immediately corrected — were during an exchange with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week,” when he was trying to criticize the quiet smear campaign suggesting he is a Muslim.
But illustrating the difficulty of preventing false rumors about his faith from spreading, anti-Obama groups within one hour of the interview had sliced it out of context and were sending it around via email. They also were blogging about it.
It was not a “slip of the tongue,” it was a straight-forward and self-explanatory statement that the Right Wing is taking entirely out of context and that right-wing media outlets like the Washington Times are reporting as genuine news.
