Busted! RW sites use false quote by Obama's half brother as evidence that he was raised Muslim

[sabra]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/06/from-the-fact-c.html

It was a sloppy paraphrase that emerged as false evidence.

Malik Obama, the older half brother of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, gave a brief interview to Israeli Army Radio.

The Jerusalem Post listened to the interview, apparently, and produced a story saying "Malik Obama says his brother will be good president for the Jews. Barack Obama's half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background."

...

Conservatives jumped on the Jerusalem Post's paraphrase that Malik said Obama "will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background" as some sort of evidence that Malik was saying Obama was raised a Muslim, which the campaign says he was not.

This suspicion reared its head in Israeli blogs and the blogs of supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and Sean Hannity fan sites and Free Republic and conservative blogs.

It ended up on Fox News, with anchor Brut Hume saying on June 16 that: "Barack Obama is a practicing Christian, married in a Christian church, whose children were also baptized in that church. His campaign has emphasized his faith in part to dispel what the campaign calls an online smear campaign which contends among other things that Obama was raised a Muslim. There is even a statement on his official campaign website reading, quote, 'Obama has never been a Muslim, and is a committed Christian.' But Obama's half brother is not so sure. Malik Obama tells The Jerusalem Post that, 'if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background.'"

So is it true?

No.

ABC News got a hold of the audio of Malik's interview with Israel Army Radio, and Malik said nothing of the kind.

You can't hear the questions -- only Malik's answers (listen HERE) -- but whatever the interviewer asked about Obama's father's Muslim heritage, or the Muslim minority in Kenya, Malik said, “I don’t think that’s in any way going to be something to worry about. I myself am not speaking for him. But we are here, we love people in general. People love us. I myself love people who love me. You know, so, and I think it’s mutual. I can’t go in terms of Israel and Kenya and America, and so forth, you know, but based on what else I’ve heard him say and what I know of him as an individual, I don’t think Israel should worry too much, you know, about the connection. Because, I am a Muslim myself, and I don’t think that my being a Muslim has got anything to do with my brother being the President of the United States.”

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Ah HAH

I figured it was something like this. Thanks for finding this and posting.

[newmajority]

2. So the Jerusalem Post distorted the facts to serve their own agenda

Wow.... color me shocked. :eyes:

[ellenfl]

3. how would he know? they first met when barack was 20 and

barack sr left jr. when he was 2!

ellen

[sabra]

4. JP did a hack paraphrase and the RW'ers took it as a quote...

the real transcript shows the truth...

[formercia]

5. Those crafty Jooos again.

:rofl: