Neocons Launch Muslim Smear Version 2.0 Against Obama

[babylonsister]

http://alternet.org/blogs/peek/73752/#more

Neocons Launch Muslim Smear Version 2.0 Against Obama

Posted by Matt Corley, Think Progress at 1:10 PM on January 14, 2008.

They claim "Islamists would renounce" Obama "and would try to execute him" because of his limited contact with Islam as a child.


Last month, neocon Daniel Pipes published an essay titled "Was Barack Obama a Muslim." Pipes, an adviser to Rudy Giuliani, posited that there is "a real possibility" that "some Islamists would renounce" Obama as an apostate "and would try to execute him" because of his limited contact with Islam as a child. Politico's Ben Smith referred to it as "the Muslim smear, version 2.0."

At a recent Washington Institute forum, U.S. News and World Report columnist Michael Barone quoted Pipes' specious argument, calling it "a chilling thought," but concluding that it's "naive" to "expect the hearts of Muslims around the world are going to be warmed" by the prospect of an Obama presidency.

Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Peter Beinart rebutted Barone and Pipes' argument, calling it "absurd" and "reprehensible":

First of all, we should take it as a given that al Qaeda would presumably be very happy to assassinate any American president elected in 2009 and as for the idea that this is somehow a widespread view amongst Muslims as a whole, I don't know where someone would have gotten that impression.

Beinart is on point when he calls Barone and Pipes' thinking "absurd." As Politico's Smith notes, Pipes' hypothesis is based on "quibbling with inconsistencies in aides' accounts of exactly how little contact with Islam Obama had as a child in Indonesia" that "range from very little to none."

As Beinart notes, "al Qaeda would presumably be very happy to assassinate any American president elected in 2009," so by pushing the "apostate" line, Pipes and Barone are doing nothing but "branding Obama a Muslim, by a subtler means."

[Kucinich4America]

1. Anybody who believes a word that Daniel "Crack" Pipes says

should be committed to a mental institution immediately.

[CoffeeCat]

2. Does it bother anyone that the neocon smear...

...and the Hillary smear are one in the same???

Bob Kerrey couldn't wait to get on the tee vee, endorse Hillary and point out
that Obama's middle name was Hussein.

In Iowa, one of Hillary's top directors resigned after circulating the "madrassa"
email.

You can say that the Iowa campaign worker was a lone wolf, but you cannot
say that about Bob Kerrey.

Hillary and the neocons are lockstep when it comes to war, and it's becoming
more apparent that they're both attacking Obama with the same revolting
lies.

[elizm]

3. Chin up....eyes on the prize. Obama will overcome anything they throw at him. :) nt

[sniffa]

4. OMG! I got the email.

I predict a mountain of those threads coming.

[Connie_Corleone]

5. But, but, but, I thought Obama was supposed to be a manchurian candidate ...

for Muslim extremists?

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. Maybe he's genuinely trying to plant that thought in the minds of Islamist crazies

He could find himself complicit in trying to foment conspiracies to murder a Presidential candidate.

And I love how these right wing idiots always pose their insinuations as a question: "Was Barack Obama a Muslim." They can always explain that they didn't actually say he was a Muslim. It's real easy to make all kinds of crazy accusations by phrasing them as a question. Fox News does this all day long.

[theredpen]

7. I saw this erupt on Free Republic last week...

...and I thought about doing a "Freepology Today" post on it, but I couldn't believe it was going to have "legs." Me of little faith. :eyes:

Basically the argument is that we shouldn't elect Obama because his apostacy will offend Muslims. Suddenly, some Freepers were terribly concerned about riling up the Muslims when their usual attitude is "screw 'em." Others were puzzled that the "librulz" weren't kowtowing to "the Muzzies" by throwing out apostate Obama (they actually believe that the left puts Islam on some kind of pedestal — fucking idiots).