Obama and the Bigots

[THUNDER HANDS]

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: March 9, 2008

The ugliest prejudices in this campaign season are not directly about race. Barack Obama’s skin color may cost him some working-class white voters, but it’s also winning some votes among blacks and among whites eager to signal their open-mindedness.

Sexism seems more of a factor. Americans have typically said in polls that they are less willing to vote for a woman than a black, and Shirley Chisholm (a black woman who ran for president in 1972) always said that she encountered more prejudice because of her sex than her race. Yet the most monstrous bigotry in this election isn’t about either race or sex. It’s about religion.

The whispering campaigns allege that Mr. Obama is a secret Muslim planning to impose Islamic law on the country. Incredibly, he is even accused — in earnest! — of being the Antichrist. Proponents of this theory offer detailed theological explanations for why he is the Antichrist, and the proof is that he claims to be Christian — after all, the Antichrist would say that, wouldn’t he? The rumors circulate enough that Glenn Beck of CNN asked the Rev. John Hagee, a conservative evangelical, what the odds are that Mr. Obama is the Antichrist.

These charges are fanatical, America’s own equivalent of the vicious accusations about Jews that circulate in some Muslim countries. They are less a swipe at one candidate than a calumny against an entire religion. They underscore that for many bigoted Americans in the 21st century, calling someone a Muslim is still a slur.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/opinion/09kristof.html?em&ex=1205208000&en=1826bdb07b1e78b6&ei=5087

[freesqueeze]

1. "...what the odds are that Mr. Obama is the Antichrist?"

whew...what are the odds that Hillary is actually a foot fetishist? or that McCain has actually been dead for the last 12 years?

What are the odds that your middle name is Elwood?

what are the odds....?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. My boss quoted Beck when he came in yelling about Obama

being a Muslim. He would not listen to reason, because, I guess, I'm a woman and wasn't subservient enough. I hate to think what he'd do if he found out my religion (which I keep to myself)--fire me, for sure (and since he's a small private company, he can discriminate), but then what? Make sure I don't get another job? The town is prejudiced enough to have that happen. Guess I'd move back to my land and try to make a living online.

[Skittles]

3. I would have kicked his ignorant ass

I mean - that is just too much :o