I agree that Obama has to do more outreach to Muslims, BUT please tell me when the fuck did McCain

[wndycty]

. . .ever appear in a mosque.

I'm disappointed about the incident in Michigan and I want Obama to do all that he can to outreach to the Muslim community but I think its fucked up that he is getting the front page treatment from the New York Times on this issue while the GOP has done some blatantly anti-Muslim shit over the years.

I'm hearing there is an issue because Obama has never hasn't visited a mosque, has McCain done so yet?

[chimpymustgo]

1. Please. John McCain CANNOT be the standard. Is Obama a real leader? Then he must set

his own goals, and bring people together to achieve them. Let's see more walk and less talk.

Leadership. Just do it.

[FrenchieCat]

6. He doesn't need to go to a mosque, just like he doesn't need to go to a Catholic church or

a buddist temple.

What is this shit about people telling Obama where he needs to go?

He can go after he is elected President.

What is wrong with folks?

How stupid are we supposed to be?

Like going to a Mosque is a requirement to the Presidency or something.

Fuck that shit.

[wndycty]

8. Exactly, I would hope he would visit a mosque however I'm offended that he is expected to visit one

. . .I never knew it was a "must stop" for politicians. Again, I want him to be different and would hope that he would visit one, HOWEVER to have the expectation that his must visit one while not holding McCain or any previous candidates to the same standard is offensive.

[DeeDeeNY]

15. Exactly! NT

[rodeodance]

28. agree

[wndycty]

31. I'm shocked that you would agree with an Obama criticism

:kick:

[rodeodance]

38. i am shocked that you are shocked.

[Catchawave]

30. Agree ! n/t

[dkf]

2. I'm sorry but I don't want Obama visiting a mosque.

We would never see an end to the pictures and all the low information voters with their crazy emails will believe they were right all along.

Face it, too many Americans find muslims scary. That would be a complete loser as a strategy.

[Ian David]

3. Maybe President Obama and John McNazi can visit a mosque together?

"At least I don't plaster on the turban like a trollop..."

[Catherina]

19. There you go. Let's push for a debate at a mosque! That would be perffect! n/t

[EffieBlack]

4. Exactly - it's the same bull that the MSM threw when analyzing Obama's and Clinton's

support among black voters - beating up Hillary for ONLY getting 10-15% of the black vote - while giving McCain and the Republicans a COMPLETE pass on getting virtually NO black votes.

[wndycty]

5. Yup when stories are reported in vacuums it serves no one.

:kick:

[goldcanyonaz]

7. Obama is doing just fine, he does not need to be visiting a mosque

[chimpymustgo]

9. Why NOT? Be BRAVE dammit. Go visit a mosque, a synagogue, a couple of churches in one weekend.

BE the candidate of inclusion.

I thought that was his whole deal.

[wndycty]

10. He is the candidate of inclusion and you fucking know it. He has reached out to more groups. . .

. . .spoke on certain issues. It will never be enough, if he goes out and visits a mosque (WHICH I HOPE HE DOES), then there will be a whole new set of expectations placed on him.

In the view of some, especially those whose support of him is begrudging and tepid, HE WILL NEVER EVER do enough.

There are a ton of folks who SAY they support him who sit in the corner with their arms folded and jump on every miscue and perceived weakness. They will never be happy.

[WinkyDink]

11. Obama needs "to do all that he can to outreach to the Muslim community"? Why?

"Why not?" and "Be brave" aren't arguments.
How about being, you know, secular?
Or at least religiously generic?

Should he "reach out to" atheists?

[wndycty]

12. Communities of faith, ANY FAITH, are very important and it is important for Obama. . .

. . .well for that matter any candidate to be inclusive. That inclusion should include agnostics and atheists as well.

I'm not a religious person (I don't go to church), but I respect religion, I have never for the life of me understood those who are offended by anyone who tries to work with the communities of faith, especially when its an attempt to build bridges between folks.

[chimpymustgo]

13. I really do agree with you - it's about building bridges to ALL communities. Why would he shy away

from any well-meaning group of people who want to support him?

Once again (as on FISA and the so-called war on terror) don't let THEM set the terms of the debate.

[TeamJordan23]

21. agree. By not visiting a mosque or Muslim leaders just b/c of the RW shows the RW is already winning

And we are always caving in to their fears. The people who will get offended would likely not have voted for Barack anyways.

[polmaven]

23. And it is particularly

important with the Muslim community because, you just know, that the MSM will be all over this story with the "look how hard he has worked to distance himself from them" meme.

I fully understand why he has done and said what he has done and said with regard to that hateful e-mail crap, but we are talking about the MSM here....They will jump on anything that is "juicy". and the Muslim community complaining that he is dissing them is very, very "juicy".

[goldcanyonaz]

16. What about the Toledo guild of Knitters?

They are bound to feel the snub as well

[GoldieAZ49]

18. It is kinda late to go 'secular'

since the campaign has been run with strong and blatant religious rhetoric from the beginning.


but the mosque deal is a no win either way, if he goes he feeds into the muslim meme, if he doesn't he is dissing them and whatever else is read into it.

I doubt it ever would have been mentioned if the two women had not be asked move from behind podium.

[HousePainter]

14. The NYT has been putting negative articles about Obama on its front page

lately while burying any negativity about McCain deep inside.
An example today is the "Muslim snub" story with a large picture above the fold on the front page
whereas you need to go to the bottom of Page 6 to see the story about how the latest GAO report finds that the progress made by the surge has been greatly overstated, and you need to go to Page 21 to see a tiny article about Charlie Black's statement that a terrorist attack would be beneficial to McCain's chances in November.

I have a feeling that we'll see more and more of this spin toward McCain in both the obvious places and some surprising places as well i.e. NYT as Obama's numbers rise.

[crankychatter]

17. non-stop media mind-fuck - a couple of staff fuck up and we're hearing about it for weeks

jeezus h christ

[book_worm]

20. I hate to say this but Obama has to do what is best to get elected

and if it means not appearing at a Mosque because of bigots in this country then so be it. It's his call. Personally I hope he would, but if they find it would be counter productive then it's there call.

[kentuck]

22. Right on!

Let's see McCain visit a mosque!

[Barack_America]

24. Obama.Muslim. Obama.Muslim. Obama.Muslim. Obama.Muslim. Obama.Muslim...

Did you get the association yet?

This is "Muslim smear e-mail 2.0".

Sad to see so many at DU fall for it.

Truth is, Obama has no more responsibility to reach out to American Muslims than does McCain.

[TeamJordan23]

26. As a Democrat, I would want my President to reach out to all minority groups that get discriminated

And there is a big difference between reaching out and pandering. It seems many people ae okay with the anti-Muslim sentiment in this country. Unfortunately, the Obama campaign is caving into it.

Another win for the RW and the Fear-Mongerers.

[Barack_America]

29. I haven't seen Obama reach out to Hispanics or Asian-Americans since clinching the nomination.

But why isn't the MSM nailing him for that?

Why just for "shunning" Muslims?

Hmmm. Why.could.that.be?

[TeamJordan23]

32. The campaign reached out to Hispanics during the Primarys

And I bet they will again during the fall.

I think you are missing the point. It seems the campaign is purposefully avoiding meeting with Hispanics. I understand he cannot meat with all groups and I don't expect that. But a pattern seems to be building that they trying to avoid association with them for a reason.

I agree he has not met with Asian Americans, something I think he should do. But Muslim phobia in this country than anti-Asian sentiment.

I also don't think Obama will be like this regarding this issue once he is elected, but it is sad as a liberal to see this is being done probably only for political reasons and not principled reasons.

[ieoeja]

25. What mosque did he refuse to visit when asked?

When was this? What reason did he give?

[chimpymustgo]

36. NY: "While the senator has visited churches and synagogues, he has yet to appear at a single mosque"

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/us/politics/24muslim.html?hp

-snip-

Mr. Ellison believed that Mr. Obama’s message of unity resonated deeply with American Muslims. He volunteered to speak on Mr. Obama’s behalf at a mosque in Cedar Rapids, one of the nation’s oldest Muslim enclaves. But before the rally could take place, aides to Mr. Obama asked Mr. Ellison to cancel the trip because it might stir controversy. Another aide appeared at Mr. Ellison’s Washington office to explain.

“I will never forget the quote,” Mr. Ellison said, leaning forward in his chair as he recalled the aide’s words. “He said, ‘We have a very tightly wrapped message.’ ”

When Mr. Obama began his presidential campaign, Muslim Americans from California to Virginia responded with enthusiasm, seeing him as a long-awaited champion of civil liberties, religious tolerance and diplomacy in foreign affairs. But more than a year later, many say, he has not returned their embrace.

While the senator has visited churches and synagogues, he has yet to appear at a single mosque. Muslim and Arab-American organizations have tried repeatedly to arrange meetings with Mr. Obama, but officials with those groups say their invitations — unlike those of their Jewish and Christian counterparts — have been ignored. Last week, two Muslim women wearing head scarves were barred by campaign volunteers from appearing behind Mr. Obama at a rally in Detroit.

In interviews, Muslim political and civic leaders said they understood that their support for Mr. Obama could be a problem for him at a time when some Americans are deeply suspicious of Muslims. Yet those leaders nonetheless expressed disappointment and even anger at the distance that Mr. Obama has kept from them.

-snip-

“This is the ‘hope campaign,’ this is the ‘change campaign,’ ” said Mr. Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota. Muslims are frustrated, he added, that “they have not been fully engaged in it.”

Aides to Mr. Obama denied that he had kep

[BklynChick]

27. It's absolutely absurd. The incident was volunteers, who are obviously overly

sensitive and compensating for the rumors that Obama is Muslim himself. It was a mistake, but not something newsworthy IMO. Obama is the only presidential candidate who has ever had the diversity both in his background and the sensitivity to diversity in the community and we should be applauding that rather than doing the "gotcha" BS. This is a non-story. I can't stand seeing all those rednecks in the MSM try to act like they're better than him because of this. :puke:

[fujiyama]

33. Yeah that's all we need

pics of Barack Hussein Obama coming out of a freakin' Mosque for God's sake. :eyes: It's not as if there aren't enough of those stupid emails floating around already.

Obama's policies are what will matter. And they'll be a hell of a lot better than Bush or McCain's on anything significant for Muslim Americans - i.e. racial profiling, indefinite detentions, war in Iraq, possible war in Iran, etc etc etc, need I go on?

[liberaldem4ever]

35. I think the GOP is just waiting for this to happen & licking their foul lips

They would take a photo of Obama going into a Mosque and use this to show uninformed people that their suspicions of Obama being Muslim are true and then they would say all their untrue fears of Obama are true. The uninformed have just as much of a vote as informed people do. Obama should be able to visit a Mosque or any place he chooses to and visit the American people there. But he has to be smart about what he does and make sure he isn't giving the RW what they want to smear him with.

NO ONE should have believed the BS about John Kerry that those Swiftboat lying fiends said, but they did in droves. It's bad enough that those same cretans are coming out with a new book of lies about Obama soon. We have got to do what we have to do to fight them harder this time so we can win. It sucks that they have any power at all over our election process but they do. The Obama campaign has to make sure the Swiftboaters don't get away with their lies this time.

[marshall]

34. McCain isn't accused of being a Muslim

Obama has a very fine line to walk--he must establish repeatedly (for whatever reason, valid or not) that he is a Christian and not a Muslim. Visiting Mosques would be counterproductive to this.
Yet at the same time he can't alienate Muslim voters and others who might be sympathetic to them.

[zulchzulu]

37. The double standard by the MSMorans is not surprising

They are purely lazy faux-journalists that crave doing the "easy story"... give them Britney, give them some nutjob gun nut gone mad, give them a week to lionize one of their own who passes away, give them a story about some pastor they can nibble on like jackals and they are happy.

These people get paid some serious cash and they don't have to do squat. All they have to do is make sure their paymasters, who are usually in the weapons and oil industry, stay nice and fat and happy.

Little puppets performing...