Obama said we are a Muslim nation...? wtf?

[FirstLight]

My friend and somewhat adopted 'little sister' was talking shit this morning and she said she wasn't very happy with our POTUS
that Obama has "done a lot of things that are NOT right... He said America was a Muslim Nation..."

I said "where do you hear that, I am sure it was a misquote."

"On the TV.."

ya, did someone else "report this" or was it a clip taken out of context?
I am sure it was Faux...though she says it was CNN & BBC and that Obama is saying this to make peace with the Muslim countries, blah, blah, blah

I told her I am sure He is smart enough to know that we are a Nation of Many religions...In fact, I am sure I have heard him say as such.

She went on to say that we were going to have to pay $3000 a yr for healthcare or get thrown in Federal Prison, etc...
It wasn't the hate rhetoric, but it was still pretty 'out there' as far as I am concerned.

WTF?
I know I don't watch the babble of the 24 hour news cycle, but are other stations than Fox actually spewing this shit!?

[TwilightGardener]

1. Why do you choose to be friends with an idiot?

[demwing]

12. Why do you choose to be rude?

Just asking

[TwilightGardener]

13. The "friend" is an idiot. If this really happened. This post smells...weird.

[FirstLight]

19. not weird, just disturbing that my girlfriend is so uninformed!

She says stuff quite often that makes me roll my eyes and make it hard to talk with her for more than a little dose at a time... but I love her like a little sister and we have been close for years. While I don't approve of many of her life choices or still hang out in the same crowd as her, I try to be as loving as I can for her and support her emotionally when needed...

So, please don't go there and imply that you doubt my intentions in posting this or whether I am not a 'real' DUer...

I was just upset at what she had said because I hadn't heard the meme and wanted clarification from folks here who I know are more astute in debunking!

[CJCRANE]

20. I can believe it.

I inadvertently became friends with a Fox News true believer a few weeks ago. They really do come out with this kind of stuff.

[spanone]

2. he never said it. period. she believes what she wants.

[gateley]

22. Yes he did say it, but that portion was just a paraphrase of part of the quote.

Edit to add, check post below -- complete with link (I was too lazy).

[Eric J in MN]

3. The quote

"if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/9959057/Barack_Hussein_Obama_US_one_of_the_largest_Muslim_countries_in_the_world/

[donco6]

4. Here's what he said

A bizarre and inaccurate meme is circulating among conservatives that President Obama referred to the U.S. as a "Muslim nation."

It's not even remotely true...

In an interview with France's Canal Plus TV on June 1, President Obama said that "if you actually took the number of Muslims Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."

His point, it seems clear, is that numerically there are enough Muslims in the U.S. to make it one of the biggest "Muslim nations" in the world if -- hypothetically -- one were only counting Muslims.

(That happens to be a fairly debatable claim, but we'll get to that in a second.. One fact check at a time.)

On April 6 in Turkey, President Obama said "one of the great strengths of the United States is -- although as I mentioned, we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation; we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."

So it's crystal clear. The president does not think the U.S. is a Muslim nation, and he never said that it was.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/06/from-the-fact-check-desk-president-obama-and-muslims-in-america.html

More at link

[tridim]

9. Yea, this is a typical RW "out of context" quote

Par for the course.

Tell your friend to get his/her facts straight, stop trusting Faux and quit talking smack.

[TheKentuckian]

5. Tell her to try breathing through her nose (nt)

[lapfog_1]

6. He said something else

Snopes is your friend...

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/patboone.asp

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Old meme since June

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/06/from-the-fact-check-desk-president-obama-and-muslims-in-america.html

A bizarre and inaccurate meme is circulating among conservatives that President Obama referred to the U.S. as a "Muslim nation."

It's not even remotely true...

In an interview with France's Canal Plus TV on June 1, President Obama said that "if you actually took the number of Muslims Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."

His point, it seems clear, is that numerically there are enough Muslims in the U.S. to make it one of the biggest "Muslim nations" in the world if -- hypothetically -- one were only counting Muslims.

[skip fox]

8. It is important to know what crap is slung in the marketplace, as they say.

Eternal vigilance for liberty, etc.

[CJCRANE]

10. It says so in his muslim socialist communist fascist anarchist jedi sith manifesto.

[kestrel91316]

11. USA = Idiocracy. I have now seen the proof.

[Romulox]

14. Obama DOES support mandatory private health insurance

which are presumably backed up with fines.

[unpossibles]

21. and he also said there would be exemptions

I am pretty sure.

[Romulox]

24. Which does not contradict the mandatory part, or the fines part...

:shrug:

[unpossibles]

26. well, income taxes are mandatory but have exemptions, right?

I am sure there are other examples.

[Romulox]

29. Income taxes aren't payed to private corporations. nt

[unpossibles]

30. I did not say they were

I was simply giving an example of something mandatory which has exceptions/exemptions.

[Romulox]

31. You drew an analogy between mandatory private insurance and taxes.

I showed how they are more dissimilar than similar. :shrug:

[unpossibles]

35. Not entirely

FWIW, I support full Nationalized Health Care, so please don't try to turn this into some sort of 'progressive pissing match."

The post I was responding to said

Obama DOES support mandatory private health insurance

which are presumably backed up with fines.

To which I responded that Obama claimed there would be exemptions - what I meant was that if someone was too poor to buy insurance, then it has been discussed that they would not be fined, afaik.

You responded further with

Which does not contradict the mandatory part, or the fines part..

And the reason I drew the taxation analogy is valid: income tax is completely mandatory BUT people who fall below a certain income are EXEMPT from paying them. Nowhere did I compare the actual party (IRS v. Private Insurance), and nowhere did I try to say anything other than that was an example of something which is mandatory but for which there are exceptions.

I might as well just stay in the lounge as I am sick of the stupid arguments which go on in GD over fairly semantic shit. Maybe I am wrong and you are not just trying to be argumentative and whatnot, but... whatever. Have fun storming the castle.

[Romulox]

36. Right, but when you draw an analogy, you can't object when dissimilarities are pointed out.

In the case of the analogy between private, for-profit health insurance and taxes, the dissimilarities eclipse the similarities by a large margin.

"I might as well just stay in the lounge as I am sick of the stupid arguments which go on in GD over fairly semantic shit."

Ummm, you started this argument, and if it is pointless, it is inasmuch as you still haven't contradicted my original post to this thread. :hi:

[unpossibles]

37. I posted what I've heard Obama say about the mandatory insurance

that there will be exceptions and assistance available for those who cannot afford insurance, which again is what I was comparing.

No shit that there are differences between paying taxes and paying for private insurance - only a fool would call them similar which I did not do. I used it simply as an example of how anything can be mandatory but have exemptions, and no where did I claim those two things - taxes and insurance - are the same thing.

[unpossibles]

39. a follow-up link

http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/06/mandatory_insurance_looms_as_n.html

Now in the White House, Obama has set in motion steps toward his broad goal of making health care more affordable, improving quality of care and expanding coverage. Says Obama: "We are not a nation that accepts nearly 46 million uninsured men, women and children."
He largely has left it to the House and Senate to work it out.

But in recent weeks, Congress signaled that legislation overhauling health care was all but certain to require that people have insurance. Of course, details about how to implement such a mandate must be worked out — and there are many — but the overall concept increasingly seems on track to be included in any sweeping health care overhaul that makes its way to Obama's desk.
...
In a letter in early June, he told key Senate Democrats writing legislation that he was willing to consider their ideas for "shared responsibility," requiring people to have insurance with employers sharing in the cost. "But," he added, "I believe if we are going to make people responsible for owning health insurance, we must make health care affordable."
...
"I am confident in our ability to give people the ability to get insurance," he told doctors. Thus, he said: "I am open to a system where every American bears responsibility for owning health insurance, so long as we provide a hardship waiver for those who still can't afford it."

Again, I'd prefer to see a strong Nationalized plan, honestly, with options to purchase private insurance if you want to and can afford it, but I still support this reform as I see it as a step in the right direction despite all of the concerned hand-wringing, falsehoods, and misconceptions.

[Romulox]

40. OK. You support mandatory, for profit health insurance, backed up with fines.

I've yet to find a point of disagreement here. And yet the argument persists! :shrug:

[BlueJazz]

15. If Fox News said the Sky is Green, 1/4 of the USA population would swear it was true.

[FirstLight]

16. I figured it was bullshit and a crazy meme...

sad to say - but she isn't the brightest bulb in the box and tends to believe anything her husband states as truth.

Another issue this brings to light is what we are up against ... people who are generally uninformed, and have no capacity to even desire the real truth, but would rather spread rumors and talk shit...even if they ARE on extended unemployment benefits and still breeding...

I hate to sound like a latte-drinking liberal elitist, especially when I am just as poor as she is.
But at least I READ and engage in discourse!

now I feel bad because I had no real ammo to talk her down, I was just 'sure it was a mis-quote'
gotta get my facts together, eh? :tongue:

[RaleighNCDUer]

17. don't have the quote to hand, but as I remember it it was on the lines of:

"We are a Muslim nation...and a Christian nation...and a Jewish nation...and a nation of people with no religious belief..."

[el_bryanto]

18. Yes this is the quote I remember.

But i think the other quote is true too. Of course putting a quote in context does make it sound somewhat less bad.

Bryant

[Warpy]

23. Yes, that's how I remember it, so there are two of us

It was a paraphrase of Gandhi, who called himself a Hindu and a Muslim and a Christian and a Jew.

Cherrypicking it like that is utterly disgusting.

[Arkansas Granny]

27. That's the statement I remember him making.

[Hansel]

25. Jake Tapper debunks it in this article

http://tiny.cc/PDd64


A bizarre and inaccurate meme is circulating among conservatives that President Obama referred to the U.S. as a "Muslim nation."

It's not even remotely true...

In an interview with France's Canal Plus TV on June 1, President Obama said that "if you actually took the number of Muslims Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."

His point, it seems clear, is that numerically there are enough Muslims in the U.S. to make it one of the biggest "Muslim nations" in the world if -- hypothetically -- one were only counting Muslims.

[BlooInBloo]

28. Concern, noted.

[ddeclue]

32. I thought he said we were a Muslin nation

:rofl:

[PVnRT]

33. I'm pretty sure we're a Zeus nation

Hail Zeus!

[TK421]

34. Why does Hades always get the shaft?

:shrug:

[Swamp Rat]

38. The USA is not a christian nation.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

41. Close, but not quite. Here's what I guess he's misquoting:

From his inauguration speach: "We know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers."

So, technically, your friend is almost right, but (if that was indeed what he was referring to) he's entirely missed the sense of the remark. It's an object lesson in the dangers of taking things out of context.