I've been slimed!

I am just back from canvassing with my friends for Obama in Rhode Island. I was very taken aback when at one of the first houses I canvassed, a voter stated "well I'm undecided but...didn't he swear in on the Koran?" When I told him no, this had not happened, he responded, "well, he is a Muslim, though."

I was face-to-face with the continued perpetuation of this ridiculous, and frankly, racist lie. I have already discussed and refuted the emails circulating these false claims, but was taken aback to see they are still circulating, and even directly effecting the votes of prospective voters. Let me state again: THESE RUMORS ARE NOT TRUE.

Obama stated at a recent rally:

"I am a devout Christian. I have been a member of the same church for 20 years. I pray to Jesus every night," he declared at an earlier appearance in the rural southern Ohio town of Nelsonville. He said he wanted to halt "confusion that has been deliberately perpetrated."

But perhaps what is most disturbing about these rumors is how they play on people's worst fears and prejudices. They are part of a concerted (if not organized) effort to characterize Obama as not "American" enough: repeating his middle name "Hussein," trying to tie him to Louis Farrakhan, to create fear that he is somehow a terrorist by implying that all Muslims terrorists (let along the face that he is not one); to push away Jewish voters by implying that he will not protect Israel. About these claims, M.J. Rosenberg at Talking Points Memo writes:

It's all garbage. There is no anti-Israel candidate running for President. The partisans of one party or the other who say that there is, and who distort and lie to "prove" their point, need to be told that their tactics are indecent and beyond the pale. Although the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how to resolve it is a legitimate subject for debate, using Israel or anti-Semitism to score against opposing candidates is not. Worse than that, it disrespects and insults our community. But don't expect to stop receiving those hate e-mails anytime soon. No matter that they are nothing but lies, just like those e-mails everyone gets promising that a particular pill will enlarge a particular body part. The e-mails about the candidates are no different: lies for the gullible. They deserve the same response. Just hit "delete."

UPDATE: Hillary, proving again not frightened to take the low road when in dire straits, states: Obama is not a Muslim "to the best of my knowledge."