Lie:
Barack Obama is a Muslim.
Truth:
Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised as a Muslim, and is a committed Christian.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/christian
The Israel Insider site informs its readers otherwise.
Linked from World Net Daily with the front page Introduction:
Obama's half-brother: Barack grew up Muslim
Kenyan sibling contradicts campaign's claim about Islamic background
--Israel Insider
the Israel Insider article references and links a Jerusalem Post report which quotes a half-brother, Malik Obama...
The Jerusalem Post titles its spot:
Jun 12, 2008 12:15
Malik Obama says his brother will be good president for the Jews
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212659716936&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The Israel Insider front page entitles its piece Malik Obama confirms his half-brother Barack grew up a Muslim and introduces its article as
Barack's Kenyan kin takes as a given that his half-brother was brought up Muslim but still thinks President Obama will be good for the Jews.
http://www.israelinsider.com/
But we find the line crediting Obama's half brother Malik with confirming Obama was "raised" Muslim raises more questions about the article's headline and its contents and confirms nothing specifically about Obama being raised a Muslim.
Note the difference:
Israel Insider: Jerusalem Post reports
As the Jerusalem Post reports, "Barack Obama's half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background. In an interview with Army Radio he expressed a special salutation from the Obamas of Kenya."
Headline
Malik Obama confirms his half-brother Barack grew up a Muslim
By Israel Insider staff June 13, 2008
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/12918.htm
In the Israel Insider piece, the quote referenced does not contain any "confirmation" Obama was raised a Muslim. The Jerusalem Post quote as referenced states Malik (Barack Obama's half brother) said "that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background..."
Key words are "despite his Muslim background."
That's quite a stretch to Obama was raised a Muslim, which obviously, Obama's half-brother, at least in the quote referenced, does not state.
Having a Muslim background has been admitted. Obama emphatically denies being raised a Muslim on the new anti-rumor website, Fight the Smears and elsewhere.
World Net Daily follows its headliner with a poll question and two "exclusives."
WND POLL
Are you now or have you ever been ...
If it turns out Obama really was raised a Muslim, would it make a difference to you?
--WND
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Obama anti-smear site: 'He was never a Muslim'
But contemporaries, records indicate candidate once 'quite religious in Islam'
Posted: June 12, 2008
10:50 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=66981
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
TV ad questions Obama's statements on faith
'Whether he was Muslim not as important as whether he's telling truth'
--WND
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/
We won't be surprised when Sean Hannity of Hannity and Colmes graps the headlines from World Net Daily and the Israel Insider and devotes an entire radio hour and program special to the topic without rebuttal directly from the Obama campaign site, or blogs such as ours which attempt to dissect everything down to its roots to reveal the truth.
Bloggers are already discussing the headline and quote as being factual, when nothing in the quote attributed to Barack Obama's half-brother confirms Obama was raised a Muslim. A photograph of Barack Obama appearing as an older man in obviously Muslim clothing has surfaced and been circulated for months.
A Hillary Clinton Forum picked up on the headline
http://www.hillaryclintonforum.net/discussion/showthread.php?t=16742
If one reads the Israel Insider piece more thoroughly, in fact, it notes Malik Obama didn't meet his half-brother Barack Obama until 1985, a few years after Obama's father was killed in an car accident.
The Obama brothers' father, a senior economist for the Kenyan government who studied at Harvard University, died in car crash in 1982. He left six sons and a daughter. All of his children - except Malik -- live in Britain or the United States. Malik and Barack met in 1985.
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/12918.htm
So that bit of info brings up the question how could Malik Obama have any direct knowledge of how Barack Obama was raised when Malik was not raised apparently with Barack during the formative years of childhood?
Our ruling
the statement malik obama confirms his half brother grew up muslim and variations on it appearing in search terms
is debunked
this is the find that comes up - it's a one-liner comment made by Malik Obama during a radio interview and the headline from the Jerusalem Post is quite different than that of the Israel Informer and World Net Daily and other blogs
Malik Obama says his brother will be good president for the Jews
Jun. 12, 2008
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
Barack Obama's half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background.
In an interview with Army Radio he expressed a special salutation from the Obamas of Kenya.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1212659716936&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212659716936&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
Further
Infolive.tv
Malik Obama says his brother will be good president for the Jews
Barack Obama's half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background. In an interview with Army Radio he expressed a special salutation from the Obamas of Kenya.
http://www.infolive.tv/en/infolive.tv-23891-israelnews-malik-obama-says-his-brother-will-be-good-president-jews
Net the Truth Online
Related
AMERICAN MORNING
Epic Flooding in Iowa: Cedar Rapids Under Water; Obama Fights Rumors with New Web Site; How Floodwaters Impact Food Prices; Gas Prices Hitting New Record Overnight; Los Angeles Has New Plans to Solve Drinking Water Shortage; Saving on Food and Fuel by Eating Some Home Cooking
Aired June 13, 2008 - 06:00 ET
Barack Obama dogged by persistent rumors on things like his patriotism and religion. Many claims peppered on the Internet now. So Obama is using cyberspace to fight back. Suzanne Malveaux has more -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN White House CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra, John. Obama has been burned in the past. During the primary season, rumors continue to dog him questioning his patriotism, his faith, sincerity. Well, now, he's trying to reintroduce himself to voters across the country in the general election. So he's not letting false claims spread over the Internet go unanswered.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Barack Obama has had enough while he's been dogged by rumors over the Internet for months. It was the claim that his wife Michelle was on videotape in church referring to someone as whitey that propelled his campaign to fight back.
His new Web site, www.fightthesmears.com takes on that rumor first. It cites conservative Republican blogs and talk show host Rush Limbaugh as the sources behind the smear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: They're waiting to use it in October -- of Michelle going nuts in the church, too, talking about whitey this and whitey that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The Web site counters, the truth is no such tape exists. The rumor hit Obama directly last week when a newspaper reporter confronted him with it.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRES. NOMINEE: There is dirt and lies that are circulated in e-mail, and they pump them out long enough until finally you, a mainstream reporter, asks me about them, and then that gives legs to the story.
MALVEAUX: Another story Obama confronted is the claim he attended a radical Muslim school.
OBAMA: This is the same kind of nonsense that we started with the madrassas, in which CNN had to fly to Jakarta to disprove it.
MALVEAUX: Obama's Web site actually has a link to CNN's report which debunks the false rumor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FIGHTTHESMEARS.COM)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The deputy headmaster tells me he's unaware that his school has been labeled an Islamic madrassa by some in the United States and bristles at the thought.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Obama's Web site states he is not a Muslim but a Christian. A photo shows he was sworn into the U.S. Senate with his hand on a family bible, not the Koran. And there is video showing him leading the pledge of allegiance debunking the rumor he refuses to do so. The persistent false claims have been frustrating.
OBAMA: Simply because something appears in the e-mail, that should lend it no more credence than if you heard it on the corner.
MALVEAUX: Conventional wisdom has been for candidates to ignore the buzz and hope that the vitriol goes away.
ALEX WELLEN, CNNPOLITICS.COM, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR: At the lightning speed at which rumors are being spread, it's wise for a lot of these campaigns and they're learning this, to respond in a way that kind of debunks the information quickly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Obama's campaign aides tell me that the best antidote to a smear campaign is the truth, and it's the campaign's responsibility to make sure the most accurate information about Obama is actually out there. And the Web site also encourages supporters to fight these false claims by sending mass e-mails discrediting the Internet buzz -- John, Kyra.
ROBERTS: Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning. Suzanne, thanks.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0806/13/ltm.01.html
1 comment:
Let's review at least the one statement Barack Obama actually made.
"But what you don't deserve is another election that's governed by fear, and innuendo, and division. What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon...
(APPLAUSE)
What you won't see from this campaign or this party is a politics that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to polarize, because we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first.
(Barack Obama Remarks in St. Paul)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/us/politics/03text-obama.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1213875220-2OgkEc2h5VA7zykkllfxqw
Part of the statement also headlines the Obama website
Fight the Smears
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/
Is it insensitive of Obama's site to title the claim Obama is a Muslim a "Smear?" The site also tags the claim as a "lie."
For someone looking for another edge to diminish Barack Obama, yes.
For someone who understands Obama is not the one using religion as a wedge to divide, no, the site isn't being insensitive to Muslims.
It's setting the record straight.
The post we've made shows otherwise than what you're claiming as well in your question.
How could a man who discards his family heritage in favor of political expediency be even considered for presidency of the United States?
What family heritage are you implying Obama is discarding?
Obama has been clear what his family heritage has been in actuality.
As to your question
Would Mr. Obama have the same reaction if someone claimed that he was raised as a Jew?
Obama was not born of a Jewish mother, and none in his family (from a quick google search) converted - Obama was therefore not raised as a Jew and could not be given neither of his parents converted to Judaism.
But let's speculate both his parents converted and raised him in Judaism. Would he deny that?
Of course not. And he's not denying any aspect of his parents' births and later choices in life.
His life's an open book as far as his parents and his grandparents. but people have to want to search for the truth and sift through the distortions.
Obama has made his own choices.
But let's also speculate if Obama had converted to Judaism later in life (as he converted to the Christian faith in the Protestant Church) and if some were attempting to show Obama is lying about how he was raised (in a particular religion or not), lying about his conversion to a different religious belief from one parent or both parents, lying about his own adult religious beliefs, we would credit him with doing exactly as he is doing now.
Exactly.
Muslims Against Sharia need to take a different approach than demanding an apology from Obama he shouldn't have to cater to giving.
He has nothing to apologize for as he is not denigrating Muslims in general.
Your post is filled with the kind of further implications that have no place in our serious discussions. You imply it's OK for Obama to be associated with terrorists like William Ayers...
How many times does Obama have to address that issue?
We also have several posts about the Jeremiah Wright issue in an effort to find truth.
We wish you well on your search for it. It's a far more difficult process for the close-minded, however, and might we add, particularly for those who are not open to the idea of some individuals having no "religious" preference whatsoever.
That's why we read Christopher Hitchens, too.
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