These sites are themselves well linked and sourced, including the media outlets which have reported the rumors as fact such as the Washington Times and Fox News (surprise!). Being a member of the United Church of Christ myself, I feel even more offended than I might otherwise by the idea that a fellow member and church of my denomination are being slandered. Of course, the implication of the first rumor is that Muslims are by definition not fit to be President, which is patently offensive to say the least.
Hillary is actually my first choice, but Obama is my strong second choice and the person I would like to see for VP. Regardless of whom we support, people of good will should shoot down these slanderous statements early and often. If Obama is the nominee for either spot on the ticket, this will only intensify. Sadly, people will make issue about his middle name being Hussein and his last name being one letter different from Osama. These are the kind of statements it is tempting to dismiss as not worthy of response, but the more they are repeated without response the more they become “the truth”.
If you ever get one of these emails, whether you support Obama or not, please reply with these links and facts. Better yet, if you are one of several recipients, reply-all so that everyone can see the facts. Very often people who simply hit “Forward” are people of good faith who do not know any better, as I believe is the case of the person who forwarded to me. We must be relentless in this as someone screaming “Obama is a racist/terrorist!” is a lot easier to remember than a calm laying out of the facts.
