THE PLANK OCTOBER 22, 2008
-
Read Later
READ LATERAvailable only to subscribers. SUBSCRIBE TODAY
-
Listen
ARTICLE AUDIO
- Font Size
Last Sunday, Colin Powell said of Obama, "I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, 'He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.'" Jonah Goldberg of National Review called this a "low and dishonest blow," asking, "is there really much evidence that the GOP or the McCain campaign have had anything to do with the stories that Obama is a Muslim?"
Steven Waldman answers the question. Yes, he concedes, "There’s no evidence that the national Republican Party has driven, coordinated or even overtly encouraged the Obama-is-a-Muslim line." But Waldman compiles extensive evidence of state-level Republicans and many non-marginal conservative outlets -- which function as arms of the party -- propogating the Obama-as-Muslim lies. McCain certainly isn't guilty of a sin of commission, but there is a sin of ommission -- less serious but not nothing -- when so many of your supporters are spreading a lie that you fail to correct. Anyway, read Waldman's definitive take.
--Jonathan Chait
13 comments
Goldberg's "rebuttal" does absolutely no damage to Powell's statement. Powell clearly said, ""I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion..." Powell is stating that he, personally, has heard those remarks. He doesn't say that they are all public or on-the-record remarks. Powell moves in some pretty serious circles, a claim I'd be surprised Goldberg can make. Goldberg's just flailing around hoping to land a hit that tells among people too stupid to comprehend proper grammar.
- jfelliott
October 22, 2008 at 12:40pm
What a 'duh' title!!! And what a lame Waldman (there's no 'smoking gun' evidence)!!!
- WaltB
October 22, 2008 at 12:49pm
I can't believe it took this long for someone very high profile to say "and so what if he were a Muslim" and go on maket he case that Powell did. It was pitch perfect and it needed to be said by a Republican.
- stgla
October 22, 2008 at 1:13pm
Last week a guy who has been doing some work for us around the house came by to fix the water heater and to talk about another job we'd like him to do. He's a contractor-turned-handyman who got crushed in the housing crash around Stockton, California, and now scrapes by doing whatever he can to feed his large, extended family.
I gave him a check for materials for the new job, which he promptly cashed; we haven't heard from him since. (He was supposed to show yesterday morning.)
I may be out my material money. My GF is suspicious. Me? Well...I don't know what's going on with him. He may be robbing Peter to pay Paul. He may be hung over. Hard to tell at this point. I want to find out how he's doing. I lack evidence one way or the other. Seek first to understand, then to be understood, as Dr. Covey reminds us.
The statement "Obama is a Muslim" is a logical fallacy. I'm lacking in sufficient training in rhetoric to declare which kind of fallacy it is (negative proof? bare assertion? help me out here, guys) but from what I know, actual evidence to support such a claim does not exist. Therefore it is not logical.
The sad thing, to me, is that we are even having this discussion. I don't give a shit whether Republicans of such-and-such level within the hierarchy are spreading the rumor; instead, I care that fear, anger, hatred, and ignorance are so rampant in America, that America harbors such ugliness, that such a rumor would gain traction at all. That a GOP operative runs out and waters the weed once in a while is beside the point; the point is that we have allowed a weed to take root.
Let enough weeds take root and pretty soon everyone is looking at everyone else from behind the eye of the cynic and with one finger on the trigger. And then I will begin to regard a handyman who may be in desperate straits as my enemy, a priori.
- williamyard
October 22, 2008 at 1:19pm
On Al-Qaeda Web Sites, Joy Over U.S. Crisis, Support for McCain
www.washingtonpost.com/.../AR2008102102477.html
["Al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming election," said a commentary posted Monday on the extremist Web site al-Hesbah, which is closely linked to the terrorist group. It said the Arizona Republican would continue the "failing march of his predecessor," President Bush.
The Web commentary was one of several posted by Taliban or al-Qaeda-allied groups in recent days that trumpeted the global financial crisis and predicted further decline for the United States and other Western powers. In language that was by turns mocking and ominous, the newest posting credited al-Qaeda with having lured Washington into a trap that had "exhausted its resources and bankrupted its economy." It further suggested that a terrorist strike might swing the election to McCain and guarantee an expansion of U.S. military commitments in the Islamic world.]
[...the comments summarized what has emerged as a consensus view on extremist sites, said Adam Raisman, a senior analyst for the Site Intelligence Group, which monitors Islamist Web pages.]
["The idea in the jihadist forums is that McCain would be a faithful 'son of Bush' -- someone they see as a jingoist and a war hawk," Raisman said. "They think that, to succeed in a war of attrition, they need a leader in Washington like McCain." ]
- AaronBBrown
October 22, 2008 at 1:30pm
. /´¯/) Go Fuck (¯`
,/¯ / Yourself ¯,
/ / Mr. Cheney!!!
/´¯/' '/´¯¯·¸ ,.¯¯`' '¯`
/'/ / / /¨,/¯ /¯,¯ '
Dick Cheney - Go Fuck Yourself
www.youtube.com/watch
- AaronBBrown
October 22, 2008 at 1:34pm
I think the problem is that Powell referred to "senior members" of the Republican party. There's no evidence of that; in fact, quite a bit to the contrary. And while I suppose it's possible that Powell meant "senior" to refer to age rather than rank, I sort of doubt it.
- marcellusw101
October 22, 2008 at 2:01pm
Those who doubt official GOP involvement should check out the following image.
andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/.../waterboard-him.html
And perhaps
andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/.../the-virginia-go.html
- kerFuFFler
October 22, 2008 at 2:03pm
Is that title for real? Of course the GOP is fueling those rumors. Of course, people who don't want to vote for Obama (he's black, after all) only happen upon such scurrilous information while performing research on the internet.
- tec619
October 22, 2008 at 3:00pm
Rudy Giuliani now robocalling people, alleging that Obama is soft on sex criminals.
McCain has just shat out the last bit of honour he had - assuming he had any to begin with - with the last glass of metamucil he drank.
- icarusr
October 22, 2008 at 3:16pm
marcellus,
Why is that a "problem" ? Read Colin Powell's quote again:
"I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion ..."
Note those first three words: "I have heard." Powell has heard those senior members drop the suggestion. What's your quibble? If you want to call him Powell a liar who is making that up, you should just go ahead and do so.
And what "evidence to the contrary" do you have, exactly? Evidence that would contradict Colin Powell's first-person testimony. Their public pronouncements?
- WoodyBombay
October 22, 2008 at 4:57pm
What will conservative hacks like Jonah Goldberg do when their politicians are defeated and their GOP completely out of power? Does the word "wilderness" sound like a place they will enjoy?
- frilz1
October 23, 2008 at 5:35am
In the spirit of triviality taken to extremes already extant, is "ommission" a sly way of hinting that Muslim or a missionary or a mujahideen mush dog pulling a Palin sled in any way a variant of "omission"?
Surely, there's no bearing on McCain.
- Lespin
October 23, 2008 at 12:08pm