Goes to show you what a loving and accepting brand of Christianity the political Christian right has promoted...
yolland said:I do wish though that when he addresses those pathetic emails, he'd also make a point of remarking how insulting to the 2.4 million American Muslims it is to treat their faith as understandable cause for paranoia. I know he always tacks on a perfunctory "Now, I have the greatest respect for Muslims but..." preface before launching into how important Jesus Christ has been in his life etc., but to me at least, that's not distancing himself enough from what whoever writes that shit obviously means to imply is a reasonable attitude to take towards Muslims.
U2isthebest said:
There was a Muslim congressman from Minnesota that asked to be sworn in with the Qur'an which is perfectly legal according to the Constitution and should be in a country with freedom of religion.
Eh, well I wasn't talking an extended discourse on religious discrimination or anything, just another sentence tossed in calling out the ugliness of the underlying implication--at least if you're going to bother responding publically to begin with, which he is. I don't see it as being particularly different from trying to smear a white candidate by suggesting He fathered an illegitimate black child!!! in terms of odiousness, and I'd want any candidate smeared in that way to call out the bigotry underlying it too.U2isthebest said:I'm torn with that. I think people need to know how irrational and bigoted holding those unwarranted feelings about the Muslim faith are, but I don't think Obama should have to defend himself against such ignorance. Those kinds of false beliefs need to be discussed in the proper setting, but focusing on them too much attention is almost giving them a respect they don't deserve.
yolland said:
Eh, well I wasn't talking an extended discourse on religious discrimination or anything, just another sentence tossed in calling out the ugliness of the underlying implication--at least if you're going to bother responding publically to begin with, which he is. I don't see it as being particularly different from trying to smear a white candidate by suggesting He fathered an illegitimate black child!!! in terms of odiousness, and I'd want any candidate smeared in that way to call out the bigotry underlying it too.
U2isthebest said:
There was a Muslim congressman from Minnesota that asked to be sworn in with the Qur'an which is perfectly legal according to the Constitution and should be in a country with freedom of religion. People piss me off sometimes.
anitram said:
There is a difference between the faith of somebody like Obama or Clinton or even John McCain or my grandmother, and that of political Christians who attempt to legislate their beliefs. I am not bothered in the slightest by intensely religious people, so long as they don't start infusing that into our statutes.
maycocksean said:skepticism about Obama's ability to lead the country because he has overly fervent supporters and because he happens to have a talent for speechmaking is also, equally shallow.
MaxFisher said:
no one is questioning his ability to lead based on his star crazed supporters. a few years ago Obama was a member of the IL state legislature. he has limited experience and his speeches continue to be composed of mostly grandiose platitudes with little explanation of how he'll implement policy. if it weren't for his rockstar persona, he'd have been out of the race a long time ago.
MaxFisher said:
no one is questioning his ability to lead based on his star crazed supporters. a few years ago Obama was a member of the IL state legislature. he has limited experience and his speeches continue to be composed of mostly grandiose platitudes with little explanation of how he'll implement policy. if it weren't for his rockstar persona, he'd have been out of the race a long time ago.
maycocksean said:
Because, at least with the health care plans both are promoting NEITHER candidate has done a very good job of explaining how they'll plausibly pay for their programs.
anitram said:
I've certainly heard them both explain it to a reasonably good degree. Her plan is something like $50ish billion more, which means she can't finance it with simply rolling back the Bush tax cuts. She's somewhat vague about how she's going to come up with the extra money. I do believe Obama can cover his program simply through the tax roll back.
MrsSpringsteen said:Newsbusters
During MSNBC's live coverage of Tuesday's presidential primary elections, after the speeches of Barack Obama and John McCain had aired, Chris Matthews expressed his latest over the top admiration for Obama's speaking skills as the MSNBC anchor admitted that Obama's speech created a "thrill" in his leg: "It's part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often." Minutes later, Brian Williams poked fun at Matthews' confession: "Let's talk about that feeling Chris gets up his leg when Obama talks ... That seems to be the headline of this half hour."
Max isn't a Hillary supporter...maycocksean said:Give me an example of a policy that Clinton has explained how she'll implement in a way that Obama has failed to do. Because, at least with the health care plans both are promoting NEITHER candidate has done a very good job of explaining how they'll plausibly pay for their programs. Politicians are always ambitions in their plans but reality will hamper what they can actually accomplish. And that's equally true for both Clinton and Obama.
We had a little thread going comparing his and Hillary's health care plans (now buried on page 2). Which plan is better, in your opinion?