To The Grapevine Question - “Are Attacks on Obama's Religion Proxies for Something More Sinister?” - The Answer Is A Resounding Yes!
Reported by Priscilla - October 12, 2008 -
Thurdsay’s (October 9th) “Grapevine” began with a segment which asked the above question. “Grapevine” quoted an NPR correspondent (bad liberal/intellectual media) Ray Suarez, who said that all the Obama Muslim references (childhood in Indonesia and debunked rumors) are “pseudo controversies” which reflect an American, political “racial calculus.” Suarez’s statement that “religion has become a proxy for race” was referenced. After noting that Suarez stated that Sarah Palin has become the point person for “piling on doubt the doubt about Obama’s religion,” Brit Hume then said something that was jaw dropping in its level of inanity: “However, Palin has never made a reference to the false rumors that Obama is anything but a Christian.” Palin has certainly done her gosh darned best in promoting Obama as a sinister threat. Granted, she has never said anything about his being a Muslim; but she certainly has implied connections which do have a racial subtext so let’s not jump the gun in exonerating her.
Suarez’s comment, referenced in the piece, that connecting him to Islam "is a way to confer otherness on him for those people who are uncomfortable saying they're against him because he's black” is dead on. Granted, Palin has not directly affirmed the “false rumors” (glad to see that Fox is admitting that); but she continues to throw red meat to the crowd with her frequent references to Obama’s ties to terrorism (through Bill Ayers) which, of course, reinforces the notion of “otherness.” As uber conservative and, in my opinion, white supremacist Pat Buchanan frequently says, the McCain campaign has to show that Obama is not “one of us” and Palin is their go-to gal. It’s a short hop from terrorism, to Islam, and then to race because the face of terrorism, that Palin presents to her vitriolic and very white audiences, is dark and not “one of us.”
Palin wears an Israeli flag pin and is a great supporter of Israel (where, according to her religion, the Jews, at the end of days, accept Jesus or be tossed into the Lake of Fire) so I would hope that she reads the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. In an excellent article, which touches on the Muslim/racial connection, Bradley Burston explains it all.
“In doing so, and in tarring him as a man who consorts with terrorists, she has joined those who have leveraged other lies to extraordinary success, in particular, the lie that Obama is a Muslim. It was the phenomenal power of the Muslim lie that has lent fuel to all others. The falsehood granted free rein to intolerance. It has successfully disguised racism as patriotism. It has granted false license to irrational suspicion and grotesque stereotyping on the basis of faith. In short, it has freed people to hate a black man right out loud.”
Burston then says that Palin provides validation for those who “promulgate bigotry” against Obama and say, among other things:
“Vote against Obama because in this day and age in America, white people get the short end of the stick” (Comment: this and all the other “reasons” for voting against Obama are memes promoted by Fox News.)
Comment: So while Palin is “off the hook” for not reinforcing the Obama is a Muslim garbage, she is guilty of connecting the dots, in not so thinly veiled code words, that his “connections” make him alien to “Main Street.” Rather than playing the religion card, she plays the “terrorism” card (which is associated with Islam) and in so doing gives credibility to the Obama as Muslim paranoia of her audience. The terrorism card, in this case, is also a race card. The title of Burston’s article applies to Palin; but could just as well apply to Fox:
“A Special Place In Hell”
