There has been a rash- inded a rush- of anti-Obama smears recently. That Obama is a Muslim, that Obama is gay. Not surprising in someways- these smears have been circulated since before 2008 by those who oppose Obama. But what got me thinking was- why are some Conservatives using these specific smears? Remember when Bush's campaign was silently complicit in the smear against John McCain that he had an illicit child with a black woman? This is similar but a quote from regular Conservative anti-Obama poster finally made it all click for me "Better a Mormon than a Muslim"- like I said- a quote from a PF conservative poster. Really rather offensive towards Mormon's and Muslims- and that is the point. There is no excitement about Romney. Romney should be soaring ahead in the polls based on the unemployment numbers alone, but he isn't. The conservative base is just not enthused about Romney- oh they know he is the Obama alternative but then again......he is a Mormon. So how do conservatives push their reluctant and religiously bigotted base to vote for the Mormon? By pushing their religious bigotry buttons about Obama. Merely saying that Obama is not a Christian isn't working. They need to convince them that he is a "Muslim"- or at least create enough doubt so that they think "Better a Mormon than a Muslim" and vote Romney. This is not just the usual political propaganda smear. It is one carefully calculated to appeal to the reluctant religious bigot voters. "Better the Mormon than the Muslim" could as easily be "Better the Mormon than the Black" or "Better the Mormon than the Jew"- it doesn't matter to them that it isn't true- it is the emotional reassurance that it gives those luke warm Romney voters, and those conservative Evangelicals who aren't convinced that they can vote for a Latter Day Saint. I fully expect lots, lots more of these smears right up to the election. What will be interesting will be whether mainstream Conservatives repudiate them, embrace them, or just tacitly enable them? And by the way- I think the smears about Romney and his religion are just as slimy and despicable, and should be loudly denounced by every liberal.
I don't care who or what the American President Prays to, as long as he doesn't judge and deny jobs to my famiy members and myself by our Paint-Jobs and Plumbing. I don't care what Paint-Job and Plumbing the American President has, as long as he doesn't judge and deny jobs to my famiy members and myself by our Paint-Jobs and Plumbing. I don't care if the President want to make infanticide legal or Not( I won't be using the option, legal or not ); as long as he doesn't judge and deny jobs to my famiy members and myself by our Paint-Jobs and Plumbing. I don't care if the President want to persoally preside over the Marriage of Gays and Lesbians or people with their pets..... as long as he doesn't judge and deny jobs to my famiy members and myself by our Paint-Jobs and Plumbing.
Hmmm faint praise from the master of lies. I guess it must smart to have someone point out the truth behind your motto of "Better a Mormon than a Muslim".
Obama has already been president for almost four years now and he hasn't tried to enact Sharia Law yet? If he's really a Muslim like everyone says, what's he waiting for?
Perhaps the motto the propagandist should be using is "Better the Mormon than the really poor example of a Muslim"? Hmmm not quite the message they are trying to whisper in peoples ears.
If Romney wins, I predict a rash of wing nut anti-Mormon conspiracy theories directed at Romney. If Obama wins, more of the wingnuttery we have seen for the last 4 years.
The reason that Romney isn't soaring ahead is because too many democrats refuse to admit that Obama has failed in his Presidency. They would rather go down with the ship than admit they were wrong. As far as smears go, the left has been equally bad. Going after Romney on Bain, taxes, gay bullying when he was a child and on and on. Bringing up that Paul Ryan dated a black girl when he was young yet saying its not a big deal but still putting it out there so people know about it. How very underhanded.
Don't worry, Jeff. San Francisco will remain the fruitbasket of liberal sickness regardless of who the President is. It's been that way for nearly 50 years now. Nudes can continue sitting on park benches, Castro street will still look like a pride parade at all times, nothing will really change. Relax.
I think we all know why they are doing it, at their core they are racists and it has now become OK to admit it. That and the only hope they have of winning the election is the standard right wing invention, 'politics of personal destruction'. It's the only way the right has won an election is 40 years, "tear down your opponent". Forget the issues, they can't win on the issues they have to smear the man. This latest right wing noise over the protests in the ME is a classic example, ACORN is another, pick a target, then make up as much crap as you need to, don't worry about the truth or logic, just make it up. It's the only way the right knows.
First of all- as I pointed out- Romney has been smeared and will be smeared. None of which makes it right. Are smears okay to you or not? I think that is the question. Are they okay if the smear is against the candidate you are against but wrong if they are against the candidate you are for? I think the Paul Ryan smear is just as sleazy and just as slimey as the Obama smear. What about you?
What a bizarelly, yet not surprisingly off topic rationalization for political smears. I guess that just shows the difference between us. I am against political smears. You are not.
Mike I am not sure what you are asking. The quote "Better the Mormon than the Muslim" is from a post on these boards. The smears against Obama are on these boards. Making the connection- as I explained- is purely my opinion. So what is your opinion about political smears?
Ahh, I thought you were referring to political ads. While I'm not sure that calling Obama gay or Muslim is a smear, they both seem pretty inaccurate. But I don't think it's a smear to be gay or Muslim. For political ads, these would be outrageous and unacceptable since there doesn't seem to be any basis or truth to them. But for a forum.... in that case these are people's opinions. If there is any place that people should be able to express them it's here. Otherwise about 98% of the posts here would have to deleted and the entire conspiracy section would have to go.
so speaks the author of "Better the Mormon than the Muslim" which is I think is the equivelent of saying "Better the Catholic than the Jew" or "Better the Mormon than the Negro" They are all calls to arms to the fearful bigots.
What would be a smear then? If I claimed that Mitt Romney had a black love child- would that be a smear- or just inaccurate? I think I laid out fairly clearly why the comments are smears- it doesn't matter whether they are correct or not- it is the intent to label a candidate in such a way to hurt them with voters who react negatively to the smear. In this case- voters who are reluctant to vote for the Mormon, but are even more offended by the idea of a Muslim.
o Turned around an economy that was tanking at a -9% rate and shedding 700,000+ jobs a month o 30 straight months of private sector employment growth. o 12 straight quarters of GDP growth o 60+% increase in the stock markets since taking office o Got Osama bin Laden. o Saved 2-3 million jobs with stimulus package o Got Atiyah Abd al-Rahman o Got Anwar al-Aulaqi o Ousted Muamar Kadaffi at 1/1000 the cost of the Iraq war o First president to decrease spending in a year in decades o Reduced the deficit his first full year in office o Got us out of the "mistaken" war in Iraq o Stock markets up 100% since bottom of the recession in 2009 o 4.5 million private sector jobs created since Jan 2010 o Improved US approval rating abroad o Oil production up for the first time in decades. o Passed health care reform that will provide coverage to tens of millions of Americans o Employment rate dropped from over 10% to 8.1% o Passed financial regulation reform to prevent another housing bubble fiasco. o Lowest rate of spending increases of any president in modern history. o On budget deficit has decreased every full fiscal year he's been in office. o US domestic oil use decreasing o Net creation of the number of people employed and employed in the private sector How is that a failure?
Eh, according to the dictionary a smear has to be both inaccurate and told to harm their reputation. So I guess it does matter if they are correct or not.
Not according to Webster b : sully, besmirch; specifically : to vilify especially by secretly and maliciously spreading grave charges and imputations 3: a usually unsubstantiated charge or accusation against a person or organization —often used attributively <a smear campaign> <a smear job> The question I keep asking of you- and anyone else who comes here- are smears okay to you? Would you consider a claim that Sarah Palin used to be a prostitute a smear? Would you consider an anonymous email that Romney fathered an illicit black child to be a smear? I would. I find these things repugnant.
We have something in common. Unfortunately we will see much of it slung at both Romney and Obama in the next two months.
