Karl Rove: Don\'t

Karl Rove: Don't "Hussein" Obama

The Atlantic   |  Marc Ambinder   |   February 27, 2008 01:18 PM


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No less an authority figure than Karl Rove has warned Republican operatives from demagoguing Barack Obama's middle name.

At a closed door meeting of GOP state executive directors in late January, Rove said the safest way to refer to Obama would be to use his honorific, "Sen. Obama."


 
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Ok - thanks Karl. In return we'll have to make sure that no-one calls you a treacherous, law-breaking sonofabitch who by any other reasonable measure should be a couple of years into a long jail sentence by now. Fair trade?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:51 PM on 03/03/2008
- writechic I'm a Fan of writechic 18 fans permalink

So, Karl Rove is posturing as if one can sink too low? This from the man who invented John McCain's illegitimate black baby with a prostitute, no less, Ann Richards' and Hillary Clinton lesbian rumor, and wanting to take naked gay pictures of Alabama's Democratic governor.

http://writechic.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/karl-rove-wanted-the-gay-sex/

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:46 PM on 03/03/2008
- isis I'm a Fan of isis 17 fans permalink
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Doesn't Hussain mean "handsome"? Just as "Alan" does. We are not all Dunkin Donuts customers. Some of us can appreciate diverse languages and find them interesting. To be honest, I bet the GOP doesn't want people reminded of how they set up an evil dictator with that name and then smeared him and killed him.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:39 PM on 03/03/2008

If you’re a rabid racist Republican with a peanut-sized brain you must obey MC Rove…

(Leave the snotty remarks for Hillary...)

http://greenpagan.newsvine.com

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    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:42 AM on 03/03/2008
- Davwbaird I'm a Fan of Davwbaird 24 fans permalink
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so there you have first haND FORECASTING.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:57 AM on 03/03/2008
- Davwbaird I'm a Fan of Davwbaird 24 fans permalink
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Rovian language folks really means use it all you want. Don;t be fooled by evil itsdelf.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:30 AM on 03/03/2008
- YRM I'm a Fan of YRM 9 fans permalink

Karl Rove has been secretly backing Obama's campaign since he ran for senate in 2004. The Illinois G.O.P. forced his challenger to drop out of that race and replaced him with an unknown, non-Illinois resident. Now why would they give up a seat in the U.S. senate unless they had bigger plans for Sen. Obama? According to an article in Time last fall, several Bush fundraisers and strategists have supported his presidential campaign. Early on they organized massive crossover voting drives in the red state caucuses. (CNN says it expects 10 percent of the Texas G.O.P. vote to be crossover as well, since it's an open primary.) In other words, Rove is pushing Republicans to treat Obama with kid gloves until he gets Clinton knocked out of the race, which is the G.O.P.'s primary objective in this election. They can't beat her in November but think they can easily beat him. If you don't believe it, try watching the Fox News Channel for an hour on any given day. It turns out that Obama's speechwriter Ben Rhodes is the brother of Fox News VP David Rhodes. It has been an ingenious plan, but with so much data available on the subject, it's hard to understand why progressives and anti-establishment youth and the yuppie Starbucks crowd are gobbling up this ecoli-laden bait still. Even the usually astute Bill Moyers has resigned himself to wasting program after program discussing tangential minutae regarding the election with a single ivory tower academic. At any rate, I've posted an article at thecityedition.com which looks at the election in-depth and links to relevant sources. Here's a direct address.
http://www.thecityedition.com/Pages/Archive/Winter08/2008Election.html

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:14 PM on 03/01/2008
- kirksong I'm a Fan of kirksong 3 fans permalink

Interesting conspiracy theory? Why then does Senator Obama consistantly out poll Senator Clinton when matched against Senator McCain? As Ralph Nader says, if the Dems cannot trounce the Republicans this election, they should fold up and go home. Give Senator Obama a little credit - he is doing a great job of communicating, organizing, inspiring, and winning! Why give credit to the dark side?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:33 AM on 03/02/2008

Meanwhile didn't Murdoch contribute to Hillary's campaign? (Even if his NY Post did endorse Obama...)

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    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:57 AM on 03/03/2008
- hoodrat I'm a Fan of hoodrat 27 fans permalink
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Fade In: Sounds of huffin' and puffin' echoing through the Alabama pines, swing camera to visage of a porcine man, with urine soaked pants screaming "but I followed the orders of my President" the fat man sobbed between gasps for air. Ten paces behind, calmly tracking his "quarry", a man in military uniform that covers his prosthetics chambers a round with his fake hand, while he steadies himself on his new "legs" he was just outfitted with. As he takes aim, the camera pans away to take in the pine forest - when suddenly with the gunshots you hear a squeal, reminiscent of Deliverance.......Karl who?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:21 AM on 03/01/2008
- aigeanta I'm a Fan of aigeanta 5 fans permalink
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Typical Rovian/1984 tactic: say the opposite of what you mean, i.e. "No Child Left Behind" (every child left behind), "Clear Skies Initiative" (polluted skies inertia), "Department of Peace" (department of war), "Mission Accomplished" (invasion forever), etc.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:07 AM on 02/29/2008

Couple of things -

Not that it matters much, but Barack's middle name is Husein not Hussein.

It might be good for Barack to remind folks of our history with one of our strongest allies - King Hussein of Jordan. A photo op with his delightful queen, Queen Noor, who attended our daughter's school in Concord, Ma, and then Princeton, might be good too.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:20 PM on 02/28/2008
- research I'm a Fan of research 281 fans permalink

I cut and pasted "Husein" from your comment and Google has never heard of the name. The Obama site does not list his middle name.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:42 PM on 02/29/2008
- JMEB I'm a Fan of JMEB 3 fans permalink

It's transliterated from Arabic, so there is no difference at all between Hussein, Husein, Husayn, etc.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:10 AM on 03/01/2008
- isis I'm a Fan of isis 17 fans permalink
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Good thinking about King Husein of Jordan.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:49 PM on 03/03/2008
- tbone99 I'm a Fan of tbone99 96 fans permalink

Karl Rove: Don't Call Obama "Hussein"

Thats his offical stance to the newspapers anyway.Meanwhile, he's got a factory in China churning out t- shirts of Obama in his kenyan garb with Barack Hussein Osama under it.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:21 PM on 02/28/2008
- caywen I'm a Fan of caywen 7 fans permalink

Sigh - I ran for city council one time against an incumbent who actually was in a permanent coma. I would have won if my mother had not made "Iamgonnakillyoumofo" as my middle name.

Dammit!!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:44 PM on 02/28/2008
- research I'm a Fan of research 281 fans permalink

Say it proudly:

President Barack Hussein Obama!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:27 PM on 02/28/2008
- JMEB I'm a Fan of JMEB 3 fans permalink

Hear hear!

As a person with a non-Anglo name that is constantly mispelled and mispronounced, I love the symbolism of having a man with his name leading the US.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:12 AM on 03/01/2008
- EinChicago I'm a Fan of EinChicago 35 fans permalink

Sounds nice. Shame it will never happen. Unfortunately, I think the closest he can actually get in reality would be the sentence "Barak Hussein Obama, the reason we have a President John McCain."

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:37 PM on 03/03/2008

Don't people realize that the name "Hussien" is the common equivalent of "John" in the Muslim/Arab/African World? Woopdi-freaking-do. I bet the rest of the world is looking at the Right Wingers and raising their eyebrows like: "Are you serious?"

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:50 PM on 02/28/2008
- pinkerman2 I'm a Fan of pinkerman2 5 fans permalink

Hi Potato, I just look at the right-wingers, and aside from the profanity; the best that I can say is "are you freakin serious?" Sadly, they always are. They are so afraid of Senator Obama that they are soiling themselves. Their dirty tricks will continue with or without the ugly troll Rove, he's only a phone call away! I wonder where Jeff Gannon took to ground? Have a feeling Mr. Rove knows.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:01 PM on 03/01/2008
- Geoffreys I'm a Fan of Geoffreys 14 fans permalink
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Its not often I find myself agreeing with Karl Christian Rove - but on this I do. It will only make the Republicans look petty and stupid.

Now, all I have to do is find myself agreeing with Rush Hudson Limbaugh III and Ann Hart Coulter on something and I'll be certain it is a sign of the apocalypse.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:59 AM on 02/28/2008

Oh My Gosh! Ann Coulter has a "hart?" Who knew?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:28 PM on 02/29/2008
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She's also got a penis....SHE'S A MAN BABY!!!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:54 PM on 03/02/2008
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