Ohio Voter On 60 Minutes: I Hear Obama Is Muslim, Doesn't Know National Anthem

CBS 60 Minutes reporter traveled to Ohio to speak with voters ahead of Tuesday's crucial primary. Kroft found that one of the more malicious smear campaigns about Obama had reached voters in southern Ohio:

Comments

[Boboday555]

I would have liked the story more had the 60 minute anchor simply asked the guy who he voted for in 2000 and 2004.
And, if he had voted for Bush both times, as I suspect he did, a follow up question of whether or not his unemployed self and his sick uninsured wife are better off now than they were under President Clinton.

60 Minutes does some pretty good work sometimes but to let those two questions go unasked is unforgivable!

[Boboday555]

So, in the 'minds' of Loyal Bushies, you can go AWOL from the National Guard to avoid "Supporting the Troops' in Vietnam, and still be qualified to be President.­..just don't forget the words to the 'Star Spangled Banner', because THAT would be a deal breaker!

[Boboday555]

Heh, heh, heh...how many people here think our current President knows the words to the National Anthem???

The 'man' couldn't spell 'Anthem' if you spotted him the 'Ant'

[Rocky4356]

Really wish Obama was muslim then maybe we could find Bin laden and get cheaper gas! You know all Muslims use mind scan, similar to the Vulcan mind scan Mr Spock used, to communicate with each other. Barack could mind scan Bin laden and tell him to met him for drinks at the oasis and when Bin Laden showed up we could blast him. Boy we could really use Obama .

[fantagor]

Nothing says "thinker" like someone who believes anything sent to them in a chain e-mail.

Yes, Obama's a Muslim and doesn't know the Pledge or the Anthem, and I just know that $50,000 e-mail forwarding check from Microsoft will come any day now.

Randy

[Rocky4356]

Anyone ever wonder why Ohio is getting the crap beat out of them just look at this guy. Ever wonder why Ohio voted for Bush look at this guy. Guess when he is on the unemployement line signing for his check he will be talking about the " towel heads and the camel jockies" Dam it was like watching chalk making a blackboard cry watching that jerk

[Robin08]

Rocky -- I think we might be being too hard on this guy. He did say he was leaning toward Obama. Kroft pressed him to explain what still had him on the fence and that's when he mentioned the emails he had received. Since he said he was leaning Obama, I took his concern regarding the emails to be a question in his mind as to whether or not they were true. Hopefully Kroft resolved the issue for him and many other Americans who have been similarly disinformed.

In my view the only jerk in Kroft's piece was Hillary Clinton. When he questioned Hillary about the Muslim disinformation campaign against Barack and asked her if she really believed Barack was a Muslim her response was something like not as far as I know. She's the asshole for trying to leave some room for doubt about an issue that she knows is bald faced lie.

I hope to God Obama is able to secure the nomination with wins and Texas and Ohio tomorrow and that soon thereafter we will be done with the Clinton's.

[Rocky4356]

Does anyone remmeber that Ohio went for Bush last election. Knowing that whoever wins really need to send the state some education aid. If there is one state that should be the poster boy for clinton and bush poliices it should be ohio. 200000 jobs lost but the thought of Obama not swearing in on a bible is more important than putting food on the table leaves me agast. Hillarys eight year exprience of head Hostess at the white house makes her more able. I am ready to tell every Ohio resident this" A mind is a terrible thing to waste". For what is worth people around the world are really blown away that we Americans never ever never vote our interest we always vote our hatred. I could care less if the next president was named The Mighty Oz . All i want is someone to get us out of this mess.

[atlantajoe]

Does anyone remember that Kerry was robbed in Ohio and they supported him and not Bush?

[edsel]

I do. Does anyone remember how bush stole the election in 2000. Gore didn' t have the kahoonies to stand up to him. If he would have things may have been much different today.

[applespider]

Now wait. The GOP made sure that a "defense of marriage" constitutional amendment was on the ballot in Ohio to draw conservative voters to the polls. Ohio took the bait, believed the fearmongering and hate speech, and voted both for Bush, who turned his back on Ohio, and the amendment, which motivated talented gay people to leave the state and take their educations and wealth elsewhere, further damaging the state's economy.

It is sad what happened to Ohio, but they had a hand in their own demise.

[writergirl23]

Constantly looking for "someone to get us out of this mess" is the problem with liberals.

[flydoghead]

I heard that John McCain is a Panamanian, and has webbed toes.

[HepsibahStarbuck]

Hillary says he doesn't... as far as she knows.

[PinkoAttic]

And she'd know !

[flydoghead]

They have terrible unemployment ? I wonder why .

[atlantajoe]

They seem to want to blame NAFTA.

[writergirl23]

Actually, unemployment in Ohio is lower today than it was in the 1980s. For example, it's around 6% right now, but it was around 13% in 1983. I'm not sure why so many people act like we've never seen harder times. Have things been better? Yes! But they have also been much worse...

[lifeinfullcolor]

Shame on you Hillary, instead of putting to rest with strength and clarity that issue, your response was, "as far as I know"? One could start the same rumor about you, that as far as we know, you're Christian? What kind of a Christian are you that allows your husband to continue having his affairs, how many now, Flowers, Jones, Lewinsky, the Clintons sound more like Mormons or Muslims? One affair, shame on you, two, shame on me, what about three, a Mormon or a Muslim with many wives?

[sheraz]

Wow, I don't even know where to begin with this one.....

She allows her husband to have affairs? Should she be a good Christian and divorce him?

As far as her quote goes....wh­y not read the whole thing:
"On the CBS show "60 Minutes," Clinton was asked, "You don't believe that Sen. Obama is a Muslim?" "Well of course not, there is no basis for that. I take him on the basis of what he says," Clinton said. "And you know, there isn't any reason to doubt that.""

P.S. What kind of Christian are you that you would be so judgemental? I'm just asking...

[shades3]

I think that it can't be forgotten that the man shown in the video, thinking that Obama is a Muslim, doesn't know the National Anthem and all the other not-so-subtle accusations of non-patriotism are not unusual.
Remember also that most Americans don't care enough about current affairs to read even one newspaper on a regular basis. They get all their news from television.

I think that an interesting point was made about the latest Clinton tv ad in which the red phone is ringing at 3AM.......­.....once,­..........­......twic­e,........­.......thr­ee times,....­..........­......four times,....­..........­...five times,....­......six times and then Clinton, fully made up, dressed and made up FINALLY answers it.
We don't know what she says in answer to whatever the question was.
We do know that in 2002 when asked for her signature to give George W Bush authorization to invade Iraq she thought that Bush, having received authorization, would only threaten to invade Iraq.
With all the military assembled in the Persion Gulf and more coming, how could Clinton think that Bush had no intention of moving forward??
The result of her going along to get along vote is, as we know, thousands and thousands of dead on both sides, NO WMDs, massive destruction of human history in the region and who knows how many, finally billions of tax dollars squandered.
Clinton is beginning to look more and more like George W Bush......­..........­in a pantsuit.

[PinkoAttic]

Hey ! - Take that back, it is totally unfair. ..They don't HAVE newspapers in Ohio :)

[echopark]

The voter is leaning toward Obama, but the only reasons holding him back are these rediculous ideas? It's startling that people are seriously deciding their votes based on crap like that. Obama is not Muslim, but even if a candidate had relatives or friends who were, how incredibly racist for people to decide against them because of this. It's troubling that polls like this are planting the seed:
http://sodahead.com/poll/42350/?link=chrf Please vote NO!

[atlantajoe]

Echo, that is what bounces between your ears. Muslim is a religion not a race! like most hear, you have no clue what the word means.

[jhm5th]

atlantajoe, I think y'all meant to say "here", didn't y'all? Y'all hear?

[THEINSULTEDANDINJURED]

The Bush administration has spent the last 8 years spreading fear and misconceptions about Muslims and equating them with terrorists. I don't think one can blame this man, he's been conditioned by these fear tactis and now views anyone with a name like Obama's as anti-American. This is waht the Republicans will count on if Obama gets the nomination and he will not be able to withstand the pressure. If they can swiftboat Kerry who had paid his dues in Vietnam, what will they do to Obama who has no military or war record or any record for that matter. By the time they finish with him the young voters who are flocking to him now will all be voting right alongside their parents who will vote for McCain.

[atlantajoe]

Insult, If you hear of a suicide bombing, do you think of a muslim or a tibetan monk?

[geneven]

A suicide bombing, a muslim, a guy walking up to the front of a class and opening fire would be a white American with Christian parents and a lot of guns.

[patriotscholar]

I wouldn't count on Ohio voters buying in to these tactics. Some may, but if you pander based on these type fake and malicious type articles, most Ohio voters will not be pleased. Ohio voters do have minds of their own.

[PinkoAttic]

They do ? - When did that law pass ?

[Dlynne14]

I have received two e-mails regarding Sen. Obama. One stating several "facts" regarding his up upbringing, religious affiliation and patriotism. All these "facts" have been discredited.
The other was a caricature of Obama stating that it was time to change the name of the White House, alluding to the fact that it should be changed to the Black House, if in fact he were elected president, because of the color of his skin.
I found both of these e-mails to be extremely racist and bigoted. I decided to look up the name, "Hussein" to find out what it means.
It means, "good, small, handsome one." There is nothing evil in this name. To base an opinion of someone because of a name they were given at birth is absurd and narrow-minded.

It has been 143 years since the Civil War ended. It has been 43 years since the Civil Righs Act became law. Women were granted the right to vote 88 years ago.
History is in the making, and we as Americans should be proud of the fact that we have a woman and a biracial man campaigning for the top job in this country.
It is an opportunity to show the world that we, as Americans, are not the narrow-minded bigots of days gone by.
My husband said to me not along ago, " Sadly, I don't think this country will vote for a black man or a women to be president.­" My response to him was, " If not now, then when?"
These racists emails and talking points on right wing radio must stop. It is a sad day when collectively, we as Americans, can't or won't step up and say NO MORE!!!
Stop the maddness and start talking about the issues!

[GJM]

As I said before right wing radio has sounded a lot like Air America in the last few months. Why talk about the issues =we can't trust when Obama does talk about the issues that what he is saying is really what he means

[biglover]

GJM - you must be living on another planet if you think Airamerica radio is anything close to right wing radio.

[biglover]

Dlynne you have my vote for best post of the day on this subject.

[AtticusinPa]

When this issue comes up, I recall that in 1917 Americans burned German books and forbade the teaching of German in public schools. And, of course, we sent the Japanese Americans to Manzanar and other camps without one ounce of evidence. Signs in public establishments used to say: Irish need not apply. And the English posted signs in parks in Hong Kong saying "No dogs or chinamen". Descrimination based on race, creed or national origin is old. But the remedy is old too: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The golden rule. Any doubts, read Jesus' gospel of the Good Samaritan. (Hint: The Samaritan was the black/irish/chinese of his time and loathed by his Jewish neighbors; hence the point of the story.) Let's apply a little more of the Golden Rule in our daily lives, shall we?

[leburg]

Very well said. I'll second that.

[goldstategirl]

Agreed wholeheartedly.