McCain's Last Ditch Effort: Tying Obama To Muslim World

John McCain's campaign is making what appears to be a final, full-throated effort to paint Barack Obama as a sympathizer with the Muslim world. In the process they are putting out into the public domain as many images as possible of Obama's face cast over a map of the Middle East.

The latest salvo came Wednesday afternoon, when the Republican nominee released a web ad placing Obama's visage in front of an outline of Iran, and presenting aspects of the Senator's foreign policy alongside music that seems associated with Middle East culture or a traditional Muslim call to prayer.

"Obama doesn't have preconditions but Iran does. Iran, whose president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel must be wiped off the map. Iran demands that the U.S. must cease its support of Israel and that all U.S. military forces must leave the Middle East, meaning we abandon Iraq, Turkey and Kuwait. What will Obama do? Will he admit he was wrong or will he accept Iran's demands?'

The spot seems designed either to frighten voters away from Obama or confuse them into thinking the Illinois Democrat is more comfortable supporting Iranian interests than domestic concerns. The campaign put it out on the web, where provocative items are placed mainly to grab the media attention.

Indeed, the Republican ticket has been subtly pushing this line for days now. As the Huffington Post reported on Tuesday, the Republican Party of Florida is sending out a new mailer that places the Illinois Democrat's face right over a map of Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. It accuses him of being "dangerously unprepared" and "no friend of Israel."

Hours earlier, the McCain campaign had taken the step of reissuing an old campaign ad (for what purpose, it isn't clear) that declared Obama had once called the threat from Iran: "tiny."

Additionally, McCain officials have been howling over video of a party attended by Obama and Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights. The story has been fueled by revelations that the Los Angeles Times has video footage of that party which the paper is refusing to release (citing an agreement with the providing source). But, as Seth Colter Walls reported, McCain has ties of his own to that very professor.

"During the 1990s, while he served as chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), McCain distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including one worth half a million dollars."

Taken together, the ads, flier and new line of attack seem designed to paint Obama as, at best too weak to handle the dangers of the Arab world or at worst, an 'outsider' in his own right. It is an attack that has followed Obama around since the early months of the primary and seems likely to continue to the day of the election.

Comments

[AlexeiJ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf19H_sHMro&fmt=6

[lsloan]

The music in the commercial is not a Muslim "call to prayer", which is also known as "adhan". It is a piece of traditional music that is not directly linked to religious worship. While I will happily cast my vote for Obama, I am getting tired of Huffington Post reporters making assumptions without facts and too readily claiming that statements against Obama are racist.

[THINKB4USPEAK]

More to the point, about three years ago, a Muslim couple moved into the apartment below mine. They were Lebonese, and as it turned out, the husband's father was a fairly highly ranked member of the Lebonese government. They were here in St. Louis because it was considered safer than their homeland. All they were looking for was a safe environment to raise a family. I smoked honeyed tobacco in a traditional hookah, sipped spiced tea, met his father and had an in depth conversation about the middle east, and another, more global meeting of minds. At the end of the day, we had an agreement; There is nothing wrong with the people, only with the governments. THEY are fed the same Orwellian lies WE are on a daily basis, just with a different "special sauce".The weak players in power can only maintain that power by suppressing communication and distorting the image of those not in their camp.

[THINKB4USPEAK]

I think "Joe the plumber" missed his cue at the rally because he had an emergency call to the White House to unclog the toilet the repubs are trying to flush the classified records of the past eight years down, to avoid the war crime tribunals they have invited.

[BillyT]

Al Qaeda endorses John McCain.

Not all Muslims are Al Qaeda, but ALL Al Qaeda are terrorists.

Conclusion: Terrorists support John McCain!!

[aaronsanders]

This is so wrong. If nothing else, I hope this election can wake people up to what kind of racism, sexism and xenophobia are still in America.

http://www.votesmarter2008.com

(The producers of this series are trying to make these videos go viral - please forward them to others and/or comment/rate them! They're a great educational tool!)

[vondiamond]

This years Presidential election has become a daunting experience. On one hand you have an intellectual, and on the other you are subjected to dumbness - from Joe the plumber to Rico the builder- what a joke. Slander on ones character has become anything factual, just lip service. The most deplorable idea is that some feel only a White (PINK) man can run this country of OURS. I'm a registered republican and have been voting for 50 years. We have gone through the Korean conflict, Vietnam war -that we lost (MCCAIN), to the Iraqi war (OIL) that we will also loose. America now has a person running for President who will use his head first, not amour or scare tactics to solve problems. If the out come of this election is the war monger (JOHN MCCAIN), I will not vote again. Wake up America.

[Fordham03]

Vondiamond - Thank you for choosing intelligence over dogma. I admit that you don't have much to choose from this election, especially with the selection of Sarah Palin. McCain has chosen to use innuendos, half truths and even lies to scuttle Obama, even to capitalize on the fact that he is African-American and "not like us." A genuine war hero acting like a cranky, desperate man--it's a shame. He wants to be president so badly that he has sold his honor to the right-wing of the party --bad choice. He has lost the very John McCain everyone admired.

I am exhausted from this election, following it closely the last two years. If somehow Republicans manage to rig the voting machines or create an international incident that will favor McCain, I am through with politics. What good is having the vote if the election is rigged.

[Sassys]

Well a wag of my finger and a serious "Shalom" to the McCain camp! Who is it that is still left out their that does not see this behavior for what it is? I wanna meet these Troglodytes in person so I can ask them one question...ready? "Why are you that insecure"? McCain keeps lowering himself despite my firm belief that he had gone as low as he could...that's about the only surprise left.

[Ipanemagirl]

The sad part is that all this misinformation does work and does stick on the minds of the ignorant and misinformed, but mainly on the GOP base of mccain/palin admirers, who would not vote democrat anyway because we are just "baby killers" in their view. They have een brainwashed to think this way and nothing one can do or say will change their little minds...they dont have the capacity for free thought, or to challenge any information, or even investigate on their own, what they hear...it s all absorbed like a water in a sponge-like brain...
Sorry, but there is no better explanation as to why these absurd and malicious techniques work so well.

[Artos]

Ipanemagirl,

Insofar as the notion of the Right being Pro-life and the Left being Pro-Choice is concerned, I would ask how it is that the Right feels that they can make the claim to being Pro-Life when they start wars that kill so many. I Believe Pro-Lifers fall into several groups, first there are those who may be sincere and these would no sooner take a life than prevent one being born, next come those who profess to support a new life coming into the world, but don't mind "Legal execution or Legal Warfare". Then there is the group that really doesn't care about anybodies life but their own but pretend to support Pro-Life because it's politically expedient, the next group supports life selectively, they fear being racially overwhelmed and want to have more white babies born to keep whites dominant. Then there is the group who want lots of available babies because for them it is a profitable enterprise to adopt them out. Finally you have the last group who are the Potential Adopting couples, they just want a baby. So each has their own reasons why they are Pro-Life , some merely selfish, others cynical, and perhaps only one honest. I'm willing to bet they run the gamut.

[Diogenis]

How Low the Republicans can stoop. McCain...Last Ditch Effort? Jump in that ditch. You dug it.

[bitabingbitabangbitaboom]

Oh S_H_!_T

[ciotog17]

Islam is a great religion.
Stupidity is a great shame.
I'd rather be Islamic than stupid.

[Diogenis]

Salam....
and that does mean..Peace.
Obama/Biden 08

[abdallac]

Salaam (Peace),

All faiths are great and mighty in their attempts to uplift man to his better nature. It is man who is insistent on slipping into his worse.

This crap is playing out exceedingly poorly all over the Muslim world which, by the way almost 1/4 of the earth's population. Not the way to win hearts and minds.

Love and HOPE for the future.

[Roschelle]

McCain's camp attempted to smear Barack for his affiliation with Rashid Khalidi who's only offense is his ethnicity (Palestinian) and his opposition to the military occupation by Israel of his homeland. And that's offensive because why?

http://roschellenelson.blogspot.com/2008/10/mccain-compares-rashid-khalidi-to-neo.html

[LydiaKS]

Michael Goldfarb??? Who is this guy that works for mccain? He was just on Rick Sanchez's show on CNN and insinuated there is "another anti-sematic" (msp) person who Obama "hangs out with", yet WOULD NOT (rather COULD NOT) name this person. What a joke. The mccain (and I put his name in lower case because i have lost all respect for this man) campaign has stooped to new lows. I've never been so sick of a campaign, and what are people thinking when they vote for this man, who, apparently, is reliving his youth as being the backyard bully in trying to win this election. Shame on you mccain....shame on you.

[Sassys]

Trust me (I am Jewish) and even I know this is all a crock of bull doodoo! McCain is anti everything and yet he would choose this to harp on...when was the last time McCain was even in Israel? Huh?
Israel would vote for Obama if it could! This is just a last ditch effort to get the rednecks and their ilk to vote for a creepy old man and his creepy VP. Wont work!

[Soundofthunder]

Once again, the GOP gets the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad quote wrong. As translated CORRECTLY, he said, "We should wipe the leadership of Israel from the pages of history." First, notice there is nothing about maps. Second, it specifically targets leaders of Israel, not Israel itself. Third, the gist of this sentiment, "wipe from the pages of history", is poetic nonsense. One could say the same of President Bush, as in he should be forgotten. And finally, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is QUOTING the Ayatollah, for a celebration, I believe, of the Ayatollah’s reign of power. The GOP NEVER mentions that little fact, that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a FIGURE HEAD of the Iranian state. He has no power. Dealing with him is akin to dealing with an aid to Bush, a low level nobody who ferries information to the real man in charge.

And they need to shut up about “preconditions”. Palin doesn’t know what they are, and preconditions stall negotiations. You can’t get something (like suspend your nuclear programs) for nothing (because we say so).

Palin and McCain know less about diplomacy and Middle Eastern culture than a box turtle knows about rebuilding a carburetor.

SOT