Thursday, August 19, 2010

Misperceptions

From the Washington Post:

The number of Americans who believe — wrongly — that President Obama is a Muslim has increased significantly since his inauguration and now account for nearly 20 percent of the nation’s population.

Those results, from a new Pew Research Center survey, were drawn from interviews done before the president’s comments about the construction of an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, and they suggest that there could be serious political danger for the White House as the debate continues.

The president’s religion, like his place of birth, has been the subject of Internet-spread rumors and falsehoods since before he began his presidential campaign, and the poll indicates that those rumors have gained currency since Obama took office. The number of people who now correctly identify Obama as a Christian has dropped to 34 percent, down from nearly half when he took office.

Two things bug me about this. First, that people believe the blog postings of bigots that their crazy right-wing uncle sends them, and, more importantly, that there is something wrong with someone being a Muslim, even if it is patently and demonstrably not true.

In short, what the hell is wrong with you people?

And furthermore…This shit never gets old. The righties accused FDR of being Jewish at a time when anti-Semitism was still a major player in elite exclusion.

Rush Limbaugh is just Father Coughlin without the charm.