Not to get into the thankless and fruitless task of arguing with Hannity-ites, but this is kind of funny. My mom got an e-mail last night from one of her whack-job Republican cousins that quoted Obama as saying this in Audacity of Hope:
"I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."
Of course it does not provide a page citation, because then you would be able to look it up. But I found the offending quote, and here's what it really says:
"... mostly [immigrants] want affirmation that they, too, are Americans. Whenever I appear before immigrant audiences, I can count on some good-natured ribbing from my staff after my speech; according to them, my remarks follow a three-part structure: 'I am your friend,' '[Fill in home country] has been a cradle of civilization,' and 'You embody the American dream.' They're right, my message is simple, for what I've come to understand in that my mere presence before these newly minted Americans serves notice that they matter, that they are voters critical to my success and full-fledged citizens entitled to respect.
Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship actually means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."
(p. 261). Wow, what an insane and radical observation: law-abiding, pro-American immigrant communities would like to know that a candidate for political office will support them and recognize them as legitimate Americans. But of course people merrily forward the distorted version along without going a milimeter out of their way to find out whether its true or not (you can find out the real quote with a simple google search of the misquote in about 5 seconds - this isn't rocket surgery).
Anyway, F them. Shit like this helps me get over my left-wing Obama trashing. Let's get psyched up for the probable Pax Obama.
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Good find, Finley.
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate your concluding remark. I do think my receiving various whack-job right-wing email newsletters with similar attack messages has indeed galvanized my support for Obama, even if I too find some of his purposals quite centrist.
On another note, I am also a big O=BAMx(A'2) fan simply because it's refreshing to hear an articulate and compassionate questioning of the way we remember our history. I t's not everyday you hear a politician bring up Japanese internment.
Another observation:
ReplyDeleteThankless as it may be, I think debunking these myths does play an important role.
As you correctly point out, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the research and see that we're dealing with a deliberate misquoatation.
But it does require a bit of effort to fact-check. These scare tacts are most effectively employed on undecided voters, whom I think we can safely say are not interested in going to any lengths to fact check or inform themselves vis à vis the election--if they were able/willing to do that, then they wouldn't be undecided in the first place, now would they?
My point is maybe you're preaching to the choir on this bloggg, but in a battleground state like PA, it just might be worth organizing a team of myth busters to get the word out.
After all, and please don't quote me on this if I ever run for public office in the US: the people that are stupid and lazy enough to decide in favor of McCain not out of GOP loyalty but simply because they read on a bathroom wall that Obama is secretly working for Al-Qaeda can't be that hard to sway in the other direction with a makeshift brochure and a friendly conversation.
I'm not a very good mythbuster. People think I come off like a prick when I debate them. I'd probably turn them the other way. Besides, there's no need out here in Illinois.
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