MSNBC.com has a potentially upsetting article that should nonetheless be read, partially to know what we're still up against: In Flagtown USA, Obama Rumors Fly. As you might have gathered from the article, it's all about these poor people in Findlay, Ohio who gosh, just don't know what to believe. The news keeps telling them Obama's a Christian, but gee, my neighbor told me he was a Muslim.
One heartening piece of context not noted in the article is that Hancock county, where Findlay is located, went 71% for Bush to 29% for Kerry (Ohio results by county), so Obama just needs to make inroads in other areas. He doesn't have to sway the entire rumor-infected town.
Anyway, the article provoked a spirited discussion on msnbc.com. There are two major trends Republican commenters seem to be pursuing:
- This guy Obama doesn't have any accomplishments.
The single best link I've found to smack this down with is via this Obsidian Wings post, and, unfortunately, not very many Obama supporters in the MSNBC discussion seemed to be using it, or responding to people asking about Obama's accomplishments. But here's a taste of hilzoy:
"There he was, working for nuclear non-proliferation and securing loose stockpiles of conventional weapons, like shoulder-fired missiles. There he was again, passing what the Washington Post called "the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet" -- though not as strong as Obama would have liked. Look -- he's over there, passing a bill that created a searchable database of recipients of federal contracts and grants, proposing legislation on avian flu back when most people hadn't even heard of it, working to make sure that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan were screened for traumatic brain injury and to prevent homelessness among veterans, successfully fighting a proposal by the VA to reexamine all PTSD cases in which full benefits had been awarded, working to ban no-bid contracts in Katrina reconstruction, and introducing legislation to criminalize deceptive political tactics and voter intimidation."
- Reverend Wright 20 years, Reverend Wright 20 years, Reverend Wright 20 years.
Best to go on the offensive with this one--don't get bogged down with parsing Wright or trying to explain Obama has now distanced himself from him. Here's a fun little clip from youtube:
Values Voters Debate song
Yes, that's Republicans applauding and cheering as a conservative evangelical singing group sings "Why should God bless America? She's forgotten he exists." There's Hagee and Paisley too.
So this is just a reminder that it may be necessary to engage in battle on the wild, untamed world of news comment websites (and, oh, yeah, to donate ), along with a couple of helpful links for your friends & neighbors who may have questions about Obama's accomplishments.
(Btw, my real name is Greg Machlin; I chose the pseudonym StanBlather years ago, when I first joined in '04, but am probably going to change it back if I can figure out how.)