Obama defends himself on patriotism, education; CNN has disproved madrassa education charge

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN: November 14, 2007
Obama defends himself against attacks


Obama addressed the United Auto Workers Union in Dubuque, Iowa, Tuesday.

(CNN) – Sen. Barack Obama Tuesday dismissed an e-mail attack being circulated about him that questions his patriotism, and he vowed to vigorously defend himself from this assault as well as questions about his religious beliefs. "I don’t mind them arguing with me about policy, but don’t let them question my patriotism," said Obama, responding to a question about the email following a speech before the United Auto Workers in Dubuque, Iowa. “And listen, I am not going to be swift boated at this race. If somebody comes at me I am going to come right back at them hard."

The e-mail purports to show Obama not placing his hand over his heart during a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance at a campaign event. "We were not saying the Pledge of Allegiance,” Obama said. “We were singing the Star Spangled Banner."

Obama also took time to respond to a rumor that claims he was educated in a madrassa, and raised as a Muslim. "If I were a Muslim I would let you know," he said. "But I am a member of Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th street on the South side of Chicago. We got the best choir in town and if you all want to come and worship with us you are more than welcome."

When the madrassa rumor first surfaced in January, CNN sent a correspondent to Jakarta, Indonesia, and determined it was false.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/11/14/obama-defends-himself-against-attacks/

*

CNN, from 1/23/07:

CNN debunks false report about Obama

....reporting by CNN in Jakarta, Indonesia and Washington, D.C., shows the allegations that Obama attended a madrassa to be false. CNN dispatched Senior International Correspondent John Vause to Jakarta to investigate. He visited the Basuki school, which Obama attended from 1969 to 1971.

"This is a public school. We don't focus on religion," Hardi Priyono, deputy headmaster of the Basuki school, told Vause. "In our daily lives, we try to respect religion, but we don't give preferential treatment." Vause reported he saw boys and girls dressed in neat school uniforms playing outside the school, while teachers were dressed in Western-style clothes.

"I came here to Barack Obama's elementary school in Jakarta looking for what some are calling an Islamic madrassa ... like the ones that teach hate and violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan," Vause said on the "Situation Room" Monday. "I've been to those madrassas in Pakistan ... this school is nothing like that."

Vause also interviewed one of Obama's Basuki classmates, Bandug Winadijanto, who claims that not a lot has changed at the school since the two men were pupils. Insight reported that Obama's political opponents believed the school promoted Wahhabism, a fundamentalist form of Islam, "and are seeking to prove it." "It's not (an) Islamic school. It's general," Winadijanto said. "There is a lot of Christians, Buddhists, also Confucian. ... So that's a mixed school."...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/

[rinsd]

1. Jesus that rumor is still floating around?

[geek tragedy]

2. Someone is pushing it in Iowa and SC.

I really, really hope it isn't another Democrat.

[rinsd]

6. It better not be

:mad:

[DeepModem Mom]

3. I've heard from friends, and friends of friends, that they got an e-mail...

saying Obama was trained in a radical Muslim school. Sadly, some are buying it. At least one person I know of thinks Obama is not a patriot because he didn't put his hand over his heart in the photo.

[geek tragedy]

4. This comes from him not being in the spotlight long enough.

This allows people to make shit up about him and pass it off.

It won't be a problem in the general if he gets the nomination.

[Cameron27]

5. This is so damned ugly,

I glad he's speaking out.