CNN's main page phrases it without the inflamatory bs: "What if Obama were Muslim?" If they were honest - and if they didn't recognize the antagonistic tone - they wouldn't have changed it.
Author Campbell Brown of "Campbell Brown: Election Center" should be kicked to the curb a la Olbermann and Matthews. From her "Cutting through the Bull" segment:
You may find it hard to believe that this remains an issue in this campaign, but it does.
The candidates, both candidates, are still getting questions about Barack Obama's ethnicity and religion. If you are even semi-informed, then by now you already know that of course, Barack Obama is an American.
Of course, Barack Obama is a Christian. Yet just a few days ago, there was a woman at a rally for John McCain incorrectly calling Obama an Arab:
Woman at rally: I don't trust Obama. I have read about him and he's an Arab.
Sen. John McCain: No ma'am, no ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. That's what this campaign is all about. He's not, thank you.
Now, I commend Sen. McCain for correcting that woman, for setting the record straight. But I do have one question -- so what if he was?
So what if Obama was Arab or Muslim? So what if John McCain was Arab or Muslim? Would it matter?
When did that become a disqualifier for higher office in our country? When did Arab and Muslim become dirty words? The equivalent of dishonorable or radical?
It's bad enough that as a journalist covering a presidential election she gets in the tank for Obama, and worse yet that she fails to do what McCain had the grace and sense to do, not dignify the notion with anything but the plain truth.
Did Brown tell you the plain truth? Did she remark on Obama's legacy, his biography, which wind far and wide and can be twisted to construe a xenophobic reaction? Brown starts by saying "of course Obama's American. Of course he's Christian." The 'of course' clearly substitutes for grounded facts.
What Brown bothers to say: There, there, silly flyover people. You've been reassured with demonstrable facts: Obama's American and Christian because I told you; even though I'm lamenting the rise of this specious information, it's so laughable that I won't bother with facts to back it up, I'll just laugh.
And then I'll wag my finger that you silly people even think that a culture/religion that sparks 99% of all violent terrorism worldwide and is well funded and well received in vast regions of the world could have an impact on the viability of a candidate.
Catholics don't vote like Catholics, and evangelicals don't vote like evangelicals, do they? Just because Muslim rulers and their constituencies are genocidically intolerant of other religions - Palestine, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, Sudan, et al, I'm looking away from you - doesn't mean an American muslim would behave any differently than a Joe Biden or a George Bush.
In consequence, Brown does nothing to derail any stigma, racism, or the notion we'll all be tarred with if Obama loses that the majority of American voters - millions of them! - are racist Muslim-haters. Except to take these unknown vermin to task for being intolerant of something only a few noisemakers have made an issue of.
Cutting through the bull? Not so much.
Congratulations, Brown. You've constructed a(nother) polarized broadcasting response to O'Reilly's 'No Spin Zone', as if the world needed it. I guess it's good to know which side of the fence you're on: the side that gets Obama elected. 'Cause then you can prove you're not a racist.
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