Fight the Smears

The following is a copy of an e-mail that I drafted recently to a friend who was getting riled up about "facts" that she thought were the final straw of the Obama campaign. We now return to the program, already in progress...

Dear [friend],

Since I had never heard of the quotes that you were referring to during our last phone conversation, I looked them up after we hung up. Here is a page that describes (in context) which quotes are real and which aren't.

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/o/obama-books.htm

And here's another:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ownwords.asp

The short answer regarding the one about "siding with the Muslims" says basically that Arab-Americans in this country deserve the same laws as the rest of us, and that people should not be attacked on the streets (or prejudiced against in stores, at the airport, at religious services, etc) solely because of their ethnicity/religion.

After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese (and Chinese and Korean and Philippino) people of America were all gathered together and locked up in internment camps. These were people that had lived here all their lives and had no connection with Pearl Harbor. Fear caused the gov't to round them up and sit on them. What Obama was saying was that we should not repeat that mistake.

If an "ugly turn" takes place and people started randomly attacking Muslims within this country for no other reason than that they were Muslim, Obama said that he would side with them, the victims, for being attacked. That makes sense to me. Attacking someone just because of their skin color is a hate crime; it should not be endorsed.

Anyway, that was the gist of it. You mentioned checking your own facts, but I know you're slammed for time. I'd be more than happy to look this stuff up for you and you know I'll be truthful. In the past, I've even had to point out negative stuff about my favorite candidate because I don't think anyone should get a pass on important stuff. Good luck with [your kid] this week; hope things get better with his [issue].

The important thing to remember is that if something sounds incredulous, it probably is. At least look it up before passing it on. Especially to me. :)