Ethics

Gribbit: Even Too Stupid for STACLU?

By Ed Brayton

By now you all know about John McCain disavowing the crude gutter politics of a radio talk show host in Ohio, who introduced him at a rally by repeatedly referring to Barack HUSSEIN Obama in a shoddy and pathetic attempt to feed into anti-Muslim fears and prejudice. I'll give Jay from STACLU credit for this post, where he quotes another conservative blogger on why doing so is wrong. He quotes Captain Ed saying:

The intent makes all the difference. Those emphasizing the middle name want to drive home the heritage of Obama, specifically his father. It seeks to extend the urban myth of Obama's supposed Muslim identity. The name "Hussein" has other connotations as well, a not-so-subtle link to Saddam Hussein, one of the worst dictators in recent times.

None of this is subtle, and anyone professing innocence of these intentions are either lying to us or lying to themselves. If we need to refer to Obama, his last name will suffice, or Senator Obama, or Barack Obama. Using the full name three times in an introduction makes it quite clear that the speaker wants to invoke a less-than-intellectual response to the likely Democratic nominee.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on February 28, 2008 (boomark / email).