DOES THE OVAL OFFICE FACE MECCA?
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:02:03
We'll have to wait and see if the President put the birther issue to rest by trotting out his birth certificate. I suspect The Donald will soon be calling for Obama's report cards from the Kenyan or Indonesian madrassa where a whole chunk of Americans are convinced he was schooled.
A plurality of Republicans actually believe that Barack Hussein Obama is a crypto-Muslim. Even if we followed the President every Sunday with a church-cam, the word would get out that he had repositioned his desk in the Oval Office to face Mecca. In August of last year, Mitch McConnell did no better than declare, "If the President says he's a Christian, I'll take him at his word." Fine, if Mitch contends he's anything but a spineless, partisan hack, I'll cut him the same slack.
It's hard to judge whether the Democrats did their part in denouncing the ridiculous claims that Bush knew 9/11 was coming. Those rumors didn't crowd the front page or top anybody's news hour; they remained deep in the sordid world of fusion paranoia, where the lunatic fringes of the left and the right meet.
As long as our culture honors the dumb and dumber, as long as the principles of fair and balanced remain a cynical marketing ploy, the dogs of rumor and innuendo will have their day.