I was, of course, excited about the Colin Powell endorsement, especially by the eloquence (and length) he gave to his explanation. The part that I keep thinking about, though, is the part where he discusses how "Muslim" (or "Arab") has become a bad word in the political sphere, and how no one seems to have a problem with that. He told a story about a photo of a young soldier's grave, with his mother crying, and how that American citizen was of the Muslim faith and how nasty this political cycle has become.
The only other person I had heard give pause about this discriminatory practice was Ben Affleck this past Friday on Bill Maher's show.
When I first heard that clip where the woman who asked McCain about Obama being an Arab (as joked about here) I was concerned by the non-response of McCain. And I thought of Seinfeld episode where a reporter thinks that Jerry and George are gay. Where was the, "But not that there's anything wrong with it!" Instead the opposite of "Arab" was a "good family man." There isn't anything wrong with being an Arab or of the Muslim faith.
As Powell said it:
"Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, 'What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?' The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, 'He's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists.' This is not the way we should be doing it in America."
My other thought has to do with the recent list of newspaper endorsements Obama and McCain have gotten (almost a 3 to 1 margin for Obama). Besides the number of conservative papers that have endorsed Obama, I found it curious that McCain has not (yet at least) gotten endorsements from either Arizona or Alaska. Obama has five from Illinois (including the Trib), and none from Delaware, but is carrying an Idaho paper. (Palin went to school, partially at least, in Idaho.) It's possibly that this could be proved wrong as more endorsements come in, but we're two weeks away from November 4th and no papers in McCain's home state have given any endorsements.
In one speech where McCain was attempting to tamp down some of the rally-fomented hatred of Obama, McCain reportedly answered a woman who accused Obama of being an "Arab" by saying...No, Mam, he's not an Arab. He's a human.
Or maybe McCain said, he's a person.
Either way, McCain's answer was a bad one.
No one I've come across, before Powell's endorsement, set the record straight by declaring, All Arabs are human.
Did anyone find that critical fact promoted before Powell's endorsement?
Posted by: Kathleen | October 22, 2008 at 01:48 PM