Obama Falsely Accused Of “Confessing” To Being A Muslim

Over the weekend, Barack Obama became the target of a new round of Internet rumors claiming that he is a Muslim. And ironically, the latest smears came in response to a statement he made regarding the oft-repeated lies about his faith.

In an interview on ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos questioned whether Republicans ever really attempted to paint Obama as a Muslim, saying, “The McCain campaign has never suggested you have Muslim connections.”

Obama acknowledged that John McCain himself has not made such claims:

OBAMA: What I was suggesting — you’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my ‘Muslim faith’. And you’re absolutely right that that has not come…

STEPHANOPOULOS: Christian faith.

OBAMA: … my Christian faith. Well, what I’m saying is that he hasn’t suggested…

STEPHANOPOULOS: Has connections, right.

OBAMA: … that I’m a Muslim.

When taken in context, it’s obvious that Obama used the first person in saying “my Muslim faith” because he was referring to lies about himself. But predictably, far right-wing websites jumped at the chance to take his words out of context, with a typical post claiming that Obama was “confessing” to being a “mask Muslim.”

Obama continued, explaining that many Republicans are more than willing to do McCain’s dirty work while the candidate himself appears to keep his hands clean:

OBAMA: What I think is fair to say is that, coming out of the Republican camp, there have been efforts to suggest that perhaps I’m not who I say I am when it comes to my faith – something which I find deeply offensive, and that has been going on for a pretty long time.

And it doesn’t seem like those efforts are going to stop anytime soon.

The full exchange, in context:

By: Joel