Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Anti-Obama Billboard Stirs Controversy
WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. - Call it Freedom of Speech. A billboard recently erected in Wheat Ridge compares President Barack Obama to a terrorist and questions his U.S. citizenship.
Anti-Obama billboard at 4855 Miller Street in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. The billboard, located at 4855 Miller Road, shows two cartoonish images
of Obama wearing a Muslim turban and reads "PRESIDENT or JIHAD?"
It also says "BIRTH CERTIFICATE - PROVE IT!" alluding to the conspiracy theory which claims Barack Obama was born in Kenya rather than Hawaii, which would disqualify him for the office of President.
The words "WAKE UP AMERICA! REMEMBER FT. HOOD!" appear on the bottom of the billboard.
The sign belongs to a car dealership.
"Since Fort Hood, I've had it," owner Phil West told FOX 31 News Friday. "You can't suggest things. You can't profile. You gotta call a spade a spade."
"Everything I have read about Mr. Obama points right to the fact that he is a Muslim. And that is the agenda of what Muslim is all about. It's about anti-American, it's about anti-Christianity," West said.
The Anti-Defamation League condemned the sign, as did AM760 radio host David Sirota, who discussed the sign and interviewed West on his program Friday morning.
"It's out of control," Sirota said. "This conservative hatred of Barack Obama is out of contol, and this brings together all those strands of it: the racism, the anti-Muslim fervor. It's one thing to criticise the president on health care, or Wall Street reform, or immigration. But this is outrageous. And I think it's a fair question to ask why these questions about religion and ancestry are being directed so viciously at the first African-American President of the United States."
While the ADL issued a statement calling the billboard an exploitation of the Ft. Hood shootings that is "divisive and offensive, and perpetuates hateful and harmful stereotypes about Muslims", prominent conservatives have been silent thus far.
"That could suggest that conservative leaders are afraid to confront the extreme fringe of their base," Sirota said. "Or it suggests they actually condone this message. Either way, it's disturbing."
Sirota is an unabashed liberal, but not all self-identified conservatives who drove past the sign Friday disagree with him.
"I'm not concerned with that at all," said Linda Alexander, of Golden, in regard to the dispute over President Obama's American citizenship. "He was elected, he's the president -- that's it, as far as I'm concerned. Some people just can't accept that, obviously."
But Keith Walters, another passing driver, saw nothing wrong with the billboard.
"I can't honestly say he's a Jihadist, but there's a lot of things that are questionable," Walters said. "The whole birth certificate controversy. From what I've read, there's no proof Obama isn't a Muslim. And I don't believe there's any racism [in the billboard]. I think that should be a question asked to any president who -- they have some questionable backgrounds."
Supporters of the birth certificate theory, known as 'Birthers,' believe the Certification of Live Birth produced by the state of Hawaii is a forgery. (view the birth certificate)
93 Comments so far
Show AllJust let me be the first here to say this is disgusting. This is worse than the anti Obama billboard a small group of loons put up in our town. It is frightening but very telling that the same group of people who do this sort of thing also totally supported the Bush/Cheney regime.
I remember when I was a kid growing up in rural Washington state there was a billboard on the hightway put up by the John Birch Society that was similarly ignorant. We always laughed at it everytime we passed it.
Sirota sez: "That could suggest that conservative leaders are afraid to confront the extreme fringe of their base."
***
Huh? The 'extreme fringe' IS their base.
Target practice.
I think it's sad because whoever made the banner is clearly sans a clue about Amuhrikan politics.
If Obama's a jihadist, he's the geopolitical equivalent of "Wrong Way" Jim Marshall...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IBkQoXNvbA
I mean, if Obama really were a radical Muslim, why would he still be warring with Iraq and Afghanistan and sending drones into Pakistan, all the while egging on Iran and swearing to defend Israel at all costs?
Are these people that dumb? Ugh.
Actually, it's not funny. One of the last things we need right now is some nut picking off Obama. The right-wing attacks on Obama's background throw kerosene onto race hatred. It also helps to obscure legitimate, hard criticism of Obama from the Left. This is the type of thing that Rachel Maddow and Keith O. squander entire programs on.
The stupidity of the billboard reminds me of a co-worker who once told me that his grandfather refused to believe that the earth is round because the Bible talks about the four corners of the earth.
From what I've read, there's no proof Keith Walters isn't a serial killer.
Or Phil West isn't a child molester.
We can try to out do each other with witty retorts, show our disgust and condemnation, be appalled and shocked, all very cathartic and entertaining BUT, these idiots are looking to start a physical confrontation. Don't underestimate the seething violence of the extreme right and how their adrenaline pumping trigger fingers could incite the same behavior in the moderates.
From all I've read, President Obama has proven several times that he's not Muslim, nor is he a citizen of Kenya.
So for all those who refuse to believe him, I say to them, then PROVE YOUR STUPID ACCUSATIONS THAT HE IS A KENYA MUSLIM or shut up!
Yes! The burden of proof is on the accuser. These nutbags have no concept of justice.
If you have a child then you know that shortly following the birth a birth certificate is filled out and signed. This is, and is called, the original birth certificate. As I understand it Obama has refused to produce his original birth certificate. I also believe that he has referred to it in prior discussion/writings, i.e. it exists.
Contrary to the article, I doubt that anyone claims the 'certificate of live birth' linked to is a 'forgery'. It is a computer print out. It is not the original birth certificate.
I cannot fathom the persons, liberals usually, who rail against the birthers, claiming that he's proved his citizenship, and further, that 'it doesn't matter' whether he has or not. Folks, it matters, it's the freaking law.
Not only is Obama's birth certificate hidden, also his college transcripts, and other documents I believe. This strikes me as odd beyond belief, if I want to get a job teaching high school I have to produce my transcripts, and yet Obama doesn't? ??? What is the suspicion? The suspicion is that Obama is a complete phony, who was groomed as to be our 'leader' by forces unknown who had the power to fix the system, including getting him through the various U's and bogus jobs like 'professor of constitutional law'. Goldman Sachs?
I for one would like to see the birth certificate. I'd like to see the transcripts. I can live with not seeing them, but the amazing vitriol of the 'liberals' directed at us 'birthers' is a little strange.
And, after fulminating, google 'America's First Jewish President' by James Petras, it is interesting reading.
Obama can't produce a birth certificate because he's an alien. Not the kind of alien that gets paid next to nothing for back breaking work in the fields. He's the kind of alien who abducts people so he can play spaceship proctologist with them. That's why you see so many of the tea-baggers parading around like they've got a broomstick up their nether regions.
He may even be from the same planet as Emperor Xenu!
Beware!
Not Allen, Your posting handle says it all. Obama disputes or ignores the lies surrounding his alleged "alien" status, you on the other hand openly flaunt it, by informing us daily that you are in fact NOT Allen. By the way do you happen to have an affinity with the new tv series V ?
Come to think of it I have never seen my son in law's birth certificate and here I've been trusting him with my grandchildren all this time. I had better check this out.
He grew up in the same town as my daughter, attended the same public school, and was once even a student of mine. but that doesn't prove anything, and that could all have been an elaborate scheme to get the community to trust him.
Then there were those four years he pretty much disappeared. He was supposedly in a college out west somewhere. He has a diploma from Saint John's College on his study wall but if he is working for some foreign government they have people who could have easily procured such a document.
I think you are on too something here. I've never seen my sister's birth certificate either; she has just always been around. Who is to say she is who she says she is?
Maybe if I told the police about this they could follow up on it. they will probably find nothing but you never know, and I say you can't be too careful.
Nice!
ROTFLMAO!! The only retort to the inanity of "Not Allan" and the "birthers." In the face of absurdity, only satire will suffice.
Hey! Where's YOUR birth certificate? How do you know you're who YOU are? We haven't seen it either! How do you know you know who WE are?
When Obama was running for the Senate there were questions about him not being born in America. He replied that he was running for the Senate. The Constitution does not require a candidate for the Senate to be born in America. The Constitution does make that a requirement to run for President.
Obama's paternal grand mother says he was born in Kenya.
Your racism towards jews AND black people, and your delusion is what is "a little strange".
He was "groomed" by "certain forces", for DECADES, to the point of those "certain forces" helped him to get through various universities? Right, because a black man is too dumb and stupid to do so off course.
Did you ask to see the birth certificates AND academic transcripts of every president before Obama? Of other presidential candidates?
Plain straight out racism.
Over and over the question comes down to the intent behind the action. But nobody is addressing the intent. If the intent behind the billboard is justice, that's one thing, and if the intent is injustice, that's another.
The discussion should focus on the intent behind the billboard. This guy who put up the billboard isn't seeking justice. He's trying to propagate quite an unjust status quo of bigotry, hatred, xenophobia, and ultimately, imperial conquest and global oppression.
If this were a functional society, the billboard would quickly raise the issue of this guy's intent, and the public discourse would resolve the issue very quickly. But this is not a functional society, hence, a lot of churning, and no resolution. Medieval times!!
'Not Allen says:
"If you have a child then you know that shortly following the birth a birth certificate is filled out and signed. This is, and is called, the original birth certificate. As I understand it Obama has refused to produce his original birth certificate. I also believe that he has referred to it in prior discussion/writings, i.e. it exists."'
I was born approximately the same time as Obama, only in DC not HI. The hospital issued a "birth certificate" (with cute little footprints on it and an embossed "official" gold sticker). My older siblings had the same hospital cert. Only my baby sister had a gov't issued birth cert.
I found out only much later in Oct of 2001 that I could not use that hospital certificate as an official document of identification to prove my identity to the US government. Something about a new world order after some airplanes crashing in NY, whatever.
So, for the first time in my life, around age 40, I applied for and received my Government Sanctioned birth certificate. Apparently, I never had an ORIGINAL birth cert. "issued" until then.
So what kind of original birth certificate are you asking BO to produce? Even if an original birth cert was issued for him papers get lost especially when families, divorce, move, or travel. Most families, especially poor families, don't have safe deposit boxes to secure documents.
I also notice your careful use of conditional terms: "As I understand it..." "I also believe that he...." "I doubt that anyone claims...." "...and other documents I believe." Very diversionary and ambiguous disclaimers. HMMMM?
The truth is Obama is an immortal and the documenting of his birth was recorded in the cave paintings of Lascaux, France during an hallucinogenic ceremony where he was called from the eternal flame to save or destroy humanity. (TIC)
[So what kind of original birth certificate are you asking BO to produce? ]
The one issued and signed at his time of birth, not a computer printout. That's what the birthers want to see. Can you give me one good, or plausible, or in any way defensible reason why he should not produce it, given that he has access to it?
[I also notice your careful use of conditional terms: ]
I haven't paid much attention to this issue, so, my 'knowledge' is conditional at best, but I think it's right (in particular, I've read that he's written about his original birth certificate) But, maybe it isn't. I'm willing to be corrected.
Dude, try googling the words "obama birth certificate".
Why do people spend more effort opining than researching???
"The one issued and signed at his time of birth,..."
He might not have access to the one issued and signed at the time of his birth. It might not exist. And stuff gets losts. He might want to ignore what is irrelevant because he may have shown the "authorities" and has no obligation to show the media or the public.
Given that he might not have access or that he is not obligated, is that good, plausible or in anyway defensible?
In my own experience the hospital records were accurate and they had submitted the information to the state. Only the issuing of the gov't document was not done as a matter of course. Bureaucracy and official papers were not as regimented in the 50's-60's. It also used to be you did not have to get your SS # until you began working. Now it is when you are listed as a dependant on your parents tax forms.
[He might not have access to the one issued and signed at the time of his birth. It might not exist.]
OK, so let's do a little research .... after 10 minutes it just gets weirder .... the first few google hits for - obama original birth certificate - link to web sites that announce that they have seen Obama's original birth certificate, and then proceed to describe or picture the same computer generated birth certificate as was linked to in the CD article. Disingenuous, I think is the word.
But on the 8th or so hit it gets much better .... the title ...
"Obama's birth certificate sealed by Hawaii governor
Says Democratic senator must make request to obtain original document"
So, apparently the "hospital generated" (as per the article) original document does exist and is available to Obama.
You can find just about any statement on the internet. Do some research on at least some mildly credibile internet sources like a newspaper or Associated press, not some blowhard blog.
"Officials verify birth certificate of Obama
Hawaii's health director steps in after numerous requests for the document"
By Star-Bulletin Staff and News Services
see:
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/hawaiinews/20081101_officials_verify_birth_certificate_of_obama.html
From the article:
"State law prohibits the release of a birth certificate except to a person seeking his or her own certificate and the person's spouse, parent and legal guardian."
""No state official, including Gov. Linda Lingle, has ever instructed that this vital record be handled in a manner different from any other vital record in the possession of the State of Hawaii," Health Director Chiyome Fukino said."
"In Hawaii, Andy Martin, an Obama opponent, filed a lawsuit earlier this month seeking a copy of the birth certificate. The Hawaii Supreme Court on Oct. 22 denied his request to see the document."
I applaud the protection of privacy that the state of Hawaii is affording the POTUS just as they would protect YOUR rights to privacy concerning a birth certificate.
That is not weird to me.
[I applaud the protection of privacy that the state of Hawaii is affording the POTUS just as they would protect YOUR rights to privacy concerning a birth certificate.]
Well, I do to. If there is an original birth certificate, and if they have it, then they are just following the standard operating procedure by not producing it for whomever.
[That is not weird to me.]
It looks like the bottom line, as least from the info available to us, is that the original birth certificate, not a computer printout, exists, is available to Obama, and he's unwilling to make it available. So, what is weird to me is that Obama, in spite of various lawsuits, and doubts about not only his birth, but his entire history, including his academic record, is unwilling to produce it. Can you think of one good, or plausible, or defensible in any way, reason that he shouldn't produce these documents. I think the guy is a complete phony. There is plenty of evidence that his path through life has been guided (see the Petras article). He is the unlikely recipient of unlimited assistance from Goldman Sachs. I don't believe that he has proved that he is even legally eligible to be President of the US. And, all he has to do to alleviate these doubts in millions (?) of people, is to produce his birth certificate, and he refuses. That's got to be weird.
"Can you think of one good, or plausible, or defensible in any way, reason that he shouldn't produce these documents.(?)"
Yes, the only rights you have are the ones you exercise. If I am not legally required to let you search/see my personal papers and/or effects I would choose not to allow you. Good, plausible, defensible and reasonable to exercise ones rights.
As for the rest of your comments, "I think the guy is a complete phony." and "I don't believe that he has proved that he is even legally eligible to be President of the US.", you have every right to your opinions and to read and read into whatever material you find entertaining and/or informative.
[If I am not legally required to let you search/see my personal papers and/or effects I would choose not to allow you.]
Absurd. Good grief, think before you write.
If you applied for a job teaching in high school, and they requested to see you transcripts, would you produce them?
You are not legally required to do so. You can tell them to take their job and shove it.
A rational person evaluates the consequences of his actions and acts accordingly. The rational man would give the high school principal his transcripts, after weighing the consequences.
BO has weighed the consequences of his refusal to produce his BC. As he is subjecting this country to ten kinds of hell because he won't produce it, I assume there is a g**d*** good reason. Now, you may think .... I'm happy with it so who's suffering ..... please don't be such an idiot.
I suspect he is without character. I don't believe a person with character would pull a stunt like he has pulled. However, unlike you (I imagine) I adjust my opinions to match reality. So, I suspect he is without character, but, believe it or not, I'm hoping to be proved wrong, and he can do it, by not sending more troops to Afghanistan. By bucking the push toward wider war in Afghanistan/Pakistan, Obama will prove (at least to the best of our knowledge) that he does have character. Wanna take a bet?
So according to you, NA, I am absurd, unthinking, irrational and possibly an inflexible idiot. Thank you for the free analysis of my personality traits. Can I see your credentials as a personality analyst?
I do not think my argument is absurd or irrational. In fact, I feel it is well thought out and is perfectly rational.
My quote in your first line is a paraphrase of the the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. Nothing absurd about the Constitution, although we can debate and amend certain aspects of it in a proscribed method. I think about the US Constitution often. I keep a handy copy of it on my kitchen shelf even.
Now let's use your teaching job example and compare it to the POTUS situation, SHALL WE?
I imagine a teaching job is highly regulated and a transcript of a potential employee would be required to get that position. I would know this going in to apply for such a job. The question would be who am I, as a job candidate, required to show my transcript to? Since I am a "rational" job seeker I would not have any problem showing the principal my transcript. I might even show the HR Administrator. I would not, however, distribute my transcripts to students.
BO situation is similar. The required authorities have seen and attested to the validity of his COLB. OB is not required to distribute the "original" to every citizen. Oh, and he was elected.
Exercising one's Constitutional rights in the face of pressure to give them up is a sign of GOOD character in my opinion.
I do not think the ten kinds of hell we are experiencing in the world are a result of not seeing BOs COLB.
JJS,
Why be so gullible? When you ASSumed that government turds carefully checked the intell of WMD's that lead us into an eight year war that stole our freedoms, you made a serious logical error supporting the argument of authority.
Most airplane crashes happen the same way. "But I thought he filled the fuel tanks up all the way, which is why I didn't check them" is a common excuse given by pilots who crash. Just because someone in authority from the FAA tells you you can fly without fuel gauages working, does it mean you're not going to check the fuel level in the tank with your eyeball? It's stupid to trust anybody in government to check anything.
Most manipulators would have a wet dream over a candidate they could own like this, who has an exploitable skeleton in his closet.
And the Bill of Rights to privacy applies to citizens only. Government turds like Obomber work for us, not other government turds.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
Hi TJ,
So now I am gullible and an ASS. Whoda thunk I'd learn so much about myself here at CD?
(ps Thanks for being so subtle about the "ASS" part, it's pretty embarrassing as you can well imagine)
"When you ASSumed that government turds carefully checked the intell of WMD's that lead us into an eight year war that stole our freedoms, you made a serious logical error supporting the argument of authority."
I never assumed such a thing. What would make you say that? Did you just pull it out of your.....HAT?
Anyway, I believe you are trying to say I blindly accept authority. I ASSure YOU that I do not. Are you trying to change the subject away from the Birth Cert topic?
As for pilots, I know a few and I know they do not trust lightly. They are thorough in checking their equipment and supplies, unless they are stupid and careless. I have rappelling experience myself and know all too well that I must check my own equipment before I "step off the cliff". But there does come a time when you have to trust the guy who made the rope and the carabiners if you wish to descend. You buy equipment from reputable, regulated sources. The FAA, you place oversight and regulation on them to make sure they are held accountable if they “steer you wrong” or do not follow processes and procedures. So along those lines, the Health Dep’t of HI has oversight and regulation that allow me to trust, to a reasonable extent, that they are being truthful in signing legal, accountable, affidavits that affirm BO was born in HI.
I do not believe the same oversight and regulation was employed concerning the Iraqi WMD fiasco. But that is another subject for another thread.
As for the “wet dream” theory, I could see it with GWBush and his National Guard service, Drunk driving and Coke bingeing (DoD, Cops and MSM are notoriously unregulated and cliquish. I have less trust for them than other gov't agencies and institutions).
With BO, he may have skeletons in the closet but I don’t think the COLB is one of them due to the type of agencies that were involved i.e. The Health Dept and the courts.
These people do good research, http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp with sources you can cross reference. But if you have chosen to distrust everyone and everything then nothing I can say or site will persuade you to see the world any differently. The only time I have ever agreed with Ronnie Raygun is when he said, "Trust but verify." But do you have to go to the moon yourself to believe man has walked on the moon? Must you circumnavigate the earth to know it is a globe?
TJ, we have a representative government. We elect our representatives and they attend to the machinations of governing as our representatives. As a citizen you can involve yourself to a great extent in your government, but you are not authorized to see CITIZEN BO’s COLB.
Happy Thanksgiving
See, that's the difference between you and me. I ask for proof. You believe any canard trotted out to you.
No, I do not have to go to the moon myself. But what is wrong with asking to see the moon rocks? I have personally touched them at the Smithsonian in D.C. I have friends who were involved with assembling parts for the lander. I have read reports by independent scientists who received the data downlink privately real-time from lunar orbit.
I have never met anyone who knew BO before he was a candidate. No, I do not trust him or his government. Yes, as a citizen I am entitled to see the results of an investigation into his arrival in the USA. I am also entitled as a taxpayer and a voter to demand an investigation into his background or GWB's National Guard Service. It turns out (to the chagrin of Dan Rather) that GWB never showed up for his commitment in the Alabama Air National Guard. Perhaps had we demanded to see these "private" details about a man with his finger on the button, we would not find ourselves today in the world of shit we find ourselves today in.
Since you trust the FAA, even though they were caught last year in pencil whipping inspections with major carriers, you are indeed a very foolish man, since you apparently know nothing about this and put blind faith in big government to save you.
Good Luck Pilgrim,
You're going to need it.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
Isn't diversity great, you and me so different? Yet if you would only read and COMPREHEND my posts you wouldn't feel so very unique and special.
"Since you trust the FAA, even though they were caught last year in pencil whipping inspections with major carriers, you are indeed a very foolish man, since you apparently know nothing about this and put blind faith in big government to save you."
Where do you come up with such conclusions of my trust, knowledge and faith? Again, out of your HAT?
Good luck to you, too, girlfriend.
From what I've read, President Obama knew from the moment he started his campaign for the presidency that he was putting his life on the line if he became the first black president of the USA.
I'll defend free speech forever but I hope whoever put up this sign realizes that he's just proved to the rest of the world that a large portion of the citizenry of this benighted country remains incorrigibly racist. And does he also realize that he is endangering the lives of all those troops he's so keen to "Support" while they're over in Iraq or Afghanistan trying to "win hearts and minds"? President Obama refuses to publish the pictures of what our troops are doing to detainees. Well, this sign-posting bigot has done just as much to show the world what America feels about those of a slightly darker complexion or a slightly different religious belief. I hope he doesn't have any loved ones in the military; he's just gone a long way to get them blown up by another roadside bomb.
McCain was born in Panama has been sucking off the Government Teat since the day he was born: military brat, flyboy, special treatment as POW (where he was trained to be the real "Manchurian Candidate"),marries beer heiress trophy wife, goes to the Senate (between that and the VA he probably never bought an aspiran with his own money) then sabotages the GOP by picking Palin.
It must be true... We all know used-car salesmen never fib!
http://wolfwheatridge.com/
nice call
some people think the Earth is 7,000 yrs old
it's true
i met one
It's 7000 years old only for evolution purposes... and suddenly much older when they are denying climate change, citing events from earlier eons.
Lies! Lies! I have irrefutable proof of opinion from Religious Right Evangelical Fundamentalists that it is 6000 years old. Your comment is seditious and defamatory!
EVIL heretic! You will burn in the lake of fire for eternity! The Earth cannot be 6000 years old as we would then be in the seventh millennium, and my church of looney toons pastor tells us that the bible says that's when Jayzeus will have established his thousand year reign of bliss. Where all good members of the Church of Looney Toons will eat the milk and honey and be able to watch all you unbelievers burn in that lake of fire and roast marshmallows, while listening to the music of your blasphemous screams. Repent!
mmmm ... marshmallows.
I know a group of men in their 50's (and some younger, some older) who forward around emails that are anti-Obama. They include crude jokes and remarks about his ethnicity, name, birth origins, citizenry and also about Michelle Obama.
This group of men have been forwarding these emails around since the beginning of the year. There are indeed a lot of Americans out there who are suspicious of and critical of Obama in part because of his ethnicity etc.
Following Ft. Hood, one of these aforementioned men said, regarding the man who committed the murders at Ft. Hood, that "anyone with a not normal sounding name should be deported."
Also, the remarks that Obama's former pastor made about the US, and the fact that pledging allegiance to the flag etc. wasn't a priority for the Obamas, also inflame these people and their anti-Obama rhetoric.
A neighbor had a sign on her lawn prior to the elections that said :"Reverend Wright equals Reverend Wrong" and it featured a pic of Obama's head next to Wrights. This same neighbor also had signs on her lawn about how we can't afford Obama's socialist policies.
We need to counter this ignorance today with progressive rhetoric.
Wow. They were really using "normal sounding names" as a rubric for being American? How pathetic. What exactly would constitute "normal" for them? And who gets to decide that?
"Normal sounding names" would include European names like Bob Baker and Suzanne Smith.
There are still a lot of Americans that dislike and are afraid of people different from them, of what they don't know. They live with an "us versus them" mentality.
Media pundits are fueling this ignorance, as you know.
The rubric isn't "normal sounding names".
The rubric is straight out racism.
Prior to the election I was in New England and was told that Obama was Muslim because it was in his book. The lady who told me didn't seem to know which book.
What I found most frightening was Sarah Palin whipping up a crowd to the point of cries of "kill him", to which McCain later responded by pointing out Senators were all colleagues, with political differences.
That core of hatred that Sarah Palin so skillfully tapped and reinforced is the same core that Hitler worked on in the 1930's. If she or others are allowed to target that faction I have an enormous fear for the future of the US, particularly given the current economic conditions that seem to be worsening.
I agree, but regarding your "enormous fear for the future of the US" I think the present, although perhaps less scary, is of very great concern to many.
It is also here now and not an intangible like the future.