Behind Obama Muslim myth stands the right wing
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 20th, 2010 4:46 am by HL
Behind Obama Muslim myth stands the right wing
Two recently released polls show that an increasing number of Americans believe the falsehood that President Obama is a Muslim. According to the Pew Research Center, 60 percent of people who believe this false claim cite the media as the source of that information — and, indeed, the right-wing media have incessantly promoted this lie.
Pew, Time polls find that an increasing number of Americans believe Obama is a Muslim
Pew: Nearly “one-in-five Americans” now say Obama is a Muslim. On August 18, the Pew Research Center released a column, Michael Goodwin wrote that the logo “reminded” him of “a crescent moon,” the “kind of crescent moon you see on the flags of Muslim countries.” He added: “Indeed, the crescent, often with a single or multiple stars, is the main symbol of Islam. So now there is something like it at an official presidential event, prominently displayed in photographs being beamed around the world.” While Goodwin claimed that he was “not suggesting President Obama is a secret Muslim,” he wrote: “But I am certain the crescent-like design of the logo is not a coincidence, especially at an event where Iran’s nuclear ambition and al Qaeda’s search for a bomb are prime topics.”
Fox & Friends sees “Muslim image” in summit logo. On the April 14 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Gretchen Carlson discussed Goodwin’s column, with Kilmeade saying: “When I first saw this logo, I wasn’t really thinking this, but upon further review, perhaps I should have been. And that is, if you look at the Nuclear Security Summit logo, what does that have in common with all those other flags there representing Muslim nations?” Showing images of flags, Carlson replied: “That’s the same thing that you see on the flags of Turkey, Algeria, Tunisia, and Pakistan, and what do they all have in common? They’re all Muslim nations.” Carlson then stated that Goodwin’s claim is that Obama “deliberately put this as a logo to try and continue his outreach to Muslim nations in a positive way,” adding that at “the same time, he points out in his article that we’re not going to say terms like ‘Jihad’ anymore or ‘Islamic extremists’ anymore. So you be the judge.” During the segment, Fox featured text that read: “Curious Crescent Logo: Summit Symbol Similar to Muslim Image” and “Islamic Image? Summit Design Looks Like Crescent Moon.”
Jim Hoft: “That’s weird?… Obama’s nuclear summit logo is an Islamic crest.” In an April 14 post on his Gateway Pundit blog titled, “That’s Weird?… Obama’s Nuclear Summit Logo Is an Islamic Crest,” Jim Hoft repeatedly asserted that it’s “weird” that “Obama’s nuclear summit logo is an Islamic crest.” Other right-wing blogs, including Evil Conservative and Right Side News, also claimed that “the Nuclear Security Summit logo looks an awful lot like an Islamic crescent.”
Error Theory: “Nuclear Summit logo uses an Islamic-shaped crescent.” In an April 13 post on the Error Theory blog, also featured at Free Republic, Alec Rawls claimed that it “is hard to believe that the State Department” could use “an Islamic-shaped crescent” for the Nuclear Security Summit “by accident,” asserting: “Maybe our State Department really is this ignorant, but more likely, as in the case of Fort Hood mass murderer Nidal Hasan, nobody was willing to make an issue of anything connected to Islam, no matter how disturbing, for fear of committing. career suicide. After all, Obama has commanded all of his underlings to be as oblivious to Islam as possible.”
Gaffney: “Can This Possibly Be True? New Obama Missile Defense Logo Includes A Crescent.” In February, after the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) redesigned its logo, media conservatives compared the new design to the Islamic crescent. In a February 24 BigGovernment post, Frank Gaffney called the “symbolic action” “nefarious,” writing that “the new MDA shield appears ominously to reflect a morphing of the Islamic crescent and star with the Obama campaign logo,” and that “Team Obama is behaving in a way that — as the new MDA logo suggests — is all about accommodating that ‘Islamic Republic’ and its ever-more aggressive stance.” Gaffney concluded: “Watch this space as we identify and consider various, ominous and far more clear-cut acts of submission to Shariah by President Obama and his team.” Gaffney later issued a correction.
FoxNews.com: “Others have noted that [missile defense logo] has a crescent and star design, evoking a common symbol for Islam.” In a February 24 article, FoxNews.com acknowledged that the MDA logo “first appeared” on the MDA website “in the fall,” nonetheless reported claims that the logo was “strikingly” and “scarily” similar to Obama’s 2008 campaign logo, adding that “[o]thers have noted that it has a crescent and star design, evoking a common symbol for Islam.” In a Special Report segment, anchor Bret Baier cited an MDA statement calling the claims “ridiculous,” and that the new logo is “for recruiting in the public website and was developed almost three years ago” and “has no link to any political campaign.” Baier also noted: “The Washington Times points out that the red, white, and blue symbol looks strangely similar to Barack Obama’s campaign ‘O’ from 2008.”
