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[Equinox Moon]

This message was self-deleted by its author (Equinox Moon) on Tue Sep 4, 2018, 05:48 PM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[HipChick]

1. And?

[jrthin]

22. +1000 nt

[hlthe2b]

2. She didn't seem totally "there" on the video clip and heavens, that was more than 10 years ago.

Hopefully staff of the assisted living facility will protect her.

[Equinox Moon]

4. I hope so too.

I'm sure they are doing something now. They would have to. To protect her and the rest of the residents.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. What things? That good and gentle people can also be ignorant or racist?

[Equinox Moon]

5. She was ignorant.

She had bad information and went with it.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. I'm still not getting your point; your post has the air of "gotcha" but I can't tell what's getting

got.

[hlthe2b]

7. I'm betting she was un/undereducated and thus ignorant and racist, but likely pre-senile as well.

As I posted upstream, I never thought she was "all there" on that appearance. If so, she's likely unable to answer for herself.

[HopeAgain]

6. So she believes Muslims are bad?

She called him a Muslim, not an Arab. I have no sympathy for someone who shows her bigotry in public. Don't see it as not cut snd dry, sorry...

[hlthe2b]

10. Actually, she did use the term "Arab" (though undoubtedly meant Muslim)...

[moriah]

12. It's kinda like the thread about healthcare workers and racist patients.

General consensus seemed to be that a small pass should be given for obvious dementia. They really are sick, unlike the ones who aren't demented yet care more about the color of the person starting their IV than the color their arm will be after staff decides to abide by their wishes and gives them the newest pale nurse.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

14. No, she said he was an Arab. Either way, a bigoted remark. n/t

[Takket]

9. maybe the assisted living center should just cut off the press???

[Garrett78]

11. The problem with her statement and McCain's response has been largely ignored.

Both her statement and McCain's response imply that being an "Arab" is bad, that an Arab can't be "a good family man."

[NYC Liberal]

15. I really don't think that's what McCain meant.

What was he supposed to say? If he’d simply said “No, he’s not Arab”, you could infer the same thing from that too (that being Arab is bad).

[Garrett78]

18. He could have added a statement about how the demonizing of Muslims is wrong.

But I wouldn't expect a Republican to do that.

[Equinox Moon]

17. Really good point!

[madaboutharry]

30. That always bothered me.

He said : “No mam, he is a good family man....” and went on that they didn’t agree politically.

I always thought he should have said that “Arabs” are also good people and it’s wrong to be prejudiced.

He was unprepared for someone saying that, but I thought he should have been quicker on his feet.

[Goodheart]

13. If she believed it she was stupid. That's pretty cut and dried to me.

[tulipsandroses]

16. She had bad information, just like all the people that watch Fox News, Listen to Right wing talk

radio, watch Alex Jones, etc etc etc
Whatever.

She's one of the millions of the fans of that crap. She's just one that got exposed.

[Bluepinky]

19. So it's ok to be racist and dumb if you're a gentle person?

I’m scared that people like her make up a significant portion of people voting.

[RockRaven]

20. Sorry, but your post seems to be based on the premise that this woman was just misinformed...

But the issue is not whether or not Obama was an Arab -- or a Muslim -- or whether she believed he was either of those things, or whether she had been lied to by someone about either of those things.

The thing people are criticizing about her is that she takes this bad data and interprets it through a bigoted thought process. The idea that him being Arab (or Muslim) is something to be concerned about categorically is what bothers people. It's the bigotry, not the misinformation, which causes offense. Even if she never had heard this "incorrect news" about Obama, her reaction to some similar "correct news" about some other person would have resulted in the same reaction in her, no? That reaction is the problem. That's what everyone is bothered by. Does anyone really expect her to learn/grow/change/etc? Of course not. But that doesn't mean we can't point to that reaction/behavior as something which is not good and should not be passed on to new generations.


If I'm going to think someone who appeared in that video clip is being criticized too harshly, I'd be more likely to choose McCain. The first few seconds of his sound-bite "he's not A, he's B" can be portrayed as saying that A's cannot be B's. I think it's fair to say it sure seems that way when viewed only up to that point; but listening to the clip in full makes it seem to me that he's just trying to shut this lady's misinformation and bigoted premise down, and keep the debate/contrast on the level of policy choices. Could he have done it better? Certainly.

[cbdo2007]

21. Well to be fair...McCain and the Repubes had spent months before this clip trying to convince

everyone that Obama *might* be an Arab or Muslim. I think the interesting thing in the clip was that McCain went along with it not thinking people were dumb enough to believe it, but his reaction in seeing that people are that dumb was mind blowing for him.

Then of course for months AFTER this video, Palin STILL was trying to convince people Obama was an Arab or Muslim, so there's that.

[brettdale]

23. although a better thing for her to have said would've been

"wow Barack Obama is an Arab, he would be our first Arab President?, I wonder what that
will do to our relationships in the middle east?"

She said Arab, like it was a bad thing.

[Equinox Moon]

24. I like it. That would have been really cool.

Too bad it was racist comment though.

[OhioBlue]

33. She said it like it was a bad thing because that was what the right wing campaign against Obama

(and before that it was used in the Dem primaries)

The timing - 6/7 years after 9-11. Remember what the atmosphere was like? Most people in our Country didn't even question a President taking us into war in Iraq even though Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. There was mass hysteria and a lack of critical thinking by almost all Republicans but also many Independents and quite a few Dems. The hard core right-wing propaganda machine fed Islamophobia.

So along comes Barack Hussein Obama - Obama sounds like Osama and his middle name is Hussein, and his father was a Muslim.

Before the time of memes.... there were chain emails sent around about Obama being a secret Muslim with ties to terrorists - hell, even a Dem County chair person sent me one during the primaries. I corrected her as I did several other dems. Plus the right-wing propagandists were pushing out content about Obama's ties to Ayres, about his pastor, about his dad and step-dad, going to school in Jakarta which they claimed was a Madrasa. In Arabic Madrasa translates to "school" but Madrasa meant something very different to the American public at the time as Al Queda had been funding fundamentalist madrassas with money from Saudi Arabia to brainwash young Muslims in parts of Afghanistan. The fact that Obama's school was in a very different location in a very different decade was lost to propagandists and their sheep.

So, while I do not condone it, I do understand perfectly what was being implied in that exchange. We have an older, ignorant voter, filled with post 9-11 fear, who probably listened to Rush and Fox and got emails from her neighbors outlining Obama's ties to Muslims and alleged terrorists and she freaked the f_ck out as many did. And for most of us that knocked on doors during the '08 campaign in rural areas, we know the brainwashing that went on. When she said "Arab", she didn't mean "Arab". She was actually trying to be politically correct when she meant Muslim aligned with terrorists and John McCain knew that too. In that context, his response makes sense.

[moriah]

25. If the living is very "assisted", hopefully they will keep her medical needs above media concerns.

If your friend wants to do something, have them contact the facility and make the media leave the complex alone -- if not for her, for the other residents.who deserve to retire without a media swarm.

I agree with others she didn't seem to have everything "together" a decade ago, and I can't imagine her mental condition has improved since.

There are some people who will die as bigots, and there's little we can do to change them. I see trying to chase an interview with this woman a decade later as rather vulgar and pointless.

[Equinox Moon]

26. Agreed and I wonder

I would think the facility has enough sense to protect the residents from media. I don't know how that is being handled. I would assume the leadership have figured something out. They might have to hire some security guards for a while.

I think it would be an interesting follow up to ask her if she changed her mind after what McCain said to her. I will have to pass along my question and see if an answer finds it way back to me.

[D_Master81]

27. Ah yes 2008...

It doesnt seem like that long ago that crazies were still called out on the GOP side. Now you know Trump would've said something like, "you know, some people are saying he's Arab, some are saying he isnt, I dont know..."

[rpannier]

29. I don't know

Pretty much sums up his knowledge on any topic

[hibbing]

28. What about thr guy right before her?

He was scared of President Obama.


Peace

[ooky]

31. Trump's base is exploding with people who are wired like her.

Unfortunately for our country, she is not so unique at all.

[Demonaut]

32. ignorance is cut and dried

[Aristus]

34. I'm not sure how much sympathy I'm supposed to have for a brainless pearl-clutcher

who goes on TV and says stupid things.

[Cousin Dupree]

35. I'd like to know how she got to the rally and wny she was there. Anyone notice how unkempt

her hair was? Most women wouldn’t go out with hair looking like that. Which leads me to think that she is not taking care of herself properly. And her caregivers didn’t bother to comb her hair. Did someone at the facility plan a field trip to a trump rally?

[HipChick]

37. This is a question that I had too..and also, how what are they being exposed to at the facility?

Faux News 24/7?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

36. Meanwhile, "Get a brain Morans" guy is a happy Twitter blogger.

Fame affects people differently.

Or infamy.

https://www.sbnation.com/2011/7/17/2279239/get-a-brain-morans

[no_hypocrisy]

38. Was she in assisted living ten years ago?

She seemed middle aged and ill informed at that time.

My father was like her and devoted to repeating the last thing he heard on FOX News. The worst thing he could do was vote, so we blew him off.