By now, if you have an email account, you’ve probably received one of these emails, at least once. You know the one: Obama is a Muslim, he’s an anti-Semite, he’s hoodwinked everyone, and if we’re not careful, we could have an al-Qaeda cell AS OUR PRESIDENT! WAHHHHHHH!!!!! Or something like that. In the last month or so, we have heard tell of families crumbling in on themselves, wedding parties gone afoul, lifetime friends splintering in a bickering mess, all in front of the other original 27 people your crazy aunt also sent this to, like it was an email fwd of a puppy falling asleep. We thought that this email chain, more than the Obama candidacy, might bring this country to its knees, and then we caught wind of a rebuttal coming from former Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association head Matt Ruben. After the jump, Matt will kindly show you how to put this email down like it was a horse in need of pasture. Read, and learn. And thanks to Matt for allowing us to pass it on.

Hi everybody!

[Name of original sender], thanks for ending this around.

I think it’s important that people not jump to conclusions here, for three main reasons:

(1) The post [our friend and original sender] has linked to repeats some info about Obama that’s been proven to be misleading and in some cases just untrue. Specifically, that he was raised Muslim, and that his father was a practicing Muslim. Please see this link for what I believe is a more accurate discussion of Obama’s upbringing: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp

(2) The post uses Obama’s association with George Soros as evidence of an anti-Isreal/anti-Semitic slant. I respectfully submit that it’s not credible to argue that Soros is an anti-Semite, and given Soros’ prominence as a funder and people-connector in progressive politics, it’s doubly not credible to argue that anyone who associates with Soros or agrees with Soros’ general progressive views (and include me in that latter group) is an anti-Semite.

(3) The post makes unsupported - and in my view unsupportable - assertions that any counter-evidence is just proof that Obama is a dishonest opportunist. So the fact that Obama is a practicing Christian becomes reduced to a politically expedient decision on his part to join a church when he moved to Illinois. And the fact that he co-sponsored the Iraq divestment bill - a fact made all the more inconvenient for the “Obama is an anti-Semite” argument by the fact that he co-sponsored it with the late Tom Lantos - is recast as Obama cynically seeking “protective coloration.”

I want to clarify that I am in no way, shape or form criticizing [our friend and original sender] here. And I also want to make clear that while I have decided, after some time, that I’m going to vote for Obama in the PA primary, I don’t work or volunteer for his campaign.

Best,
Matt

See? Now wasn’t that easy?
Previously: Cruel And Unusual Punishment: Michelle Obama Forced To Spend 87 Minutes On Telephone With… This
Space 1026 Pal Shepard Fairey: OBAMA HAS A POSSE

This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 11:33 am.