I need to call out the forces of justice! I have a job too big to do on my own. Today my father forwarded me an email about Barack Obama. My father is a die-hard, fingers-in-the-ears conservative. I wouldn't care, normally, except he also sent this email to my sisters and my grandparents. I can't let disinformation be spread this widely. But the points are very numerous, and I want to make sure I have back-up for each of my debunkings.
So I'm asking the blogosphere. Please help me debunk the points in this email. They're in handy list form, so if you could take just one and research the heck out of it, I would be so grateful (some of the points are, perhaps, true but simply not something that should be a reason to vote against Obama. If that is the case, perhaps you could instead explain why the point isn't a bad thing). I don't expect to change my father's mind, but if I can keep his corruption out of the minds of my sisters, that would be a win. I hope that with one person working on each point, it will be simple.
Oh, and believe me, I intend to take my father to task for believing anything he reads in an email forward.
Thank you in advance to everyone. Without all of you, this would be an overwhelming task.
Just passing on information for your use at this critical point in history.
Love,
Llencelyn's Dad
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 3:27 pm
Subject: [Fwd: FW: Billy Graham Team assessment of Obama]
Attached Message
Obama: By Bill Brown of the Billy Graham Team
Bill Brown, is a highly respected retired member of the Billy Graham team so, I take his assessment of Obama very seriously and for that reason accept his challenge to pass this on. I share his concern about the 'rock star' image Obama has and watch with growing concern at the celebrity status the media has foisted upon him. Here is hope this email informs you in a wise way.
________________________________
The Obama Tidal Wave
We are witnessing a political phenomenon with Barack Obama of rare magnitude.
His speeches have inspired millions and yet most of his followers have no idea of what he stands for except platitudes of 'Change' or that he says he will be a 'Uniter'.
The power of speech from a charismatic person truly can be a powerful thing. Certainly Billy Graham had charisma. Both his manner of speech and particularly the content changed millions.
On the extreme other hand, the charisma of Adolph Hitler, too, inspired millions and the results were catastrophic..
Barack Obama certainly is no Hitler or a Billy Graham, but for many Americans riding on the Obama Tidal Wave it is just like a surfer who might be ecstatic and euphoric while riding a tidal wave, but the reality of the ride is what happens when it hits shore.
Just Some of What Defines Barack Obama:
A. He voted for partial birth abortion.
A. He voted no on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions.
A. Supports affirmative action in Colleges and Government (quotas). [I would especially appreciate help with this one.]
A. In 2001 he questioned harsh penalties for drug dealing as being too severe.
A. Says he will deal with street level drug dealing as minimum wage affair. [What does this even mean??]
A. Admitted his use of marijuana and cocaine in high school and in college.
A. His religious convictions are very murky.
A. He is willing to meet with Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Kim Jung Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
A. Has said that one of his first goals after being elected would be to have a conference with all Muslim Nations
A. Opposed the Patriot Act.
A. First bill he signed that was ever passed was campaign finance reform.
A. Voted to allow law suits against gun manufacturers.
A. Supports universal health-care.
A. Voted yes on providing habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainees. [Seriously. How can this even be considered an issue? EVERYONE should have habeas corpus.]
A. Supports granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
A. Supports extending welfare to illegal immigrants.
A. Voted yes on comprehensive immigration reform. [Again, how is this a bad thing?]
A. Voted yes on allowing illegal aliens to participate in Social Security.
A. Wants to make the minimum wage a 'living wage'.
A. Voted with Democratic Party 96 percent of 251 votes. (241 votes Demo, 10 votes Republican) [Don't bother with this one, unless it's not true. I figure it's easy enough to write back and say, "Well, he's a Democratic Senator, so where's the problem?"]
A. Is a big believer in the separation of church and state.
A. Opposed to any efforts to Privatize Social Security and instead supports increasing the amount of tax paid into Soc. Sec. Tax Increase.
A. He voted No on repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax which now hits middle income brackets.
A. He voted No on repealing the 'Death' Tax. Tax Increase.
A. He wants to raise the Capital Gains Tax. Tax Increase.
A. Has repeatedly said the surge in Iraq has not succeeded...which is not true.
A. He is ranked as the most liberal Senator in the Senate today and that takes some doing.
If your political choices are consistent with Barack Obama's and you think that his positions will bring America together or make it a better place, then you will probably enjoy the ride and not forward this Email. If you are like most Americans that after examining what he stands for, are truly not in line with his record, it would be prudent to get off the wave or better yet, never get on, before it comes on shore and undermines the very foundations of this great Country. We have limited time to save America or the Supreme Court as we know it.
Inaction is action.
If you agree this is important, pass it on. The mainstream media will not do it for you!
Bill Brown ( Billy Graham Team, Retired)
24 comments:
this might be of some use. Good luck!
I feel your pain. My whole family does this. I spent two hours debunking an email last week. This helped me a lot:
http://fightthesmears.com/
A. He is willing to meet with Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Kim Jung Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Why is this a bad thing? Republican heart-throb Richard Nixon met with Mao Zedong. In China.
The one about "Opposes Social Security Privatization" should be a "Well, duh!" one, given the state of Wall Street....And the Social Security taxes are raising the limit about $100 K of income, not the effective rate for 805 of the taxpayers...
And the "Most Liberal Senator" (when we have a real live Socialist in the Senate) should be annotated: as ranked this year by the American Enterprise Institute and the National Review Magazine (and they are not unbiased observers..The Washington Post finds more liberal senators...)
Well for one thing, the "Bill Brown" who wrote this is NOT written by "THE" Bill Brown who is a putative cohort of Rev. Graham (http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/billbrown.asp)
That in and of itself takes a lot of the cred out.
One site cites this quote as supposed support for quotas: "I am a strong supporter of affirmative action when it is properly structured, so that it is not just a quota, but acknowledging or taking into account some of the hardships and difficulties communities of color have experienced and continue to experience."
They claim this means that he agrees a quota can be part of an affirmative action program. That seems tenuous at best.
Most of the crap out there I'm seeing on a quick review seems to be coming from people who oppose affirmative action, period, and don't really understand what those kind of programs do in the first place.
I have to tell you, this is one of the most honest emails of its kind that I've seen. Sure, there is some stretching of the truth, but I spent most of my time saying, "Damn right he did!" Those people who think that the majority of the points made are negatives maybe should consider voting for someone else. The Patriot Act? So glad he voted against that. And God forbid we have separation of church and state or a minimum wage that is a living wage. Seriously, who thinks that's a problem?
Like you said yourself, I'm not sure how most of these things are bad. I'm actually shocked that there isn't on mention of "oooh, he's black, he's going to let blacks rule over whites!" or anything similar. And actually, it looks like it's strangely accurate for a slime e-mail. All of those things don't sound bad to us because they're (mostly) true, and things that we like and agree with. If you're conservative, then no wonder you're shocked.
Regarding his use of weed and coke in high school - so what? As long as he's not on them still, what's the big deal? And if he was on drugs during college and still managed to graduate at the top of his class, then more power to him. McCain wasn't on drugs in college (so far as I know), and he still graduated at the very bottom. It doesn't mean anything.
His religious convictions are neither murky, nor relevant.
He is willing to meet with bad guy because that's how you end conflicts. General Patraeus said it himself (and more-or-less endorses Obama).
Illegal immigrants have no less right to be here than we do. We were illegal immigrants when we got here, and we stole the land that we sit on right now. They are not "stealing our jobs," because the same whites that complain about this would not work the jobs immigrants work. It's a ludicrous concept that is specifically meant to instill an us vs. them hysteria, as well as fear.
To my understanding, all those tax increases are irrelevant because after Obama's tax plan is in place, the net effect will be a (significant) cut to individuals and businesses making less than $250k.
Voted to allow law suits against gun manufacturers? Oh noez, how dare he be fair. First bill he signed that was ever passed was campaign finance reform? Terrible! Most liberal senator that votes with Dems 95% of the time? Say it ain't so, Joe. That's a good thing.
My guess is that if your sisters are already leaning left, they're going to read this and go, "Well, that doesn't sound so bad..."
Well, a lot of these are true, and are actually good things if you are a compasionate person of sound mind... ohhhhhh, he wants people to have "liveable wage"... God forbid. I'm off to work, but the first thing that comes to mind is his reaction to the surge. He did say it was not working, but it was to be taken the context of the war/Iraq as a whole - he cited a lack of Iraqi political cooperation and credited Sunni sheiks - not the US military — for mitigating violence in Anbar Province.
Rock Star ? ...and by definition Sarah Palin is what then? Her credibility is diminishing as we speak ..... "Tina Fey has granted more interviews than Palin ...." what is Palin hiding? I really believe John Sidney McCain III has stepped on it with "that one" .....
Partial Birth Abortion: He did not vote *for* partial birth abortion. He voted *against* a late term abortion bill that (a) was redundant, because no state allows unrestricted late term abortions and (b) there was no provision for the health of the mother (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5654128/).
Drug Use: Obama did not "admit" drug use as though it were a recent revelation. He wrote about it in "Dreams From My Father" published twelve years ago. And frankly, with Cindy McCain's history of abusing illegally obtained prescription drugs and what we know about George W. Bush, the Republican Party cannot afford to throw stones here.
Religious convictions: Barack Obama's Christian testimony here--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myQx7JKM0ns--and read about his beliefs here--http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaonFaith.pdf. That last link also talks about the separation of church and state, which I'm surprised conservatives are worried about. It is this separation that protects the tax-exempt status of the churches, as well as Christians from being persecuted in the event that non-Christians come into power positions.
I completely agree with Barack Obama about immigration and not privatizing Social Security. And what is wrong with universal health care, which by definition is that everyone has access to health care? What jerkwad would say that some people's health is more important than others? Also, since when is making minimum wage something that people can live off of a negative thing?
I am consistently, constantly amazed that there are people in this country who would read this and think it was a decent argument against Barack Obama. No offense to your dad, of course.
If it's of any help, Snopes has covered this email and the points in it very well. One item in particular:
A. Says he will deal with street level drug dealing as minimum wage affair. [What does this even mean??]
According to Snopes, "This statement is a mischaracterized, out-of-context phrase plucked from a passage in Barack Obama's 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope:"
We need to tackle the nexus of unemployment and crime in the inner city. The conventional wisdom is that most unemployed inner-city men could find jobs if they really wanted to work; that they inevitably prefer drug dealing, with its attendant risks but potential profits, to the low-paying jobs that their lack of skill warrants. In fact, economists who've studied the issue -- and the young men whose fates are at stake -- will tell you that the costs and benefits of the street life don't match the popular mythology: At the bottom or even the middle ranks of the industry, drug dealing is a minimum-wage affair. For many inner-city men, what prevents gainful employment is not simply the absence of motivation to get off the streets but the absence of a job history or any marketable skills -- and, increasingly, the stigma of a prison record.
We can assume that with lawful work available for young men now in the drug trade, crime in any community would drop.
Only a callous person will not agree with most of what is stated in this e-mail. And these people claim to be christians? Why waste your time debunking this?
I don't think I can add to anything that was already said...I don't see how many of them are bad things...some of it is true and some of it is stretched.
But FFS! He spelled Kim Jong-Il wrong! It's "Jong", Not "Jung"! "Jung" means something different altogether.
Sorry...asian languages are kinda my thing. And I figured you could use a laugh.
John McCain information for your dad:
* Commited adultery with Cindy McCain when married to his first wife.
* Renowned gambler: Plays $100 tables for 14 hours at a time.
* Is a founding member of the Keating 5: Helped convicted racketeer Charles Keating who gave McCain large campaign contributions and vacation trips.
* Has Mafia ties, associated with "Joe Bananas" Bonano
* Married to Cindy McCain who was a drug addict who created a charity for sick children (American Voluntary Medical Team or AVMT), then used it to get fraudulent prescriptions for Vicodin and Percocet. John McCain and his senate staffers helped Cindy smuggle her ill-gotten narcotics through customs by getting her a diplomatic passport.
Sources for the above information includethe New York Times, the New Yorker, Time Magazine, The Associated Press, Washington Times, Phoenix New Times, Fox News, Mother Jones, CNN, Boston Globe and the Washington Post
Partial Birth Abortion: He did not vote *for* partial birth abortion. He voted *against* a late term abortion bill that (a) was redundant, because no state allows unrestricted late term abortions and (b) there was no provision for the health of the mother
The only thing I can add to what Tiffany posted is that saying Obama "voted for partial-birth abortion" is the same as saying Obama voted for unicorns since neither exists.
A. He is willing to meet with Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Kim Jung Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” -- John F. Kennedy (emphasis mine)
Relatively small point: Some of those "tax increases" weren't increases at all, just voting against tax decreases. Last I checked voting to keep something the same is not the same as voting to increase it.
Also, Tiffany and Dave did a great job with the "partial birth abortions" but if you want a visual, dig up a clip of the last debate. Obama did a good job of debunking that one himself. He even says he opposes third trimester abortions in theory, just not when the mother's life/health are threatened--personally I disagree here but it might appeal to your more conservative &/or on the fence relatives. Some of the votes McCain classed as "voting for the extreme left pro-abortion yada" was a vote of "present." Since when is saying "I'm here but not taking sides" the same as voting "the extreme left"?
But here's the thing: If your dad is a "fingers in the ears" Republican, will anything you say or any information you give him get through? Or will it be dismissed out of hand as "liberal" and therefore suspect?
That's the larger problem with ANY of this stuff--not that these things can't be debunked, but that some people don't WANT to stop believing them.
Good luck. ;)
The first time that I went to mandatory counseling (instant physical reaction to someone calling someone the n word in my hearing, missed court with an agreement to attend anger management) the counselor described the as-if people. When I asked for a specific example, she said people who behave as-if there was a god when every fool knows there is not.
Sorry, you are dealing with as-if and it is not curable by definition.
I love you all so much!
Just a quick comment before I go to bed.
I know that most of this won't get through to my dad. I am doing this more for my sisters (and maybe the grandparents - dunno how variable they are). One is a sophomore in college - for both of us, this will be our first election. The other is a junior in high school. We are all in the most formative years of our political conciousnesses. I want to make sure that they have access to some information that doesn't come through the Dad Filter.
They both know that I am politically active and very liberal. They trust me to do good research, and they also know where I'm coming from. I hope that links and resources will help them more than anything.
The Snopes link will help a lot!
More comments responses later. Wish me luck on my subject test GRE! ^_^
Scott: Well for one thing, the "Bill Brown" who wrote this is NOT written by "THE" Bill Brown who is a putative cohort of Rev. Graham (http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/billbrown.asp)
Maybe it's this one...
OFFS. I have twice tried to leave a comment on my very own blog, thanking you all.
The first one was very good, thanking each of you individually. It was very long, so I really don't want to type it again. I am sorry.
But let me tell you, everything you all said has been so helpful. I've already brought up a lot of these things in talking to my sister who is of voting age. Turns out my grandma is already pro-Obama! And of course I know it's no use talking to my dad about these things.
Thank you all again. The links and ideas you provided have been invaluable.
*hug*
Actually, not everything in here is "Bad" I hate it when conservatives spin things to make them seem like it's the end of the world.
For example:
1."he questioned harsh penalties for drug dealing as being too severe. Says he will deal with street level drug dealing as minimum wage affair."
I mean, do conservatives really want to spend billions each year on a failed drug war, and imprisoning millions of non-violent people? Not to mention all the other million and one things that are so F-ed up about the drug war that are just too numerous to list here. Not to mention most libertarian leaning republicans want to completely do away with the whole stupid drug war because they know what an ineffective waste it is. In short, it's about time politicians start "questioning" it.
2. "Admitted his use of marijuana and cocaine in high school and in college."
Okay, so he's honest. Oh wait, I forgot conservatives like their politicians to be big fat liars.
3. "He would have a conference with all Muslim Nations"
Hmmm, negotiation as opposed to "pre-emptive wars" yeah, that's a tough one. /snark
4. "First bill he signed that was ever passed was campaign finance reform."
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. McCain supported campaign finance reform for crying out loud!
5. "Wants to make the minimum wage a 'living wage'."
You know, god forbid that poor people can afford to eat and feed their kids.
6. "Has repeatedly said the surge in Iraq has not succeeded...which is not true."
Ummm, yes it is true. Read the benchmarks that congress set up before the surge. They did not meet even half of them. Wait, aren't these the same people that say the "drug war" is working.
Okay, there's a million more things in here that I could go off on. Yes half of them are not true, or are half-truths. But some of them are true, it's just conservatives f-ed up minds that cause them to translate them into "bad/scary" things. It's why the president has a 22% approval rating. The types of people that this email would "resonate" with are those 22%. Looks like conservatism is on it's way out, huh.
Post a Comment