This weekend, I was talking to an online friend from Florida who’s not very involved in politics and I found myself dismayed at how much of the misinformation and outright lies are circulating about Barack Obama. My friend D says she’s undecided between McCain and Obama, which is her right to be.
“I don’t know,” she said, “I just don’t think that it’s a good idea to put a Muslim in the Oval Office.”
I was aghast. “What makes you think he’s Muslim?”
“Well that’s what I heard…” she replied.
“Did you do any research to find out?” I asked.
“No, but isn’t his middle name Hussein?”
“Well, yes. But how does someone’s name make them a Muslim? Also, what’s wrong with a Muslim?”
“Well, aren’t they all anti-American and everything?”
This is where I had to stop her. First off, I told her, just because his middle name is Hussein doesn’t make him a Muslim. That his father was African, and had a son with an African name — but left him with his American Mother to raise him in Kansas and Hawaii — doesn’t make him a Muslim. Also, the name Hussein in Africa and Arabic nations is probably about as common as Smith is here.
Secondly, I explained to her, just because someone’s Muslim doesn’t make him or her anti-American.
“But aren’t the Muslims the ones who attacked the Trade Center and are terrorists?”
“Well, yes. They were Muslims. But they’re Muslim Extremists. They’re to Muslim what the Klu-Klux Klan are to Christians.”
“What?”
“Do you consider the KKK to be good Christians?”
“No…”
“Think of these guys to be about the same. They have taken and twisted the religion, which also teaches tolerance and peace, and twists it on its head.”
“Really?”
Again. Dismay. Here is a 24 year old undecided living in Florida, a swing state, receiving all this misinformation. I implored her to please please do some research on the candidates before November.
“But they’re all going to tell us what we want to hear.”
True. But facts and track records can be researched. Let their actions speak louder than their words. At least she’s in agreement that Palin’s inexperience made for a bad choice for McCain.
That said, I’m trying to figure out if there’s ANY way we can spread the truth about the candidates in the midst of this horribly horribly frustrating campaign. You know when Karl Rove, of all people, consider the McCain campaign to be going “one step too far” that’s a sign of how rotten this has become.
So how do we counter the misinformation that’s being spread in places that aren’t friendly to Democrats?
For the last two years I’ve pondered getting another tattoo. On my forearms I wanted to get some of the Trigrams of the 
