The Madrassa Rumor Returns
Liberal media watchdog group Media Matters has posted a complaint about Wednesday's installment of "Katie Couric's Notebook," which centers on Barack Obama's background. You can watch the Notebook by clicking on the video box.
"Is America ready to elect a president who grew up praying in a mosque?," Couric asks at the outset of the Notebook. She goes on to say this:
Media Matters is making a fair point here: To bring up the madrassa rumor and note only that "his campaign denied" it leaves open the possibility that the claim is true. Since we know that it is not, Couric would have been well served to have pointed out as much.
Video: "Is America ready to elect a president who grew up praying in a mosque?," Couric asks at the outset of the Notebook. She goes on to say this:
Barack Obama has arguably the most diverse religious background of any candidate ever. He was raised in Indonesia by a Christian mother and Muslim stepfather and attended a Catholic school -- but while growing up, also studied Islam. That background sparked rumors that he had studied in a radical madrassa, or Quranic school -- rumors his campaign denied, declaring that Obama is now a practicing Christian.As Media Matters notes, on Jan. 23 CNN posted a story headlined "CNN debunks false report about Obama," noting "[a]llegations that Sen. Barack Obama was educated in a radical Muslim school known as a 'madrassa' are not accurate, according to CNN reporting." Other media outlets followed.
Media Matters is making a fair point here: To bring up the madrassa rumor and note only that "his campaign denied" it leaves open the possibility that the claim is true. Since we know that it is not, Couric would have been well served to have pointed out as much.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 27 CommentsMs Couric can be blamed only to the extent that she is a mindless, Stepford-reader of other people's disinformation propaganda. We know (given the plagiarism of one of her writers) that she doesn't produce anything of her own accord. Who is going to take the blame for this shameless smear?
For example, contrary to her assertion that Barack Obama%u2019s mother was a %u201CChristian mother,%u201D she was not a %u201CChristian mother%u201D by any reasonable standard. She was an avowed atheist. "She touted herself as an atheist, and it was something she'd read about and could argue," said Maxine Box, who was Dunham's best friend in high school. [Chicago Tribune, 25 March 2007].
In %u201CThe Audacity of Hope,%u201D Obama characterizes her orientation as secular. In his own words, his mother had a %u201Chealthy skepticism of organized religion.%u201D
In %u201CDreams from My Father%u201D Obama describes his mother as "a lonely witness for secular humanism."
The facts clearly show that she was definitely not Christian and by no stretch of the imagination was she a %u201CChristian mother.%u201D
Katie definitely needs to do her homework before commenting on this, or any other, issue.
Oh, how I wish credibility could be restored...
Step 1 CBS: Hire a REAL journalist as your anchor.
Rather than ask the question, "Is America ready to elect a president who grew up praying in a mosque?," she should be asking "Just how stupid and bigoted are the American people?"
Barack Obama has been a Christian all his adult life. The fact that he studied Islam (as well as Christianity)-- and prayed in a mosque (as well as church) -- as a child, is relevant ONLY insofar as it provides him with unique qualifications at a time when US relations with the Islamic world are at an all-time low.
My guess is that what Couric really wanted to ask was "Is America ready for a black President?" but (like all the major media) has been afraid to touch that subject --- and for good reason. You ask that question, and the answer you get is "probably not; if a black conservative like Harold Ford Jr can't win against a non-incumbent in Tennessee in a year when GOP incumbents were being thrown out of office all over the country, its pretty obvious that the Democrats will have to write off all the Southern AND border states -- and just about sweep what left -- if they run a black progressive."
Katie Couric doesn't want to say out loud what everyone already knows -- there is more than enough racism in this country -- concentrated in the Confederate and border states --- for a Black Democrat to win without a miracle happening.
But didn't Ann Coulter prove (with a book with lots of footnotes!) that McCarthy was right?
So if they're Neo-McCarthyite they must be steadfast warriors for the truth!
Glad we cleared that up.
Is this the first time Katie has corrected her notebook?
if this is NOT her personal opinion, then the only other option would be seriously incompetent reporting and research.
please return to the standard of cronkite, edwards, kuralt, collins, osgood and all - this biased and inaccurate reporting gives CBS a real black eye!
And you wonder why your operation is sliding into irrelevancy?
It was HOAX like the hacking of Liebermann's web site, or the Licoln quote that members of Congress should "arrested, exiled, or hanged."
This just in: Democrats and Republicans sparring. Democrats say the grass is purple, and Republicans insist that it's pink.
Why even bother to point out thte grass is green? Good for you Katie Couric; we're all proud of you reporting on the pink and purple grass.
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See all 27 Comments