Gaffe In

Just now, in an interview with George Stephanopolous, Obama was discussing smears that he is a Muslim. In conceding—too graciously—that John McCain has not directly smeared him in this way, Obama said McCain has not talked about "my Muslim faith." Now, of course he meant "the false rumor that I am a Muslim." But Stephanopolous corrected him, "You mean, 'My Christian faith?'"

Obama accepted that briefly, then realized the perception, saying, "Well, what I'm saying is he hasn't suggested that I'm a Muslim."

His clarification makes crystal-clear what the context was. But that doesn't matter in the end.

Dude, this video is going to be viral. Very, very bad gaffe.

Here is the full clip (not full interview) that reveals he didn't make a "Freudian" or any other kind of slip, complete with his clarification:

Comments

[flywheel]

Exactly right. Good catch.

I think Sen. Obama got caught thinking ahead of himself. You can see here that he's still trying to walk the high road and he got caught in a gaffe indeed. This kind of thing is all the neo-loonies need in order to say, "See there! See there! He said it himself!"

The weasel Steppy just sits there all week wondering how in the world he can phrase questions that will elicit this kind of mistake instead of sticking to substantive issues. Gotcha journalism as it is practiced today.

I realize that I am in a minority who has totally and completely lost any and all respect for mainstream "journalism". I won't watch, I won't buy from their advertisers (I have a long list) and I point out their mistakes to anyone I can.

This is kibble for the base, that's all. Nobody else will listen.

Keep the faith.

[Brent]

Am I being naive in hoping that most Americans don't have this muslimphobia?

[Matthew Rettenmund]

Yes, you are. Nobody likes Muslims. I say that somewhat flippantly, but what I mean is that Islam is so far removed from Americans' daily lives that their only real knowledge of it comes from those guys who blew us up over it. Seriously, yes, there is no way a Muslim could be elected, and if Barack Obama loses, it would be at least in part from the rumor that he is a stealth Muslim.