Rush: Obama, Muslim, Obama, Muslim, Obama, Muslim

http://mediamatters.org/items/201008190045

Rush had a simple plan today: Go all-out to associate President Obama with Islam. Taking his cue from recent polling that shows increasing numbers of Americans say either that Obama is a Muslim (he's not) or that they aren't sure what his religion is, Rush dug through a few years' worth of material for ammunition. Limbaugh asked, "Obama says he's a Christian, but where's the evidence?" He said that "there might be reasons why some people think" Obama is a Muslim -- because he's never called Muslims "bitter clingers." He played audio of Obama misspeaking and saying "my Muslim faith" in a 2008 interview with George Stephanopoulos. He falsely claimed that he hadn't called the president "Imam Hussein Obama." He has.

He read from a 2007 New York Times column in which Nicholas Kristof wrote that Obama described the Muslim "call to prayer as 'one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset' " and that "Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent." Rush claimed that the full interview the comments were taken from had been "disappeared" and that it "can't be found on the New York Times website any longer." That's "how the JournoListas protect their masters," he said. (The first result in a Google search for "obama kristof interview" is the full interview.)

He said that he can't remember Obama criticizing "Muslim extremists" -- but he's "sure" it's happened. He asked, "If it was OK and even laudatory to call Bill Clinton 'America's first black president,' why can't we call Imam Obama 'America's first Muslim president'?" Throughout all this, Limbaugh maintained that there's nothing wrong with being a Muslim and that it would be a problem only if Obama had lied about it.

Sure, Rush.

Here are some highlights from today's show:

Limbaugh trumpets polling that some Americans wrongly believe "Imam Obama is a Muslim"

Limbaugh: "Obama says he's a Christian but where's the evidence?"

Limbaugh's false denial: "No, I have not said Imam Hussein Obama. I've never thrown 'Hussein' in there"

Rush: Since Clinton was called first black president, "why can't we call Imam Obama America's first Muslim president?"

Limbaugh: "There might be reasons why some people think" Obama is a Muslim

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