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The only way to counter these ridiculous rumors is to address them patiently and with facts. Last week my secretary (a strong Hillary supporter) told me that she was relunctant to vote for Obama because he was a Muslim. I said that he was not and we engaged in a wide-ranging, civil, and informative conversation about his life, all the issues in the campaign, and the rumors. My secretary is vehemently against McCain, especially his anti-choice and pro-war stands, and so our conversation quickly turned toward our shared antipathy to the GOP candidate.
I then mentioned the role played by Obama's mother in his life and that truly struck a positive chord with my assistant who is also raising a son as a divorced mother. Together we searched online for a Time magazine article on his mother and were quite moved by the biographical details and the insight we gained into Obama's humane thinking and moral compass.
I know that this is only one voter newly convinced; but I think that ultimately this is the way we will have to combat the GOP slime-machine: hand-to-hand combat from now until November.
