I haven't yet received that email but I could've sworn that I had heard from some media outlet prior to Super Tuesday that Obama was a Muslim. I will stand corrected... Of course that might make me less likely to be interested in him. At least if he was Muslim you wouldn't have any Christian Fundamentalists in the oval office talking to him like he had their interests in mind.

And with it being an issue that he's concerned about, it concerns me that perhaps he won't have the separation of church and state in mind should he be in the oval office.

Now that I think about it, maybe I remember him saying in an interview that he had relatives who were Muslim.

If Obama is muslim, how come he has a pastor? I thought that would be an Iman?

could someone post it? I toss most email unopened since 90% is junk anyway. So I may have rec'd it, just never saw it.

This link is now in the piece; e-mail can be found there: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp

It sounds like trash. It sounds no more credible than a Nigerian email scam.

What the hecka you sayin'?

My man's from Hawaii, so just whyaii you playin'

Aroun', you clown?

Khoda hafez, we've got a whole lot of knuckle draggers in this country who're having a hard time keeping up...the onward evolution of society will eventually consign them to their own frenzied self-isolation. At least I hope so.

This study raises an interesting question about how to respond to false political attacks which go viral, particularly when paired against the experience of John Kerry v the Swift Boaters. Kerry has been much maligned for not responding to the accusations of the Swift Boaters, but it seems as if his lack of response was perfectly in line with the argument of this study -- that it's best not to repeat the falsehood. In reality, we now know this to be at times ineffective, even politically disastrous.

If Kerry's candidacy is damaged by not responding to rumors, while Obama's candidacy is ostensibly damaged by aggressively confronting rumors targeted against him, then what is the politically correct answer to the situation?

This article seems pretty much, right on.

It does appear that Obama's campaign understands what it takes to fight those muslim emails, namely, it was done by running ads displaying his real convictions -- and never mentioning the rumors, never fighting those rumors. I am very heartened that Obama found a way, unlike Kerry, to handle that; it's a sign to me that he'll have the strength and intelligence to do what is right -- in the right way.

BTW: I don't see how McCain will fight the stench of the Keating 5 moniker. I expect whomever opposes him in November will use the Keating 5 against him pretty darn effectively, if he chooses to play dirty. McCain, and is minions, have to play nice -- or else.