Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The Name Game?

In the comment section of my previous post, Matt W. and I got into a brief conversation about dog names. We discovered that we both have dogs named Sasha! This led me to search for the meaning of the name "Sasha," as well as the meaning of my name and Matt's name.

Next, I recalled all the flap being covered by the news anchors over a conservative radio talk show host [Bill Cunningham] who mentioned Barack Obama's middle name at a campaign rally for John McCain in Ohio. Obama's middle name happens to be "Hussein."

Well, you would think that Cunningham did something horrendous because McCain immediately came out and apologized for his supporter's use of Obama's middle name during his warm up speech.

What??? What is so wrong with informing people about the middle name of a potential presidential candidate?

Holly over at On the WRite Side pokes some fun at the incident.

Then, I noticed a commenter named "Deb" from Bird on a Wire blog had a post up called, What's in a name?"

She writes:

Seems the far left wing of the Democratic party is out of control over some Republicans and some not so far left wing Democrats using Obama’s middle name. In case you didn’t know this by now, his name is Barack Hussein Obama. So lets break this down just a bit.

v BARACK
Gender: Masculine Usage: Biblical, Jewish Other Scripts: בָרָק (Hebrew) Pronounced: BER-ak [key] Means “lightning” in Hebrew. This was the name of a military commander in the Old Testament.

· HUSSEIN
Gender: Masculine Usage: Arabic Other Scripts: حسين (Arabic)Variant transcription of HUSAYN

¨ HUSAYN
Gender: Masculine Usage: Arabic Other Scripts: حسين (Arabic)Pet form of HASAN. Husayn ibn Ali (also called Al-Hussein) was the son of Ali and the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Al-Hasan was his older brother. The massacre of Husayn and his family caused the split between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, which continues to this day. In more recent times this was the name of a king of Jordan.

Ø HASAN
Gender: Masculine Usage: Arabic Other Scripts: حسن (Arabic)Means “handsome”, derived from Arabic حسن (hasuna) “to be beautiful, to be good”. Hasan was the son of Ali and the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. He was poisoned by one of his wives and is regarded as a martyr by Shiite Muslims.

So, to my friends (left and right) and not so friendly left wing Democrats. GET OVER IT.


Really...people...what was so disparaging about stating the man's middle name? Is he ashamed of it? Is John McCain ashamed of it for Obama?

Here is my comment over at Holly's blog:

Good points all around. Since Obamanation is the "darling of the media," he is treated with kid gloves. Can't even state his middle name? Sheesh! McCain really blew that way out of proportion!

Oh great. Just heard on Fox News that a new terrorist spew will be given by al-Zawahiri soon. Let's hope that he states some support for Barack Usama! Wouldn't that be a kick in pants of his messiah-mania campaign? ;-)

P.S. And...Obama had enough trouble trying to distance himself from the supportive rhetoric of Farrakhan! Ha!! If al-Zawahiri states his support for him, it just might be over for the Obamanation campaign! (except for the crazies who will stay with him no matter what.)

Some good news. I have read several blog comments that Hillary supporters would vote McCain if Obama gets the Dem nomination!
Remember when Chris Matthews of MSNBC mistakenly called Obama - Usama on the air? That's quite the Freudian slip...especially since Matthews appears to be a "tingle down the leg [or, was it up the leg?] supporter of Barack!

Now, before anyone comes over here and chides me for the "Obamanation" label, I must ask does anyone recall the "Obamanation" bumper sticker controversy?

If you visit that first site, you will see that it is a site giving political support for Obama.

However, if you click on this page, it's a different story!

What's funny is that both sites are from the same marketer!!

Personally speaking of course, I still prefer the Obama rama ding dong label...

Ht's: On the WRite Side

Bird on a Wire

2 comments:

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

At the gym today, one TV had a morning talk show. I don't know the name of the show or the two people on it.

What I found interesting was the comment that they loved all the choices, i.e., Obama, Clinton, and McCain. In fact, they wished they could vote for all three!

Now, does that tell you something about the candidates or what? They all pretty much have the same worldview - ultra liberal.

Anonymous said...

"What??? What is so wrong with informing people about the middle name of a potential presidential candidate?"

It's the intent that makes all the difference. Those emphasizing the middle name, including this blog, want to drive home the heritage of Obama, specifically his father. It seeks to extend the urban myth of Obama's supposed Muslim identity. Something I've seen perpetuated on this blog several times now...for pete's sake do some research. The name "Hussein" has other connotations as well, a not-so-subtle link to Saddam Hussein, one of the worst dictators in recent times. I hardly think that's accidental.

None of this is subtle, and anyone professing innocence of these intentions are either lying to us or lying to themselves, and personally I think it's the former. It's called "Swift-Boating" something those on the right fringe have become the masters of.

If we need to refer to Obama, don't you think his last name would suffice, or Senator Obama, or Barack Obama. Do we even know John McCain's or Mike Huckabee's middle name? Let alone use them 3 or 4 times in an introduction to a campaign speech? Please! Using Barack Obama's full name three times in an introduction is not simply "informing people about the middle name of a potential presidential candidate". It's just plain disingenuous, and frankly ignorant, to say otherwise. It's makes it quite clear that the speaker wanted to invoke a less-than-intellectual response to the likely Democratic nominee. Particularly considering the tone of Mr Cunningham's speech. Just dirty politics from the right...as usual. Who would Jesus Swift-Boat?

Just asking.