More media outlets quoted Indiana man saying Obama is "a Muslim" without noting the assertion is false
Summary: In addition to a May 7 Washington Times article previously identified by Media Matters, May 6 reports in the Los Angeles Times and on washingtonpost.com and The Baltimore Sun's website quoted an Indiana man saying that Sen. Barack Obama is "a Muslim" without noting that the assertion was false.
As Media Matters for America noted, a May 7 Washington Times article quoted an Indiana man saying that Sen. Barack Obama is "a Muslim" without noting that the assertion was false. As the blog Media Bloodhound noted, on May 6, the day of the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, reports in the Los Angeles Times and on washingtonpost.com and The Baltimore Sun's website contained the same quote without noting that it was false.
By contrast, in a May 7 article, the Chicago Sun-Times wrote:
Though Obama outspent Clinton 2-to-1 in Indiana, there was just no reaching some people. At a restaurant outside Indianapolis Tuesday morning, one man waved Obama away when the senator approached him to shake his hand. The man told a reporter, "I can't stand him. He's a Muslim. He's not even pro-American as far as I'm concerned."
Obama has never been a Muslim, but bogus e-mails accuse him of being a Muslim who put his hand on a copy of the Quran to be sworn into the U.S. Senate and refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance.
As Media Matters has repeatedly documented, Obama is, in fact, not a Muslim.
From the Los Angles Time article:
At the restaurant, about 50 people were eating breakfast when Obama walked in at 7:40 a.m. He went from table to table, chatting briefly with patrons about the economy and gas prices before sitting down to breakfast.
One of his first encounters went poorly. He approached a man sitting alone at a table and was waved away. The man told me afterward he had no interest in meeting Obama.
"I can't stand him," he said. "He's a Muslim. He's not even pro-American as far as I'm concerned."
Obama seemed unfazed. He had better luck at a round table where several men were eating.
From the washingtonpost.com article:
Obama arrived at the Greenwood restaurant about 7:40 a.m. and received a mixed response. One man waved the senator away from his table, later telling the pool reporter on the scene that "I can't stand him. He's a Muslim. He's not even pro-American as far as I'm concerned."
At another table, a group of regulars dubbed the "Johnson County Roundtable" greeted Obama warmly.
From the Baltimore Sun online article:
One of his first table stops did not go well. As he approached a man sitting alone at a table, Obama was waved away. The man later told a Los Angeles Times reporter that he was not interested in meeting Obama.
"I can't stand him,'' he said. "He's a Muslim. He's not even pro-American as far as I'm concerned."
Obama got another surprise at another table. While talking to a trio of men eating breakfast, one handed him the bill. "This will seal the thing,'' the man said. The somewhat tightwad senator accepted the check and later took it to the cashier and paid it.
—T.A.
