Rather than challenge caller's reference to Obama as "the devil," Gibson talked about his first name
On the October 11 edition of Fox News Radio's The John Gibson Show, a caller said that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is "the devil," and purported to explain: "There's no way that anyone with the middle name 'Hussein' could rise to that level of power in the United States without being the devil, in my opinion." Rather than challenge the caller, host John Gibson expanded on the caller's reference to Obama's name, and said: "[B]y the way, do you know what the name 'Barack' means?" explaining: "It's the name of the mythical horse that carried the prophet Mohammed to heaven." The show's producer, known on-air as "Angry Rich," added: "Front page Media Matters tomorrow, guaranteed," to which Gibson responded: "Yeah, I'll probably make Media Matters with that one. But it's true. It means 'Lightning,' I think, is what the word means."
According to the Britannica Online Encyclopedia, the word "Buraq" means, "in Islamic tradition, a creature said to have transported the Prophet Muhammad to heaven. Described as 'a white animal, half-mule, half-donkey, with wings on its sides . . . ,' Buraq was originally introduced into the story of Muhammad's night journey (isra') from Mecca to Jerusalem and back, thus explaining how the journey between the cities could have been completed in a single night." According to Yale University's Kamusi Project -- the "Internet Living Swahili Dictionary" -- the Swahili word "baraka," meaning "blessing," is derived from the Arabic word "bariki," as Media Matters for America has noted. As detailed in his book, Dreams from My Father (Crown, July 1995), Obama had previously gone by a nickname, "Barry," rather than by his given name, "Barack," which was also his father's name. Media Matters was unable to determine if "Buraq" and "Barack" are linguistically related.
From the October 11 edition of Fox News Radio's The John Gibson Show:
GIBSON: All right, Al Gore, the man who would be president. [Caller] in West Haven, Connecticut, what do you think of the "Draft Gore" movement?
CALLER: Hey, John. I always thought he was going to run. I've been saying it for a year now. And if there's a loving, caring God, he'll get the nomination. I'm a hard-core conservative --
GIBSON: You have noticed, [caller] -- I don't mean to interrupt you, but --
CALLER: Go ahead.
GIBSON: -- you have noticed that his principal rival seems to have wrapped up the race.
CALLER: Oh -- oh, I don't believe so at all.
GIBSON: You don't?
CALLER: I don't believe so at all. No, we've got a lot of time. I mean, you know, years ago, they didn't even get this close, you know, I mean --
GIBSON: Well, I mean, the first -- the Iowa and New Hampshire things are in early January, and that -- within a -- I think the first big Super Tuesday is early February, and then it's done. I mean, the delegates are committed, and unless they're going to go into open rebellion against who they are committed to -- and would assume it'd be Hillary -- that, I don't see how he gets the nomination. How would that happen?
CALLER: I don't know, but I believe he's going to win, I always did, and here's why: I just don't think if there's a God he's going to let us have this criminal family come in, or the devil win. I just can't see it. I can't see it.
GIBSON: Which one's the criminal family, and which one's the devil?
CALLER: Well, the Clintons are obviously the criminals, and the devil is Obama. There's no way that anyone with the middle name "Hussein" could rise to that level of power in the United States without being the devil, in my opinion.
GIBSON: Just -- by the way, do you know what the name "Barack" means?
CALLER: Excuse me?
GIBSON: Do you know what the name "Barack" means?
CALLER: God, I can't wait to hear.
GIBSON: It's the name of the mythical horse that carried the prophet Mohammed to heaven.
ANGRY RICH: Front page Media Matters tomorrow, guaranteed.
GIBSON: Yeah, I'll probably make Media Matters over that one. But it's true. It means "Lightning," I think, is what the word means.
[Caller], you know, I, too, am so looking forward to a Gore run because I wonder whether Gore has changed his ways and whether that kind of off-putting pomposity of the first run and his tendency to seem to be talking down to people has gone away.
Palin's book and Obama's bow: a media week to forget
Media Matters: The Palin chronicles
The Friday Rush: A series of conflicts
Whod'a thunk that a lowly, irrelevant website could be so powerful?
These morons are now tailoring their shows for it. They have nothing interesting to say so they have to interject garbage like this to fill airtime the next day martyring themselves.
I know I am in the minority here, but it's so obvious that this guy is just baiting this website to put him up here. Given the sliminess of his inflammatory rhetoric I can obviously see why he is so offensive, but why bother. We all know what he is.
Lights out on this phony.
Let him keep talking, and proving how stupid he is. Free publicity for MMFA can't hurt. With Gibson's ratings, MMFA might get 4 or 5 new viewers from him.
Perhaps. But if another poster continually came on and baited you with insults or tried to get a reaction out of you, just for some attention - would you keep responding, or ignore that poster?
No joke, Bill O'Reilly was the guy who really got me interested in MMFA.
I was watching BO a few years ago when I heard him crabbing about MMFA. I grabbed a pencil, wrote down the name, and have been here since. I thought I would never say this; "Thank you O'Reilly."
Pete, I went to your link. It was MMFA in June '05.And Mefirst was there, and Wolf K., and Atheist (who still has major pun-points for nominating Michael Weiner wurst person on the world) Openmind, and even Tommy.
And it seemed so real!
Tommy, while Gibson is bating this site what should frighten us even more is the caller (if it's actually a caller). For me it's scary to think that their are nut jobs walking around without a note or a tag warning us how crazy they really are.
Pearl, You're right - but I don't take much stock in these shows or their callers - if they're not provocative plants, then they are screened so only the nuttiest are put on air.
Scary indeed..
Tommy, I think you are right I think most of these callers are "plants".
I wish they were. Sadly, people really do think like this caller -- and like Gibson. And they do call.
Some might be, of course, but not all.
And in intelligent, respectful societies they would be brushed aside or ignored. Here they have a forum on 90% of the airwaves.
Hi Pearlene- I think you're being a little judgmental here. I mean, this sounds like a reasonable political analysis;
"Well, the Clintons are obviously the criminals, and the devil is Obama. There's no way that anyone with the middle name "Hussein" could rise to that level of power in the United States without being the devil, in my opinion."
Yikes! I wonder if Fred Thompson scares him by being on 2 channels at once with all those Law & Order reruns.Then there's the callers closing comment;
"I, too, am so looking forward to a Gore run because I wonder whether Gore has changed his ways and whether that kind of off-putting pomposity of the first run and his tendency to seem to be talking down to people has gone away."
I wish I could talk to this caller. How did Gore "talk down " to him? Did he tell him that rain wasn't angels crying? I'm thinking this guy gets talked down to a lot.
And Pearlene, I hope you're already into your box of wine when I remind you that this caller has a vote that's worth the same as everyone elses.
Hey HBL, I gotta say these past two weeks have been an eye opener. If I didn’t drink before now, reading some of these poster would drive me to invest in wine by the case. I used to wonder when Juniors poll numbers went down ’who are the 30%’ or I would think that they were trying to make up a number so Junior wouldn’t look so bad. My god!, It’s truly scary. Did all these people reproduce? Can you imagine if they did? They should make then wear bracelets, like those medical alerts ones, only theirs would say ‘I’m a nut and I may be contagious’. I mean the wackos that visited here defending …‘pick the conservative nut job commentator’….. are either getting paid or should be locked up, padded cell and all.
I don’t think they can dump on Gore if he runs this time around. Dems simply need to remind voters that they choose the 'pretty packaged wrapping paper' around an 'empty box' last time around. I mean a really really empty box. The one thing I do know with absolute certainty is I will not be touching anything with an (R) when I vote.
Pearl they are already dumping on him, for of all things, his recent Noble Peace Prize, on guess who? Starts with an F, ends with an X.
I heard Sean Hannity, yesterday I think, saying the Nobel Prize is meaningless. He was incredulous that Reagan and Bush Jr. hadn't been awarded the prize.
This is classic......
These right-wing clowns are so scared of Obama or Gore or Clinton running that they can't even think of anything clever to say.
Here's the probable truth.......
The Dems could give Mike Gravel the nomination and he would become the next prez....
The vast majority of this country is so completely fed up with the Conservative lies and distortion and the destruction of the Constitution and pre-emptive wars that WE would rather take a slightly nutty Dem like Gravel to any of the speak-only-the-party-line loony-tune Republican hopefuls!
It is all good for a laugh every time these bobbleheads talk at all!
Oh, and John Gibson, if you don't realize by now that you are 'FoxNoise from going out of business' away from finding yourself in a white padded room, along side Rush, Bill, Ann, and Sean
I wish you were right Cap. The truth is, the one formula that gets the GOP the White House again in 08 is running some clown like Romney against Hillary Clinton. Nothing else will energize their base like Hillary. The left (the real left) hates her guts as well. The middle will be driven away by a campaign so ugly that it makes Kerry V. Bush look like a sunny day at Wrigley Field.
Think about it. Bush - Clinton - Clinton - Bush - Bush. That was a fun 20 years huh? Look how far we've come baby! And so we're going to go Clinton 08? If the Democrats don't wake up and dodge that bullet they're going to provide the GOP with the chance to run as the candidate of change in 2008! And believe me they will.
You guys gotta be kidding me. You're blaming MMFA for these guys talking like this? I think y'all need to get out of your bellybuttons a little bit. Just because we spend so much time here doesn't mean the world is spinning around our favorite little website.
Much of the discussion around here winds up with this perspective that somehow MMFA is on a par with Fox or CNN somehow. These are multi-billion dollar media empires compared to a freakin website. Keep some perspective. It's an incredibly uneven playing field and a real credit to MMFA to have made as much noise as they have.
This is like Bush blaming the media for the war because they kind of cover the war. What MMFA is documenting here has been going on for a long time and would be going on with or without the website. If anything, this site may help to precipitate the inevitable blowback against our current era of fascist journalists. And calling this exchange with Gibson here anything short of fascist would be soft-pedalling it.
Possibly the most dignified, intelligent and candid politician to reach this level of prominence in at least a generation and they're on the air calling him the devil and openly trying to insinuate that he's a terrorist. And they go pretty much unchallenged. Other than this website. And thanks to some small level of fame and credibilty MMFA has earned, a few people in the industry will see it as well.
Eventually this has to change. The country will not thrive in the long term if our culture is dominated by the type of stuff coming down the pike these days.
You know, in certain small European nations this kind of thing could result in an angry mob armed with torches and sticks arriving at the studio, and dragging this guy AND his hair outside and tossing him into the river. Lest he seek to crush the hope out of peasants again.
I was not politically observant at the time (what 3 year old is?) but did'nt the pundits and republicans say almost the same thing about JFK? That " There's no way that anyone with the middle name "Hussein" could rise to that level of power in the United States without being the devil, in my opinion." Substitute Kennedy for Hussien in other words. I long for the day when most people cast off their belief in all myths and don't stop with just Santa and the tooth fairy. "The devil will try to get elected as President of the US" Is that not a crazy man talking?
I'll start with what MMFA included but didn't highlight, & that's whether or not Al Gore might run for President. Personally I doubt he will, but it would be fun to watch the Hillary Camp have a cow if it happen.
Discussing what the name Barack means seems to be just an excuse to mention Mohammad & therefore remind everyone of Muslims, & try to connect that to Obama.
A caller referring to the Clintons as a criminal family or Obama as the devil would probably be blown off by a thoughtful radio talk show host, but Gibson doesn't fall into that category.
I do think some of the lesser Right-Wing radio hosts are deliberately hoping for chance to get featured on MMFA. They likely see it as a code of honor to be mentioned along with Rush & O'Reilly.
not code of honor...Badge of Honor,
Sometimes my brain falls asleep ;-)
Just make sure it's at the keyboard and not the wheel.
I suppose Al Gore's name will be popping up here a bit lately. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on the Nobel Peace Prize. I am very happy for him and his family.
I agree--excellent choice.
Would anyone be surprised if all FOX employees get a playbook once a week or so? Or office contests. For instance here we get a case of beer if we sign up the most offsite backup customers in a month. At FOX it would be more like, who can say a Democratic candidates name in the same sentence with a reference to the third Reich the most this week? Next week substitute Commies, and so on.
I've been working hard to get the new TV that MMFA offers for the first poster to post 1 million times. I think I'm closing in on it. :-)
Not me. I'm putting all my effort into winning that date with Soros.
O'Reilly SUCKS!!!
Vote for Hillary!!!
A vote for Hillary is a vote for the GOP. OReilly and every right wing hack wants you to nominate Hillary. That's why they're attacking her now. They did the same thing with Kerry because they knew how to beat him in the general election. They'll beat Hillary if she gets the nomination. They wouldn't have a prayer against Obama.
Neon, we're being watched !
I googled my name and came up with this interesting tidbit : mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/189645.php - 54k
They mention my conversation with you and wondered if they should turn us in for [believe it or not] plotting to kill Rush Limbaugh. They used only a few of the posts to make their readers believe this smear.
I also found another blog where I had a conversation clipped from MMFA where the other party doctored my comments to paint me as a left wing nutjob. I searched MMFA and found the original, and there was an entire sentence added that I never wrote. It was unbelievable!?! And, I must admit, a little scarry.
Sorry, Try this one:
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/189645.php
Oh NO, THEY'RE GOING TO TURN US IN. . .
TO FOX ! ! !
"Your move, Media Splatters! I'm running this over to Fox News."--The Jawa Report
What REALLY steams me is that the jawa report completely ignored all of the Coulter/sperm jokes. Didn't quote a single one.
I almost get the sense that they have no interest in painting an accurate picture of us.
I remember that conversation Rick. That is some amazing cherry picking/editing there. How many threads had to be studied to find that? Scary, I suppose, but anyone who would swallow that as the truth of the situation is currently a lost cause to any rational action or discusion.
Which leads to the thought of a recent new wingnut and the subject of dirty tricks. Which this would qualify as.
Hummmm. I won't mention a name because I wouldn't want to accuse someone wrongly, but I think I might know who you mean.
OH ! Here's another one where I was taken out of context by GRHINO, and he actually added things I didn't say:
http://truthmattersfa.blogspot.com/2007/02/mmfa-misleads-again-shocker.html
Here is the real coversation:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200707240005?offset=60&show=1
These guys are just amazing.
The comment section is still open if you or anyone wish to give your 2 cents. Be careful. If more than one or two people hit their server making comments, the whole rinky-dink operation may just disintegrate.
I have seen my words copied and pasted to other places as well.
Someone by the screen name of "what other blogs think of olbywatch" lifted my diatribe from a thread at MMFA and posted it at Olbermannwatch.
I'm so proud that someone went to the trouble.
I know what you mean. I'm so flattered. I'm so pissed. I'm so flattered. I'm so pissed. I'm so flattered. I'm so pissed. . .
I take it this isn't something leagal action would helpful/useful? I mean you are just a public citizen and someone has changed your words and said you want to kill someone. And said so quite publically.
Can't say I want to goggle myself. I've made vauge threats involving cream pies, and expressed a vain desire to wrestle Pat B. Probably be exposed as an idiot. Old news.
I'm so jealous of you guys. I've got to start posting more stuff that can be easily taken out of context.
BTW, I had to check out at least one item at "troothmatters". On the right side column(previous posts) check out "case closed". very in-depth piece.
Rick,
I'm in no hurry to try for the coveted '1 million' posts...... however,
I do have 81 pages (99.9% of which is from this site alone!) come up when I Google my screen name
So I guess thats something...... ?
Do any of you need really safe reliable off site backup services? The prize this month is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale!!
Pit, I got a bunch of old tires off a sight over there. If you can back 'er up and haul 'em off, I'll sign up.
I always figured you did something more high-tech.
Mmmmm, Sierra Pale Ale. Good cheapish beer. $5.99 all the time. A regular resident of my frigerator.
If you ever want to search for results on a specific website like MMFA in my example below, you can use this kind of search on google. It is very handy IMO.
link:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS226US226&q=site%3amediamatters%2eorg+%22captfoster2%22
cut and paste link:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS226US226&q=site%3amediamatters%2eorg+%22captfoster2%22
Al is not going to run. And Hillary doesn't have the nomination sewn up anywhere near as much as people are trying to pretend.
The GOP is dying to run against her so they bellow about what a bit threat she is. If anything it's a huge accomplishment that with months to go before Iowa, Obama has narrowed the field to him and the front-runner. Hillary's support is where it is. Most of the people who are going to sign up with her already have. She's been running for years after all.
Obama will be the upwardly mobile one as more undecideds check in looking for an option to Hillary. If they wanted to support Hillary, why wouldn't they be already? She aint the new flavor exactly. This thing will get really close before it's over.
Watch how much the GOP candidates talk about Hillary specifically. They do this with the candidate they hope to run against. What other effect could it be expected to have on Democratic primary voters than to chase them into her corner when they attack her? They know she is their shot at keeping the White House. The only question now is whether or not Democrats figure this out before the nomination.
If they wanted to support Hillary, why wouldn't they be already?
Same could be said for any of the candidates by now. Their positions aren't exactly kept secret.
What I don't understand is why Clinton has pulled away by double digits in the polls in the past few weeks. I don't mean that in any negative way toward Clinton. It's just... what did she or others do that provided a reason for those minds to change or settle on her in the last 30 days?
What moron gave this idiot a show? And the big question...what morons are stupid enough to watch him?
I love how the right is obsessed with Obama's name. Now here's Kermit the Frog with a late breaking news story! Hiyo! Kermit the Frog here! Democratic presidential canindate Barack Hussein Obama's biological father was from Kenya, a country where they speak Swahili. Swahili is heavily influenced by Arabic and also uses the Arabic script hence many people from Swahili speaking countries often have Arabic names. Now back to our regular feature.
Somebody ought to tell Gibson that making an issue out of Obama's name is as inappropriate as making an issue out of Mitt Romney's religion. Candidates for political office ought to be judged by their stance on important issues not their name, their race, religion, creed, gender, or sexual orientation. Further Gibson needs to learn to challenge assertions by his callers. Is so difficult to ask, "So caller...Why do you think Barack Obama is the devil?"
Why, oh why, dear Lord can we not discuss anything substantive in what passes for political discourse in this country?
If you started criticizing a politician because of his given name in, oh, Germany for example, they'd look at you like you're an idiot, and rightly so.
When did political discussion in this country become SO STUPID? Nothing about Obama's intelligence. Nothing about his policy positions. Just some thinly veiled racism / Islamophobia. Jesus Christ in a bottle of canola oil, what a bunch of tools.
My guess is that there are still some ignorant people who take color and names as the person's face or moral values.
Their noses up in the air and their foot in their mouths is why we have the worst president in the world as president.
If they could take their heads out of their arses long enough to realize they aren't the only flower in God's garden, not is their scent always pleasing to all, they would be better off.
I think it is a beautiful name that took time to think instead of the drugged out names of the sixties, seventies and eighties, that no one can spell by kindergarden with out eng lit course. God help us that the ignorance of intolerance is not the curse of the country for the future.
Some people name their children with two first names like, Billy-Bob,