What We Believe

In my post, yesterday, I wrote of the technique of delegitimazation in destroying a candidate or politician. One of the biggest examples of how it has been used against Barack Obama by the Conservative Noise Machine is the use of the lie about his attendance in a Madrassah Islam School in Indonesia as a child. This also was expanded to infer that he is a secret Muslim, an Islamic Manchurian Candidate as it were.
When asked about this, Hillary Clinton refused to give a straight answer and responded ambiguously saying "Not to my knowlege."

I have been amazed and appalled when I look at blogs and news sites with items about Obama and find that there are always hysterical trolls frantically posting their dire warnings that Obama is a Muslim. I have a hard time believing that the people posting can actually believe what they are writing. I have a hard time concieving that they actually think that their dire warnings could actually sway an intelligent reader.
I wonder about the validity of polls that state that a full 10% of Americans actually say they believe that Obama is a Muslim, yet that is the finding of a vary recent PEW Poll.
Other polls give even higher numbers.

But, perhaps I can take solace with the findings of recent polls that state:
22% of Americans still believe that President Bush knew of the 9/11 attacks in advance.
30% still believe that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.
23% firmly believe that they have been in the presence of a ghost.
18% believe that the sun revolves around the earth.

I'm not quite sure if I am reassured to know that 7% more American believe the sun revolves around the earth than the percentage of Americans who believe that Barack Obama went to a Muslim Madrassah in Indonesia.