The Clinton campaign has canned a second official for forwarding a hoax e-mail that said Barack Obama is a Muslim intent on destroying the U.S.
Obama is a member of the United Church of Christ. He’s never been a Muslim, according to his autobiography. Neither was his father, nor his step-father, nor his Kansan-born mother.
Asked by the AP to explain why two people connected to the campaign would have forwarded similar e-mails and if the campaign was taking steps to find out if it’s more widespread, Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee replied, “We communicated to all of our paid staff and volunteer leadership that the senator and the campaign have a zero tolerance policy for this type of activity.”
Also, the Washington Post’s ombudsman takes on her paper’s front-page report on rumours about Obama’s faith. The piece, which has been heavily criticized by the Obama campaign and by journalism scholars, garnered this reaction: “Hundreds of negative comments, e-mails and phone calls about the story came to The Post; only one e-mail to me was positive,” said ombuds(wo)man Deborah Howell.
The story was right in one respect: there are plenty of people who think that Obama is Muslim, based on his name, rumors circulated by right wing preachers, or bogus news stories.