A Muslim President?

I was born in Illinois, and I know this is blasphemy, but isn’t there a recent book claiming that good 'ol Honest Abe might have been a homo like me?

At any rate, who’d a thunk that an Austrian with a varied past could be the Gov of California? And he seems to be trying to get an ammendment to allow him to run for President…and why not? Let him run. I wouldn’t vote for him but the rule of having to be born here in the USA is somewhat archaic. Especially considering you are considered a US citizen if your mother gives birth while flying in a jet over the continental US. Arnold is more American than some guy named Pierre who was born on Air France while flying over Chicago.

Muslim President? Why not, as long as he/she isn’t a Republican.

Playwright and gay activist Larry Kramer made some amazing claims about Lincoln in 1999, promising to show in good time his primary sources, including an alleged diary and letters by Lincoln’s friend Joshua Speed. He never has. Salon did a story about it.

Walloon, maybe you will see this. You are one of the most reliable sources of information on such a variety of topics.

And Howard Dean won only one more state in the primaries than you did. (Steal this joke. I did.)

[quote]
Really Not All That Bright: You do realize, of course, that given that non-Muslim Arabs are virtually non-existent in the Middle East…

Minorities, yes. But certainly not “virtually non-existent.” If they exist enough to be persecuted, they count. Consider the Baha’is, for example.

None of the aforementioned groups will ever attain the office of President of the United States. Why? The country will collapse before the government has to put any minority or woman as our nation’s figurehead. The office is controlled by the party, not the man in the commander’s chair. I mean, really. Do you think that Bush has the brain-power to mastermind this whole Iraq idea?
There’s significant evidence that the CIA/FBI/NSA/? allowed 9/11 to happen, including the fact that standard protocol for deviant (read: possibly hijacked) aircraft was not followed, and no disciplinary measures were taken on a party responsible for the failure. The fact of the matter, is that less than ten minutes after ATC lost communications with the aircraft and they had deviated from their flight patterns, air force fighters should have been scrambled to intercept/rescue the planes. They were not. In fact, the planes weren’t declared hijacked until nearly forty minutes after communications were lost, and the fighters never left the ground.
Given the richly woven tapestry of lies surrounding 9/11, and it being the sole motivation for the incursion into Iraq, regardless of Sadam having NO connection with Taliban or Al-Queda, I personally believe that this is simply outside of Georgie’s expertise. If it’s anyone, it’s Cheney. But I digress . . .

My point is that the man has no power. The position does, but the party is making all of his decisions. I mean, seriously, how could a system of government with a revolving leader ever possibly work? No amount of coincidence could ever keep any progress in any field (ie, economics, social policy, etc) moving forward. You need a timeless power. All this equals . . . American Politics!
Either the dems or the GOP are always holding the reins. It doesn’t really matter who, because neither is better or worse than the other. The GOP is destroying the environment, but they’re looking out for the working man, while the dems look out for our rights, but only some of them that aren’t dangerous to anyone. The rights to own a firearm or imbibe substances other than state-approved alcohol are denied.
It’s the lesser of two evils for the time being. No new ideas enter the arena, just new tiffs over micromanaging the country. Neither party wants to redistribute wealth, or clean up television and the media into something truthful and informative instead of 24-hour-a-day brainwashing. The men that are in control of this country are other than the men we see on TV. Other than the men in the senate. Other than those we are allowed to know.

Why, oh why would these OLD WHITE PROTESTANT NAZIS . . . er, I mean MEN put a woman or a fag or a spic or a ni**er or a camel-jockey or a jew in the white house?
(please notice that I’m using these words for effect, not to be racially discriminatory)
They wouldn’t. They don’t have to. Voters are only deluding themselves into thinking they make a difference. They might elect the man, (or not, like the last time) but they’re both rotten men from the same fetid pool.
If these rotten men aren’t making the decisions any more, something really f_king big happened. Nuclear holocaust, alien attack, social revolution. The day they lose power is the day the system collapses.

I know you guys don’t know me yet, but I hope that I at least stimulate some conversation.

Jess

Actually, it would be more likely if he/she were a Republican, in my opinion.

Barry Goldwater was born in Phoenix, which was, and still is, part of the United States. It was part of a territory when he was born, but still part of the IS.

You’ve all forgotten one group, that should break through before any of the other groups (with the possible exception of women):

Whites of Southern/Eastern European descent.

After all, of the Presidents that he have had, so far, only two were of Irish heritage, and I can think of only one German-heritage President.

We’ve had a lot more than two presidents with Irish ancestors. As far as I can tell, we’ve had 16. Of course, some of the ancestors of the people on this list were Scots-Irish

Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, JFK, LBJ, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, G H W Bush, Bill Clinton, and G W Bush.

http://homepage.tinet.ie/~seanjmurphy/dir/pres.htm

And we’ve had two presidents of German heritage, as far as I know…Eisenhower and Hoover.

G.W. Bush is also of German ancestry, through his mother. One of his great-great-great grandmothers, Margaret Demuth, was from a German-American Mennonite family.

Define “rich.” Presidential pensions exist largely in part because the Congress thought it would be unseemly for Truman to be destitute after he left office. Eisenhower was a military man, not a profession for those who wish to be rich. Nixon, LBJ and Clinton were hardly Hamptons dwellers when they rose to political prominence.

JFK is a standing rebuttal to the notion that non-Protestants can’t become president (and contra to a poster above, “we” didn’t kill him – a lone nut did). Indeed, outside of Reagan and FDR, you’d be hard-pressed to suggest another president in the past century was more beloved.

The presidency was Colin Powell’s for the taking; he just didn’t want it. I can’t imagine that similarly accomplished black statesmen holding sufficiently moderate views would have their race held against them if they chose to run.

I do think, tragically, that you’re right about gays. I think gays are in the same position acceptance-wise as blacks circa the early '60s – on the cusp of convincing the public they deserve more equal treatment, but not in a position where the nationwide public would accept them in a signficant elected office. I think that will require the public to become more comfortable with open homosexuality, and that’s just a function of time – a lot of time, like a generation or two.

It’s a mistake when discussing a person’s heritage to go only by their surname; my mother has a German surname but is three-quarters Irish in ancestry. But if you did go by Irish surnames only, you’ve forgotten James Buchanan.

Sean Murphy, American Presidents With Irish Ancestors:

Andrew Jackson, James Knox Polk, James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, William Clinton, George W. Bush.

Presidents Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower were of German ancestry.

I believe Americans tend to want to have a strong person in charge, and someone who is severely handicapped may have a problem conveying that image in this TV-dominated political arena. I think you’re right that a war hero with missing legs may benefit from sympathy/admiration votes, but for some reason I still don’t see America electing anyone with major physical deficiency/disability to the White House any time soon. It’s a photogenic age, and such a person would probably not have the presidential “look”. Perhaps if he has a Professor-X-style hoverchair…

nader is catholic.

As are many Lebanese ( mostly of Maronite persuasion, though there are a reasonable number of Greek-rite Catholics as well and a very small number of Roman Catholics ). His parents were Maronite Christian Arabs that immigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon.

  • Tamerlane