# Barack Obama is a terrorist. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 1, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378 "2012-10-01T11:38:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/101 "2012-10-02T07:48:24Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Did I say they were? No, I did not. No, you said this was a war of Christians vs. Muslims with the Christians trying to kill the Muslims solely because they were Muslims. Logically, that would certainly imply that those supporting the war were Christians. So, then what is your explanation for Joe Lieberman, Paul Wolfowitz, Scooter Libby, Richard Perle and David Frum? Are they puppets of the Christian overlords, doing whatever their masters tell them to do, acting as the Shabbos Yehudi of the Learned Elders of Rome? ---
**Author:** ![Untoward\_Parable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Untoward\_Parable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Untoward_Parable)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/102 "2012-10-02T09:31:25Z")
All US presidents are terrorists, it’s a job requirement. You won’t change that with some appeals to a few people in an Internet forum. You have to overcome a lot of wealth funding media programming before you can hope to do that. For now if someone is in a swing state (not that kind of swing =p) they better be voting Obama over romney. That blue blood is much worse than the current regime. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/103 "2012-10-02T13:29:00Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > No, you said this was a war of Christians vs. Muslims with the Christians trying to kill the Muslims solely because they were Muslims. > > Logically, that would certainly imply that those supporting the war were Christians. No; it implies that the vast majority of people supporting and fighting it are Christians. Which they are. > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > So, then what is your explanation for Joe Lieberman, Paul Wolfowitz, Scooter Libby, Richard Perle and David Frum? They are five people; not a nation of hundreds of millions. Are you implying that if they dropped dead we’d stop fighting? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/104 "2012-10-02T13:32:01Z")
Another problem with asking people to vote for a third-party candidate instead of either the Republican or Democratic candidate is the assumption that that party’s beliefs are actually widespread in the voting public, but the voters don’t know that they can vote for somebody with those beliefs. I think this is completely wrong. Obama’s and Romney’s political positions aren’t too far from the average political positions of most Americans. Obama is more liberal than the average voter and Romney is more conservative than the average voter, but neither is that far from the average in American political beliefs. Anybody who thinks that really most Americans are actually Green Party or Libertarian Party or Socialist Party or Communist Party or any other possible third party but just doesn’t know how to vote for such a candidate has no idea what’s going on. The Democratic and Republican parties, their political positions, and their candidates represent what most Americans believe in. This doesn’t mean that their beliefs are right. The third-party political positions may well be right. Just voting for their candidates though (especially in a Presidential election) won’t suddenly change the U.S. into a paradise where those positions suddenly become the majority ones. All real changes in political beliefs happen slowly, not over years, but over decades or even centuries. You think that homosexuals should be treated fairly? The changes have been going on for decades. You think that women should be treated equally? The changes have been going on for about a century. You think that blacks should be treated equally? The changes have been going on for a century and a half. You think that abortion and birth control should be made easier? That took decades. Divorce? Decades. Elimination of the death penalty? That’s been slowly happening over decades (and, really, centuries). Increased consciousness and legal enforcement of environmental issues? Decades. Elections aren’t the main driver of social change anyway. The beliefs of people change slowly (and, of course, the people with the beliefs that are slowly disappearing are dying themselves). All these third-party beliefs that you have may be right and they may happen anyway, but getting a few people to vote for your candidate in the Presidential election will do little to cause any progress on them. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/105 "2012-10-02T13:53:26Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Obama’s and Romney’s political positions aren’t too far from the average political positions of most Americans. Obama is more liberal than the average voter and Romney is more conservative than the average voter, but neither is that far from the average in American political beliefs. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/106 "2012-10-02T14:07:00Z")
The fact that they both won primaries and eventually the candidacy of their party against more extreme candidates, perhaps? If they were that far off the mainstream they never would have made it as far as they did. Romney won because most of middle America think Santorum, Perry et al are not what they want. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/107 "2012-10-02T14:31:35Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > Cite? Are you kidding? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/108 "2012-10-02T15:38:02Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > They are five people; not a nation of hundreds of millions. Are you implying that if they dropped dead we’d stop fighting? No, they’re people who either have or had positions of power and influence in a nation of hundreds of millions. Anyway, please explain their position. Are they the Jewish puppets of the Christian overlords doing whatever they’re told by their Christian masters, the Learned Elders of Rome? > [@](#): > > No; it implies that the vast majority of people supporting and fighting it are Christians. Which they are. Actually, what the statement implies is that you made a foolish comment which shows very little understanding of the subtleties of current situation in the Middle East and you’re attempting to use a tragic situation as political club for your own cause, specifically the extreme fear you have of Christians whom you insist want to have people like yourself locked up, tortured and murdered. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/109 "2012-10-02T16:18:41Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > No, they’re people who either have or had positions of power and influence in a nation of hundreds of millions. > > Anyway, please explain their position. > > Are they the Jewish puppets of the Christian overlords doing whatever they’re told by their Christian masters, the Learned Elders of Rome? This is ridiculous. They’re nonChristians who agree with the policy created by Christian leaders. There’s nothing weird about that at all. “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” is a Christian commandment. I agree with that commandment and teach students to follow it (using different language, of course). That doesn’t make me a Christian. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/110 "2012-10-02T16:25:28Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > This is ridiculous. Yes, it is. **Der Trihs** and **Ibn Warraq** , this thread will work better if it has fewer ridiculous claims instead of fighting one absurdity with another. Drop this hijack. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/111 "2012-10-02T16:28:40Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > You know, in Sarajevo, Serb 5th column in the city - like we didn’t suffer enough from daily grenades from the hills surrounding the city - they had number of snipers shooting down on civilians including children. Some of the stories are excruciatingly painful so I’ll spare you that. But, what I will tell you is what was more painful was listening to Serbian AM radio and people justifying these war criminal acts so blissfuly it was amazing and scary at the same time. What happened to them, as an ethnic group, is that they totally lost their moral compass for extended period of time and they are so weak they cannot get themselves out of a moral failure hole and probably wont be able to do that for very long time. And for that, I mostly blame concerted effort to rationalize worst criminal deeds. > > /\* I have no idea if this makes any sense - it sounds like a rant almost… I’m very sorry that happened to you. During the Kosovo war I was on a train listening to a Serbian woman denounce Bill Clinton as a war monger for his airstrikes against the Serbian people. Some fatuous leftist hippie was sitting next to her nodding with an expression of pretentious earnestness. I wanted to stab him in the eye. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/112 "2012-10-02T17:05:39Z")
You had your _Field Guide to the European Hippy_ with you? Were they speaking English, did he speak at all? I presume you speak and understand Serbian? Did any other explanation occur to you? Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Austin, sure. Serbia? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/113 "2012-10-02T17:07:52Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > You had your _Field Guide to the European Hippy_ with you? Were they speaking English, did he speak at all? I presume you speak and understand Serbian? Did any other explanation occur to you? Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Austin, sure. Serbia? It happened in the Washington DC metro. The hippy was American and both people were speaking English. ETA: Please do not ever imply I am lying again. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/114 "2012-10-02T17:33:17Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Are you kidding? Yes. My point exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/115 "2012-10-02T17:34:22Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Yes, it is. **Der Trihs** and **Ibn Warraq** , this thread will work better if it has fewer ridiculous claims instead of fighting one absurdity with another. Drop this hijack. Fair enough. I apologize for participating in a hijack of the thread. That said, with your permission I’d just like to respond to one point. > [@](#): > > “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” is a Christian commandment. I agree with that commandment and teach students to follow it (using different language, of course). That doesn’t make me a Christian. I’d just like to point out that what you’re referring to is also a Muslim commandment. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/116 "2012-10-02T19:15:44Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > I’d just like to point out that what you’re referring to is also a Muslim commandment. Not in the specific language I used (which is even more specific than Christian). In any case, I thought of typing “Abrahamic,” but trust that you can see the overall point: I ain’t none of those. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/117 "2012-10-02T19:45:07Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > It happened in the Washington DC metro. The hippy was American and both people were speaking English. > > ETA: Please do not ever imply I am lying again. How dare someone not accept your personal anecdote as fact. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/118 "2012-10-02T20:08:12Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > Yes. My point exactly. Do you also ask for cites for crazy statements like, “Coca Cola is a popular beverage?” ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/119 "2012-10-02T20:36:14Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > How dare someone not accept your personal anecdote as fact. Are you calling me a liar? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378/120 "2012-10-02T20:44:52Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > It happened in the Washington DC metro. The hippy was American and both people were speaking English. > > ETA: Please do not ever imply I am lying again. > [@Sitnam](#): > > How dare someone not accept your personal anecdote as fact. > [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Are you calling me a liar? Nobody called you a liar. You were asked for details about a story, and on first glance it did sound like you could’ve been suggesting the incident happened in Serbia. For the record, though, it _is_ difficult to persuade people with anecdotes in an online venue and they’re not required to take your word for what happened (although accusations of lying aren’t allowed in this forum). Don’t take it personally. It’s the internet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-is-a-terrorist/636378.md?page=7)