Topic: WorldNetDaily
Aaron Klein's 38th anti-Obama article for WorldNetDaily is a bit of a muddle. He appears desperate to paint as negatively as possible Barack Obama's statement that America is "no longer just a Christian nation," but he offers no evidence that there's anything incorrect or offensive about the statement, beyond various right-wing critics purporting to be offended by it who also don't say exactly what's supposedly incorrect or offensive about it.
Klein went on to claim that Obama statement "echoed similar statements made by Merrill A. McPeak, Obama's military adviser and national campaign co-chairman. As WND reported, in a 2003 interview with The Oregonian newspaper, McPeak seemed to compare evangelical Christians to the terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah."
Note the weasel word "seemed to." Klein offers no evidence McPeak actually did make such a comparison, only that he seemed to make it.
Klein also curiously fails to mention a relevant fact about Obama's opponent, John McCain: that he did in fact call certain right-wing evangelical preachers "agents of intolerance." Why won't Klein hold McCain responsible for that statement, but is trying to gin up a controversy about remarks that he can't back up as being the offensive claim he asserts them to be?
After all, Klein is the guy who absurdly claimed he doesn't have an anti-Obama agenda. Why doesn't he demonstrate it?
UPDATE: It's worth noting that the only way Obama's statement could be even remotely controversial is if it's misquoted to claim that Obama said that America isn't a Christian nation, rather that America isn't just a Christian nation. That's exactly what the headline for Klein's article does -- "Obama: America is 'no longer Christian." Thus, the headline misrepresents Klein (who quoted Obama correctly) to twist his muddled attack even further into an absolutely false claim.
UPDATE 2: WND perpetuates the false claim with its daily poll question: "Is the United States a Christian nation?"
