Topic: WorldNetDaily
Floyd and Mary Beth Brown's June 5 WorldNetDaily column essentially demands a apology from people who criticized Floyd Brown's smear ad of Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, which asked if Obama was a Muslim. The Browns claim that Obama's "coming out to the Muslim world" has proven them right.
But Brown's ad was very disingenuous. As the Huffington Post's Sam Stein reported at the time:
There is much context left to fill. For starters, the school Obama attended at the time was Catholic -- a spokesman for Indonesia's Ministry of Religious Affairs said as much. And while someone did list Obama as a Muslim (the religion of his step father) on a document that required students to list religious affiliations, the campaign has insisted that it was a mistake.
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Moreover, Brown's own ad concludes that the issue is inconsequential. "Maybe it doesn't matter if Obama were a Muslim back then," the spot goes, before questioning why he won't tell the truth now.
What may be more telling than the smear ad is the reaction that it engenders. Brown has a history of using barely discreet racist messaging to drive political discussion. So it is hardly a surprise to see him meddling in the Obama-is-a-Muslim affairs.
Further, at no point does Brown concede -- then or now -- that Obama is a Christian. He's too wedded to the Muslim smear.
