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On Fox News Sunday, Juan Williams is asked why so many people believe that President Obama is a Muslim and Williams states the obvious, the right-wing media are the ones pushing this lie.

Behind Obama Muslim myth stands the right wing:

Two recently released polls show that an increasing number of Americans believe the falsehood that President Obama is a Muslim. According to the Pew Research Center, 60 percent of people who believe this false claim cite the media as the source of that information -- and, indeed, the right-wing media have incessantly promoted this lie.

Right wing media relentlessly drive Obama-Muslim falsehood

Right-wing media have relentlessly pushed the myth that Obama is a Muslim. In the past two years, the conservative media has continued to lie about Obama's personal history, dishonestly distorting his faith to claim that he is in fact a Muslim and not a Christian. Those untruths have run the gamut -- from outright claiming that Obama is a Muslim to alleging that he "is a Christian that Christians don't recognize"; from using his family and upbringing in Indonesia to portray him as an "Islamist" to claiming he has an agenda that shows he has a "preference of Islam over Christianity"; and from distorting comments Obama or his administration has made to picking out symbols associated with his administration to perpetuate the lie about his faith. Conservatives have even used the Pew and Time polls today to further rehash these falsehoods.

Go read the whole post. Media Matters has a very long list of examples documented there.

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Given the fact that many Republicans over the weekend when asked about why so many people in their party believe that our president is a Muslim were feigning ignorance on what's actually going on with who and why these rumors about President Obama started, I thought Touré's rant from this past Friday's Dylan Ratigan show was worth going back for and sharing.

Anyone paying attention to the "summer of racial resentment" from Fox and the GOP already knew this, but it was nice to hear someone say it out loud on national television. The GOP's plan is to drum up racial resentment in order to gain seats in the upcoming mid-term elections.

The misinformation is coming from right wing web sites, email chains, right wing radio and sadly from our "mainstream" media outlets as well.

Touré did a great job of calling out the Dr. Lauras and the Newt Gingrichs and the Franklin Grahams of the world in this segment.

They all were more than aware of the dog-whistles they were setting off to the Republican right wing base and he lays out very clearly just what they'd like to be calling President Obama when they call him a Muslim, but can't do in polite company. I grew up dealing with a father who was and sadly still is racist as hell but doesn't think he is and the cognitive dissonance with some of his opinions and trying to digest them is always something that makes my stomach churn.

I listened to him for years blather on about the lazy blacks he worked with when apparently they never had a lazy white worker as well that they couldn't get rid of, the terrible black drivers he'd encounter on his way to work while I'm sure there was never a bad white driver on the road anywhere around him. He, like Stephen Colbert did have at least one or two black friends, so how could he be a racist? And he was very sad when Lou Dobbs went off the air.

He used to send me some of his right wing emails that his buddies sent him until I did a few replies to all and debunked the hateful junk he was sending me, and that put a stop to those mass emails coming my way. Imagine that.

I know all to well just who the right wing is trying to appeal to with their "Obama is a secret Muslim" bull pucky and Touré is spot on with his commentary. I've had the unfortunate circumstance of knowing who it plays to and what they are willing to say out loud when they think it doesn't matter who hears them first hand.

I'm sure I'm not alone with this experience. I'd love to hear back from others who have had to deal with people they love just being so wrong headed with their prejudices as well.

In the mean time, here's Touré's rant, and rough transcript below the fold.

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On this week's Meet the Press, Mitch McConnell pretends like he doesn't know where the rumors about President Obama's religion are coming from when asked by David Gregory why one third of Republicans believe that he's a Muslim. Sure you don't Mitch. Just for good measure he throws in the same tactic flame thrower Franklin Graham used on CNN last week and instead of saying that he knows full well what religion President Obama practices does a little wink and a nod to his wingnut base and says he'll "take him at his word" that he's a Christian. Nice. Way to pander to the lizard brains out there McConnell.

MR. GREGORY: Let me move on to something that seems to be related to this and has gotten a lot of attention this week, and this is the poll about the president's own faith from the Pew Research Center. Eighteen percent of those polled believe that the president is a Muslim. Among Republicans, this is striking, 31 percent believe he's a Muslim. Of course, he's not. Why do you think these views prevail?

SEN. McCONNELL: Well, look, I think the faith that most Americans are questioning is the president's faith in the government to generate jobs. We've had an 18-month effort here on the part of this administration to prime the pump, borrow money, spend money hiring new federal government employees, sending money down to states so they don't have to lay off state employees. People are looking around and saying, "Where's the job?"

MR. GREGORY: Right.

SEN. McCONNELL: The president's faith in the government to stimulate the economy is what people are questioning.

MR. GREGORY: That, that, that's certainly a side step to, to this particular question. Again...

SEN. McCONNELL: Well, no, I--the--I--the president...

MR. GREGORY: ...as a leader of the country, sir, as one of the most powerful Republicans in the country, do you think you have an obligation to say to 34 percent of Republicans in the country--rather, 31 percent who believe the president of the United States is a Muslim? That's misinformation.

SEN. McCONNELL: The president says he's a--the president says he's a Christian, I take him at his word. I don't think that's in dispute.

MR. GREGORY: And do you think--how, how do you think it comes to be that this kind of misinformation gets spread around and prevails?

SEN. McCONNELL: I have no idea, but I take the president at his word.

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One influential Republican senator has changed his mind on President Barack Obama's plan begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2011.

After a recent trip to the region, Sen. Lindsey Graham returned to say that he believes some troops could be removed in July 2011.

"After this trip, I think we can transition next summer some areas of Afghanistan to Afghan control," Graham told CBS' Bob Schieffer Sunday.

"I see progress I had not seen before. I see a scenario if things continue to develop the way they are that certain areas of Afghanistan can be transitioned to Afghan control and we could remove some troops safely without undermining the overall war mission," he said.

"But at the end of the day the president has to let the Afghan people, the regional players know, the American people know that we're not going to leave until we're successful. But I do see a path forward next summer to transition in certain areas of Afghanistan but we will need substantial troops well past July of 2011 to get this right," continued Graham.

Only three weeks ago, Graham told CNN that he didn't think it would be possible to begin transitioning troops out of Afghanistan that soon.

On the same program, however, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina worried that the Afghan forces and central government may not be ready to assume the necessary responsibilities within a year.

"[G]enerally speaking, this time next summer, we're still going to be engaged in one hell of a fight," Graham told CNN. "We're going to need every troop we have today, I think, still in Afghanistan next year."

According to Graham, it will be clear by the end of this year where things stand in Afghanistan.

"If, by December, we're not showing some progress, we're in trouble," he said. "And the question is: what is progress? Without some benchmarks and measurements, it's going to be hard to sell to the American people a continued involvement in Afghanistan."

Graham's change in attitude comes only days after a new poll shows that nearly 6 in 10 Americans oppose the war in Afghanistan.

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From Countdown:

In response to Franklin Graham's uncertainty, a special Countdown investigation reveals not only the proof of the president's true religion, but the long-term plan to conceal that truth, a plan first put in motion when he was just 2 years old.

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We've got an economy that's a mess, people who have been unemployed forever that need jobs, massive flooding in Pakistan, millions of gallons of oil and dispersants still floating in the water in the Gulf of Mexico and what is the media spending hours upon hours covering? That ginned up non-controversy over the Islamic center near ground zero and now a new poll that shows about one in five Americans think that President Obama is a Muslim. I wonder where they got that idea?

I hate that they're spending this much time on this nonsense that most people don't care about but if they're going to do it, we need to be pushing back against the lies and point out who's helping to spread them and hold the corporate media accountable when they help to push the latest right wing meme of the day and give it legitimacy.

During John King's show on CNN, Paul Begala says it's not CNN that is attributing to those poll numbers.

BEGALA: Mostly, no. You're right to just observe that as contrasted with Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter for that matter or certainly George W. Bush, this Christian president talks about his Christianity less. That perhaps makes him more like say George Bush's father, a devout Christian, a fine man who just didn't like to wear it on his sleeve as much as maybe some others.

No, in that survey, the Pew poll, most, the vast majority of people who think he's a Muslim. When you ask them why do you think that they say because of the media. And not to put too fine a point on it, they don't mean CNN, John. They mean the kook right wing media that has been attacking this president. It's fine to attack him on issues. But they're trying to attack him with any kind of crazy conspiracy theory they can.

I'd beg to differ.

A little later in the show John King brings on evangelical leader Franklin Graham who suggests that the "confusion" is being caused because President Obama was "born a Muslim" and of course if he says he's a Christian now (wink... wink) we'll just have to take him at his word that he is (but he might really be a dirty Kenyan Muslim usurper... you never know).

There are plenty of places where these rumors are being spread such as email chains, on right wing talk radio and on Fox News, but interviews like this aren't helping matters any. We got zero push back from John King against Graham's nonsense. He's really good at the false equivalency "you decide" game where he lets his viewers figure out for themselves who's telling the truth and who's spouting nonsense that should have been stopped in their tracks for telling lies but wasn't. Heaven forbid that might not make for a polite interview and we couldn't have that sort of incivility now could we?

Does anyone think John King didn't know exactly what he was going to get from Franklin Graham before he came on the air? Here's some of what happened during his encounter with then presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama back in 2008.

Franklin Graham to Obama: Are You A Muslim? (And How Obama Courted Hagee's Publisher):

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John Oliver says Muslims are allowed to put a mosque near Ground Zero, just like Catholics can build a church next to a playground.

Another part showed Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Iman behind the project, who FOX are now trying to make into some kind of boogeyman. Nevermind that a few months earlier he had appeared on FOX talking about plans for the Islamic cultural center.

Asshats.

The Daily Show have captured this farce better than the so-called legitimate news networks. But that's nothing new, is it?

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At least two prominent Republicans are going against the bulk of their party to say that Muslims have every right to build an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero.

Monday Morning, Conservative MSNBC host Joe Scarborough found himself agreeing with former Bush advisor Mark MicKinnon that Muslims have a right to build the controversial mosque.

"When I was in Congress in 1994, when I got elected in '94, I was considered to be one of the more conservative guys up there," Scarborough began.

"I am feeling further and further distant from the people who are running my party," he said.

Scarborough pointed to comments where Newt Gingrich accused President Barack Obama of pandering to Muslims. The president had spoken out Friday in favor of Muslims' right to build the mosque.

"Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington," Gingrich said on Fox News Monday. "We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There is no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center," he said.

Reflecting on Gingrich's comments, Scarborough didn't know where to begin. "To suggest that someone trying to build a -- a tolerant center for moderate Muslims in New York is the equivalent of killing six million Jews is stunning to me," he said.

"It's stunning and it is so contrary to our country's principle and the Republican party," agreed McKinnon.

"I'm glad to see we're together on this and unfortunately I think we may get our membership revoked at the Pachyderm Club," said McKinnon.

"Screw 'em," interrupted Scarborough.

"I agree," said McKinnon.

A poll taken by Fox News Aug. 10 - Aug. 11 found that 64 percent of respondents thought it would be wrong to build a mosque near Ground Zero.

President Barack Obama seemed to pit himself against public opinion Friday when he said that Muslims have a right to choose where they worship.

But let me be clear: as a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are.

But on Saturday, the president clarified that he wasn't saying that building the Islamic Center was necessarily a good idea.

"My intention was simply to let people know what I thought, which was that in this country, we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion," the President said during a visit to the Gulf Coast yesterday.

"I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there," Obama said. "I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That's what our country is about."

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Cenk Uygur filling in for Ed Schultz this week hit back at Maureen Dowd's assertions about the left in her recent New York Times op-ed, No Love From the Lefties:

On the Republican side, the crazies often end up helping the Republican leadership. On the Democratic side, the radicals are constantly sniping at Obama, expressing their feelings of betrayal.

Fox built up a Republican president; MSNBC is trying to make its reputation by tearing down a Democratic one.

Here's Cenk's response.

No. The difference between MSNBC and Fox News is that we actually use our minds. We don't follow the President like robots. We are not authoritarian by nature and apparently unlike Maureen Dowd, we're capable of using independent judgment.

The establishment press loves to protect the government. They've forgotten entirely that they're supposed to do the opposite, challenge the government. Just because I think the right wing movement in this country has lost its mind doesn't mean i should lend mine out to President Obama.

Here's what the millionaire mainstream press doesn't get. We unlike you actually understand policy. And yes, guilty as charged, we care about it. I can give you a million examples but I'll give you one for tonight.

President Bush made a deal with the drug industry so that the government could not negotiate drug prices. He also blocked the importation of drugs. That effectively set up an unnatural monopoly for drug companies to charge us whatever they want.

You know what President Obama did? The same exact thing. He also made a deal with the drug industry allowing drug companies to keep their patents for 12 years so their monopoly lasts even longer.

So if I hated it under Bush, why should I love it under Obama? What's so radical or extreme or deranged about sticking with the same position had you before?

That used to be called unbiased. If anyone in the establishment media says they don't understand that, then I'm not sure I could help them.

If you like, I could talk slower. Maybe you'll understand it then. This isn't about taking down a Democratic President. It's about holding him accountable. That's what I thought the press was supposed to do.

A very nervous looking Mark Halperin came in to follow up and defend Maureen Dowd and the President. I concede Halperin's points about what people hoped President Obama could get done compared to what is realistic to expect him to get done given the Congress he's dealing with, but as Cenk said there are plenty of issues where we expected him to push harder for a progressive agenda and use the bully-pulpit rather than giving away the store before negotiations started. And Cenk's points about the press not doing their job no matter who is in charge are spot on.

You also cannot apply his comments about the reporters on MSNBC to the majority of their day time line up. They're almost as bad and many times worse than Fox and equally as bad as CNN right up through Matthews' show. Ed Schultz, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow do not equal the entire network being "liberal".

David Gregory did his part to help Gen. David Petraeus start the first leg of his media blitz to try to sell the public on continuing our occupation in Afghanistan past the 2011 deadline for troop withdrawal. From the HuffPo:

Gen. David Petraeus Cites Progress In Afghanistan, Hedges On July 2011 Troop Withdrawal:

Progress in Afghanistan only began this spring and needs time to take root, Army Gen. David Petraeus said in comments broadcast Sunday that were aimed at shoring up American support for the war.

Petraeus, who's been credited with a successful war strategy in Iraq and who took charge of U.S. and NATO military operations in Afghanistan in July, described an "up and down process" of seizing Taliban-controlled territory and creating "small pockets of progress" that he hoped will expand.

The goal, he told NBC's "Meet the Press," is to keep al-Qaida and other extremist groups at bay while the Afghan government has a chance to take control and earn the trust of the local population.

"We're here so that Afghanistan does not once again become a sanctuary for transnational extremists the way it was when al-Qaida planned the 9/11 attacks in the Kandahar area," Petraeus said in an interview taped in Kabul, the Afghan capital.

The general also stressed that the withdrawl of U.S. troops scheduled to begin in July 2011 would be based on conditions on the ground, and that he could advise President Obama to keep U.S. forces in Afghanistan if he felt it was not the right time for a drawdown. [...]

On Sunday, Rethink Afghanistan released a video hammering Petraeus' comments as just spin. Read on...

And from Firedoglake:

Sunday Late Night: Stretch Talks Progress with TMCP:

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