Obama ignored "Whitestock"..."can't spend all my time with birth certificate plastered on forehead."

[jefferson_dem]

Obama says he ignored Beck rally
By M Alex Johnson

President Obama chuckles when Brian Williams asks him about polls that show may Americans still believe he is a Muslim. He says he doesn't pay much attention to those polls, because "I can't spend all my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead."

"I don't think the American people want me to spend all my time on it," he says.

Obama is clearly intent on casting himself as above the political fray, saying American politics is in its "silly season." For example, he swears he didn't watch any of Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally on the National Mall yesterday and says he doesn't find it surprising that "a Glenn Beck can stir up some of the people."

"I'm making decisions that are not necessarily good for the nightly news and not good for the next election, but for the next generations," he says.

http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/08/29/4996422-obama-says-he-ignored-beck-rally-?ocid=twitter

[Arkana]

1. Gotta give the guy credit--the sheer amount of crazy they heap on him

would have broken a lesser man.

[BeyondGeography]

2. I think it's called presidential

[pnorman]

13. A`surprising number of "political hacks" rose to the challenge of the office of Presidency!

But sadly, the previous occupant of that position did not!

[calimary]

3. "Whitestock"??? ROFL!!!!!

[quiet.american]

4. Lol - love that from Obama. Beck is not worth a single second of his time. nt

[oswaldactedalone]

9. This is why you've got to stop your whining

and support this wonderful and brilliant man.

[quiet.american]

17. You'll be happy to know he's had my support for quite some time, now!

:fistbump:

[impik]

5. You can not break this man

[Ramulux]

6. Stuff like this

is why we are going to get destroyed in the election. Obama doesn't understand that a significant percentage of this country is brain-dead and willing to listen to people like Glenn Beck tell them what to think. He needs to push back against this crap, this idea that he is above the political fray is bullshit and everyone knows it.

How above the fray was your administration when they fired Shirley Sharrod after Fox News told them to?

How above the fray was Robert Gibbs when he bashed your base with Fox News talking points?

How above the fray were you when you let Van Jones get smeared?

This idea that presidents shouldn't get involved in "POLITICAL" arguments is insane. He's the president that's his job. He is supposed to have beliefs and opinions and be unafraid to share them and fight for them. If Obama doesn't understand that he needs to come out and make his case on every issue, then we have already lost.

[jaxx]

7. You gotta be kidding.

[Ramulux]

8. Not at all

Explain why I am wrong. We are going to get creamed because Obama, his administration, and the democratic party are horrible at messaging and have allowed the media to focus on bullshit controversies without coming out strong against them.

Why do they do this? Because they want to stay above the "fray". Its a joke.

[jaxx]

12. OMG Glenny isn't controversy, he's crazy.

Do you want the President to act crazy too? The idea of having to answer to every stupid winger trick is not going to happen....but they never stop trying to get his attention. That's why they're called the entertainment. :-)

[Ramulux]

15. Read what I wrote

Read my post and then reply to the point I make, I am not saying he needs to respond to everything every conservative says ever. But when bullshit controversies get brought up on Fox News and CNN he needs to respond no matter how crazy they sound because stupid people believe it.

[Tarheel_Dem]

18. Whether we lose the big or not, this president should not get into the gutter..

with Glenn Beck & his band of "h8riots". You've gotta be kidding with this shit. Seriously?

[Arkana]

21. No, this is called "not jumping every time Glenn Beck says boo".

Beck's not important enough to have the attention of the President, and he shouldn't be. Obama has subordinates for this very reason.

[tblue37]

26. "A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth

even gets its pants on."

Kerry thought he didn't need to push back against the Swift Boaters because their claims were so obviously silly and false.

[NYC Liberal]

31. Really? Dems are "horrible at messaging"?

I'd say they're a hell of a lot better at messaging than the Republicans, who have consistently LOST elections over the past 15 years.

Don't believe me? The Republicans haven't lost seats in Congress only twice in the past 15 years. Dems have won 3 presidential elections, Republicans 1.

1996 - Lost seats in House, lost presidential
1998 - Lost seats in House, no change in Senate
2000 - Lost seats in House and Senate, lost presidential
2002 - Gained seats
2004 - Gained seats, won presidential
2006 - Lost seats in House and Senate (lost majorities in both)
2008 - Lost seats in House and Senate, lost presidential

I would say that Dems, Obama and his administration in particular, are pretty damn good at messaging despite the corporate media's insistence to the contrary and despite that same media's constant water-carrying for the right.

What Obama and Dems are NOT doing is using the same kind of bullshit tactics used by the Republicans that have had them losing elections for the past 15 years.

Maybe some people want a Bill O'Reilly president...one who screams a lot, gets red in the face, talks over people, and tells those who try to disagree to shut up. Well most people (thankfully) don't.

[Cali_Democrat]

14. You should probably read this article......fighting rumors actually makes them worse....

http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/national_world/stories/2008/09/16/wp_misinfo_0916.ART_ART_09-16-08_A6_DKBBBNP.html?sid=101

[MadMaddie]

16. There is a saying "Pick your battles"!

That is what a leader does. He cannot take every smear and spend all of his effort trying to appease the right wing. He has a country to fix.

If you have a spoiled child you don't enable that behavior by continuing to indulge that child.

He understands too well the bullshit that is going on in this country.

When you say "Political Arguments", do you consider Becks rally a political argument? Becks them was to take this country back, but he never said take it back from what? He claimed that this country was founded on Christianity, anyone who reads knows this is a fallacy.

A real political argument would be "Why are there 300 bills sitting at the door step of the Senate? Why are the Republicans stalling 300 bills?

Not "Do you agree with Becks rally"?

[Arkana]

20. And the President shouldn't get into the mud with a talk show host.

He's the guy in charge--he needs to govern, not dick-measure with Glenn Beck.

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. Be honest, Ramulux...you thought Obama was going to lose Pennsylvania

Don't lie. You thought he was going to lose.

C'mon, now. Be honest.

:rofl:

[KingFlorez]

24. The President can't spend all his time fighting with morons

The facts speak for themselves.

[phleshdef]

29. You want to know why what you just said sounds totally stupid? Election 2008.

Nuff fucking said. Obama dealt with all this shit the same way in 2008 and it worked in his favor. I don't think you need to bother giving him your advice. He proved all ready that he doesn't need it and that his approach is in fact superior.

[Thrill]

30. Anyone who listens to Beck wasn't going to vote for Obama

or Demcorats anyway

[firedupdem]

10. Good for him....

The people who follow beck didn't vote for Obama and never will. Fuck them. Not a minute of his time should be devoted to that asshole or his redneck followers.

[nmbluesky]

11. teabaggers are so upset...

"TOLD YOU SO, OBAMA WON'T LISTEN TO AMERICA"
:sarcasm:

[jefferson_dem]

19. More spew from Politico. Their write up would be ridiculous if not expected, given the source.

Watch the video. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/38906583#38906583 Then read their shitty spin.

Obama blasts lies, disinformation
By: Glenn Thrush
August 29, 2010 07:11 PM EDT

President Barack Obama dismissed a recent poll showing that a third of Americans don’t know he’s a Christian – and blamed an online campaign of misinformation by his conservative enemies for perpetuating the myth that he’s a Muslim.

“I can’t spend all of my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead,” Obama told NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, sitting under a tent in a rain-soaked New Orleans, where he commemorated the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

“The facts are the facts. We went through some of this during the campaign — there is a mechanism, a network of misinformation that in a new media era can get churned out there constantly,” said a visibly annoyed Obama, referring to “birthers,” who have waged a guerrilla campaign questioning the validity of his Hawaiian birth certificate.

“I will always put my money on the American people, and I’m not going to be worried too much about what rumors are floating around there.”

A stunning 18 percent of Americans identify Obama as Muslim, according to a Pew poll released earlier this month. Only a third identified Obama, who speaks passionately about his faith in his autobiography, as Christian.

The president, a harsh critic of the Bush administration’s sluggish response to Katrina, bristled when asked if the BP Gulf oil spill was his administration’s Katrina – because of a failure to act quickly enough.

“It’s just not accurate,” he told Williams. “The only thing in common with the Katrina response was Thad Allen… We had immediately thousands of vessels, tens of thousands of people.”

The spill has wreaked less havoc on the Gulf coastline “because of the sturdiness and steadiness” of his administration’s response, Obama added.

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=C01F019B-18FE-70B2-A8763E89F52997EE

[jaxx]

23. That interview was nothing like Politico tries to make it.

The President was clear and concise and didn't bat an eye at the sometimes snarky questions and comments by Brian Williams. Hell, Williams had a hard time looking the President in the eye when he tried to ask the rightwinger type questions. But the President looked him square in the eye and didn't evade anything.

Damn, President Obama is good!

[jefferson_dem]

25. "visibly annoyed...bristled"

Obviously, they are not expecting any of their readers to actually watch the interview...or their bs framing would be exposed.

[donheld]

27. Maybe he needs to wear this t-shirt to a press conference

[pleah]

28. K&R