The Incredulity Factor

[filkertom]

Steve Benen notes a huge problem that the Democrats have running against Republicans, especially Mitt Romney: People simply can't believe that what the Dems are saying could possibly be the truth

Comments

[mimiheart]

And yet, I was talking to a friend of mine, who is normally a perfectly reasonable person. And she said, "But now I'm torn between having to vote for a Mormon or a Muslim."

When I pointed out that Obama isn't a Muslim, she said that he isn't American.

Now, she's been living in Salt Lake City for two years, and has been bombarded with -- stuff -- but I was kind of in shock.

Apparently, people can readily believe that President Obama is a non-American, Muslim Terrorist, Communist, Fascist, Dictator, but they can't believe that Romney has anything other than the general public's best interests at heart.

Senator Sanders is a great source. I follow his twitter, too.

[alverant]

Obama has to be the most lied about president in US history. It's because 1) he's black 2) he's a Democrat 3) his enemies are much better funded.

[mimiheart]

I have to give Fox News/Republicans credit. They're very good at messaging. This is one area that Democrats have failed at time and time again. They pick a lie to sell, and they sell it. The media is liberal? YUP! Health care bill is horrible for you and your families? Yup. Obama is a Muslim who was born in Kenya? Of course.

[valarltd]

I had that discussion with my mother. I told her he'd been a member of Trinity Church of Christ for two decades.
Her immediate response, I kid you not, was "Oh, he's Mormon too?"

Apparently the RLDS church took to calling themselves Community of Christ recently and she had confused the two.

[mimiheart]

I guess as a non-Christian, I don't see the big deal in not voting for a Christian. Or what the difference is between Mormon and Christian. (I guess they're not Christian, even though they say they are, or they don't say they are? I'm so confused. I do know that Muslims aren't, but still.) I wouldn't even have a problem voting for a Muslim if his or her political views lined up with mine, I just have a problem with people calling someone something that he says he isn't.

What I don't get is when they call his Christian pastor something in one breath and the next breath they call him a Muslim. It's like they can't make up their minds one which lies to believe.

[dornbeast]

The best I've ever been able to make sense of the whole Mormon/Christian thing is imagining that Isaac Asimov had written a Sherlock Holmes story, and some people believe that it's canon, and some believe that only the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are canon.

What I don't get is when they call his Christian pastor something in one breath and the next breath they call him a Muslim.

I can rationalize that away easily. "Oh, he's really a Muslim, he's just going to church to pretend that he's Christian so we don't realize what's really going on! I can't believe you're fooled by the act!"

[mimiheart]

The best I've ever been able to make sense of the whole Mormon/Christian thing is imagining that Isaac Asimov had written a Sherlock Holmes story, and some people believe that it's canon, and some believe that only the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are canon.

Oh! Okay.

So they think that he went to church as some sort of 20-year-long con just to become president? Right up there with the 47-year-long con to elect a Kenyan as president.

[bayushisan]

Actually as a Christian I can shed a little light on this. Mormons deny the Trinity, though there are other differences this is a pretty big one.

[mimiheart]

But aren't there Pentecostals who also deny the Trinity? I think there are other groups that do, too. From an outsider looking in, it's all very confusing.

[bayushisan]

I don;t really know about the Pentecostals, and I can understand it being confusing. I used to know more about the differences but I've forgotten most of what I used to know.

All I really know now is that most Christian denominations do not consider the Mormons to be Christians. In fact most denominations think of Mormonism as a cult.

[james_the_evil1]

More to the point they deny the divinity of Jesus. Mormonism is an offshoot of the Gnostic heresies of the Middle Ages, and they believe both God and Jesus were once mortals like us who "ascended" to become Gods, and that if you're a good Mormon one day you'll become a God too.

My best answer:

[capplor]

I at least stopped them from talking about it at Republican Central, where I work, by pointing out in 2008 Hilary Clinton REALLY wanted the nomination. If by any means Barak Obama had not been qualified, Ms Clinton had the connections, money & motivation to prove it.

(Considering the lies various right-wing sources told about the Clintons, aggrandizing their power and unscrupulousness, my case was made for me.)

Re: My best answer:

[virginia_fell]

This is a really good strategy and I may try it the next time this comes up. Thanks!

My best answer

[capplor]

I at least stopped them from talking about it at Republican Central, where I work, by pointing out in 2008 Hilary Clinton REALLY wanted the nomination. If by any means Barak Obama had not been qualified, Ms Clinton had the connections, money & motivation to prove it.

(Considering the lies various right-wing sources told about the Clintons, aggrandizing their power and unscrupulousness, my case was made for me.)