my reply

(i sent the following to every idiot who had forwarded this particular email)

subject: Regarding the e-mail you forwarded with supposed quotations from Barack Obama's book

I was recently forwarded an e-mail from a friend who wanted to know the validity of the claims made within it. She knew I was an Obama fan and that I had read both of his books and wanted to know the validity of the e-mail's claims.

To begin with, you are free to vote for whomever you wish and I am not advocating anyone in this e-mail. The upcoming elections this fall are of the most importance for our future, and in order to have a thriving democracy governing this great nation, it is crucial that we have an educated electorate making informed decisions as they cast they're votes. E-mails and gossip, such as the one you forwarded hurt our democratic process by spreading lies and misinformation.

If you had read the books (as I have), you would have quickly realized (before ignorantly forwarding on the e-mail), that EVERY supposed claim in your e-mail was either taken out of context, reworded, or not even from the books the e-mail claims they are in.

Oddly, the proof that these supposed quotations are in fact taken out of context, reworded, or fabricated is presented at the very beginning of the e-mail you sent. Your e-mail begins with:

"The link below is a fact checking website that supports the following text.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ownwords.asp"

If you had bothered to actually go to this link, you would find that the fact-checking site actually refutes the e-mail. It says, "However, these cherry-picked statements are all presented devoid of context, and some of them are reworded from the original (or apparently non-existent)." The website then proceeds to show how each claim in your e-mail is a lie. Check it out yourself. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ownwords.asp .

Here is just one example, what your e-mail calls "the Most Damming one of ALL of them!!!"

Your e-mail claims that Obama says in The Audacity of Hope, "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'"

Before I go on to show what Obama actually says in his book, I must say that I find this unfortunate that you find this fabrication "damming" (it's actually spelled 'damning'). Is it really all that wrong to stand by the aid of a religious group. Islam is a global religion whose general membership does not support the minority of radical violent jihadists in the Middle East. If Obama said "I will stand with the Christians should the political winds shift in an ugly direction", would that be as damning? What if he said he would stand with Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Mormons, Catholics, or those who lack faith? Would you find that as damning statement as well?

Anyways, this is all beside the point as Obama doesn't even say what your lying e-mail attributes to him. On page 261, Obama writes that he would defend immigrants who have felt threatened following 9/11:

"In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

Your e-mail is a deliberate attempt to spread lies to hurt our democratic process. For our country and for an honest election, I hope that you no longer forward this. Furthermore, I hope that you may find the courage to e-mail those you forwarded this e-mail to to correct and assuage any further spreading of lies. As I said earlier, it is crucial for our democracy that our electorate be educated in making the best of decisions. In order for this to happen, these sorts of e-mails need to end and corrections to those who may have been affected need to be made.

Thanks,

Loyd