Copperhill, TN.

After getting really really sick of my music so far this summer, I've decided to switch it up a bit. I've been listening to a few podcasts, mostly news, but some others also.
The CNN Anderson Cooper 360 podcast is up there as one of the better ones. Unfortunately, I happened to catch today's segment about Obama myths, i.e. he's a Muslim, yada yada yada.

I'm kind of surprised at the way people talk about Obama regardless of whether they're voting for him or whether they know anything about him. Case in point, CNN did a special report about Muslim myths about Obama in Copperhill, TN (aka Smalltown, USA):

What concerns you about Barack Obama?

The safety of our country if Obama gets in. I do -- he is a Muslim, and I'm very concerned about that.

The fact is, he says he's not a Muslim. He says he's a Christian.

Yes, I know what he says. (Laughter)

(bold type is reporter; italics interviewee)

So we just had a normal citizen say that not only does she not believe what Obama says his religion is, but that religion is dangerous. Assumptions:

1) Obama is a Muslim.
2) Muslims are dangerous as politicians because they wouldn't secure the country.
3) Obama, as a politician, will lie about his religion just to get votes.

Wow. 12% still believe that Obama is a Muslim, 26% think he was born a Muslim. Not that it's surprising that that many people still believe these myths, but when confronted with the truth, the fact is so ingrained in their minds they would deny the truth.

But so what if he were a Muslim, what does that really do for him in office? Would he grant visas to al-Qaeda? Sounds dangerous. Or maybe he would actually talk to Iran or another Muslim country? We shouldn't talk to enemies. I honestly think that Americans would not want to overtly acknowledge how little religion has to do with your office....