Muslim is just a polite word for . . .

Holy cannoli - I missed this connection somehow - provocative stuff from my favorite blog, Hullabaloo.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/

I've been wondering since 9/11 when the right would get around to conflating the Muslim terrorists with "black Muslims" and I think it may have finally happened in the couple of Barack and Michelle Obama. It would seem odd that the right wingers would smear him as being muslim - he's black, not arab, and it doesn't fit the stereotype. But it does fit the stereotype of the Farrakhan type of militant black muslims and that's what they're getting at with this. The image of the dangerous black radical is the purpose of the muslim smear, not the terrorist association. It's good old, All American racism.

Here's a transcript from a show this weekend on CNN in which one of their producers is traveling across the country asking people about the election:

HADAD: Next stop, Nashville, to talk American politics with fans of America's pastime. The crowd is fun, politically engaged and about split between Obama, McCain and undecided. But I meet two people that rattle me a bit.You've been a Democrat your entire voting life. And now, you're going to vote Republican. What is it that's making this huge switch for you after how many years of voting?

JANICE WOLFF, BASEBALL FAN: Well, I don't like the candidate. I think he's a Muslim.

HADAD: For the record, Obama is a Christian. She told me to talk to her friend, Tony, who was very into politics.

TONY SLAYDEN, BASEBALL FAN: Honestly I'm an old southern boy. And I just don't know if I can see a black man making a change. The only black man I've ever seen with change is with a cup in his hand.

HADAD: Whoa! Did he just say that?

See how seamless all that is? They're good friends. The women is more "genteel" and uses the more accepted "m" word. Her pal there doesn't try to hide behind the terrorist threat and just admits outright that he's an old fashioned racist. Muslim, militant, black man, cup in his hand, etc. "Muslim" is just a polite word for you know what.