One of my favorite bloggers, Debbie Schlussel, writes this morning about one of the most asinine things I've ever heard:
From the New York Times:
Emily Nordling has never met a Muslim, at least not to her knowledge. But this spring, Ms. Nordling, a 19-year-old student from Fort Thomas, Ky., gave herself a new middle name on Facebook.com, mimicking her boyfriend and shocking her father.
"Emily Hussein Nordling," her entry now reads.
With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him by informally adopting his middle name.
...
"I am sick of Republicans pronouncing Barack Obama's name like it was some sort of cuss word," Mr. [Jeff] Strabone wrote in a manifesto titled "We Are All Hussein" that he posted on his own blog and on dailykos.com.
We're all Hussein?!? I don't think that's what Mom and Dad had in mind when they gave me "Edward" as a middle name.
Debbie Schlussel says she can feel America's I.Q. dropping rapidly and I couldn't agree more. What scares me further is that these may be the kids that are dispensing my meds someday. Eek.
The thing that's slightly humorous to me in all this is that the Obama Campaign has been trying to get away from "Hussein" since Barack threw his hat in the ring. It's an albatross to them and, as long as people are bringing it up, it further propagates the incorrect notion that Senator Obama is Muslim. Now, there are people adopting the middle name as a sign of solidarity. You can bet the strategists are shaking their heads.
This doesn't seem to be a fad that will "swiffer" the nation, but it is absolutely the dumbest movement I've seen in a long time. The presumptive nominee seems to like the idea, too, if the New York Times article is any indication:
Mr. Obama may be more enthusiastic, judging from his response at a Chicago fund-raiser two weeks ago. When he saw that Richard Fizdale, a longtime contributor, wore "Hussein" on his name tag, Mr. Obama broke into a huge grin, Mr. Fizdale said.
"The theory was, we're all Hussein," Mr. Obama said to the crowd later, explaining Mr. Fizdale's gesture.
Hmmm...mass singular identification...manifesto...charismatic leader... Those are usually the indicators of cults, last I knew. That, or the Borg from Star Trek. I'm not really sure which.
"We are all Hussein??" No. "We are all IDIOTS," is more like it.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com
