Inhofe says Obama will lose due to patriotism 'question'

Here’s a fine example of the slimy tactics of Republicans these days, courtesy of Oklahoma’s senior senator, Jim Inhofe (R-Exxon): Don’t claim outright Obama isn’t patriotic, just say voters “can question whether or not he really loves his country[.]”

Regardless of what polls show, Inhofe said, voters will have to ask themselves a question once they get behind the curtain in the voting booth on Election Day.

“Do you really want to have a guy as commander in chief of this country when you can question whether or not he really loves his country?” he asked.

“That’s the big question.”

In the same Tulsa World article, Inhofe is quoted lying about the polls after the Democratic convention.

… [Obama] goes into their convention and comes out of the convention without a lead,” he said.

“That’s unheard of.”

Nice cherrypicking of the polls there, Jim. And, I might add, not getting a bounce is not unheard of.

The perfect example of this phenomenon is the 1964 conventions. Goldwater got a huge bump, in part because he was running 16 points behind his expected vote share, and Johnson got no bump, in part because he was running 6 points above his expected vote share.

Remind me who won that election, again?

But back to the “question” of patriotism.

For simpletons like Inhofe, who just has to have enough brain power to hold his hand out when Big Oil is passing out money, patriotism is measured with bombs, flag-waving and lapel pins. Caring about your fellow Americans enough to work at low pay for their rights and needs — that’ll get you nothing but sarcastic derision as a wastrel. Obviously, Republicans believe if you aren’t using the public treasury to steal from the poor to give to the rich, you just don’t have a real job.

Oh, and by the way, if we’re gonna be the flag pin police, where the hell was McCain’s flag pin when he gave the most important speech of his life on Thursday?

It was nowhere to be seen — maybe he left it at one of his (Cindy’s really) seven houses, along whatever integrity he ever had before he fell to his knees before the evangelicals who have taken over his party. Without that symbol flashing on his chest for his big moment, I guess we are all free now “question” how much McCain really loves his country.

Of course, that’s not how rational, decent people think or operate. Just Republicans.

But I’m not playing coy with my take on Senator Jim Inhofe; I’m saying flat out he’s a lying, corrupt, moronic, and mean-spirited snake. Flat out, no questions about it.

Update: This story in TW got front-paged at Daily Kos and is generating lots of donations to Andrew Rice’s campaign and the Orange to Blue ActBlue page. Yay! The more money Rice has, the more he can get himself known across the state; and the more he is known, the closer the race gets. Andrew went from 19% to 41% in the last poll, and Inhofe is having to hustle to save his job. So, please, Jim, say some more vile things about Obama we can use for fundraisers. C’mon, you know you want to.

Update II: Holy cow, that DK post is causing a flood — of $$$ for Andrew. SusanG reports:

You guys are AWESOME. In two-and-half hours, 117 of you donated for more than $4,300 … should we shoot for 150 by midnight Pacific Time? Let’s see if we can do it.

I hope to get a report from the campaign tomorrow (or Monday) about how much came in on their page.

Update III (and final?):

Final Update: Over the top! Way over the top … 220 contributors, for a total of $7,805. You guys are the best. What an awesome way to spend a Saturday night, kicking some donkey, eh?

Update IV: Yet more donations reported.

Major kudos to the Daily Kos community! Responding to last night’s call to make sure there was hell to pay for James Inhofe questioning Barack Obama’s patriotism, the community raised $10,797 for Inhofe’s progressive challenger Andrew Rice.

Update V: Just found this at Media Matters

Tulsa World reported Inhofe’s smears of Obama’s patriotism without rebutting purported evidence

Summary: A Tulsa World article uncritically quoted Sen. James Inhofe stating, “I am not questioning Sen. [Barack] Obama’s patriotism, but you have to question why at times he seems so obviously opposed to public displays of patriotism and national pride, like wearing an American flag lapel pin.” The article failed to note that Obama is not “opposed” to “wearing an American flag lapel pin” or that Sen. John McCain reportedly said he doesn’t wear a flag lapel pin on a daily basis.

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