McCain Told Her Obama Is Not An 'Arab' -- But She Is Not Buying It

Last night we posted text and video of the much-praised (by the media) moment at a John McCain town hall where he corrected a woman who told him that Obama was an "Arab," and got booed by some in the bargain. It turns out that she is holding her ground. The Star Tribune of Minneapolis followed up today noting: "After the rally, [Gayle] Quinnell was unrepentant. 'You can't trust Barack Hussein Obama because he is a Muslim and a terrorist,' she said." It also turns out that she had actually said "Arab terrorist" but the second word was not picked up by the mike as McCain was grabbing it. Talking Points Memo has a video of Quinnell talking to an interviewer (see below), and summarizes the chat this way:  "She got the idea from a pamphlet she got not from the McCain campaign but from a fellow volunteer at the local McCain headquarters, where she's a volunteer. She's been sending the pamphlet to people in her area. And she thinks that McCain really knows that Obama's Arab but didn't want to get into it with her on camera."

Comments

[ArchiesBoy]

When someone believes what they need/want to believe, there's just no knocking it out of their heads -- especially people who don't want to -- or can't -- actually THINK.

[ArchiesBoy]

When someone believes what they need/want to believe, there's just no knocking it out of their heads -- especially people who don't want to -- or can't -- actually THINK.

[Lucy Sommer]

Is this woman just plain stupid or is she just Palin stupid?????

[cg]

@ArchiesBoy - she is both.

Another shining example of complete ignorance.

Yes, we all know that "Arab terrorists" frequently masquerade as U.S. Senators. Why do good people die young and stupid people like this live to ripe old age?

[Gerald Tinnon]

I am so sick of these kinds of comments. It makes our country look so bad. I believe in my country and I believe in Barack Obama. This hate has to stop.

[CarolO]

The McCain has been putting this crap in their heads for months and thinks one comment from him will now erase it?

I am a 65 year old white woman and have voted in every election since I was of age to do so. I have seen some rotten campaigns in my time but McCain's campaign has taken on a whole new meaning of hatefulness.

People in this country are known to be a people that come together during bad times. We have this economic crisis, the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan to worry about. We have nuclear weapons being harvested and the price of gas out of sight. We have hundreds of people being thrown out of their homes, vehicles repossessed, business shutting down or moving oversea's.

And now we have the McCain/Palin ticket running the nastiest, fear-mongoring, lying and working their crowds into pitbull frenzies. This is totally disgraceful and I will never look at John McCain the same again. I feel only distain for him.

[Hopeful]

I can't decide. Is this "you can't teach old dogs new tricks" or "no fool like an old fool"? And yes. At my age I can admit that a lot of my contemporaries have not advanced much since the great Dr Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech. I have only three kids and five grandkids, but we are all much more enlighted than this poor woman.

[Jayne - Boca Raton, Fl]

It never fails to amaze me how many truly ignorant people we have in this country! The U.S. - this isn't a third world country where they teach this crap in schools. There are people who only believe the 30 second commercials because that is their attention span!!

America will be SO lucky if Barack Obama becomes President. This brilliant man could have done anything with his life - made millions and never had to sacrifice his life for this country, half which doesn't get what an amazing person he is! The fact that he understood that he could change politics so that the PEOPLE get their government back - we're so lucky. If he hadn't entered the race, we'd be all business as usual with the special interests continuing their stranglehold on our government. I hate to say it because it saddens me, but if Obama were all white (he IS half white remember) he'd be 20 points ahead!

[Jayne - Boca Raton, Fl]

It never fails to amaze me how many truly ignorant people we have in this country! The U.S. - this isn't a third world country where they teach this crap in schools. There are people who only believe the 30 second commercials because that is their attention span!!

America will be SO lucky if Barack Obama becomes President. This brilliant man could have done anything with his life - made millions and never had to sacrifice his life for this country, half which doesn't get what an amazing person he is! The fact that he understood that he could change politics so that the PEOPLE get their government back - we're so lucky. If he hadn't entered the race, we'd be all business as usual with the special interests continuing their stranglehold on our government. I hate to say it because it saddens me, but if Obama were all white (he IS half white remember) he'd be 20 points ahead!

[suzanne]

what a piece of trailer trash she is! And the scary part is she reproduced.

It's disgusting that people like this have a chance to vote.

[Bastage]

"But he's still got muslim in him!"

Wow, just wow.

It's only a matter of time before we have a porn megastar, 5-time World Smackdown Champion, Dwayne Ellizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho for president. (see the movie: Idiocracy)

People like me who want to make sure their kids are afforded all of the opportunities possible have one or two kids. This lady has five kids, and if they believe what she's saying, they're five of the dumbest kids ever.

[Rhonda]

Come on!! She probably has German in her!! Didn't German's do bad things long ago?? Yes, he has a LOT of backgrounds...don't we all? She is stuck on something and can't get off of it. I have 'letters' too. Where the letters from Obama's mother, grandmother, grandfatehr? Come on please. She's not buying it?? Well, I'm not buying the mess she was saying!