Guilt by association

Can we stop this yet? It's so petty and irrelevant. I know people who've done some frightening, morally objectionable things, some of which might be illegal (IANAL), but those aren't my problems.

We know nobody's perfect; is it so hard to understand that one's friends and associations cannot be perfect either? Seriously, let's focus on the people we're actually voting for.

I've had enough of this "your friends and acquaintances and advisers and donors and endorsers have done worse things than my friends and acquaintances and advisers and donors and endorsers."

It's as if no one has heard of redemption, altering the course of one's life, or that flawed, less-than-perfect people are capable of offering material support to a good cause, or of offering sound advice that's worth listening to.

In a phone conversation earlier today, I was informed that Barack Obama is receiving more money from Muslims, whereas McCain gets a lot of his from Christian fundies. Omgz, it's Holy War!

Pssht. As if Republicans being perceived as the party of Christianist white male supremacy and Democrats being perceived as friendlier and more respectful of minority rights has nothing to do with it.

Oh, and did you know Barack Hussein Obama's father -- whom he met twice in his life -- comes from the "Muslim part" of Kenya, as opposed to, you know, the Christian part? It's so scary! Also, Obama went to a madrassa when he lived in Indonesia -- you know, what they call their Muslim schools, like those Catholic schools he also went to?

During his family's stay in Indonesia, the young Obama attended both Catholic and Muslim schools. But the Muslim schools he attended were no more "radical" than the Catholic ones. These were mainstream institutions, where children learned about religion, yes, but also basic subjects like reading and math. These schools were nothing like the madrassa that "educated" Afghanistan's Taliban, where students were taught a narrow interpretation of the Qur'an through rote repetition.

But it's a madrassa, they use the same Arabic word for "any type of school, college or university, whether secular or religious (of any religion)" for both things! Scary!!

How can we elect a President who uses the same words as the terrorists!?!

UPDATE: Yglesias notes some entries

UPDATE #2: Or perhaps guilt by guilt?