A CNN report appeared last night on Anderson ‘s news show that seemed a reasonably fair portrait of hunkered-down rural-American attitudes when it comes to beliefs about Barack Obama having been raised a Muslim and/or being a Muslim. Among 50ish and 60ish types, I mean to say. There’s no permalink or embedded code — go to http://www.cnn.com/video/ and then find the report titled “Rumors Stick on Obama’s Faith.”

Reporter Gary Tuchman went to Copperhill, Tennessee, and asked around. He found only one guy who believed Obama is a Christian; everyone else he spoke to believed Obama can’t be rusted and that his interests will be divided between America’s and his Muslim brothers “if he gets in.” Ignorance is not a virus — it’s a choice. You could even call it a kind of faith. Here’s an mp3 of the report.
One beef with Tuchman: when he hears the locals spout their little fairy tales about Obama’s Muslim allegiance, he responds with “but he says that’s not true…he says he’s a Christian.” And the locals go, “Yeah, well…politicians will say anything to get elected.” Obama isn’t saying he’s a Christian — he is one, over and out. Tuchman’s retort is from the same gene pool as Hillary Clinton‘s “he’s not a Muslim as far as I know” line.
When 60 Minutes‘ Steve Kroft heard a group of southern Ohio dumbasses repeat the same beliefs, he said, “It’s not true” — no ifs, and, buts or “he says.”

Tuchman quotes a Newsweek poll, 25% of Americans believe that Obama was born a Muslim, and 12% believe he’s currently a devout Muslim.