McCain Web Ad Is Accused Of Linking Obama to Antichrist

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Wall Street Journal

An Internet ad launched last week by the McCain presidential campaign has attracted more than one million hits by appearing to mock Barack Obama for presenting himself as a kind of prophetic figure. The ad has also generated criticism from Democrats and religious scholars who see a hidden message linking Sen. Obama to the apocalyptic Biblical figure of the antichrist....

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The ad has provoked a growing debate on the Internet over whether it is playing with apocalyptic themes. Those ideas are chiefly shared by fundamentalist Protestants and some other evangelical Christians. Among their expectations: the ascension of a false prophet, a one-world government and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Critiques of the ad started surfacing earlier this week when Eric Sapp, a Democratic operative, circulated the first of two memos pointing out images that he believed linked Sen. Obama to the antichrist. "Short of 666, they used every single symbol of the antichrist in this ad," said Mr. Sapp, who advises Democrats on reaching out to faith communities. "There are way too many things to just be coincidence."...

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In some swing states with concentrated pockets of fundamentalists and evangelical Christians, like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Virginia, the ads could have particular impact. Suggestions that Sen. Obama is the antichrist have been circulating for months in Bible-study meetings in towns like Chillicothe, Ohio, where congregants compare his remarks and his biography with verses from the Bible.

Stewart Hoover, director of the Center for Media, Religion and Culture at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said the references to the antichrist in the McCain ad were "not all that subtle" for anyone familiar with "apocalyptic popular culture." Some images in the ad very closely resemble the cover art and type font used in the latest "Left Behind" novel. The title of the ad, "The One," also echoes the series; the antichrist figure in the books, Nicolae Carpathia, sets up "the One World Religion."...

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121816422728523227.html

[Patchuli]

1. I sent it to my pastor with a complaint

and a request that he and other pastors complain to McCrazy's campaign. That was the most irresponsible piece of propaganda trash yet out of McCain. Enough is enough!

[dubyaD40web]

2. These bastards will stop at nothing.

I don't think even ROVE would pull something like this.

Time to hit them in the mouth Obama!

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Excellent idea! nt

[C_U_L8R]

3. but don't the fundies want to bring on the anti-christ?

[pnwmom]

8. They don't want to vote for him, in an election. They want to be one of the

special people who were not duped.

And only the very most hardcore actually want to bring on the end of the world.

[Tempest]

5. Only religious people who don't know the Book of Revelation would believe this

The book says the anti-Christ will rise from the ruins of the Roman empire.

That rules out the U.S.

[pnwmom]

9. Millions of Americans fit that definition. n/t

[davidnc76]

18. Or mentally unstable nutcases

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

6. duh

I wondered when this was going to come out.


Obama I'm sure caught the drift of this right away.

Too bad the MSM never called McCain on it. After McCain sold his integrity to get votes from the CR by cozying up to Falwell we should have expected something like this.

[Stuart G]

7. Thom Hartmann discussed this at length after the ad appeard

He was sure that this is what they were trying to do. And boy was he mad. My guess is you can get more at his programs website..

http://www.thomhartmann.com/index.php?option=com_frontp...

[wishlist]

10. A right wing email claiming Obama could be the Antichrist already went out

I have a fundy sister in law who sent me several Repub fearmongering emails which I just ignored until I got the ridiculous one linking Obama with the Antichrist (using falsehoods) and urging readers to not vote for him in case he is the Antichrist. Needless to say I sent her a harsh email back refuting and condemning the irresponsible illogical email and pointing out how the Repubs have only fear tactics since they have been such a failure in the White House. I requested she stop sending us emails, and she has complied. The right wing Antichrist email made the rounds to the fundies about 2 months ago in June.

[Quantess]

11. Can't she see that the Antichrist is in office right now?

I say that tongue-in-cheek, because I'm not religious.
But, Bush is evil!

[Posteritatis]

12. That this is an issue still depresses the crap out of me

Every major Democratic figure - hell, every major liberal figure - I can think of since I started paying attention seems to go through this period of being considered the Antichrist by religious types, and not even necessarily far-right ones a lot of the time. When I first started noticing such things everyone was suggesting that Clinton - or Kofi Annan - was actually the Antichrist, and it was the Pope during Bush's presidency (until 2004 when it was Kerry). It bothers the hell out of me that this seems to be a standard trope in US politics, and I feel pity for the people who keep thinking anyone left of Reagan has to literally be purest evil.

[wpelb]

13. So what? The ad was probably appealing to fundamentalists

Most of them are going to vote the Republican ticket anyway. A lot of them may sit out this election because they think (I know, you can make an argument that that's an oxymoron, but I digress) Sen. McCain's too liberal, but they're sure as heck not likely to vote for Sen. Obama, irrespective of what this ad may say. If the ad was doing what its critics suggest, then, it would appear that the McCain campaign has probably wasted a lot of money.

[Pharlo]

14. The question I have is

instead of complaining about the McCain campaign projecting Obama as the Anti-Christ, why don't the dems counter with a 'McCain as the Anti-Christ' campaign and let the wing nuts decide for themselves which one is the REAL anti-Christ?

Whining about it in a letter to someone, and releasing it to the media, is going to do nothing but give this rumor free publicity. And people will associate 'Obama' with 'Anti-Christ'.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

16. There is this...

[scarface2004]

15. if obama is in fact the anti christ..

then that s another reason i will vote for him. so what s the problem?!?!

[EvilAL]

17. If he is

voting won't have a thing to do with it. He's the fuckin antichrist. Vote all ya want, he's still gonna win and destroy us all. Why do they bother to say that by voting against Obama will change God's plan?