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TOM RIDGE'S ROBO-CALL AND FIFTH COLUMN CONSPIRACIES.
This post has been corrected.
Via HuffPo, Tom Ridge, the McCain-Palin campaign's national co-chair, is narrating robocalls that warn, in part, that "If the Democrats win complete control of government they will want to give traditional civil rights to terrorists and talk unconditionally to dictators and state sponsors of terror." That's the same Tom Ridge who presided over the Department of Homeland Security turning into a boondoggle for his lobbyist friends and their clients. Because he cares about keeping you safe from terrorists.
Ridge's claim is straight out the playbook of the National Republican Trust PAC, which has been fundraising through e-mail blasts to Newsmax, Townhall and other conservative outlets still hyping fact-free tales of Obama's Muslim ties and terrorist sympathies. Just yesterday, the National Republican Trust PAC was touting its new ad about "Obama's dirty little secret." Following on the heels of the PAC's first ad, which charged that Obama wanted to give drivers' licenses to terrorists, the new "dirty little secret" is "his radical plan to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits and Medicaid, full healthcare coverage."
How many ways can we count the scariness? A black Muslim socialist turning terrorists into welfare queens!
This isn't Ridge's only public foray into scaring Americans about secret terrorist plots. Along with McCain surrogates Rudy Giuliani and Joe Lieberman, Ridge appears in the new "documentary" The Third Jihad: Radical Islam's Vision for America, which was produced by the same outfit that produced the controversial DVD Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West. Obsession, which has been roundly condemned by Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and media watchdog groups, has been distributed to voters in battleground states through newspaper inserts, to evangelicals through Christian Zionist organizations, and to Jews through mailings from the Republican Jewish Coalition and other groups. Since its release in 2005, the "Obsession" DVD has been promoted in conservative blogs and media outlets, and the promoters claim to have distributed 28 million copies through an aggressive campaign launched last month.
The Third Jihad maintains that a fifth column of Muslims aim to institute sharia law in the United States. The DVD hasn't been released yet, but excerpts are available at the film's web site. One of the first times I heard about it was at the Values Voters Summit, when Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy recommended it to a roomful of evangelical activists.
Last week, Gaffney took to the pages of Israelinsider.com, which is owned by Reuven Koret and frequently reprints articles from the American Thinker site, which has been singlehandedly responsible for some of the worst smears against Obama, including reporter Ed Lasky's that Obama is Muslim and Koret's own that Obama does not have a U.S. birth certificate. Gaffney wrote in a piece entitled "The Jihadist Candidate" that the Obama campaign had a "dalliance with Islamists - those who embrace Islam's repressive theo-political-legal code known as Shariah and who are working for its triumph in the West in general and the United States in particular. The episode is but the latest indication that the Democratic candidate hopes to win the White House by relying, in part, on the Jihadist vote."
It doesn't take a lot of dot-connection to see a campaign to terrify people that a religious group representing less than one percent of the U.S. population is about to take over the country with its own religious laws, all the while claiming that the man who may be our next president is secretly in league with this supposed conspiracy.
The Third Jihad DVD is hitting the streets on Oct 29 -- and if its producers promote it like they promoted Obsession, they will keep this fifth column conspiracy theory in circulation for years.
--Sarah Posner
Correction: The American Thinkner is not owned by Reuven Koret, as this post originally stated.
Update: The American Thinker protests this post on two fronts: first, that I claimed that The American Thinker was engaged in a fifth column conspiracy. I did not assert that The American Thinker is part of any fifth column conspiracy; rather, I was discussing a film that suggests there is a fifth column of Muslims which aims to institute sharia law in the United States. In addition to discussing the film, I highlighted other allegations and innuendo that Obama is a terrorist sympathizer, a "pal" of terrorists, or otherwise "anti-American."
Second, The American Thinker further protests that Lasky has never written that Obama is a Muslim. I stand corrected on that; he's never written that Obama is Muslim, but has his advisors of being anti-Israel, has written that his Muslim outreach staff meets with terrorist supporters, and that he has "a range of foreign policy advisers who have been criticized for views that all too often seem accommodating to terrorists and regimes that support terror."
COMMENTS (12)
You think you're so above these "racist right-wingers and their conspiracy theories". The Islamists in London are right now discussing whether or not to issue a fatwa that all gays should be executed. That discussion is IN LONDON! What makes you think the same Islamists don't have their people and their eye in and on the USA? According to Islam, Barack Obama is a Muslim because he was born to a Muslim father and was later legally adopted by a Muslim step-father. Once a Muslim, always a Muslim, or have you not heard of the Islamic apostate law? Regarding Obama's birth certificate, there are lawsuits related to his eligibility to run for POTUS in 8 states. That issue has not been settled yet, even if the MSM, the FEC, and others have deliberately ignored it for months. Wake up and smell the incense, Islam is coming to the USA in full force and it will take root here as it has already done in Europe. And if you think that's fine, then you don't understand Islam at all. Once Islam takes root, it grows and grows to a point where only civil war can eradicate it like the disease that it is. You American intellectuals will only understand Islam when its foot is on your neck and its sword is above your head. I came from Iraq so I know a little about Islam. It makes me cry when I think what this country will look like for my children and their children.
Posted by: Raman Mikhael | October 24, 2008 6:15 PM
We (i.e., the liberal fifth columnists) haven't even been able to get America on the metric system - two liter soda bottles excepted - and now we're somehow expected to impose sharia too?
Posted by: Tim | October 25, 2008 9:02 AM
The poster above seems to be worried abvout what he calls 'islamists' and what they plan to do to gays. What have 'The Jews' been doing to the world. Anyone remember Lebanon? How many bombs fell on innocent Arabs at the hands of Jews. The term 'terrorist' is meant to apply only to Muslims.
Jews spent over 500 million dollars packaging and distributing the hate-Islam dvd 'obsession'. they were not just throwing away their money, it was an investment towards reducing Iran to ruin just like the did to Iraq. Iran is the only nation on the Planet that stands in the way of Jewry's total domination. they figured Mcain would be willing and ready to rain bombs on Iran.
http://obsessedwithhate.blogspot.com
Posted by: sophie | October 25, 2008 9:15 AM
Wow! In the letters above we get both islamophobic hysterics and israelophobic hysterics. Each one claiming that giving in to the other in the smallest way will start an inevitable slide down the slippery slope of terrorist victory over America and everything good.
Each cites the terrorist acts of the other to predict the doom of democracy -- our fatal flaw being that we actually practice it, while they practice only terrorism.
But it's not that simple, we're not that stupid, and neither the Muslims nor the Israelis are evil.
Yes, some of the things a few of their followers or governments do are quite bad, but none of them will destroy America. Only WE can destroy America by giving in to hysteria, by condemning an entire people as evil, by pre-emptively bombing their civilian populations (and calling it collateral damage).
The distribution of these DVDs ("Obsession" and "3rd JIhad") in our newspapers amount to the largest propaganda effort (aside from our own elections) in our history. They hope to incite us into a pre-emptive attack on the people of Iran. The time to write to your newspaper and ask them not to distribute "3rd Jihad" is now, before they do it.
What kind of a community newspaper sets neighbor against neighbor in hopes of a war? One that does not care about community at all!
Posted by: =Eric | October 26, 2008 2:20 PM
Wow! In the letters above we get both islamophobic hysterics and israelophobic hysterics. Each one claiming that giving in to the other in the smallest way will start an inevitable slide down the slippery slope of terrorist victory over America and everything good.
Each cites the terrorist acts of the other to predict the doom of democracy -- our fatal flaw being that we actually practice it, while they practice only terrorism.
But it's not that simple, we're not that stupid, and neither the Muslims nor the Israelis are evil.
Yes, some of the things a few of their followers or governments do are quite bad, but none of them will destroy America. Only WE can destroy America by giving in to hysteria, by condemning an entire people as evil, by pre-emptively bombing their civilian populations (and calling it collateral damage).
The distribution of these DVDs ("Obsession" and "3rd JIhad") in our newspapers amount to the largest propaganda effort (aside from our own elections) in our history. They hope to incite us into a pre-emptive attack on the people of Iran. The time to write to your newspaper and ask them not to distribute "3rd Jihad" is now, before they do it.
What kind of a community newspaper sets neighbor against neighbor in hopes of a war? One that does not care about community at all!
Posted by: Eric Bagai | October 26, 2008 2:22 PM
Sarah Posner and The American Prospect have published a libelous falsehood about the ownership or control of American Thinker. Reuven Koret has no relationship with American Thinker. Now and in the past. Ms. Posner has simply made up a falsehood and spun a reckless and defamatory conspiracy theory.
Apparently nobody at TAP is responding to our email and phone call, so this will have to suffice for the moment as official notice and demand for a prominent retraction and apology.
"Liberal Intelligence" appears to have reached a new low of stupidity and recklessness.
Thomas Lifson, PhD
Editor and publisher
American Thinker
Posted by: Thomas Lifson | October 26, 2008 5:22 PM
On the subject of libel Ms Posner and The American Prospect have repeatedly engaged in the most ludicrous and hateful smears against the American people and against the human race in toto. What their motives might be one can only speculate but the criminality of their many libelous statements is irrefutable. The human race demands the immediate dismissal of the suspected perpetrators from their positions to be followed by their trial in and punishment by a court of law.
Sincerely,
The Much Abused Human Race
Posted by: The Much Abused Human Race | October 27, 2008 1:35 AM
This blog post is pure crap.
Visit the link that I have included for the truth (it will be a nice change of pace from garbage like this).
Posted by: Tim Goebel | October 27, 2008 11:20 AM
"Jews spent over 500 million dollars packaging and distributing the hate-Islam dvd 'obsession'."
Wow indeed! Although I agree with "=Eric" that one of the comments is Israelphobic (see above) I disagree about Islamophobic. The first commenter carefully said "Islamist" not "Islamic" -- and points out a specific illiberal aspect of it.
I don't want to dignify sophie's BS, but because I have heard others call Obsession "hate speech" and because I have worked with those involved I want to quote the disclaimer from the beginning of the movie:
"This is a film about Radical Islamic terror. A dangerous ideology, fueled by religious hatred. It's important to remember, most Muslims are peaceful and do not support terror. This is not a film about them. This is a film about a radical worldview, and the threat it poses to us all, Muslim and non-Muslim alike."
Does that sound like a "hate-Islam" documentary to you?
Posted by: Chris Helgerson | October 27, 2008 11:28 AM
I suggest Mr. Lifson over at The American Thinker file a libel lawsuit against you.
After all, that is what you loony liberals do when someone says something you don't like whether it is true or not. Gotta keep your leftwing lawyer's pockets full now don't we?
Secondly, it isn't difficult to realize Obama is fond of and has associated himself with his entire life anyone who hates America, hates whites, and loves to use the Saul Alinksy tactics he learned so well against anyone who opposes him.
Posted by: Elaine | October 27, 2008 1:36 PM
It's funny.
Pretending John McCain is George Bush (by association) in an effort to denigrate the former using mostly lies about the latter is somehow acceptable in the eyes of liberals. But using known facts to illustrate Obama's clear, documented associations with terrorists like Khalidi and Ayers is somehow off limits.
Simply astounding. I now understand "Liberal Intelligence": another oxymoron.
I can't even begin to imagine why anyone left of John McCain would have a problem with "Obsession" or "The Third Jihad" - assuming they've actually SEEN them.
Why? Because they draw public attention AWAY from the only real Fifth Column we face today - that is the movement supporting Barack Obama's plan to implement marxist-socialist policies in America, starting with legislation that will Spread The Wealth Around, and moving on from there.
Obama's sympathy for terrorism is well-documented through the years he spent supporting, working with, being supported by and providing funding kickbacks to marxist-terrorist Bill Ayers and his cohort - all long after "he was 8".
Che didn't call it "terrorism". He called it "Revolution". He called it "Change".
Posted by: goy | October 27, 2008 1:42 PM
Yes, both DVDs have disclaimers that claim what they show (again and again, in dozens of different ways) does not represent all Muslims.
This is like what Bush and Cheney and Rice and Rummy did in saying that of course they knew that Iraqis didn't cause 9/11, and then proceeded to imply exactly that until the message was hammered home. Why do you think most Americans came to believe that Sadam was behind 9/11?
New enemy, same tactic. Same lies, same reason to kill and kill and kill more innocent people in a brand new country.
Posted by: =Eric | October 27, 2008 11:31 PM