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YOU MAKE A VERY ADULTEROUS POINT.
Last week, Chris Hayes had a great story in the Nation about the phenomenon of the right wing email forward, and how this new form of "folk media" serves to keep various rumors and urban legends alive. One of the most notorious of these is the notion that Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim extremist who plans to throw a burkha over the Statue of Liberty and institute shari'a law after taking his oath of office on the Qur'an while munching on falafel, or something. Today, the Washington Post demonstrates how "respectable" news outlets keep these rumors moving in the media bloodstream:
"Since declaring his candidacy for president in February, Obama, a member of a congregation of the United Church of Christ in Chicago, has had to address assertions that he is a Muslim or that he had received training in Islam in Indonesia, where he lived from ages 6 to 10. While his father was an atheist and his mother did not practice religion, Obama's stepfather did occasionally attend services at a mosque there.
Despite his denials, rumors and e-mails circulating on the Internet continue to allege that Obama (D-Ill.) is a Muslim, a "Muslim plant" in a conspiracy against America, and that, if elected president, he would take the oath of office using a Koran, rather than a Bible, as did Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the only Muslim in Congress, when he was sworn in earlier this year."
We are then treated to a clown parade of right-wing operatives, pseudo-scholars, Limbaughs, and Savages, who continue to float these stories like so much stale gas. At no point in the article is there any indication that these rumors, which are nothing more than lies designed to stoke base cultural prejudices, have been exhaustively investigated and disproven. Astonishingly, the article even references an email rumor featured on Snopes.com without bothering to mention that Snopes then debunks the rumor.
Of course, we also get the requisite denials from Obama's defenders, all of which creates (and is designed to create) the impression that there is "controversy" where there is only gossip, "questions" where there is only innuendo.
Stay classy, Post.
--Matthew Duss
COMMENTS (11)
"Of course it ain't true, but we'll make the son of a bitch deny it."
Posted by: Lyndon Johnson | November 29, 2007 11:17 AM
The blood libel against Jews is still bruited about by all sorts of crackpots, so why don't we have "he said/she said/they said" stories about this - enquiring minds would like to know
Posted by: derek | November 29, 2007 12:57 PM
Here is a place to actually fact check the smear!
Please click: http://www.barackobama.com/factcheck/2007/11/12/obama_is_a_committed_christian.php
Posted by: Wayne | November 29, 2007 2:37 PM
Why do you assume that those circulating these e-mails are right-wingers? It seems much more likely to me that they are coming from supporters of one of Obama's opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination. I have never heard Rush say anything about Obama being a Muslim and would like to see some documentation on this. Absent such proof, this comment cannot be considered anything but a smear.
Posted by: Bruce Bartlett | November 29, 2007 4:56 PM
If I had to guess I would think HillBill
s campaign had a very bad week, the Post obviously wants her to face the regugs so she can lose. I think it is pretty plain someone wanted to take Sen.Obama down a peg or two. Shame on the post!! And on the fron page too!Awful.
Posted by: S. Stewart | November 29, 2007 5:24 PM
If I had to guess I would think HillBill
s campaign had a very bad week, the Post obviously wants her to face the regugs so she can lose. I think it is pretty plain someone wanted to take Sen.Obama down a peg or two. Shame on the post!! And on the fron page too!Awful.
Posted by: S. Stewart | November 29, 2007 5:25 PM
I read the article and did not see anything wrong with it. The fact is that mainstream media, has at is goal to obtain the Democratic nomination, for Obama and look at him thru rose colored glasses. It is laughable when they write that Obama is more of a unifier than Hillary. This article shows that there is still plenty of bigotry in this country and that an Obama candidacy will tear this this country apart.. A madrassa is a Moslem school therefore it is very likely that Obama did attend a madrassa when he lived in Indonesia. Also the writer did not describe the church that Obama now belongs to. The Trinity United Church of Christ which is a militant black church whose minister Jeremiah Wright is so controversial that Obama had to disinvite him to his presidential annoucement.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 30, 2007 2:30 AM
i am no economist but i think Dean is right. a country with the resources of the United States has no business going into a Depression where people don't have enough to eat or a place to live.
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