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Mediamatters.Org - A May 22 Politico
article stated -- of an "e-mail
campaign" against Sen. Barack Obama that, in Politico's
words, "began as a
demonstrably false attempt to cast Obama as a Muslim" and "spiraled
into a broader assault that questions his patriotism and citizenship and
generally portrays him as a threat to mainstream, white America" -- that Obama is "drawing
the campaign into partisan combat, blaming Republicans for the smears even
though they have not been traced back to GOP sources." The article went
on to quote Obama: "The Republicans, they're trying to make [it]
'this is not about you; it's about me.' They're trying
to say, 'Well, Obama, we don't know him that well, he hasn't
been around that long, he's got a funny name; maybe he's a
Muslim.' " But contrary to the assertion in the article, by Politico senior political writers Ben Smith
and Jonathan Martin, that the smears "have not been traced back to GOP
sources," there have been numerous instances of Republicans, including on
Sen. John McCain's
own staff, promulgating or promoting these smears.
A February 25 press release by the
Tennessee Republican Party, titled "Anti-Semites for Obama," stated
that Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan "likened Obama to a new
messiah" and "compared Obama to the founder of Islam, remarking
that both had a white mother and black father, according to the Associated
Press." The release originally included an image of Obama dressed in Somali clothing during a
2006 visit to northeast Kenya
and described the photo as Obama "dressed in Muslim clothing during a
2006 trip to Africa." In fact, Yusuf
Garaad Omar, head of the BBC's Somali Service, said of the clothing: "There is no
religious significance to it whatsoever. It is mainly the nomadic people who
use it. Some of them are religious, some are not." As Media Matters for America documented, while The Washington Post
reported that McCain
condemned the press release, he later touted the endorsement of
the Tennessee GOP chairman, who was quoted attacking Obama in the press
release.
In April, the North Carolina
Republican Party released a controversial advertisement titled
"Extreme" that featured video of Obama's former pastor, Rev.
Jeremiah Wright Jr., and stated that Obama "is just too extreme for North Carolina." Media Matters documented that on April 23, MSNBC,
Fox News, and CNN aired the ad or parts of the ad at least 22 times combined, in most cases also noting that McCain denounced
it. Yet
several pundits pointed out that airing the ad benefited McCain. For example, on the April 23
edition of The
Situation Room, correspondent Brian Todd aired a quote
from Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at
the University of
Virginia: "It's
win-win for McCain. McCain looks like a saint in denouncing the negative
advertising, but he also ensures now that the media, the news media, will run
that ad repeatedly for free. So the message of the ad will get out." CNN
aired the advertisement at least three more times after Todd's report on the 4
p.m. ET hour of The
Situation Room.
Dan Savage, columnist for Seattle's Stranger newspaper documented on January
21 that at the time, the Clark County, Washington, Republican Party
website's "News" section featured an article headlined
"Who is Barack Obama? Democrate [sic] Candidate for U.S. President," which
said:
Barack
Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay
his Muslim background.
It is reported that
Obama swore his oath of office using the Koran and pictures have shown him
standing for the Pledge but not reciting it and holding his hands to his side
while others place their hands over their hearts.
This is chilling
information about a candidate for the highest office in the Country especially
given the radical Muslim claims that they will destroy American from "the
inside".
On
January 22, the Clark County GOP removed the article from its site, stating that its "information was
not properly researched and was found to have some factual errors and some
exaggerations." The same day, MSNBC Countdown
host Keith Olbermann awarded the Clark
County GOP "runners up" in his nightly "Worst Person in the
World" segment, stating that the group was "nice enough to more or
less transcribe that hate e-mail going around about Senator Barack
Obama."
Politico's Martin himself reported that on March
14 the McCain campaign "included an op-ed from the WSJ [Wall Street Journal] written by Ron
Kessler about Obama's pastor today in its morning clips." As Media Matters documented, the op-ed by Newsmax.com
chief Washington correspondent Ronald Kessler stated that "Obama's close
association with" Wright "raises legitimate questions
about Mr. Obama's fundamental beliefs about his country," which
"deserve a clearer answer than Mr. Obama has provided so far." Subsequently, McCain's campaign reportedly said it sent
the op-ed "in error."
Martin also reported on March 20
that "[a]n aide to John McCain was suspended from the campaign today for
blasting out an inflammatory video that raises questions about Barack Obama's
patriotism," as Media Matters
documented. Martin wrote that the
staffer, "who works in McCain's political department, sent out the YouTube
link of 'Is Obama Wright?' on twitter at 12:31 today with the tag, 'Good video
on Obama and Wright' " and that the video "includes images of
Malcolm X, black Olympians raising their hands in the black power salute and
the rap song 'Fight the Power.' "
TPM Media editor and publisher Josh Marshall noted that on the February 22
edition of HBO's Real
Time with Bill Maher, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) also raised the issue of Obama's patriotism,
saying that Obama "won't put an American flag lapel pin on his coat"
and falsely claiming that Obama "would
not say the Pledge of Allegiance." Kingston
went on to ask where Obama "stand[s] on America."
Media Matters documented that in comments made to a
Spencer, Iowa, radio station and published in a March 8 Spencer Daily Reporter
article, Rep. Steve
King (R-IA) stated: "I will tell you that, if [Obama] is elected
president, then the radical Islamists, the al-Qaida, the radical Islamists and
their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they
did on September 11 because they will declare victory in this War on
Terror." The article continued:
King thinks radical
Islamists will say the United
States has capitulated because the Obama
administration would be pulling troops out of any conflict associated with
al-Qaida.
"Additionally, his
middle name (Hussein) does matter," King said. "It matters because
they read a meaning into that in the rest of the world. That has a special
meaning to them. They will be dancing in the streets because of his middle
name. They will be dancing in the streets because of who his father was and
because of his posture that says: Pull out of the Middle
East and pull out of this conflict."
From the May 22 Politico article:
What began as a demonstrably false attempt to cast Obama as a
Muslim has now metastasized into something far more threatening to the likely
Democratic nominee. The spurious claims about his faith have spiraled into a
broader assault that questions his patriotism and citizenship and generally
portrays him as a threat to mainstream, white America.
The spread
of these e-mails has forced Obama to embark on a campaign to Americanize his
image and his biography. Pivoting away from his pitch to a primary election
audience uninterested in flag-waving and nationalism, he's returning to
the message that first brought him to the national spotlight in 2004: the idea
that his is the quintessential American story.
He's also drawing the campaign into partisan combat,
blaming Republicans for the smears even though they have not been traced back
to GOP sources. "The Republicans, they're trying to make [it]
'this is not about you; it's about me.' They're trying
to say, 'Well, Obama, we don't know him that well, he hasn't
been around that long, he's got a funny name; maybe he's a
Muslim,'" Obama said Monday in Montana. "They want to make people
worry about me."
Ironically,
the smear campaign represents the dark side of the Internet's emerging
dominance in American politics -- a phenomenon that has driven
Obama's unparalleled grass-roots and financial campaigns. After harnessing
the Web to great advantage, Obama is now struggling to beat back the viral
threat from the same uncontrollable medium.Media Matters - Ignoring Tennessee GOP and McCain staffers, Politico claimed "smears" against Obama "have not been traced back to GOP sources" {...} The Politico stated that Sen. Barack Obama is "blaming Republicans for the smears" about his religion, patriotism, and citizenship "even though they have not been traced back to GOP sources." In fact, there have been numerous instances in which Republicans, including on Sen. John McCain's own staff, have promulgated or promoted these smears, some of which the Politico itself reported on. {...} Published: May 23, 2008, 1:09 am - Indexed: May 24, 2008, 11:24 am - Page Size: 25KB |