Hey, Obama: Fight the Smears
I wrote a special column today for the NYPost on how Barack Obama must do more to fight the smears — originating with members of his own team and extended family of slavering supporters — against Sarah Palin.
Megyn Kelly ripped a bumbling Us Weekly stooge here.
Erick Erickson of RedState has a suggestion: “We should encourage our readers to take the US Weekly magazines at their local grocery stores and stick them in the toilet paper section.” Hey, that’s an insult to the toilet paper.
Reader Kirk: “Why doesn’t the McCain camp ask Obama to return the money from the US Weekly owner?”
***
How Bam buds are smearing Sarah
by Michelle Malkin
Special to the NYPost
Copyright 2008
WHEN you point a finger, the old say ing goes, three fingers point back at you. When it comes to accusing his opponents of spreading vicious rumors, Barack Obama needs to pull back his finger and follow the other three.
Told of accusations that members of his team facilitated the avalanche of smears against GOP veep nominee Sarah Palin, he scoffed: “I am offended by that statement; there is no evidence at all that any of this involved us.” Obama insisted: “We don’t go after people’s families, we don’t get them involved in the politics. It is not appropriate and it is not relevant. Our people were not involved in any way in this and they will not be.”
Hmm. Depends on the meaning of “our people.” The new issue of Us Weekly hits newsstands Friday – hitting millions of readers with a smirk-attack on Gov. Palin, shown with her youngest son, Trig, in a photo plainly chosen to make her look weird.
The cover line: “BABIES, LIES & SCANDAL,” along with these juicy bullet-items:
“* Under attack, admits daughter, 17, is pregnant
“* Investigated for firing of sister’s ex-husband
“* Mom of five: New embarrassing surprises”
The story reads like a partisan hit job because, well, it is. Pimping the “report” to journalists at the Republican National Convention was Mark Neschis – a former Democrat flack turned corporate-communications chief for US Weekly’s owner, Wenner Media.
Wenner’s chief is Jann Wenner, a big-time Obama donor. In March, his flagship Rolling Stone ran a cover story dubbing Obama “The New Hope in the accompanying editorial, Wenner oozed: “We need to recover the spiritual and moral direction that should describe our country and ourselves.” In the July issue, he fawned over The Messiah’s “dazzling smile” in a seven-page sitdown interview. Rolling Stone put Obama’s face on the cover again over the summer. In June, Us Weekly ran a gushing cover story on Michelle and Barack Obama headlined, “Why Barack Loves Her.”
Obama could begin Wenner’s “spiritual and moral” recovery by condemning the use of gossip rags to wage partisan war on the Palin family.
And the Dem nominee can make good on his vow to fire smear-mongers by cutting loose one of his own people.
On Tuesday, much of the media – spurred by Obama supporters and left-wing blogs – falsely spread claims that Palin had been a member of the Alaskan Independence Party – many of whose members espouse secession. No state records exist of Palin’s membership in the party – and she’s been a registered Republican for more than a quarter-century. The New York Times had to retreat from its story on Palin’s “radical” ties, but the damage was done.
And Team Obama’s rumor-spreading wasn’t done yet. The Associated Press points to “Obama advisers and surrogates” who linked Palin this week to “conservative former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan.”
Mark Bubriski – Obama’s Florida spokesman – was one of those linkers. He sent an e-mail to the Miami Herald claiming: “Palin was a supporter of Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or as many Jews call him: a Nazi sympathizer.”
Wrong again. Palin attended a Buchanan visit to Alaska that year, but backed Steve Forbes’ White House run.
Offended yet, Barack?
To date, Bubriski has offered no apology and suffered no consequences. Meanwhile, MoveOn (which has endorsed Obama) has mass e-mailed the lie to thousands of activists.
Incensed at what it saw as unfair attacks on his character and family, the Obama campaign bought the domain name fightthesmears.com and launched an all-out effort in June to combat baseless rumors. But the site has been rather sleepy since its splashy debut.
To effect some change (and undo the damage done by his friends), maybe Obama would be willing to turn Fight the Smears over to Palin?
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Trackbacks
- Nobody asked me, but....
- US Weekly hit job coming to a check-out counter near you « The Political Page
- The National Organization for Liberal Women « The Dude’s Blog
- Palin rocks! And, the left panics, P.D.S. rages on, smears continue, etc., etc., etc. « Republican Party of Jefferson County, TN
- P.D.S. sufferers, there may be help for you, yet. (UPDATED) « Republican Party of Jefferson County, TN
- Fox News - Biden on Palin’s Speech, 4 Sept 2008Four Networks In (30) Thirty Minutes : BigMouthFrog
- A Different “9/11 Truth” « I Took The Red Pill (and escaped the Matrix)
- Michelle Malkin » Biden slanders a dead man, family grieves
- Blatant Anti-Palin Bias in the Liberal Media: A Collection « BUUUUURRRRNING HOT
- Michelle Malkin » Us Weekly now offering “five FREE issues” to outraged readers
- Blatant Anti-Palin Bias in the Liberal Media: A Collection (54 Cases) « BUUUUURRRRNING HOT
- McCain calls out Obama on a lie, Freddie Mac, and Hollywood «
- Michelle Malkin » Bloggers sniff out anti-Palin astroturf campaign– and the cover up begins
- Who do you think is behind the Palin Smears « Count Us Out
- Palin Smear Campaign Traced to Barry Obama
- Bloggers sniff out anti-Palin astroturf campaign– and the cover up begins | Right Voices
- Political Party Poop
- Anti-Palin Astroturfers, You Just Got Dominated « What The Crap? - whatthecrap.us
- Bloggers sniff out anti-Palin astroturf campaign - Southern Maryland Community Forums
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ITookTheRedPill, I appreciate your passion for opposing an Obama presidency, but you’re a bit off the original topic of this thread. Continuously calling people out to debate your topic (and not the hostess’s posted topic) could fall under the definition of trolling as well.
The topic is fight the smears.
If what I have said is smears and not the TRUTH, then fight the smears.
They don’t fight it because it’s not smears.
It is the TRUTH.
And those who can’t handle the truth
try to silence those who speak it.
The same could be said about some of the conservative talking points. By your quotes, I see and understand that you don’t agree with liberal ideology, or the traditional democratic platform.
That’s okay. I would hope that you could at least respect that a different philosophy doesn’t make someone less patriotic or sincere. I would hope you’d respect that we have the utmost hopes and dreams for ourselves and our children. We just want this country on the right track. I certainly don’t think the Bush years left this country in better shape than the Clinton years.
I have very close conservative, pro-life friends. We can disagree on a lot of things, but still find core values and general interests. My private relationships don’t reflect the outright animosity I see(and participate in) on this blog sometimes.
I clearly don’t hate republicans or conservatives. Some of your are twisted and full of devisive hatred, but most of you are good people and honest.
Why do I come here? I enjoy political debate on occasion. There are countless people here that I can engage in strong debate with occasional harmless teasing. There are a some,(many that I ignore) who simply want to engage in insult contests and general disrespect. If the mood suits me, I’ll get nasty in the cesspool too. However, that’s not why I’m here, and any honest evaluation of my posts will show that I usually get nasty when it’s brought to me first. I give respect when I get it in return.
I have had my mind enlighted on some issues by conservatives, and I enjoy debating politics and pop culture.
I can respect the fact that some conservatives wish that this blog only consisted of like-minded people. If you view any dissent as stirring the pot, you’d probably find more peace with a click of the mouse to the screennames you value, respect and recognize.
Sorry about the long answer, and I’m not sure if you were aiming at me. You call liberalism a “mental illness”. If that’s your view, you’re labeling a rather large tent. I’m sure you have friends, neighbors, and relatives whom you respect, who don’t share your politics. I personally don’t think all conservatives are “ill”, but I have a wide range for associations and interests. My views are actually more moderate overall, but I know that makes me a liberal on this board. Good day.
It’s almost time for football, Bill O, and McCain.
…And this isn’t just about “opposing an Obama presidency”
This is about finding the truth about who killed my friend.
This is about fulfilling the oath that all Senators and Representatives swear:
Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America:
Slight correction to something I said before:
The full title of this post is:
Hey, Obama: Fight the Smears
RE: Jim M #191
Some of them are paid as “activists” to be on here and other blogs. One of them thinks they are fooling us by using multiple nicknames.
Check your newspaper and other publications “want ads” and you will see the far left wing wackos advertising for “activists” for various liberal causes. THEY ARE PAID!
I laugh at every post by uh…ahem…..cough..BemusedLib…..uh ummm I mean Crapoutier LMAO. I won’t be taking the bait to rebut what they will post about this message either HAHAHAHA!
Yup. Uh Huh.
RedPIll
The “one consciousness” or universal consciousness is also called Communism. All thought, speech, and activity to be controlled by those who are the Masters. Prison camps and death for those who deviate from the Masters orders.
We see it in our college campuses: where diversity has made each campus the same; where intellectual honesty and honesty in general are seen as anachronisms that impede equality – a word whose meaning has come to be “the lack of all diversity;” and most sadly, freedom of speech has been discarded for the absence of thinking.
The truth, power, and beauty of, “The Merchant of Venice,” banned as possibly anti-semitic, the Declaration of Independence banned due to possible promotion of religion, the Vagina Monologues promoted because saying “vagina” publicly makes the half witted believe they have freedom of speech.
But these so called liberal thinkers will never see a woman believably portrayed as smarter by far than most men and hear these words more valuable than gold, spoken by a woman of grace and intellect, Portia, who pleads for the life of her love, but also tries to save the life and soul of the one who would kill him, and acting as her love’s lawyer in court, makes this plea:
“The quality of mercy is not strained,
it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath, It is twice blesy,
It besseth him that gives and him that takes.
“Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherin doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy season justice. Therefore Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.” – Shakespeare – Merchant of Venice.
Instead we hear mindless chants of, “No justice, no peace.”
We see BO promoted as our salvation, but without any mercy or charity for a 17 year old girl, pregnant and unmarried. And their was another woman who was in a similar situation 2000 years ago, who endured the judgment of many who thought themselves high and mighty, but she remained full of grace even with the pain, fatigue, and fear of her imminent delivery. She made no curses for lack of a room, was not outraged that she was not treated as royalty. And she brought forth a child who as a man brought peace and true salvation but was denied all justice – but he sought not justice for himself but to bring us salvation. And this story too is also banned from our schools as if it only promoted religion, and demonstrating the utter blindness to grace and mercy of the wicked who seek to deny teaching and promoting these qualities. It is for the same reason they hate our soldiers; men and women who come to serve and demonstrate the value of honor, loyalty, and sacrifice – and in doing so make the liberals demands for money and power and giveme giveme seem so petty as to be sickening.
BO and his ilk are the living dead, choosing not to be a part of God’s world and demanding as much self gratification now as they can beg, borrow, or steal. Pray for them. I cursed them earlier and I renounce my hatred of them. Not because of anything they have done, I just don’t want to be like them in any way.
Why Goldwater Knight, I do believe mj has a man-crush on you!
Knighthood does certain things to a women you know what I mean?
Row-w-w-w-r! Seriously, are your shots current?
I did not refer to any of your posts here, and find it interesting that you have taken this very personally.
I am not buying your long winded diatribe, and I’ll give you an illustration that explains my view perfectly.
Aside from the fact that your response was more sneer than explanation, you accused me of calling liberalism a >mental illness”. The context of that was a very much tongue and cheek explanation of the liberal view which was appended to an actual defense of you when other members accused you of being less than tolerant in your responses. Had I desired to challenge you on your logic or reason, I would have done so directly, as I believe I have done in the past with others.
Thus, you have, in one felt swoop, managed to take two words of a long and rather light hearted post and use them not within the context in which they were made, but a context that best served as dishinest support for a thinly veiled insult.
The number of words you use does not change the context or tenor of what you say. I doubt you are insteested all in “debate” but are more interested in taking a anonomyous shot at people for whom you harbor a more than fair amount of hostility. It makes you feel good to tell someone off, and not have to back up your opinions with fact or reason. In other words, you come here to vent your frustrations arising from the current political debate.
What is interesting is that you were one of the few people I gave the benefit of the doubt. Thanks for showing me your true colors.
I am not persuaded by you taking offense to my words concerning “mental illness”. Obviously that was only a small part of a very detailed, sincere post. You just want to use it to take a shot at me, and eliminate any cordial “relations”. You should also know that light-hearted sarcasm doesn’t always translate on the web. I didn’t take your words as light-hearted, but nor did I take them as personal. I’ve heard the mental illness thing a lot, and it rolls off my back as harmless foolishness. If you think my post was a sneer, well “you see what you want to see”.
You are beyond incorrect, and others would disagree. Think what you want, and as always feel free to ignore my posts. I’ll ignore yours in return. Out little back and forth here is certainly a waste of both of our times.
I believe the proper term for your response is “disingenuous”.
And it is all too typical of the liberal holier than thou, faux intellectually superior, mocking attitude we see all too often.
As I was watching McCain’s speech this evening it struck me. I finally figured out why you and others post here. You are the “Code Pink” of the internet. Your goal is to disrupt, to mock, to deride. To bestow upon yourself some sense of cyber courage by agitating those with whom you disagree.
I am not beyond incorrect. I am spot on. And the feigned indignation is laughable.
The Code Pink of the net. That is a shoe that fits to perfection.
Michelle, can we please get rid of this idiot??? The post about McCain being broken is about the best he could muster today.
I guess the RNC has brought out the “best?” in our trolls.
Your arrogance and delusional attempts at mind reading are shamelessly pathetic.
Your lacking in a sense of comparative proportionality is very revealing.
Good luck and buhbye.
Yawwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn.