Newsweek: Fox/WasTimes/RightWingers documented for smearing when they know its false

[Thorgrim]

By Jonathan Alter
Newsweek
Updated: 12:08 p.m. ET Jan 27, 2007

Jan. 27, 2007 - What will the first full week of Campaign '08 be remembered for? That Barack Obama was under attack for his behavior as a six-year-old. It’s worth revisiting the Madrassa Hoax story for what it tells us about our warp-speed politics

The subtext of the story was that Obama was some kind of Muslim Manchurian Candidate (or the Russian spy played by Kevin Costner in “No Way Out”)—trained in an Indonesian religious school to be a jihadist who would do Al Qaeda’s work from within. Under the old media order, the whole thing would have made for a nice joke amid the somber mood surrounding President Bush’s State of the Union address. But this is a different time, when every campaign lives in fear of being Swift-Boated. Even after the story was debunked, the folks at Fox News Channel wouldn’t apologize, and in one case kept pushing a line on the air they knew was false.

The pathetic little saga begins on the Web site of Insight Magazine, a scandal sheet connected to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Washington Times. On Jan. 17, Insight reported that “Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp” had conducted a background check that found Obama attended a madrassa (religious seminary) when he moved with his mother and stepfather to Jakarta in the late 1960s. The idea, according to Insight, was to show that Obama was deceptive about his “Muslim past.” Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson says flatly: “They made it up.”

True or not, this bit of grade-school innuendo proved irresistible to Steve Doocy, know-it-all host of “Fox and Friends,” Roger Ailes’ idea for a right-wing morning chat show. Doocy garbled the story into a reference to Obama “spending the first decade of his life raised by a Muslim father.” After John Gibson of Fox repeated this yarn, which managed to slime two campaigns simultaneously, CNN dispatched a reporter to Obama’s old school in Jakarta, where he revealed it to be a normal public school with religion classes only once a week and no indication of Wahhabism, the Saudi-inspired extremist philosophy. (Indonesian schools were even more secular 40 years ago than they are today.) The whole underlying tale was untrue.

But neither this solid reporting—later backed up by ABC News—nor a categorical statement from the Obama campaign that he “has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago,” killed the story. Fox was “unwilling to stop when they knew they were wrong or correct what they knew was a lie,” says Robert Gibbs, Obama’s communications director. Executives at the network claimed that their on-air “clarification” was enough, but Fox’s own people didn’t get the message. Gibson—once a respected correspondent and host—went on the radio to malign the CNN reporter, John Vause. He “probably went to the very [same] madrassa” as Obama, Gibson said.

On one level, the story ended up being a net positive for Obama. His supporters were glad he fought back hard, and the emphasis on his church attendance (he committed to Christ in his 20s) may help soften the concern about his troublesome middle name, “Hussein”—a family name given him by his atheist father, a Kenyan academic whom Obama met only once in his life. Even though Fox wouldn’t apologize, at least the falsity of the story was not in doubt. The problem for the Obama team is that other such stories might not lend themselves as readily to being shot down. Without being black and white, they fester in gray. And where Hillary Clinton’s vulnerabilities are all a decade or so old, Obama’s are new. He's so green he deserves—and will receive—more scrutiny than politicians who've been around for a while. So even when the charges are false, they are imbued with a patina of “news” that will not apply to stories about Rose Law firm billing records or cattle futures. Generally speaking, being fresh is an advantage in politics. But it makes any critical story fresh, too, when stale might be easier to squelch.

Political operatives on all sides are worried about the new rules governing their world. “We used to whine about round-the-clock cable in ’96—that’s child’s play now,” says Harold Ickes, a longtime Clinton aide getting ready to help Hillary. “The lesson of Swift Boat [the 2004 efforts to throw mud on John Kerry over his Vietnam service on a river craft] is you cannot let this stuff circulate unanswered.” The implications for opposition research are only now coming into view. “If they [bloggers] can finger you trying to drop poison into the well, you’ll be hurt by it,” Ickes adds. “Stuff moves out so quickly that campaigns have to exercise much more control over their negative information apparatus.” This could be good. When “oppo” goes transparent, it might shrivel.

Until then, the hostilities will escalate. Last week, Joe Novak, a Chicago media consultant with a longtime rivalry with David Axelrod, Obama’s campaign chief, launched a Web site dedicated to trashing Obama. (One of his first hits was on Michelle Obama for sitting on the board of a pickle company that closed a plant recently.) Meanwhile, Dick Morris, the former Clinton operative turned Hillary hater, is working on a dirt-filled documentary. Unless the Clintons’ courtship of Rupert Murdoch bears fruit quickly, it’ll no doubt be Doocy’ed for Fox viewers as soon as it’s released.

(Complete article posted, emphasis mine)

Alter: The Obama Madrassa Hoax - Newsweek Between the Lines - MSNBC.com

You'll never find anything close to this on our "liberal media" even in the Bush guard story, Rather was relying on a source no one has discounted, anything with CNN is backed up by facts, anything shown to be false is retracted and apologized for, with the AP, well the right wing bloggers look like fools because they were both wrong and got an value iraqi man sent off to be tortured

But this is Fox, they have a different standard

[SoFlaJDM]

Crooks and Liars » CNN Debunks Obama “Madrassa” Smear

this shouldn't really surprise anyone

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by SoFlaJDM

Crooks and Liars » CNN Debunks Obama “Madrassa” Smear

this shouldn't really surprise anyone

It's part of being a democrat, constant right-wing smears based on smokes and mirror on personalities, and on policy its either we have no ideas or we're treasonous

[thatguyoverthere]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

It's part of being a democrat, constant right-wing smears based on smokes and mirror on personalities, and on policy its either we have no ideas or we're treasonous

True. I've gotten used to the fact that for some people being a Democrat and being patriotic are two mutually exclusive terms. How can you expect to reason with people who feel that way?

I'm glad they think that we were born yesterday. The Fox News audience will still lap it up, though the rest of us see through them like cellophane.

The only way Republicans can beat Democrats is if the Democrats shoot themselves in the foot. Lucky for them, Democrats make a habit of doing exactly that. Now, they're trying to sow discord, turn us against each other, and give us bad press, all in the guise that we're doing it to each other.

*sigh* That's the only way that they know how to play the game, I suppose. If only they realized that it wasn't a really a game!

[Thorgrim]

Fortunately, it seems to be shedding, and some of the old tactics are fading, if tax hikes are passed before the next democratic president, and there are no big (somewhat preventable) attacks under his/her watch, a lot of the GOP spin will go out the window, and they are in serious danger of becoming a party of the deep south and utah

[motivez]

It's amazing to me that some people still refuse to believe that Fox is a conservative mouthpiece.

I mean, the evidence is just so overwhelming. I like when there are montages of Fox News hosts repeating White House talking points verbatim over the course of 2 or 3 days, trying to sell the points.

I'm glad to see that this type of stuff isn't sticking though.

[Diamond Cross]

Why shouldn't it be conservative mouthpieces? Conservatives have had no really large syndicated mouthpieces to spread their views in comparison to the majorliberal mouthpieces.

What aout fair and impartiality?

There is no such thing, even though that is the way things should be.

There should be no bias, liberal or conservative or green or communist etc what-so-ever, the job is to report the views, not be preachy.

[RMNIXON]

What an overbloated hack job of an article.

Here is the set up:

"The subtext of the story was that Obama was some kind of Muslim Manchurian Candidate (or the Russian spy played by Kevin Costner in “No Way Out”)—trained in an Indonesian religious school to be a jihadist who would do Al Qaeda’s work from within. Under the old media order, the whole thing would have made for a nice joke amid the somber mood surrounding President Bush’s State of the Union address. But this is a different time, when every campaign lives in fear of being Swift-Boated. Even after the story was debunked, the folks at Fox News Channel wouldn’t apologize, and in one case kept pushing a line on the air they knew was false."


Note you don't see any quotes yet. Not when you can put wild imaginative images into peoples minds and then tag FOX NEWS at the end of it.




Drumroll to the big Fox smear quoted:

"reference to Obama “spending the first decade of his life raised by a Muslim father.”

There are no other FOX quotes in this article! The Gibson quote is a radio show quote. Do we want to start a thread about what many News Broadcasters have said about politics off their respective networks? Total proof of on air bias! Lets go for it!

They made a mistake about a possible Muslim past and retracted that mistake. Now it is a Manchurian Candidate Plot! Is the best bias evidence you got!

[Thorgrim]

YouTube - F0x accuses Clinton camp of exposing Obama's Muslim past

There you go doubting Thomas

Also, Gibson was reporting a news story, if you want to report Tom Brokaw getting a news analysis radio program and reporting false stories he was already told were false, go ahead, I await your list

Orly and Gibson both plug their radio programs on Fox all day

They didn't "make a mistake" they took a hit-piece from Rev. Moon's ultra-conservative literature (who believes he is the son of god) and portrayed it as fact so they could slam Hillary and Obama at the same time...no proof is ever offered by fox news that Hillary had ANYTHING to do with it

[RMNIXON]

Here is the NASTY Gibson Quote in full where he attacks CNN and Obama:


GIBSON: The whole point of this story last week, and, you know, Blitzer’s just been on their air with some update on this, right?

HOST: Yeah, he sent a reporter out there.

GIBSON: Yeah, cause they got a reporter in Indonesia, probably went to the very madrassa, now works for CNN. But that reporter went out there, and what did they see when they went to the madrassa where Barack Obama went to school?

HOST: Kids playing volleyball.

GIBSON: Playing volleyball, right. They didn’t see them in any terrorist training camps?

HOST: No.

He is asking a question about the CNN reporter who investigated the Obama story and made the mistake of including the false claim about Obama. But this little question on his radio show was obviously a well calculated smear against Obama by Fox under BushCo Direction!

Or is this another snipe hunt of the same "Muslim" oversensitivity they think the right has?

[Thorgrim]

No, its not Bush&Co, its simply Fox is full of people who hate democrats, and he'll throw in a democratic smear whenever he can

Check my previous posts, I've shown how both their flagship program and basically 4-midnight every night is all anti-democratic smears except for one hour with Shepard Smith who is on the outs with the conservative powers at fox for his coverage of Katrina

I like it how when Republicans smear people after they've been told its false is "a simple mistake"

It's his program and his responsibility, did you see him apologize to Obama, or Fox News to Obama? Funny I've seen atleast 10 CNN anchors apologize for tiny slip-ups because it's what honest journalists do

However that's not who they hire at Fox

[Thorgrim]

and BTW thanks for ignoring the video link, as usual i wasted 2 minutes of my life refuting 99% of what you said only for you to skim past it and ignore it

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

Also, Gibson was reporting a news story, if you want to report Tom Brokaw getting a news analysis radio program and reporting false stories he was already told were false, go ahead, I await your list

If you think the above conversation quote is "Reporting a false story" I guess you win!


I don't know what Gibson knew or when or what was on his mind. But that sentence is not a report. I know that much. Is it a dumb mistake by Fox? Yes, it was and I hope they do better next time. But I would suggest if any political prejudice was involved it was probably against the Hillary Camp not Obama. After all this is the kind of thing we expect...Going to be so much fun in 2008. It's only January 2007 and Fox is out to DESTROY OBAMA!

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

and BTW thanks for ignoring the video link, as usual i wasted 2 minutes of my life refuting 99% of what you said only for you to skim past it and ignore it

FALSE: I was researching and preparing my next post. Your personal remarks are not welcome.

[Thorgrim]

Ofcourse they are...they're a right wing tabloid, they'll do everything to destroy any candidate who they think will have a good chance at running for President

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

FALSE: I was researching and preparing my next post. Your personal remarks are not welcome.

If you didn't ignore it, you should be apologizing to me

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

and BTW thanks for ignoring the video link, as usual i wasted 2 minutes of my life refuting 99% of what you said only for you to skim past it and ignore it

"According to Insight Magazine...."

As reported on their Morning Talk show. It was not a Fox researched story. They should have done more cheaking, but that is no plot to get Obama! They didn't spend months preparing a 60 Minutes Prime Time Story they produced and reaserched. I don't think they do that for the morning show?

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

Ofcourse they are...they're a right wing tabloid, they'll do everything to destroy any candidate who they think will have a good chance at running for President

If you want to believe that what can I say?

This is your proof?


Repeat a shaky story on the morning show in January 2007? Mention it later once or twice on the News broadcast of the day. Retract it. Then Gibson makes a remark in a question on his talk show (who listens?). I never even knew about it until I read your Newsweek Story. Fox needs to do better than that!