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Posted on 08/25/2012 12:50:19 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
When the Obama campaign released its much-anticipated Dashboard platform last May, it was touted as a potentially revolutionary organizing tool that would connect supporters, and merge online activism with real-life grassroots campaigning.
It can also be used as a platform to launch whispering campaigns, as one user proved this week.
On Monday, a "team member" named Laurence De Palma, who lists his location as East Nashville, presented volunteers with some talking points to convince Southern Christian voters they shouldn't vote for a Mormon. The message was available under "Resources" and tagged "persuasion."
"I'm thinking that even though we don't LIKE campaigns to get nasty, we in the south (TN) come to EXPECT it," De Palma began. "What we also know is that we have a very 'rigid' view of Christianity, and apparently, Mormonism isn't anywhere in our views. This could easily win TN/SC/AL/GA, etc."
The post goes on to include brief, oversimplified summaries of Mormon doctrines, framed to clash with evangelical Christianity.
(GRAPHIC AT LINK)
An Obama campaign aide, speaking on background, said the site is governed by a moderation policy that allows users to flag posts that are offensive or inappropriate, after which campaign moderators delete them. De Palma's Mormon post had been up for four days, and had not been flagged. When BuzzFeed asked the campaign for a response, the post was immediately removed.
President Obama's advisers have consistently pledged not to make Romney's religion part of the campaign, directly or through veiled innuendo.
But Chicago has little control over what messages its grassroots volunteers decide to spread — something the Romney campaign has learned for itself.
UPDATE: Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul condemned the posting in an emailed statement: "The news concerning the Obama Campaign's dashboard containing language based on sowing religious division is deeply disturbing. There is no place in politics for this, and it must be addressed and put to an end."
“What we also know is that we have a very ‘rigid’ view of Christianity, and apparently, Mormonism isn’t anywhere in our views”
But homo “marriage” and ripping apart live babies is.
Got it.
What is De Palma’s FR name?
Don’t get me started, ‘cause I think I know, and so do you. Notice the “Tennessee” connection? That’s all I’ll say.
He apparently has been coordinating his efforts with the major media where the “press” is planning a one-hour “documentary” on the Mormon Church (CNN) and other outlets are chiming in as well (ABC).
Let’s hope their documentary is at least semi-competent. I saw the 4 minute intro for it, and it was pretty tame and took a lot of Mormon myths at face value. Anything that properly exposes a large religious cult is a-ok with me. They’re running the “...and I’m a Mormon” campaign after all. I like how the OP suggests the Dems are giving simplified views of Mormonism, as if to say if you gave more info it would be Christian somehow. I actually share the worry that it will be too simple, but not for the same reasons. If you go too simple, people won’t get the full grotesque picture.
When are they going to run an expose on the Islam cult?
Laurence De Palma - hair designer & home designer....
Funny how no one was allowed to speak about Obama’s church and Rev. Wright last time...
Pretty ugly innuendo, boys. Could it just be that Tennessee is Bible Belt country where you’d expect a lot of biblically trained Christians to choke at the idea of voting for ANYone who thinks they are a god in embryo? Just maybe the strategy is being suggested because the potential for devout Christians, once informed, to revolt is very high, and rightly so?
Here’s some more talking points for you:
Choose Right, Not Racism Gov. Romney
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/antheabutler/6324/choose_right,_not_racism_gov._romney/
Innuendo works so well because reasonable people have no trouble drawing the desired inference, yet the perp can always fall back on “plausible deniability.” In a defamation trial, innuendo can still result in a finding of defamation, if the jury thinks the perp was trying to do damage and also if the underlying claim turns out to be false.
On FR, your readers are your jury. It’s true for all of us. I don’t think my conclusion was wrong. If you tell me you meant somebody else, I’ll accept that. But then I’ll still call it defamation, unless you can prove your insinuation that some FReeper, who is associated closely with Tennessee and with attacking Mormonism, is really an Obama operative.
As for Muslim vs lds, Christians have more to worry about than losing their physical lives to death-happy jihadists. There is this thing called the eternal soul, and we all have one. I’m guessing in 20 or 30 years, I’m going to die anyway. I want his approval first and foremost. If I am forced to choose between him and some sort of temporary political benefit, why would I not choose him?
Don’t misunderstand. I do want Obama gone, and I was excitedly looking forward to voting against him this fall. That option is now not available to me. It’s not your fault, and its not mine. It’s just how things have happened. You can try to understand it, or you can do whatever else pleases you. I simply have no choice in the matter. I will not betray the one who gave his life to save mine.
Well it’s been more than a whispering campaign. I expect we’ll see a goodly number of “true conservatives” flocking to this thread to say why they won’t be voting for Romney.
I don’t believe the great majority of these people (such posters) have the motivations they claim to have—I personally think the great bulk of them don’t have the interests of conservatism in their hearts and I further think that they wish Obama to be reelected and for conservatives to not take over Congress.
We’re VERY close to making significant progress on taking our country back and RESTORING THE REPUBLIC. I don’t want to see that progress derailed by saboteurs. Go ahead folks, flame away.
Nice illustration of the use of innuendo in political campaigns there, 2DV.
Why not? Both Christ and the apostles warned us to steer clear of false prophets bringing false Christs, purveyors of the worst idolatry, the deification of man, the sin that got Lucifer evicted permanently from Heaven. We're not even allowed to wish them a good day (see 2John 1:10-11), let alone grant them the sacred trust of our vote. They are the enemies of Christ. They drag souls into hell. Why should we look to them instead of God for our help? Why can’t the Bible and the Gospel it teaches be sufficient motivation for the anti-Mormonism resistance here at FR? What does love for Christ mean if not faithfulness to him no matter what the temptation (and I do get how bad the temptation is)? All you are doing is defaming good people and calling into question the motives of people you don't even know. That's not right.
So you are 100% sure that I’m wrong? Because I’m not, even though I was goshing in post #4.
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