Posted on 06/13/2008 3:35:09 PM PDT by Shermy
As long as there have been rumors in politics, there has been one widely accepted way for a candidate to deal with them. Basically, it's not to. Otherwise, according to prevailing wisdom, all a candidate achieves is to elevate the rumors to a legitimate story for the media to feast on. That don't-go-there approach was Barack Obama's plan for months until, on the candidate's first full day of campaigning as his party's presumed presidential nominee, a reporter from McClatchy Newspapers who was traveling aboard his plane asked him about a particularly toxic bit of hearsay that was zooming around the Internet about his wife Michelle. Obama lost his cool. "We have seen this before. There is dirt and lies that are circulated in e-mails, and they pump them out long enough until finally you, a mainstream reporter, asks me about it," Obama said, bristling. "That gives legs to the story. If somebody has evidence that myself or Michelle or anybody has said something inappropriate, let them do it."
That night, in a conference call, Obama told his top aides it was time for a more aggressive solution to the rumors that have been popping up on the Internet about him and his family for months. And so the Obama campaign has built what might best be described as a Web-based rumor clearinghouse, located at fightthesmears.com, in which it hopes all the shady stories about Obama's faith, his family and his rumored connections with controversial figures can go to die.
Obama is enlisting his millions of supporters help him hunt down and quash these stories, just as those supporters helped him turn his insurgent campaign into a history-making juggernaut. Says Obama adviser Anita Dunn: "We will not allow Michelle — or, for that matter, Barack — to be defined by rumors."
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
I heard a rumor that it will fail....
“Shut up!”, he explained. (H/T to James Thurber.)
No, not with thinking people ... but then, his whole campaign is aimed at non-thinking people.
First lines are just like I was trying to tell you earlier, only the Time writer is much smarter than me. St. Barack [pbuh] is only calling more attention to the rumors, the “smears.” He’s sounding more and more like an indignant John Kerry about his own weaknesses.
“but then, his whole campaign is aimed at non-thinking people.”
Well, that all of this was leaked to the Time reporter, the message of this article may be from his campaign workers to the world, “Hey, it’s not our idea! We’re following Barack’s personal orders!”
He can run, but he can’t hide.
Isn’t that what the mainstream media is for? Carrying water Obama.
So if a rumor isn’t debunked on the site, it must be true. Right?
Provided said rumors are actually rumors.
Based on that, I think he's screwed...
He's setting himself up for a game of 'whack-a-mole.'
I'd wish him luck, but I'd be lyin'.
Is this what Time reported back when Rather ran his fake-but-accurate "story" on Bush?
I didn't think so . . . .
Propoganda about propoganda, the MSM have reduced themselves to being Barack Hussein Obama junior press secretaries.
I’ll say and do whatever I want to about that twit they worship.
Why not? Look how well it worked for Richard Nixon.
Just more crap.
Speaking to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee last week, Obama greeted his largely Jewish audience, which has had doubts about his support for Israel, some fed by anonymous e-mail, by acknowledging, "Before I begin, I want to say that I know some provocative e-mails have been circulating throughout Jewish communities across the country. A few of you may have gotten them. They're filled with tall tales and dire warnings about a certain candidate for President. And all I want to say is, Let me know if you see this guy named Barack Obama, because he sounds pretty frightening."
What’s your read on the intention?
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