(snip from original article)
Poring over these early articles on the topic, Allen noticed what she thought was an important pattern. In each instance, someone had posted the articles on the Free Republic Web site, prompting a discussion involving the same handful of people, with several expressing a desire to spread the word about Obama's supposed faith.
Keeper of the Obama File
Of the file folders that are spread in neat rows across Allen's desk, only one is bulging. It holds printouts of the reams of conversations about Obama's religion appearing on Free Republic. Since its start in 1996 by Jim Robinson of Fresno, Calif., the site has grown into a home for discussion of all types -- though it is particularly noted for spirited political discussions dominated by conservatives and libertarians. Freepers, as they're called, converse with a varying degree of transparency. Most remain anonymous.
Allen counted 23 freepers among those engaging in regular discussions about Obama's religion, and isolated a handful whom she began to suspect as having a role in the e-mail. Sifting through hundreds of postings, she began to piece together their identities. There was "Beckwith," whom she pegged as a veteran from Boston, old enough to vote for John F. Kennedy, in uniform by 1964, and host of a Web site that devotes considerable space to an "Obama file" that says the senator is "by birth, blood and training, a Muslim."
Allen found Beckwith discussing the matter in a Jan. 13 clip from a Web-based conservative radio show based in San Diego. In his thick Boston brogue, Beckwith told hosts Jeff Lynch and Mike Howard that Obama's "relationship to Islam is the big question. When one investigates the background of Obama's conversion, I can find no record of his baptism."
"Wow! Interesting!" Lynch gasped.
"This guy could easily be the Muslim Manchurian candidate," Howard said.
As Allen scanned his postings on Free Republic, she noticed that Beckwith repeated several phrases that also surface in the e-mail. Beckwith called Obama "an apostate Muslim, educated in madrassas." And when Beckwith later repudiated the "madrassa" claim -- after it was debunked by the mainstream media -- the term disappeared from subsequent versions of the chain e-mail. The Post located Beckwith in a Boston suburb, and he agreed to be interviewed under the condition that he not be identified because "I get a lot of really nutty stuff and some of it's threatening." The 69-year-old said he is retired as a software engineer and lives alone, but for brief stints babysitting for his grandchildren. He said he started a Web site in 2005 "because I don't play golf." His initial goal was to take swats at the liberal left. "Then this new guy comes along called Obama," he said.
Beckwith said he built a Web site that features hundreds of pages of material intended to undermine Obama. "If 20 percent of what's on my Web site is true, this guy is a clear and present danger," Beckwith said. (He later added, "I try very hard to be accurate.") But while Beckwith speaks with pride about his research -- much of which he credits to an unnamed "colleague" in Europe -- and to his extensive Obama files, he rejects outright the suggestion that he authored the chain e-mail. "I've never been involved with any e-mailings. Period," he said.
Another Free Republic participant who attracted Allen's interest went by the handle "Eva." She was one of the first to write on the site about Obama's religion -- in November 2006 she began repeating the phrase "Once a Muslim, always a Muslim," when discussing Obama.
With the help of Allen's biographical sketch, The Post located Eva in rural Washington state. She is Donna Shaw, 60, a teacher who said Obama's ability to captivate audiences made her deeply uneasy because his "tone and cadence" reminded her of the child revivalist con-man preacher Marjoe Gortner.
I hope they asked her permission before printing her identity.
I've never heard or read anyone remark about the most annoying and irritating speech defect the man (Obama) has when enunciating words that end in the letter "S."
He exagerates the "s" sound like a hiss, kinda like the Saturday Night Live skit that mocked the Chicago sports fans with Chris Farley and the gang calling the Bears... "Da Bearssss," and the Bulls... "Da Bullssss!"
You listen closely and see if he doesssn't talk like thissss. It almost whistlessss!!! (let me know if you hear it too)
I think the “outing” of the individuals is a new tactic that the dimocrats will use to try to intimidate those who disagree.
It is also strange how the WaPo article fails to note that the swift boat veteran charges remain UNREFUTED
“This guy could easily be the Muslim Manchurian candidate,” Howard said.
Oh my. This sounds hugh and series McGruff blurted out.
Comment:
How did the Com-Post get her identity, HOW.
On a lighter side:
I understood that our identities were known only to FRee Republic and these identities were written down on a Funk and Wagnels dictionary page and kept in an old mayonnaise jar under the front porch over at Jims house.
Now I'm shakin in my booties worried that some Com-Post reporter hoping to intimidate me and my family and possibly get me fired will show up on my door step.
Help me Messiah Obama, please call off your dogs cause I done loses my way.
Yes, one really must wonder what would inspire a certifiable “genius” to start a one woman witch hunt over an emailed spam. There must be more here than meets the eye.
She and her “Muslim-story-source” minions are welcome to hunt me up, too. I would only remind them, if they’ve evil intent, we have conceal/carry laws here in Oklahoma.
Everyone I know knows how I feel about the empty suit. It would be only another opportunity to get my opinion “published”.