Posted on 06/28/2008 10:36:43 AM PDT by kristinn
The Washington Post published an article today in the Style section about researcher Danielle Allen's efforts to track down who is behind allegations that presumed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Hussein Obama (Illinois) is a Muslim. Allen is an Obama supporter who works for the Institute for Advanced Study.
The article was written by Matthew Mosk. A curious choice for The Post considering Mosk's involvement in the nefarious MD4Bush scandal in which Mosk claimed to have been given access to a Free Republic poster's account to expose a Maryland GOP government appointee who was alleged to have commented on rumors that a Maryland Democratic mayor was an adulterer.
Mosk displayed the same talent for exposing Freepers' identities in today's article that he did in the MD4Bush scandal. However, the only person he exposed then was the Republican. The person (or persons) behind the MD4Bush screen name was not reported by Mosk.
The article Mosk wrote today purports to be about efforts to track down where the 'Obama is a Muslim' allegations began. However, it is actually a warning shot across the bow to opponents of Obama that they will be tracked down and exposed for speaking ill of the Obamessiah.
Mosk even makes sure to let Obamaniacs know who is behind Free Republic and where he can be found:
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 effort by The Post to protect Obama from rumors is in stark contrast to how they promoted potentially candidacy-damaging rumors eight-years ago.
When George W. Bush ran for president in 1999, The Washington Post led the way in rumor-mongering about whether he used cocaine in his youth. Bush refused to deny cocaine use saying that denying rumors just leads to having to deny more and more rumors. No one ever came forward with allegatons that they had first-hand knowledge of Bush using cocaine, but that didn't stop The Post and the mainstream media as painting Bush as a cokehead. No reporter ever asked Bill Clinton about cocaine use, even though several people known to Clinton claimed to have first-hand knowledge of Clinton using the drug while in public office.
While Mosk ignores The Post's own rumor-mongering, he leaves the impression of Free Republic as the rumor mill of the right. A fair reporter would have noted that Freepers exposed the fraudulent Texas Air National Guard documents that CBS News used in its attempt to derail President Bush's reelection bid in 2004. Buckhead, the Freeper who called foul on the documents, was tracked down by the Los Angeles Times even though he did not post his name on Free Republic.
Mosk's article closes with Allen complaining that the Internet has become as influential as unions and political action committees (PACs) in elections. Unstated is that the political activities of unions and PACs are heavily regulated by the federal government.
Allen seriously misunderstands the right to anonymous political speech--equating political speech with the right of a citizen to face his accuser when charged with a crime by the government:
..."This kind of misinformation campaign short-circuits judgment. It also aggressively disregards the fundamental principle of free societies that one be able to debate one's accusers."
While Mosk and The Post are furiously protecting Obama from the Obama is a Muslim allegation, they steadfstly refuse to report on Obama's well-documented connection to the terrorist supporter and Osama bin Laden sympathizer, Jodie Evans, co-founder of the anti-American group Code Pink.
The Post article claims that the Internet's danger to politics is the ability to spread rumors anonymously. The real danger is the left's willingness to use the Internet to track down and destroy its perceived enemies. Allen and Mosk's teamwork exposing Freepers is one more example of that.
How about the fact that Obama is a far left radical — dare I say — MARXIST?
Is the Post investigating that?
The DNC house organ cannot throw Jews in total under the bus. They get touchy about such generalizations after the centuries long mistreatment that culminated in the Holocaust of the 20th century.
I just wondered if you had read the “hit piece” in Washington Post on Freepers, and supposedly “taking them down regarding Obama”...I saw you were on another thread so hoped you saw this.
Danielle Allen [Ramesh Ponnuru]
I have not followed her career, although I hear that her books are excellent. I knew her slightly in college. She was razor-sharp, and conservative. She interned at NR.
06/28 11:04 AM
Thanks for the background info. It’s amazing how the “press” can oppose freedom of speech.
Senator Obama recited the shahada to the New York Times in 2007:
Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”
(From Nicholas Kristof's column Obama: Man of the World in the New York Times of March 6th, 2007.)
The call to prayer, the adhan, begins with the shahada, the Islamic creed. As you mention, a single sincere recitation of the shahada is all that is required to be a professing Muslim.
Doesn’t the mainstream media routinely spread rumors anonymously via quotes from unnamed sources and unsigned editorials?
Freepers who post details about their private lives online leave tidbits of information an investigator can piece together to figure out who you are.
btw just posted this..
Hey I shot down the WPO, Salon and CNN all while sitting here in my pajamas ;-)
I might not be famous now... but I will be famous very very soon.
The big surprise is coming. The mother of all swiftboats.
Rest assured FRiends that Obama will never see the Whitehouse.
...scheme hatched by the Obama campaign to 1) distract attention from what sort of a “Christian” he’s REALLY been all these years, and 2) make conservatives look like idiots for swallowing silly rumors and latching onto ultra-skimpy “evidence” of Obama’s alleged Muslim identity.
___________________________________________________________
Agreed. It is fair to say, without too much rumor mongering, that the new accounts of many of the folks that have been the worst “offenders” in unsubtantiated rumors who certainly seem to suggest an organized political effort to discredit forums like this one.
These operatives had best be careful. The internet has a way of dragging the truth out.
If the more ridiculous of these rumors turn out to have Obama campaign worker origins, it is quite likely that this will be exposed.
Oh he WILL be “swiftboated” and very soon
Yes. At least here everyone can see actual sources. The leftist MSM are just jealous because we have more credibility than them. LOL.
I won’t bow my head and pray to either one of them so the question holds absolutely no significance with me.
A legislator explained to me last week why Obama would win the upcoming election, because he is the better looking one of the two. He went back through all the elections and explained that this has held true since Ike was selected for the White House.
One would think they would have waited to get into the White House, before trying to revoke the First Amendment right to free speech.
Before or after the convention, how soon is soon? This guy really scares me.
(scroll way down to Personal life)
1. His birth father was Muslim. In Islam, all children of Muslim fathers are Muslim.
2. His stepfather was a Muslim and he attended a Muslim school for four years.
3. The racist statements of his so called Christian Church pastor and wife do not follow the major tenents of the Bible. He admitted he became a Christian for political purposes in one of his debates with Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Obama’s thesis at Princeton was anti-white.
4. He campaigned in Kenya for Raila Odinga (google: Raila Obama) and they claim to be cousins (google: Raila Obama cousins)
5. Raila had an agreement with Muslims, The MOU agreement, that if he was elected, Islam would become the only recognized religion in Kenya.
6. From 2003-2005 the Muslims tried to change Kenya's Constitution to install 'sharia law'
7. Within a few minutes after the elections closed, cries of “rigged” came from Odinga’s camp and the burning and killing began against those who did not support him. Railia supporters had stated repeatedly that if he was not elected, “No Railia, No Kenya”. So many Christian churches were burned down. Not one mosque was touched. The full death count has not been released and at least 350,000 people were run off their land and their homes and properties stolen.
8. American Democrat Dick Morris volunteered to be the chief stradegist for Raila Odinga (google: Raila Dick Morris) Why?
9. Islamic backers of Obama include Farakan, Hamas, the Palestinians, (google: backers of Obama). Why?
10. Interview of Raila on BBC saying he and Obama talk regularly and are cousins.
Connect the dots if you can...........Obama may have been in a Muslim family early on, whether he practiced that religion before he found Jeremiah Wright’s church is unclear - what is clear is the Barack Hussein Obama is pure Socialist with heavy Marxist leanings. He is not an American by thought or culture. He is also, one slick politician - they are all alike regardless of country or type of government. He does not love this country; he doesn't even know how many states it has; he does not begin to understand the free market/capitalist economy nor the desire to see America remain strong in all aspects. Obama is as much a figment of the MSM/pundits imagination as are/was Ms. Clinton and her trashy spouse.
It will be soon. Hang on
Oh darn! I’m probably guilty of that! Hey, do you think they can find me here in Columbia South America? LOL!
With an attitude like that, Robert Gibbs will definitely bankrupt the people who are funding the socialist Obama's run for the White House.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.