Monday, June 16, 2008

BARACK OBAMA, HORSERACE

MSM To Righties: We Will Punish Any Effort To Be Fair To Obama

Michelle and Allahpundit are right — if the media is going to write about the debunked "whitey" tape, particularly as a trigger for Obama's anti-smear site, there's really no excuse for not mentioning the two sources more responsible than anyone else for hyping the story: pro-Hillary blogger Larry Johnson and Democratic strategist Bob Beckel, who appeared on Fox News claiming a "mighty big shoe" was about to drop regarding Michelle Obama. (Now Beckel accuses conservatives of spreading rumors about her.) Did conservative bloggers write about the tape as well? Sure, but with varying degrees of skepticism.

Allah finds the "conservative bloggers said the tape existed" argument coming from: (1) Time magazine, (2) the New York Times, (3) the AP, (4) the Guardian, and (5) ABC.

After I grumbled a bit on this site, Time's Karen Tumulty kindly linked to my part of debunking the "whitey" story, but I note that the Time magazine story still says "As the Obama sleuths explain it, the 'Michelle Obama Mystery Tape Rumor' appears to be a work of fiction lifted 'almost word for word from a novel published in 2006.'" Oh, really? "Obama sleuths" dug that up, huh? When, pray tell? I didn't see any reference to Stephen Frey's novel in relation to this rumor anywhere on the web before I posted the similarities. It would appear that Team Obama is utilizing this site to debunk the rumors, then turning around and claiming that I "demanded" the release of the birth certificate, an inaccurate reading of the post in question.

The behavior of the mainstream media is sending a clear message to those of us on the right: do not ever help out the Obama campaign, even if you think the world would be well-served by debunking a ridiculous accusation, because no one will ever remember your efforts to get to the truth. Instead, you'll get blamed for spreading the malicious rumors.

06/16 09:30 AMShare