The Source of the Obama E-mail Hoaxes

Meet Andy Martin.

He's an anti-Semite.

Among other things.

(From the New York Times - requires subscription)

"The Man Behind the Whispers About Obama"
By JIM RUTENBERG
Published: October 12, 2008

The most persistent falsehood about Senator Barack Obama’s background first hit in 2004 just two weeks after the Democratic convention speech that helped set him on the path to his presidential candidacy: “Obama is a Muslim who has concealed his religion.”

That statement, contained in a press release, spun a complex tale about the ancestry of Mr. Obama, who is Christian.

The press release was picked up by a conservative Web site, FreeRepublic.com, and spread steadily as others elaborated on its claims over the years in e-mail messages, Web sites and books. It continues to drive other false rumors about Mr. Obama’s background.
Just last Friday, a woman told Senator John McCain at a town-hall-style meeting, “I have read about him,” and “he’s an Arab.” Mr. McCain corrected her.

Until this month, the man who is widely credited with starting the cyberwhisper campaign that still dogs Mr. Obama was a secondary character in news reports, with deep explorations of his background largely confined to liberal blogs.

But an appearance in a documentary-style program on the Fox News Channel watched by three million people last week thrust the man, Andy Martin, and his past into the foreground. The program allowed Mr. Martin to assert falsely and without challenge that Mr. Obama had once trained to overthrow the government.

An examination of legal documents and election filings, along with interviews with his acquaintances, revealed Mr. Martin, 62, to be a man with a history of scintillating if not always factual claims. He has left a trail of animosity — some of it provoked by anti-Jewish comments — among political leaders, lawyers and judges in three states over more than 30 years.

Racist Morons Boo John McCain in Lakeville

John McCain tries to do the right thing and set some people straight about Barak Obama:

1. Barak Obama is not a terrorist, and does not "consort with terrorists." (If these dipshits from Lakeville think Ayres is a terrorist, call the FBI! Come on, people, think! It won't hurt for long.)

2. Barak Obama is not a Arab. He is not a Muslim.



Incidentally, most Arabs in America are Christians, not Muslims. (And a fair number of them are atheists.) And one can simultaneously be an Arab and a "decent human being," their invention of algebra notwitstanding. I wish McCain could have brought that out as well, but he was dealing with a barely sentient ding-dong in a fright wig.

I have sincere respect for John McCain's love for this country and his wartime experiences (but he's not getting my vote). I doubt that all the members of this audience do. They're not voting for John McCain - they're voting against an e-mail hoax that got bundled, like toxic derivatives, into this campaign.

Regarding this recent, shameful confirmation of every cornfed yokel stereotype of Minnesota so much of us have worked to counter, all I can say is: Don't blame me! I live in the Twin Cities!

John McCain pandered to the right wing - and he got what he asked for.

UPDATED: Pastor giving invocation before McCain event proclaims: If Obama wins, God's reputation will suffer. Religion is a fucking joke.

Shimmies to Dispatches.

SECOND UPDATE: Then, on the left there's the walking-comatose Whoopi Goldberg, who in her ding-dong universe is worried about the prospect of "slavery" under a McCain presidency:



Right. Way to forget the Emacipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment, Whoopi. I'd better not see you at any Juneteenth celebrations if you cannot remember that neither of those were Supreme Court decisions.

(Whoopi Goldberg should have no fear of being a slave, anyway. A slave is supposed to actually accomplish things. Who would want her?)