All Posts Tagged With: "smear"

So says Patrick Ruffini of The Next Right:

The Obama citizenship smear hasn’t gained traction in mainstream conservative circles, but this is exactly the kind of stunt the left will use to tar all conservatives and silence legitimate criticism of Obama and his policies. We need to be vociferously calling out people who traffic in this nonsense.

Scandal stories didn’t get much traction during the campaign, so if we are smart, I am hopeful we won’t see a repeat of the ’90s opposition to Clinton, which was primarily scandal driven, and tarnished the Republican brand so that only Bush’s big-spending conservatism could save it. Which is got us in the pickle we are in today.

As TPM Election Central reported yesterday, John Natham, a retired four-star admiral after four decades in the Navy, responded to John McCain’s smear campaign ad calling Obama “dangerous” and “dishonorable to our troups”:

“As a recently retired Admiral, I know who has the strongest record of supporting the men and women currently serving in our military. Senator Obama has consistently voted to fund our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and, just as importantly, a proven record of support when they return home. That’s why independent veterans organizations give Senator Obama higher marks than Senator McCain. Despite consistent distortions of his record, thousands of veterans like myself support Senator Obama because he has the judgment, character and integrity to be a great president. We will need a great president to lead us in these very challenging times.”

FactCheck.org also challenged the honesty of the ad itself:

The McCain-Palin campaign released the ad, titled “Dangerous,” and said it would be televised nationally. It recycles a misleading, 14-month-old charge that Sen. Barack Obama disrespected U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan by accusing them of “just air-raiding villages and killing civilians.” It also misrepresents votes in favor of withdrawing troops from Iraq as being votes “increasing the risk on their lives.”

You can read FactCheck’s complete detailed analysis here. They were being very charitable when simply describing the ad as “misleading.” “Dishonest” and “dishonorable” — the very same charge McCain leveled at Obama — would be more appropriate in describing this ad… and the candidate himself.

Fox News has been on a roll lately in its blatant contempt for Barack Obama. Their anchors have worked extra hard through this campaign to try to tie Obama to the Muslim faith and, by extrapolation, “Islamo-fascist terrorists.” This past week, though, has been a “stellar” week for Fox News smears.

First, there was E.D. Hill’s overtly suggestive question about the fist bump between Barack and Michelle Obama (during last Tuesday night’s nomination victory speech): “A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? The gesture everyone seems to interpret differently. We’ll show you some interesting body communication and find out what it really says.” The outcry was great enough to force the network to cancel her show.

Smarting from the rebuke over the terrorist implication, the network reverted back to a golden oldie smear tactic — racial slurs. Yesterday afternoon, during a segment with right-wing hate-monger Michelle Malkin and anchor Megyn Kelly discussing Michelle Obama, the network’s producers displayed the following graphic:

(Salon.com has a video clip of the entire segment.)

“Obama’s baby mama“? Seriously? Is the network so desperate to smear Obama that they aren’t even trying to hide their bigotry anymore?

It’s clearly a racial slur and disparaging description. They have co-opted a stereotype tied to African-American unwed mothers and fathers of illegitimate children to describe Michelle Obama. It’s insulting to Michelle and Barack Obama both and utterly mischaracterizes their relationship and the legitimacy of their children. It’s beneath contempt. And it’s a new low in smear politics — even for Fox News who generally sets the (very low) standard for partisan and smear “journalism.”

Fox News, have you no shame? Obviously not.

This flag-pin controversy manufactured by conservatives is absurd on its face and ridiculous in its mountain-making out of molehills. The “right-wing smear machine” has questioned Barack Obama’s patriotism and allegiance to this country because he doesn’t wear an American flag lapel pin.

Setting aside the outrageousness of the controversy itself, which I plan to write in greater length about in the next couple of days, one of the standard bearers leading the charge is the always entertaining (because of his buffoonery) Republican Congressman Jack Kingston. In another entertaining foot-in-mouth moment for the Georgia Republican, as he launched into his absurd attack on Obama’s “refusal” to wear an American flag on his lapel during an interview earlier this week with Dan Abrams on MSNBC, the congressman forgot one very important detail… Continued