monchieland: a reality-based community

Barack Obama is aggressively taking on the GOP Smear Machine's largest propaganda outlet, Faux News, over the madrassa smear.

Another cog in the lie machine, the Washington Moonie Times' Insight Magazine, had published a false report not only alleging that Senator Obama had attended a radical Islamic madrassa as a six year old (!!!), but also claimed that Senator Hillary Clinton was trying to spread the story.

Sort of a two-fer smear.

Faux News hosts then discussed these character-assassinating allegations on two programs. Meanwhile, one of its competitors, CNN, did some actual journalism and found, not surprisingly, that the smear was 1000% BS.

Kudos to Mr. Obama for taking on the prevaricating propagandameisters of Faux News, and kudos again to CNN for committing real, honest journalism, something that has traditionally been rare in cable news, especially in political coverage.

Think about this:

The leading Republican primary candidate right now is a) guilty of incest and b) a serial adulterer.

Yes, Rudy Giuliani had his first marriage annulled -- after 13 years! -- because he "suddenly" discovered that his wife was his second cousin and not his third. And during his second marriage, he had one affair with an aide, who afterwards took a new job with a non-profit tourism organization that received a large amount of city funding. Following that affair, he paraded his next mistress in public while his wife and kids were still living in the executive mansion. And now, he's scrubbed mentions of his children from his second marriage, not to mention both his first and second wives, from his exploratory committee's website.

Oh, and I almost forgot: Rudy's beloved father was a small-time crook who did hard time at Sing Sing Prison.

And how much will we hear about all this from the so-called "liberal media" (SCLM)?

- crickets chirping -

All we will hear is about how Rudy is "America's Mayor."

Of course, if Rudy had a (D) after his name, not only would we be hearing 24/7 about the "serial adulterer" who also "committed incest for 13 years with his cousin" and whose father was "a convicted felon who spent hard time at Sing Sing," but the cable "news" outlets would also give the story its own theme song and special graphics.

But Rudy has an (R) after his name, so the SCLM will say nothing about this and instead will concentrate on more important stories, such as exposés of how Barack Obama and Iranian President Whatshisname both wear suitcoats but no ties.

UPDATE: Since I just dissed CNN over Jeff Greenfield's in-depth "report" on the amazingly similar sartorial styles of Barak Obama and the Iranian president, in the interest of fairness, I should also salute that network for its debunking of the Faux News/Washington Moonie Times Barak-attended-a-madrassa hoax. (Via Think Progress.)

It's amazing the things a news organization will discover when it does some actual reporting rather than treating a smear as a he said/he said story. Bravo, CNN!

From today's Washington Post:

Listen, media people, oh ye whipped dogs of Republican masters, that bold-faced statement is a lie that you folks keep repeating, and repeating, and repeating, and repeating, etc., etc., etc. I know that you keep trying to get lotsa love from your abusive Republican masters, but let's face it, even after you try to please them by lying like this, all they ever give you is another kick in the snout while shouting, "Filthy %$*&## liberal media!!!"

Lemme try to explain this one for you: First of all, I've never been able to find evidence of Casey Sr. ever making this accusation. Second of all, my memory from 1992 is that Casey wasn't allowed to speak because he refused to support the Clinton/Gore ticket -- an explanation that has been confirmed by James Carville, Clinton's campaign manager -- though dishonest Republican propagandists tried to push the lie that it was because of his anti-abortion views.

And of course, this explanation makes perfect logical sense given the evidence: Standard operating procedure for both parties is that if you wish to speak at the convention, you have to endorse the ticket. Several other anti-abortion Democrats (Howell Heflin immediately comes to mind) spoke at the 1992 Democratic Convention, though they didn't speak on that topic. Think about it: Would St. John McCain have been allowed to speak at the 2000 Republican Convention if he had refused to endorse the Bush/Cheney ticket? Also, Gene McCarthy -- who, like Casey, was a presidential candidate in the primaries -- was barred from speaking at the 1968 Democratic Convention, not because of his anti-Vietnam War views but because he refused to endorse the Humphrey/Muskie ticket.

I know I posted on this topic only two and a half weeks ago, but this lie deserves to be debunked each and every time it appears. Even after close to 15 years, this lie keeps rising from the coffin, and it's way past time that someone hammered a stake through its heart. Besides, media people, have you lost all your ethics and self-respect?