At least one major right-wing smear attack on Obama may be gearing up. I'll call it the "Who Sent You" campaign. As weird as it sounds -- and it is weird stuff -- the gist of it is that Obama's birth was part of a secret plan by communists, Jews and one-worlders to take over the world. As you read this it is going to sound so fanatically wingnut/John Birch Society/black helicopter/precious bodily fluids weird that you are likely to dismiss it as the rantings of crazy people. But I have learned over the years that this stuff resonates with a certain crowd, and they are remarkably effective at tapping the fears of Americans.
Keep in mind how weird and unbelievable the Swift Boat accusations seemed -- and remember the powerful effect they had on the public and election results. In The Swiftboaters Are Back in the Water I wrote about the effectiveness of the dishonest accusations,
. . . [one] reason it works is because it is (excuse the pun) offensive. They say that the best defense is a good offense, and considering their candidates, the Republicans certainly needed a defense.
[. . .] So with swiftboating you spread a smear to raise questions with the public about the opponent's patriotism or service. It doesn't have to be true (how quaint) it just has to raise questions. This "neutralizes" the honorable record of or otherwise "discredits" the advantages that opponent has against a Republican with a poor (like George W. Bush's) or no (like Saxby Chambliss or any number of other "chickenhawks") record.
That post also cited the following description of the results of that smear:
"A recent University of Pennsylvania poll showed that its attack ad questioning whether Kerry deserved his medals had been seen or heard of by half the voters questioned.
It also revealed that 44 per cent of independent voters found the advert at least somewhat believable. Meanwhile a CBS poll showed the number of veterans who supported Kerry had dropped from 46 per cent to 37 per cent." [emphasis added]
This effect increased as the election approached.
And here we are again. The widely-spread, widely-repeated -- and consequently widely believed -- smear emails about Obama being a secret Muslim who went to a terrorist training school, burned his flag pin etc. have been "preparing the ground" by "raising questions" that get people ready to give a positive reception to this conspiracy theory. I am seeing signs that the wingnuts are starting to roll out the next phase with the right's recent "Obama forged birth certificate" blogswarm, with stories like this from Christian Web News,
In response to mounting media questions about the failure of the Barack Obama presidential campaign to produce his birth certificate, an official spokesman of the campaign has endorsed as genuine the image of a document purporting to be his "birth certificate." However, experts who have examined that image in high resolution have pointed out inconsistencies and irregularities which suggest that the document is a forgery.
It is irrefutable, empirical evidence - Obama's birth certificate is a forgery. Why? Why a COLB (certificate of live birth) forgery? That is the question.
If elected, he would be the first Arab-American President, not the first black President. Barack Hussein Obama is 50% Caucasian from his mother's side and 43.75% Arabic and 6.25% African Negro from his father's side. While Barack Hussein Obama's father was from Kenya, his father's family was mainly Arabs.. Barack Hussein Obama's father was only 12.5% African Negro and 87.5% Arab.
With all of that as background, here is what I think is an upcoming smear attack that will be echoed across the right's communication channels. In February, The Corner at National Review Online posted Obama's Political Origins.
. . . all of my mixed race, black/white classmates throughout my youth, some of whom I am still in contact with, were the product of very culturally specific unions. They were always the offspring of a white mother, (in my circles, she was usually Jewish, but elsewhere not necessarily) and usually a highly educated black father. And how had these two come together at a time when it was neither natural nor easy for such relationships to flourish? Always through politics. No, not the young Republicans. Usually the Communist Youth League.
. . . I don't know how Barak Obama's parents met. But the Kincaid article referenced above makes a very convincing case that Obama's family, later, (mid 1970s) in Hawaii, had close relations with a known black Communist intellectual.
. . . Political correctness was invented precisely to prevent the mainstream liberal media from persuing the questions which might arise about how Senator Obama's mother, from Kansas, came to marry an African graduate student.
In his biography of Barack Obama, David Mendell writes about Obama's life as a "secret smoker" and how he "went to great lengths to conceal the habit." But what about Obama's secret political life? It turns out that Obama's childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a communist.
[. . .] Obama's communist connection adds to mounting public concern about a candidate who has come out of virtually nowhere, with a brief U.S. Senate legislative record, to become the Democratic Party frontrunner for the U.S. presidency.
. . . AIM recently disclosed that Obama has well-documented socialist connections, which help explain why he sponsored a "Global Poverty Act" designed to send hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S. foreign aid to the rest of the world, in order to meet U.N. demands
I suspect this "he came out of nowhere" idea is going to be repeated over and over. It has a "don't trust him" insinuation that feels like it will stick in certain brains. It lends credence to the really weird stuff that I see bubbling up in the right's channels. An example of what is coming can be found in this "PUMA Blog Network" blog "It's The Communism Stupid" titled, Obama Socialist Trojan Horse and Hive Builder. Hear the Buzzing?
Is Obama a Marxist/Stalinist Trojan Horse.....a Marxist Mole?
How else is one to explain this candidate who came out of nowhere and since 1996 and involvement with the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, he has been able to "leap" every three years up the power ladder.....looking for the GOLD Ring of being the most powerful person in the United States?Going back to his roots we find:
1.His father, from Kenya was a Socialist and wrote papers relating to the oppression of the people of Kenya. ...
3.Obama's grandfather introduced him to Frank Marshall Davis, an activist and poet with ties to the Communist Party. . . .
5.From Occidental College, Obama transferred to Columbia University and majored in political science and international relations.
OK, I admit my favorite is the way this post highlights political science and international relations as proof that something sinister is going on. This is a long, paranoid post (please try to skim it at least) but I am seeing it echoed around the right's networks so you have to take it seriously.
OK, to the the meat of the coming attack. The outlines of it are here in this post, Who "sent" Obama?. I know this is weird stuff, but you can see how this paranoid theme develops if you skim it. It is very difficult to follow the logic, but the claim appears to be that Obama is the product of a secret cabal connected to Stalinist-Maoist-Che Guevara-Hugo Chavez communists. So take a look (again, my apologies, it's weird.)
So it is reasonable to ask, who "sent" Barack Obama? In other words, how can his meteoric rise to political prominence be explained?
[. . .] The people linked to Senator Obama grew to political maturity in the extreme wings of the late 60s student and antiwar movements. They adopted some of the worst forms of sectarian and authoritarian politics.
Dave Johnson is a leading participant in the progressive blogging community. He is a featured contributor at Huffington Post and writes at many other sites including AlterNet, DailyKos, MyDD, OpEd News and Common Dreams. In September, 2006 Dave was among a group of bloggers invited to meet with former President Bill Clinton, and then was invited to cover the 2006 Clinton Global Initiative conference, and covered it again this year.
"Dave Johnson is a fantastic grandfather of the blogosphere." – Mike Stark, BraveNewFilms.com
Mr. Johnson is on the Boards of Directors of Media Transparency and The People Choose 2006, is an advisor to The Philanthropy Network and is a member of the Netroots Advisory Council of the Drum Major Institute.
As a Senior Fellow with the Institute for the Renewal of the California Dream Dave works on progressive messaging. As a Commonweal Institute Fellow, Mr. Johnson researches and writes about the activities of the conservative movement and their influence on American society. He has investigated and reported on the Right's ongoing attacks on public education and teacher unions, university professors and trial attorneys and the tort legal system.
In my opinion, the smears presented here are too intellectual, wordy and imprecise. If the progressives choose to counter these arguments by academic rigor, they will lose the debate.
The Republican marketing pros reduce the rhetoric to easily remembered sound bites. The trick is to dismiss the Republican barbs with more pointed remarks from the progressive side. Make the Republicans run on their record. Never apologize or explain, keep pounding at the enemy. Never flip flop or retreat, make the other guy die for his beliefs.
Be sure of your facts before you charge him as a pedophile wife beater. Take no prisoners. Seize the time and the high ground. If your opponent begins to think about hard time in prison, he will forget the poison he has for you.
by
Jason Paz (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 71 comments)
on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 3:54:36 AM
Obama and McCain are the two sides of the same coin : same masters, same handlers, same mission, same agenda, same financiers, same owners, same fearmongering tactics, same allegiance to AIPAC.
It would make absolutely no difference whatsoever who gets elected as president. Whoever gets elected will receive same instructions from the Above as to his job assignments. If he disobeys he will be JFK'ed or Nixoned Watergate style or Clintoned Monika style. No freedom of action. Every policy has to rotate around the central axis which is WAR INDUSTRY.
But the show has to go on. Election circus is Hollywood entertainment for fools. Smearing the other side is part of the show meant to keep the fools busy with trivialities. Let the fools take the bait and fall into traps. The Masters behind the scene will chuckle.
The only answer to the Elites and their election circus show is : go to hell with your hand-picked candidates. We the People will have our revolution someday.
by
ramsheyi (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 397 comments)
on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 7:26:17 AM
The right wingers will come up with one (or more) smears about two weeks prior to the election and they will let loose with them. It will be relentless on Fox and all the other right wing outlets, which will then spill over to the other corporate owned media streams.
There will be no time to refrute the discussion. And since the masses in this country are dumb as stumps, it will probably work.
by
MsJoanne (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 11 comments)
on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 12:48:43 PM
There will be no holds barred in this Presidential campaign. The corporate media propagandist's job is to "sell" McCain, or at least keep the "poll numbers" close in order to make the corporate vote counter's tally more acceptable by the masses.
Along the way will be the typical smears. The media has already made 39% of those polled believe Obama is a Muslim. They have McCain as a "war hero". Now I respect his service (not like them when it came to Kerry), but do not believe being a prisoner makes him a "hero." In short, it will be no holds barred on their smear of Obama.
Should that appear to not be working look for the "trump card" and a "national emergency" causing marital law to be put in effect, thus postponing the election itself.
The Bush/Cheney cabal cannot afford to have anybody in the White House who may look into the crimes committed by these thugs. They feel safe with McCain, but even safer if they remain in office.
They are simply covering all of their bases and we can thank the likes of Nancy Pelosi and John Conyers.
by
Dennis Kaiser (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 198 comments)
on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 3:04:01 PM
Who has been doing nothing more than speaking some uncomfortable truths?
Speaking of which, what are your thoughts on the 12 Democratic Party operatives who have been indicted for their illegal actions to keep Ralph off the ballot in Pennsylvania?
War Death and Corporate Corruption.
Not just for Republicans.
Needless to say, I have not fallen for the Obama-rama spin.
Quite the opposite, I see it for what it really is.
by
Michael Cavlan (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 195 comments)
on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 3:42:52 PM
