RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events Barack Hussein Obama in '08?

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Beardguy57 said:
I worry that, because he is black, Obama will be scrutinized more so than a white presidential candidate.

At first, I thought he ought not to have admitted he did drugs, but at least this way, it is not a skeleton in his closet anymore.

But honesty is not always a good thing in politics....

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Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) on MSNBC:

“I have encouraged Barack to run … I told him, if I can recall, that if he didn’t run, he would regret it for the rest of his life.”

“I told him, as a member of the New York delegation, that if we go with a favorite son, or daughter, we would have to go with Hillary Clinton.”

Feeling a wind at his back, freshman Sen. Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he is taking the step political pundits have been predicting for months and filing papers for a presidential exploratory committee.

The Illinois Democrat sent a letter and posted a video on his Web site notifying supporters of his plans to join the 2008 White House race. He said he would announce updates to his plan in his home state on Feb. 10.

Obama, who if elected would become the first black president in the United States, said he never expected a year ago that he would be in the position he is now. But after being on the road promoting his book and campaigning on behalf of other Democrats in the run-up to the Nov. 7 election last year, he was "struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics."

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Wonder Boy said:
The way Colin Powell was shot down by scrutiny to the point that he has consistently been shown in polls to be the presidential choice of the American public in every election since 1992, if he would only run? ( A nation that is 13% black, and 87% anti-black racists, who would oddly pick Colin Powell overwhelmingly ?)

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The way Clarence Thomas was obstructed from the Supreme Court? The way Thurgood Marshall was before him ? (Except they both became Justices.)

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The way Condolleeza Rice was prevented from becoming National Security Advisor, and Secretary of State ? (Except she's still there.)

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the G-man said:
Its funny how, as soon as Barack Hussein Obama starts beating Hillary Rodham Clinton in some early polls, negative information about him starts leaking out. Not that the Clintons would ever slander an opponent or anything.

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the G-man said:
the Clintons are as, if not more, likely to attack Obama at this point since he is Hillary's rival for the nomination.

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Matter-eater Man said:
G-man [is] just making up accustions about the Clintons

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Heh. Insight magazine confirms that the Clinton camp is behind some of the attacks on Barack Hussein Obama:

Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a Madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?

This is the question Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp is asking about Sen. Barack Obama.

Sources said the background check, conducted by researchers connected to Senator Clinton, disclosed details of Mr. Obama's Muslim past. The sources said the Clinton camp concluded the Illinois Democrat concealed his prior Muslim faith and education.

"The background investigation will provide major ammunition to his opponents," the source said. "The idea is to show Obama as deceptive."

(Oh, and don't worry, there will be plenty of time to discuss that he was raised a Muslim later).

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Right-wing media figures claim Clinton behind Obama/Muslim smears
Summary: Melanie Morgan, Lee Rodgers, Rush Limbaugh, and John Gibson all forwarded the accusation made by a website controlled by Rev. Sun Myung Moon that Sen. Hillary Clinton was responsible for spreading information linking Sen. Barack Obama to a madrassa, or Muslim school. None of the four cited any evidence, other than the article, that Clinton was responsible for promoting the madrassa story, and the article cited no one by name.

On the January 19 editions of their radio programs, conservative talk show hosts Melanie Morgan, Lee Rodgers and Rush Limbaugh, as well as Fox News' John Gibson on the same day's edition of The Big Story, forwarded the accusation, originally published on the website InsightMag.com, that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) was responsible for spreading information about Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) -- specifically, that Obama "spent at least four years in a so-called Madrassa or Muslim seminary, in Indonesia." The article, bearing the headline "Hillary's team has questions about Obama's Muslim background," asserted that "researchers connected to Senator Clinton" disclosed the "details of Mr. Obama's Muslim past." Despite acknowledging near the end of his show that it "[d]oesn't seem" that "Hillary's fingerprints [are] on the story," Gibson said earlier in that program that "[t]he New York senator has reportedly outed Obama's madrassa past."

None of the four radio or television hosts cited any evidence that Clinton was responsible for promoting the madrassa story, beyond the InsightMag.com article, which cited no one by name. On December 13, Jason Zengerle, editor of The Plank, the weblog of The New Republic, predicted that Republicans would "launch a savage and despicable whispering campaign against the guy (Barack Hussein Obama, etc.) and then blame it all on Hillary." Zengerle responded to the InsightMag.com article on January 18:

The attribution on all this is broad enough ("political opponents within the Democratic Party"; "researchers connected to Senator Clinton") that I suppose this information about Obama could have originated with people in Clinton's orbit. But let's not forget where this information appeared. And let's be on the lookout for who goes on the cable shows and wonders whether "Barack Hussein Obama" is "The <strike>Manchurian</strike> Madrassa Candidate." Something tells me it isn't going to be Hillary, or any liberal for that matter.

InsightMag.com is the successor to Insight on the News, a biweekly magazine published until April 2004 by News World Communications, the company controlled by Rev. Sun Myung Moon that also operates The Washington Times and the wire service United Press International. The website describes itself as a "weekly Internet news magazine."
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PJP said:
...a terrorist attack that he helped orchestrate.

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Matter-eater Man said:
A spokesman for Clinton, who is also weighing a White House bid, denied that the campaign was the source of the Obama claim.

He called the story "an obvious right-wing hit job."

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Well, that settles that. After all, its not like a politician would lie about smearing an opponent. Or blame their problems a "right-wing" conspriacy.

Especially not a Clinton.

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First Amongst Daves said:
How do Jesse Jackson and all those all stalwarts make of him?

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PJP said:
They are Christian and he is Muslim.....

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the G-man said:
MEM has pretty much said he is a dyed in the wool, kool aid drinking, Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton supporter.

As such, it is not suprising that he won't admit that she has more motive than any one to take down Barack Hussein Obama at this time.

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A disputed report on the Web site of a conservative magazine about Senator Barack Obama’s childhood schooling kicked off a pointed exchange this week between the rival cable news networks CNN and Fox News when CNN seemed to make an overt effort both to debunk the report and to question the quality of Fox News’s journalism.

The CaucusKate Phillips and The Times's politics staff report on the latest political news from around the nation. Join the discussion.

The original report, posted on the online version of Insight, a magazine owned by The Washington Times, said that as a child in Indonesia, Mr. Obama had attended a madrassa, a school that teaches a radical version of the Muslim faith. Mr. Obama, who spent a few years in Jakarta as a boy, is a Christian.

Adding to the political volatility of the report was the attribution of the news to “researchers connected to” Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The two senators are expected to be the leading candidates for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, attracting intense news coverage, and the sparring between CNN and Fox News, which are often described as ideological opposites, may be a prelude to more accusations of inaccurate reporting.

The back-and-forth also comes amid a backdrop of increasingly nasty competition between the two networks, with CNN trying to promote the quality of its journalism as a counter to Fox’s ratings. Fox continues to command by far the largest news audience in cable television.

Representatives of Mr. Obama of Illinois and Mrs. Clinton of New York denounced the Insight report, calling it false and an effort by a conservative publication to smear two Democratic contenders at the same time.

The Fox News Channel discussed the report on two of its programs. It was also picked up by The New York Post, which shares ownership with Fox News, and was discussed by several conservative talk-radio hosts.

Yesterday, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Howard Wolfson, said in an e-mail message: “This is a textbook example of how the other side works. A right-wing rag makes up a scurrilous charge and prints it with no real attribution. The smear gets injected into the atmosphere and picked up by talk radio. In this case both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton were victimized.”

A spokesman for Mr. Obama had previously been quoted in The Washington Post as calling the report “appallingly irresponsible.”

On its Web site yesterday, Insight defended its report, saying, “Our reporter’s sources close to the Clinton opposition research war room confirm the truth of the story.”

CNN’s political director, Sam Feist, said he had seen the Insight report discussed on “Fox and Friends.” Mr. Feist said he wanted to determine the validity of what he said, if true, would be a “holy-cow political story” so he sent a correspondent, John Vause, to Jakarta from Beijing. Mr. Vause’s report, broadcast Monday on CNN, described the Jakarta school as unaffiliated with Islamic fundamentalism. The school headmaster said it was a “public school” that did not “focus on religion.”

The president of CNN US, Jon Klein, said that his network’s report was “not a response to Fox per se, though they did seem to relish repeating the Insight-reported rumor without bothering to — or being able to — ascertain the facts.”

In its report, CNN included a clip from the Fox News program “The Big Story With John Gibson.” Mr. Gibson interviewed a Republican political strategist about Mrs. Clinton’s reported role in the Obama rumors. As Fox News has in every story on the madrassa accusations, Mr. Gibson used the attribution “according to Insight magazine.” But he also said: “Look at what some anti-Obama Democrats are doing to her political rival now. They are playing the Muslim phobia card.”

On Monday, the hosts of “Fox and Friends” said they wanted to clarify earlier comments after Mr. Obama’s office contacted the show, declaring its report “absolutely false.”

In comments after Mr. Vause’s report, the CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper seemed to chide others for not practicing legitimate journalism on the story. “CNN did what any serious news organization is supposed to do in this kind of a situation,” Mr. Blitzer said. “We actually conducted an exclusive firsthand investigation inside Indonesia to check out the school.”

Mr. Cooper said: “That’s the difference between talking about news and reporting it. You send a reporter, check the facts, and you decide at home.”

A Fox News spokeswoman, Irena Briganti, said CNN was mainly looking for publicity in attacking its higher-rated rival. Of Mr. Cooper’s comment, she said, “Yet another cry for attention by the Paris Hilton of television news, Anderson Cooper.”

Matthews:"Let me ask you about opposition research. Is that part of your campaign: checking out other candidates's possible flaws in their resumes? Are you guys going to engage in that kind of politics to win the nomination...Is anyone in the campaign tasked with opposition research?

"Right now, right now as we speak, has anyone been given the job of digging up information about the other Democratic candidates? Do you have people on your team who are looking at the other candidates for their records, for their past practices, possible weaknesses in their resume? Are you doing that kind of work in your campaign or not? - it's a simple question."

Wolfson dodged the question, saying ...they would respond aggressively to any attacks by other candidates, and that they would have the means to do that.

Matthews: "So you have begun the effort to of digging up information."

Wolfson: "I didn't say that."

Matthews: "I'm asking you: have you or have you not?"

Wolfson ultimately chose to stone-wall: "I'm not going to get into the campaign tactics."

Matthews was relentless: "You won't answer the question as to whether you have an opposition research capability at this point. You won't answer the question."

Wolfson: "I'm telling you the kind of campaign we're going to run."

One parting shot from Chris: "OK, but you haven't answered that question."

A. Denials which later turn out to be false
B. Blaming things on the "right wing conspiracy"
C. Digging up dirt to smear opponents
D. Other dirty tricks, including using "goon squads" to intimidate protesters.

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Jason E. Perkins said:
The New York Times

Politics

Rivals CNN and Fox News Spar Over Obama Report
Published: January 24, 2007

By BILL CARTER

A disputed report on the Web site of a conservative magazine about Senator Barack Obama’s childhood schooling kicked off a pointed exchange this week between the rival cable news networks CNN and Fox News when CNN seemed to make an overt effort both to debunk the report and to question the quality of Fox News’s journalism.

The CaucusKate Phillips and The Times's politics staff report on the latest political news from around the nation. Join the discussion.

The original report, posted on the online version of Insight, a magazine owned by The Washington Times, said that as a child in Indonesia, Mr. Obama had attended a madrassa, a school that teaches a radical version of the Muslim faith. Mr. Obama, who spent a few years in Jakarta as a boy, is a Christian.

Adding to the political volatility of the report was the attribution of the news to “researchers connected to” Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The two senators are expected to be the leading candidates for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, attracting intense news coverage, and the sparring between CNN and Fox News, which are often described as ideological opposites, may be a prelude to more accusations of inaccurate reporting.

The back-and-forth also comes amid a backdrop of increasingly nasty competition between the two networks, with CNN trying to promote the quality of its journalism as a counter to Fox’s ratings. Fox continues to command by far the largest news audience in cable television.

Representatives of Mr. Obama of Illinois and Mrs. Clinton of New York denounced the Insight report, calling it false and an effort by a conservative publication to smear two Democratic contenders at the same time.

The Fox News Channel discussed the report on two of its programs. It was also picked up by The New York Post, which shares ownership with Fox News, and was discussed by several conservative talk-radio hosts.

Yesterday, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Howard Wolfson, said in an e-mail message: “This is a textbook example of how the other side works. A right-wing rag makes up a scurrilous charge and prints it with no real attribution. The smear gets injected into the atmosphere and picked up by talk radio. In this case both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton were victimized.”

A spokesman for Mr. Obama had previously been quoted in The Washington Post as calling the report “appallingly irresponsible.”

On its Web site yesterday, Insight defended its report, saying, “Our reporter’s sources close to the Clinton opposition research war room confirm the truth of the story.”

CNN’s political director, Sam Feist, said he had seen the Insight report discussed on “Fox and Friends.” Mr. Feist said he wanted to determine the validity of what he said, if true, would be a “holy-cow political story” so he sent a correspondent, John Vause, to Jakarta from Beijing. Mr. Vause’s report, broadcast Monday on CNN, described the Jakarta school as unaffiliated with Islamic fundamentalism. The school headmaster said it was a “public school” that did not “focus on religion.”

The president of CNN US, Jon Klein, said that his network’s report was “not a response to Fox per se, though they did seem to relish repeating the Insight-reported rumor without bothering to — or being able to — ascertain the facts.”

In its report, CNN included a clip from the Fox News program “The Big Story With John Gibson.” Mr. Gibson interviewed a Republican political strategist about Mrs. Clinton’s reported role in the Obama rumors. As Fox News has in every story on the madrassa accusations, Mr. Gibson used the attribution “according to Insight magazine.” But he also said: “Look at what some anti-Obama Democrats are doing to her political rival now. They are playing the Muslim phobia card.”

On Monday, the hosts of “Fox and Friends” said they wanted to clarify earlier comments after Mr. Obama’s office contacted the show, declaring its report “absolutely false.”

In comments after Mr. Vause’s report, the CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper seemed to chide others for not practicing legitimate journalism on the story. “CNN did what any serious news organization is supposed to do in this kind of a situation,” Mr. Blitzer said. “We actually conducted an exclusive firsthand investigation inside Indonesia to check out the school.”

Mr. Cooper said: “That’s the difference between talking about news and reporting it. You send a reporter, check the facts, and you decide at home.”

A Fox News spokeswoman, Irena Briganti, said CNN was mainly looking for publicity in attacking its higher-rated rival. Of Mr. Cooper’s comment, she said, “Yet another cry for attention by the Paris Hilton of television news, Anderson Cooper.”

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The evidence seems to show that both Ann Dunham (Obama's mother) and her husband Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo (his stepfather) were in fact devout Muslims themselves and they raised their son as such.

To further support this, two of Obama's classmates in Indonesia at the time one who is now the CEO of Indonesia's national airline and the other a bank manager in Jakarta remember a very different Obama, a very religious one that was well versed in Islam and liked to recite his prayers.

"[Obama] was previously quite religious in Islam. His birth father, Barack Hussein Obama was a Muslim economist from Kenya.'

"All the relatives ... were very devout Muslims"

"He was often in the prayer room wearing a 'sarong', at that time, he was quite religious in Islam but only after marrying Michelle, he changed his religion."

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the G-man said:
Some reports indicate that Obama was a Muslim up until 1992 and that he only changed his religion only so that he could marry:

The evidence seems to show that both Ann Dunham (Obama's mother) and her husband Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo (his stepfather) were in fact devout Muslims themselves and they raised their son as such.

To further support this, two of Obama's classmates in Indonesia at the time one who is now the CEO of Indonesia's national airline and the other a bank manager in Jakarta remember a very different Obama, a very religious one that was well versed in Islam and liked to recite his prayers.

"[Obama] was previously quite religious in Islam. His birth father, Barack Hussein Obama was a Muslim economist from Kenya.'

"All the relatives ... were very devout Muslims"

"He was often in the prayer room wearing a 'sarong', at that time, he was quite religious in Islam but only after marrying Michelle, he changed his religion."

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Karl Hungus said:

Why is this an issue? The bulk of muslims aren't terrorists...

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PJP said:
If you ever want to do some light reading chack this great book out....

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PJP said:
If you ever want to do some light reading chack this great book out....

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here's a similar book, it tells it like it is about another religion that isn't christian.