debunking anti-Obama smears and propoganda

Here's a list of responses to e-smears (loosely indexed) mainly from snopes, the most
respected name in bunk control. Courtesy of Michael Martinson.

Partial Index:
Religion, Patriotism, Patriotic symbols (eg flag) - 1, 6, 7, 8 12, 14, 16, 19;
Citizenship - 2, 33;
Family background: 3,13, 16;
Plane 14;
Military 8;
Writings racist? 4
Foreign funding & campaign donations, 10, 20, 35;
Massive liar? 16;
Taxes 26, 34

Stand up for a new kind of Politics:

1. snopes.com: Who Is Barack Obama?
E-mail describes Illinois senator Barack Obama as a 'radical Muslim' who 'will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance.'
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp

2. snopes.com: Is Barack Obama a natural-born citizen of the U.S.?
Is Barack Obama a natural-born citizen of the U.S.?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/citizen.asp

3. snopes.com: Barack Obama and Kenya Connection
E-mail from missionary describes Barack Obama's connection to political events in Kenya.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/kenya.asp

4. snopes.com: Barack Obama's Mother
Biography of Barack Obama's mother?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/mother.asp

5. snopes.com: Barack Obama in His Own Words
E-mail lists racist passages taken from Barack Obama's books.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ownwords.asp

6. snopes.com: Barack Obama and the National Anthem
Barack Obama does not place his hand over his heart when the U.S. national anthem is played?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/anthem.asp

7. snopes.com: Barack Obama - Trinity United Church of Christ
E-mail describes Illinois senator Barack Obama's church as having a racist, ;non-negotiable commitment to Africa.'
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/church.asp

8. snopes.com: Barack Obama in Afghanistan
Barack Obama 'blew off' U.S. soldiers during a July 2008 trip to Afghanistan?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/afghanistan.asp

9. snopes.com: Barack Obama Endorsed by the KKK
Illinois senator Barack Obama has been endorsed for President of the U.S. by the Ku Klux Klan?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/kkk.asp

10. snopes.com: Barack Obama Funded by Hugo Chavez?
Is Barack Obama's presidential campaign being funded by Hugo Ch?vez?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/chavez.asp

11. snopes.com: Barack Obama with Upside-Down Telephone
Photograph shows Barack Obama holding a telephone upside down?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/phone.asp

12. snopes.com: Is Barack Obama the Anti-Christ?
Does the Book of Revelation describe the anti-Christ as someone with characteristics matching those of Barack Obama?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/antichrist.asp

13. snopes.com: Barack Obama Family Photo
Photograph shows Barack Obama with various family members?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/familyphoto.asp

14. snopes.com: Barack Obama's Campaign Plane
During an overhaul of the Obama campaign jet, was an American flag image was removed from the plane's tail?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/airplane.asp

15. snopes.com: Say What, Barack?
Editorial criticizes anachronisms in Barack Obama's 2007 Selma speech.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/saywhat.asp

16. snopes.com: Obama's 50 Lies
E-mail lists fifty lies told by Barack Obama.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/50lies.asp

17. snopes.com: Obama Explains National Anthem Stance
E-mail reproduces Barack Obama's comments on the U.S. national anthem?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/stance.asp

18. snopes.com: Obama Heals Hundreds
Hundreds of people with physical ailments have reported being healed by a touch from Barack Obama?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/obamaheals.asp

19. snopes.com: Michelle Obama's Thesis
Has access to Michelle Obama's senior thesis been restricted until after the 2008 presidential election?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/thesis.asp

20. snopes.com: Obama's Troubling Internet Fund-Raising ???
Do the bulk of donations to the Obama campaign come from a handful of wealthy foreign
financiers?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/donations.asp

21. snopes.com: Wake Up, America! - Ken Blackwell
Editorial criticizes Barack Obama's political stances.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/blackwell.asp

22. snopes.com: Equitable Distribution
Did Barack Obama say 'a strong government hand is needed to assure that wealth is distributed more equitably'?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/distribute.asp

23. snopes.com: Greatest Nation
Did Barack Obama urge his supporters to join him in changing 'the greatest nation in the
history of the world'?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/change.asp

24. snopes.com: Chicken Votes for Colonel Sanders
Insurance broker posts 'A taxpayer voting for Barack Obama is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders' sign?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/budgregg.asp

25. snopes.com: Pat Buchanan on the Rev. Jeremiah Wright
E-mail reproduces Pat Buchanan's criticism of Barack Obama's remarks on racial discrimination in the U.S..
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/buchanan-wright.asp

26. snopes.com: Proposed Tax Changes
E-mail compares proposed changes in taxes after the 2008 presidential election.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/taxes.asp

Also here's a great response to McCain, who has become an Urban Legend creator on this issue himself! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGIqGaWZOo0

27. snopes.com: Thomas Sowell
Various Internet-circulated political items written by Thomas Sowell.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/sowell.asp

28. snopes.com: Robert F. Kennedy's 40-Year Prediction
Robert F. Kennedy said he believed a black man could become President of the United
States within forty years.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/kennedy.asp

29. snopes.com: A Canadian's View of U.S. Elections
E-mail reproduces an editorial from a Canadian newspaper about U.S. presidential candidates.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/canadianview.asp

30. snopes.com: Martha Raddatz/ABC News Interview ???
Did an ABC News report deliberately slant the presidential candidate preferences expressed by U.S. soldiers in Iraq?
http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/raddatz.asp

31. snopes.com: Big Oil
E-mail criticizes U.S. environmental regulations on the oil industry.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/bigoil.asp

32. snopes.com: Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach 'Change' ??
Letter to the editor warns Americans to be wary of 'a young leader who promises change.'
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/castro.asp

From some other sites:

33. Email rumor claims that Barack Obama is ineligible to become president because according to the laws in effect at the time of his birth he is not a U.S. citizen...

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blxatoz.htm

34. Email flier compares tax changes purportedly advocated by 2008 presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/government/a/tax_changes.htm

35. Phony op-ed column attributed to New York Times writer Maureen Dowd claims Barack Obama has accepted campaign donations from foreign countries including Saudi Arabia and Iran.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/barackobama/a/obama_funds.htm

Know the facts!

Dave Stewart's American Prayer: You know they're yearning to breathe free

Give me your tired, your poor and huddled masses…

"If you get to the top of the mountain, will you tell me what you see?
If you get to the top of the mountain, remember me."

From Minneapolis in the upper midwest to New Orleans where the mighty Mississippi empties into the gulf, from Portland in the north west to Greenville, South Carolina, Hope is alive and well in America, and Obama's candidacy has tapped into it. Now Dave Stewart's chronicled our hope.

read more | digg story

Stanley Kurtz, If Obama's With "Weather Underground", I Am Too

National Review Contributing Editor Stanley Kurtz either has little to do, or has taken something which caused his intelligence quotient to fly South for the Summer. He's trying to link Senator Barack Obama to the alledged terrorist group of 1960s Chicago called "The Weather Underground" through the fact that in 2002, Obama and William Ayers, one of its members, were on the same board of directors of a Chicago non-profit.

There's one problem. Barack Obama was a kid in the 60s and not even living in Chicago. But I was in Chicago in the 60s and was born there -- proudly. So to look at Kurtz logic, I'm as much if not more a real Weatherman than Obama. In fact, why not count every Black male and kid in Chicago at the time!

See how silly Kurtz' argument is? More proof that conservatives are fishing for anything that they think will stick to Senator Obama on his way toward the presidency, even if it's just totally stupid.

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones Passes

This is purely shocking to happen to someone I saw on television so much I felt like I knew her. And this just days from the Democratic National Convention. She was a tireless supporter of Hillary Clinton for President, and even as I'd wished she was behind Senator Obama at the time, I always respected her drive and example for young women.

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) _ Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress, had a brain hemorrhage and was in critical condition with limited brain function, a doctor said Wednesday.


Tubbs Jones, 58, suffered the hemorrhage while driving her car in Cleveland Heights on Tuesday, said Dr. Gus Kious, president of Huron Hospital in East Cleveland. The congresswoman had been driving erratically and her vehicle crossed lanes of traffic before coming to a stop, police said.


Tubbs Jones "collapsed when she suffered a very serious brain hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm that burst in an inaccessible part of her brain," Kious said during a news conference. A team of doctors who evaluated her determined she has limited brain function.


A brain aneurysm is a bulge in an artery in the brain. It can leak or rupture, causing bleeding in the brain.

Outside Test

Here is another test

Sent from my iPhone

Register to vote via Xbox LIVE!

Rock the Vote has partnered with Microsoft Corp. in another fantastic technological innovation for this campaign season: facilitating voter registration via Xbox LIVE starting on Monday, August 25, the first day of the Democratic National Convention. Rock the Vote's target audience, the under-30 crowd, is the largest demographic in the 12 million strong Xbox LIVE community. Participants will not only be able to register to vote, but will be able to participate in pre-election polls, which could end up being more accurate than anything Zogby or Gallup could conjur.

DNC Convention Mobile Blogging Test One

This is the first test of the mobile blogging process where I use my
iPhone to send a blog post complete with text

I will do this many times during the day just to keep a kind of active
journal, you know?

Obama VP: Biden, Clinton, Bayh, Kerry or Clark? Who? - DNC Convention

Any day or moment Senator Barack Obama will pick his vice presidential running mate. But who should it be? Senator Joe Biden? Senator Hillary Clinton? Senator Evan Bayh? Senator John Kerry? Or General Wesley Clark? I talk about these possible choices and who I favor, which is an Obama Clinton ticket.

The reason I favor an Obama / Clinton ticket is that it would reform the party and unity would be the word. I still hold it's the most exciting and electrifying of all of the possible combinations before us that are realistic.

Evan Bayh is a popular two-term Senator who comes from Indiana royalty, but outside that state, where can he be most effective? He's just not exciting in my view.

Senator Joe Biden is a fighter and well-known around the World. I think he would bring a lot to the Obama brand, but I'm just not sure he can move the voters like Clinton could.

Then we come to Senator John Kerry, who's ran before and for President. Senator Kerry would bring a large email list and donor base but I think Obama / Kerry would be seen as a match of two elites.

General Wesley Clark certainly has a compelling story, and a war record that surpasses that of John McCain. Clark's been a powerful ally to Obama and would make a great choice to bring liberals solidly into the Obama tent. But can he draw votes? That's the question.

For my money Clinton's the best choice, even with the negative energy she seems to draw from others. But Clinton's not far and away the best selection and I could be swayed to someone else if I knew they would bring votes. Perhaps Kerry could best do that. We shall known soon.

Obama Campaign texting strategy

Last week, the Obama campaign sent supporters a message, via email and text, that they could "be one of the first to know" who he selects as VP if they would just text 62262 and get on the list. At the time, there was some discussion as to whether this was a smart (read this) or not very smart (read this) move. While it can certainly be argued, as Leonce Gaiter did over at HuffPo, that such a strategy cheapens the process, the true genius of this move won't really be seen until November.

The Obama campaign has been very smart in their use of technology. They announced on the web, made huge news for revolutionizing web based fundraising, and have employed text messaging to mobilize their volunteers. They also have a prominent presence on Twitter, FaceBook and MySpace. With the tease of getting a jump on the VP news, they surely signed up thousands more to their text messaging list. Come November, this should pay off when they text these folks to remind them to vote.

I texted 62262 to see what would happen. I received an acknowledgment text immediately. But here's more of that genius: a couple of days ago, I received a text asking for my zip code. Assuming that folks respond favorably and give the campaign their zips, the campaign has just built a new list of supporters to text not just for voting, but for volunteering, which is where one voter turns into 100.

We have yet to see what will actually happen when Obama selects his VP and sends out the news via text, but right now, the strategy looks like a good one for long term voter mobilization.

Saddleback blowback

Beyond any reasonable doubt the public knows that Senator McCain was not in the "cone of silence" in Warren's Green Room at Saddleback, despite his own dodging that question live in front of the pastor's assembled audience when he quipped that he'd been trying to listen through the wall. McCain - or his handlers - evidently lacked the confidence to approach the interview as advertised on a level playing field with Senator Obama, although by most estimates Warren is a friendly interviewer to the McCain campaign and those attending the event were receptive to McCain's candidacy.

Fine; politicians who have survived for decades in DC are likely to seek any advantage, but what does it say about McCain's character that during the interview intended to illuminate the candidates' character and values, conducted by a pastor, that a man who wants so desperately to be President would dance around the truth in front of a national TV audience as though... well, as though he was denying sexual relations with an intern?

Digg this story!

Katie Couric Digg's The DNC Convention

Katie Couric's discovered "Digg" for the DNC Convention. See her video-blog here:

Convention News from DemConWatch

- The opening gavel is only 7 days away. Convention related events start as early as Thursday with the Stonewall Democrats National Convention. You can find info on this and a lot more in the DemConWatch Convention Calendar

- Jon Meacham from Newsweek and Chris Cillizza from the Washington Post will be streaming live coverage 7 hours a day from the convention.

- Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic will also be streaming.

- Senator Norm "Teeth" Coleman wouldn't go to the Republican convention if it was held in Minneapolis.

- The DNCC posts a construction update. They need to be done by Friday for the Open House.

- Qwest has reached an agreement with its workers.

- We should find out who Obama's VP pick is sometime this week.

- Pay Equity Pioneer Lilly Ledbetter has been added to Tuesday's speaking schedule.

“We are honored that Lilly Ledbetter will address the Democratic Convention,” said Senator Barack Obama. “The fact that women are paid less than their male coworkers for doing the same job is unacceptable in the 21st century and counter to both the progress we've made and our shared values as Americans. Lilly Ledbetter's case before the Supreme Court has once again awakened the nation to this discrimination, and it's time we join together to right this wrong and pay women equal pay for equal work." - DNCC Press

- The Big Tent is taking shape