Fightthesmears.com: Only Straw Man Obama Rumors Need Apply

"What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon--that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize. Because we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first." ~ Barack Obmama, June 3, 2008"
--from the header at Obama's Fight the Smears.com

ALSO at DBKP.com: FighttheSmears.com: Obama Site Another Attempt to Limit Discussion

A round-up of predictable headlines from the (largely) usual WWW suspects.

* Ben Smith notes in "Fighting smears, gaming Google" an email by Wired's Thomas Goetz:

By putting their own website out there front-and-center, and then getting everybody to link to it (starting with all the media covering the launch of the site), the result will be to drive fightthesmears.com towards the top of a Google search on, say, "obama muslim" or "michelle obama whitey". Ideally, if enough of the pro-Obama network links to fightthesmears.com, it'll drive the sites that peddle in the rumor-mongering, which are now the first results on said searches, off the top of the results list. Ideal long term result: any curious low-information voter who eventually bothers to google these pesky rumors will immediately be led to the debunking rather than the rumor.

My take: Did the Obama campaign create fightthesmears.com to game Google? If so, they're even more net-savvy than folks give them credit for.

Excellent tech-savvy observation!

* The same Brave New Folks ask "Can Sunshine Help Obama Fight the Slime?" New Republic is certainly an expert on slime: it was the home Baghdad Diarist, Thomas Scott Beauchamp. TNR's Michelle Cottle gushes:

The fabulous Karen Tumulty has a piece up over at Time.com today (sorry, for some reason can't get our blog's link function to work; go to Time.com's home page and you'll see it) about Obama's rumor-fighting initiative, a web site called fightthesmears.com that seeks to confront head on all those nasty flasehoods being whispered--and emailed--about him and his family. In addition to debunking the more pernicious tales, the site asks Obama supporters to, with a click of a button, "Spread the Word" about the truth (or, rather, the lack thereof) behind such rumors.

Too bad about that link function.

* MSNBC chips in with "OBAMA CAMP TRIES TO 'FIGHT THE SMEARS'", where NBC/NJ's Athena Jones also does her bit to add to the Obama fluffery.

Obama's campaign has mastered the use of the Internet for fundraising. His backers have used viral videos like the "Yes we can" mash-up and the 'Empire Strikes Barack'-style videos to rev up supporters. But there have also been instances where the Web has hurt Obama, like the Rev. Wright playing on a loop on YouTube. There have also been numerous emails about Obama being a Muslim and a man who refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance and most recently messages accusing his wife Michelle of uttering a racial epithet at Obama's former church. (The first two are demonstrably untrue, and Michelle has denied the latter and Obama himself has challenged anyone with video of his wife making the remarks to produce it.)

Rather, Obama is challenging anyone to produce a video he first said doesn't exist.

And Time is commenting on its own story, with "TIME: Obama Fights the Smears".

The Illinois Senator launches a “Web-based rumor clearinghouse” to counter the online rumors about his faith, family and connections with controversial figures.

Obama adviser Anita Dunn: “We will not allow Michelle—or, for that matter, Barack—to be defined by rumors.”

Does this mean that anything Obama doesn't want discussed will end up on FighttheSmears.com?

Or do only straw man rumors need apply?

by Mondoreb
images: fightthesmears.com

Obama Anti-Rumor Website: Another Way to Limit Discussion

Democrat Barack Obama's campaign said Thursday that Michelle Obama never used the word "whitey" in a speech from the church pulpit as he launched a Web site to debunk rumors about his campaign."
--NEDRA PICKLER, AP



The Obama campaign is now going to be spending more time addressing rumors?

"Yesterday I wrote about the new team that the Barack Obama campaign was building to counter internet rumor as well as deal with inconvenient truths, by way of offering the "party line" on how to counter the rumors or the damaging truths."
--Susan Duclos, Wake Up America

The Politician's Playbook says "to confront rumors, do not confront them." That's a smart move. The Mainstream liberal press has it's own "Don't ask Democrats, don't tell" policy. If the candidate doesn't talk about a rumor, the MSM will pretend it doesn't exist. No potentially-embarrassing questions that way--provided it's a Democrat candidate.

Addressing the rumors breaks the policy and the candidate is fair game.

As long as there have been rumors in politics, there has been one widely accepted way for a candidate to deal with them. Basically, it's not to. Otherwise, according to prevailing wisdom, all a candidate achieves is to elevate the rumors to a legitimate story for the media to feast on. That don't-go-there approach was Barack Obama's plan for months until, on the candidate's first full day of campaigning as his party's presumed presidential nominee, a reporter from McClatchy Newspapers who was traveling aboard his plane asked him about a particularly toxic bit of hearsay that was zooming around the Internet about his wife Michelle. Obama lost his cool. "We have seen this before. There is dirt and lies that are circulated in e-mails, and they pump them out long enough until finally you, a mainstream reporter, asks me about it," Obama said, bristling. "That gives legs to the story. If somebody has evidence that myself or Michelle or anybody has said something inappropriate, let them do it."
--Time: Obama's Anti-Rumor Plan

So is this a smart move by the man who gets the Mainstream Media all gooey inside? Here's one vote for "yes".

Spend time refuting straw man rumors--and that's less time spent talking about the issues: issues are not a strong point for the Senate's most liberal member.

Really, they aren't. When does Obama address the issues--other than the standard liberal boilerplate about health care and substituting "Change" for "Amen" at Obama revivals? Obama has a LONG list of "change"--and a FAR SHORTER list on how he's going to bring it about.

Much better to chat with the MSM about "rumors". The campaign surely will be careful to separate "rumors" and "unpleasant topics".

Won't they?

What rumors has the campaign tackled on its new website, http://www.fightthesmears.com.? Let's take a look. The website has a "Powered by Truth" blurb.


RUMOR: The "Whitey" tape purportedly showing Michelle Obama railing against "Whitey".
[Fightthesmears.com uses the words "THE SMEAR" and "LIE" instead of RUMOR.]

WEBSITE ANSWER: "No such tape exists," the campaign responds. "Michelle Obama has not spoken from the pulpit at Trinity and has not used that word."
[Whitey Tape Means Michelle O. is Going On a Trip-- Under the Bus]

RUMOR: Jeremiah Wright video of Wright damning America.

ANSWER: None, the video exists and the Obamas left Trinity Church after 20 years after Wright's "Goddamn America" threatened to damage the campaign. It's been rumored that this was a politically-expedient move on Obama's part. fightthesmears.com doesn't address this last rumor, either.

RUMOR: Senator Obama was sworn into the US Senate using the Koran.

ANSWER: "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian." The website also offers a pic of Obama sworn in with a Bible used. This rumor is the equivalent of being asked, "What's your favorite color?"

RUMOR: Barack Obama Won't Say The Pledge of Allegiance/Won't Put His Hand Over His Heart. [Actual wording: "LIE: Barack Obama won't put his hand over this heart during the pledge of allegiance"]

ANSWER: "View video of Barack leading The Pledge of Allegiance in the United States Senate"

This particular Smear-Answer was, no doubt, in response to the video below.



When we (and other bloggers) first ran the video and picture, Obama's response was much different: he called it a "dirty trick". "DBKP Proud to be "Dirty Trickster"

There's other "smears"--such as "Obama's Books Contain Racially Incendiary Remarks"--and other "The Truth" answers; the quotes from Obama's books were--ready?--"Truncated and Out of Context".

"Change" apparently doesn't include changing that tried-and-true answer to a candidates getting nailed--especially when it's on paper, written by Obama himself.

The question remains: Is this a good move?

Again, we say "YES!" It gives the MSM something to chatter about. It also allows Obama to set the terms of the discussion. Write about the evil conservatives who insist that "Obama is a Muslim" and you don't have to write about his plans for socializing health care. Why get into a real discussion, where the facts are not as charismatic as repeating the mantra of "Change!"?

Make no mistake: Fightthesmears.com is just another attempt by Barack Obama to limit the discussion to topics with which he's comfortable.

And that's no rumor.

by Mondoreb
images: Fightthesmears.com
Sources:
* Obama site confronts rumors
* New Barack Obama Website Called Fight the Smears
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