After Years Of Smearing Obama, Right-Wing Media Mock Obama For Anti-Smear Site
Right-wing media are mocking the Obama campaign’s launch of a site called Attack Watch to fight smears against the president. Yet right-wing media have relentlessly pushed many smears about the president — during and since the 2008 campaign — including pushing the claim that he was not born in the United States, claiming he was educated in a madrassa, attacking his faith, and claiming the administration committed federal crimes.
“Snitch Police Squad”: Right-Wing Media Mock Obama Campaign’s Launch Of Attack Watch Site
Malkin: “Obama Launches Another Snitch Police Squad.” In a September 13 post on her blog, conservative blogger Michelle Malkin wrote:
They’re baaaaack. It’s another legion of Obama snitch police.
The Obama 2012 campaign has rolled out “Attack Watch”.
“Get the facts. Fight the smears.” And report all dissidents and enemies here.
[…]
Also note: AttackWatch is using cookies to track visitors and collect info.
They are watching us. Be sure they know that you are watching them!
Malkin also included the following picture in her post:
[MichelleMalkin.com, 1/30/07]
Doocy Picked Up InSight Attack: “Why Didn’t Anybody Ever Mention That [Obama] Was Raised … As A Muslim And Was Educated In A Madrassa?” On January 19, 2007, the co-hosts of Fox & Friends First, a now-discontinued extension of Fox & Friends, devoted a segment to pushing InsightMag’s madrassa smear. The co-hosts presented the claim as fact, with Doocy asking, “Why didn’t anybody ever mention that that man right there was raised … as a Muslim and was educated in a madrassa?” From a transcript of the show:
DOOCY: Why didn’t anybody ever mention that that man right there was raised — spent the first decade of his life, raised by his Muslim father — as a Muslim and was educated in a madrassa?
[…]
DOOCY: We should also point out that Barack Obama’s father is the one who gave him the middle name of Hussein. And the thing about the madrassa, and you know, let’s just be honest about this, in the last number of years, madrassas have been, we’ve learned a lot about them, financed by Saudis, they teach this Wahhabism which pretty much hates us. The big question is was that on the curriculum back then? Probably not, but it was a madrassa and the big question is whether or not any of these revelations about the fact that he was a Muslim — right now I understand he does go to the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, although not a regular parishioner — but raised as a Muslim, went to a madrassa.
[…]
DOOCY: Is it ancient history or do you think madrassa matters. [phone ringing] Josh joins us from Colorado. Good morning to you Josh.
CALLER: What’s up?
DOOCY: What do you think?
CALLER: I think that ultimately this will probably be one of the main reasons is he not elected.
DOOCY: Just the fact that his father was a Muslim, he was raised as a Muslim for awhile, and went to a madrassa school in Jakarta?
CALLER: Right. I mean, you think that would possibly give him better insight on the enemy, maybe he doesn’t consider terrorists the enemy.
BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Well, we’ll see about that. Yeah, Josh says that.
[…]
CALLER: Hi, good morning. Yes, I think it does matter. The fact that he omitted it must mean that he feels that somebody is going to have an opinion. And President Bush certainly comes under scrutiny, so why shouldn’t he?
KILMEADE: Well, he didn’t admit it. I mean that’s the issue.
CARLSON: Well she said he didn’t.
KILMEADE: Says he didn’t come out, and I was over in Indonesia for five years, or roughly five years, went to a madrassa and there is some reports that Wahhabism was the curriculum there, which is a problem because they start with “We hate America” and work their way back from there.
DOOCY: Well, the way it was framed in one of his biographies, he said, “I was sent first,” this is in Indonesia, “to a catholic school and then to a predominantly Muslim school.” He doesn’t say, “I went to a madrassa, where they taught Wahhabism.” He simply says, “I went to a predominantly Muslim school.”
CARLSON: Alright, Jim from Alabama, what do you think?
DOOCY: Jim?
CALLER: Yeah.
CARLSON: What do you think?
CALLER: I think a Muslim would be fine in the presidency, better than Hillary. At least you know what the Muslims are up to. [Laughter]
CARLSON: We want to be clear, too, that this isn’t all Muslims, of course, we would only be concerned about the kind that want to blow us up. [ThinkProgress, 1/19/07]
Multiple Mainstream Media Outlets Debunked Madrassa Theory. Between January 19 and January 29, 2007, journalists and contributors for the The Chicago Tribune, CNN, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, The New York Times, and even the conservative Washington Times debunked the claim that Obama was “educated in a madrassa.” On January 19, Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn pointed out that “the type of madrassas linked to the Taliban did not emerge until the Afghan war against the Soviets,” which began 12 years after Obama lived in Indonesia, where he spent two years at a Catholic school and two at a Muslim school. A January 20, 2007, New York Post article quoted Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson saying, “We have no connection to this story,” and further reported that Obama strategist David Axelrod said he did not “believe … for a second” the allegation that Clinton’s camp was behind the story. [Media Matters, 1/30/07]
Fox & Friends Issued A “Clarification” Of Their Original Madrassa Story. On January 22, 2007, Doocy noted that “Mr. Obama’s people called and they said that [the madrassa story] is absolutely false.” Kilmeade added that the Clinton camp had said, “We did not have anything to do with that story.” [Media Matters, 1/30/07]
2009: Coulter Brought Madrassa Lie Back To Fox News. In December 2009, conservative pundit Ann Coulter appeared on both The O’Reilly Factor and Glenn Beck and claimed that Obama “attended madrassas” and “studie[d] with madrassas.” [Fox News, The O’Reilly Factor, 2/27/08]
2010: Kilmeade: “If [Obama] Was Worried” About People Thinking He’s Muslim, “Wouldn’t He Have Kept His Name As Barry And Not Barack?” During the August 30, 2010, broadcast of Fox & Friends, Kilmeade asked, “If he was worried about [being associated with Islam], wouldn’t he have kept his name as Barry and not Barack?” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/30/10]
2010: Fund: Obama “Bears Some Of The Responsibility For These Misconceptions.” On the September 3, 2010, edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, The Wall Street Journal‘s John Fund claimed that Obama “allowed his image to slip away from him,” in part, by “not going to church, for example, regularly, by not joining a church.” Fund concluded, “He bears some of the responsibility for these misconceptions.” [Media Matters, 9/3/10]
2010: Fox & Friends Guest Pamela Geller Attempted To Tie Obama To Radical Islam. During the June 28, 2010, broadcast of Fox & Friends, conservative blogger Pamela Geller appeared as a guest. During her segment, she attempted to tie Obama to radical Islam. From the broadcast:
GELLER: There’s a complicity by the media, there’s a silence. People don’t want to talk about it. And of course now, as outlined in my book, the Obama administration, which is so pro-Islam, there’s certainly a reluctance to address the issue. When he was in Cairo, he equated the violation of women’s rights in America to those in the Muslim world, and they’re quite different. Women are very subjugated in the Muslim world.
[…]
ERIC BOLLING (guest host): Sharia law is — you know, when Europe allowed Muslims in and to observe Sharia law, they opened up the can of worms there. Where are we in relationship to that? Have we allowed it? Have we embraced it? Are they actually starting to live by Sharia law within our own U.S. law?
GELLER: Well, you know, the Obama administration is very pro-Islam. When he was speaking in Cairo, he said he was going to make it safe in America for women to wear the hijab. It’s not — it’s safe for America to wear the hijab — for women to wear the hijab. But what about women like Rifqa Bary who don’t want to wear the hijab?
A week after he nationalized some banks the US Treasury was giving seminars in Sharia finance. He said he wanted to open up Islamic charity for more, that we’re holding back – now, we’re not holding back Islamic charity. But we do know that, holding that terror trial, they use Islamic charities to fund jihad and terror. [Media Matters, 7/28/10]
“Hard To Call That Christianity”: Attacks On Obama’s Christian Faith
2007: Tucker Carlson On Obama’s Church: “[I]t’s Hard To Call That Christianity.” On the February 7, 2007, edition of MSNBC’s show Tucker, which has since been cancelled, then-host Tucker Carlson attacked Obama for being a member of a church that Carlson claimed “sounds separatist to me” and “contradicts the basic tenets of Christianity.” [MSNBC, Tucker, 2/7/07]
2010: Hannity Attacked Obama’s “Personal Relationship With God.” During the February 3, 2010, edition of Fox News’ Hannity, Hannity led a panel discussion of “devotional” emails Obama had said he received on his BlackBerry. Hannity said, “Well, it looks like we might have a replacement for [Rev.] Jeremiah Wright.” His guest Richard Miniter speculated that the devotionals’ occasional mention of “other faiths” might mean “he [is] talking about Islam.” Hannity responded, “It’s kind of weird. Every president has had a personal relationship with God, and for him to say, ‘Well, some days it’s Buddha, some days it’s Jesus.’ It’s kind of strange.” [Fox News, Hannity, 2/3/10, via Media Matters]
2010: Fox Nation: “1 Year Later, Obama Still Hasn’t Found a Church.” A February 1, 2010, Fox Nation headline stated, “1 Year Later, Obama Still Hasn’t Found a Church.” The headline linked to an ABCNews.com article that reported that “[t]he first family, once regular churchgoers, have publicly attended services in Washington just three times in the past year.” [Fox Nation, 2/1/10, via Media Matters]
2010: Breitbart’s Big Journalism Attacked Obama For Not Finding Church Quickly Enough, Invoked Wright. A January 31, 2010, post on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Journalism website linked to the ABC article and stated: “More than a year after he arrived in Washington, President Obama, amazingly, has not yet been able to find a church. You really can’t make this stuff up.” The post further stated, “What’s so hard about finding a church?” adding, “maybe the reason he hasn’t found a church is that he’s having a hard time finding a speaker as imbued with the true spirit of Christianity as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.” [Big Journalism, 1/31/10, via Media Matters]
2010: Beck: “But America Is Expected To Be Solidly Convinced He’s A Christian?” On the August 24, 2010, edition of the Fox News show Glenn Beck, which has since been canceled, Beck attacked Obama’s religious influences and concluded, “But America is expected to be solidly convinced he’s a Christian?” [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 8/24/10]
“I Believe This Is A Bribe”: Falsely Accusing Administration Of Committing Crimes
2010: Right-Wing Media Attacked White House Over Rumor Of Romanoff Job Offer. In June 2010, right-wing media claimed the White House offered Democratic candidate Andrew Romanoff a job in order to get him to drop out of the U.S. Senate race in Colorado and claimed the White House committed a crime by having conversations with him. [Media Matters, 6/3/10]
- In Fact, No Job Offer Was Made, And Experts Repudiated Claim Romanoff Discussions Were Illegal. In fact, while both Romanoff and the White House acknowledged that they had conversations about a job for which Romanoff had previously applied, both denied that any job offer was made; and legal experts strongly rejected the notion that the White House broke any laws in its conversations with Romanoff. [Media Matters, 6/3/10]
2010: Right-Wing Media Claimed White House Broke The Law With Sestak Offer. In May and June 2010, right-wing media figures claimed that the White House broke federal law by offering a position to Joe Sestak in exchange for his agreeing not to enter the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania. [Media Matters, 6/3/10]
- In Fact, Legal Experts Denied A Crime Was Committed. In fact, legal experts examined the Sestak case and concluded that no law was broken. [Media Matters, 6/3/10]
Obama’s Not The Only One: Rick Perry’s Campaign Also Has Online Rapid Response Operation
Perry Campaign Runs Twitter Account Called “PerryTruthTeam.” The Perry campaign has a Twitter account called “PerryTruthTeam,” whose tweets include fact-checks on Perry and his opponents’ claims about him. For example:
[Twitter, accessed 9/14/11; accessed 9/14/11]
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