Free Republic

...How important is calumny today? In 2000, calumny effectively led to John McCain's defeat in South Carolina. That smear campaign against him used robo-calls and fliers, and e-mail also played an important role, as the New York Times reported in February 2000. Arguably, calumny defeated John Kerry in 2004, and the infamous Swift boat television ads of that summer were, importantly, preceded by an aggressive Internet campaign begun that January that included perhaps the first viral campaign e-mail: a computer-generated image of Kerry and Jane Fonda beside each other on a podium at an antiwar rally. The image originally emerged...

An early example is the work bring done to trace the source of the so-called smear about Obama's religion. I call it a so-called smear not because I am suggesting for one second that Obama is a Muslim but because, if you think about it, it is odd to call suggesting someone is a Muslim a "smear", isn't it? Well, Matthew Mosk in the Washington Post makes clear why the smear label is well merited. From the beginning the allegation was less that Obama was some sort of Islamist than that he was a liar. The idea, the smear, was...

The Washington Post published a June 28th piece geared to protect Barack Obama from the nagging rumors that he is a secret Muslim, rumors that have been circulating since 2004. The Post's Matthew Mosk penned an attack on Free Republic, based on an Obama flak who claims she has somehow discovered that Freepers are to blame, if not initially responsible, for floating the Barack-is-a-Muslim chain email that so many millions of Americans have found in their email boxes over the last four years. But, the Washington Post's article is so filled with assumptions and a singular desire not to...

The Washington Post published an article today in the Style section about researcher Danielle Allen's efforts to track down who is behind allegations that presumed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Hussein Obama (Illinois) is a Muslim. Allen is an Obama supporter who works for the Institute for Advanced Study.The article was written by Matthew Mosk. A curious choice for The Post considering Mosk's involvement in the nefarious MD4Bush scandal in which Mosk claimed to have been given access to a Free Republic poster's account to expose a Maryland GOP government appointee who was alleged to have commented on rumors that...

EXCERPT "When approached at a speaking event recently, Kendel Ehrlich said that she has made no secret of her contempt for the way the area's largest newspapers have covered her husband and that she agreed when the governor's press secretary advised her not to comment for this article. 'Frankly,' she said before walking away, 'There's no trust.'" EXCERPT "The chill between the O'Malleys and the Ehrlichs has intensified significantly since published reports showed that one of the governor's aides was spreading rumors about the mayor's personal life. Martin O'Malley decried the rumors as false and hurtful. The governor fired the...