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Will Obama's Anti-Rumor Plan Work?
Time ^ | June 12, 2008 | Karen Tumulty

Posted on 06/13/2008 3:35:09 PM PDT by Shermy

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."

That night, in a conference call, Obama told his top aides it was time for a more aggressive solution to the rumors that have been popping up on the Internet about him and his family for months. And so the Obama campaign has built what might best be described as a Web-based rumor clearinghouse, located at fightthesmears.com, in which it hopes all the shady stories about Obama's faith, his family and his rumored connections with controversial figures can go to die.

Obama is enlisting his millions of supporters help him hunt down and quash these stories, just as those supporters helped him turn his insurgent campaign into a history-making juggernaut. Says Obama adviser Anita Dunn: "We will not allow Michelle — or, for that matter, Barack — to be defined by rumors."

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; denial; electionpresident; michelleobama; obama; rumors; whitey
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1 posted on 06/13/2008 3:35:09 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: Shermy

I heard a rumor that it will fail....


2 posted on 06/13/2008 3:37:05 PM PDT by tcrlaf (I Refuse To Inject Myself With The "Hopium" Obama Is Selling)
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To: Shermy

“Shut up!”, he explained. (H/T to James Thurber.)


3 posted on 06/13/2008 3:38:23 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Hillary to Obama: Arkancide happens.)
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To: Shermy

No, not with thinking people ... but then, his whole campaign is aimed at non-thinking people.


4 posted on 06/13/2008 3:39:08 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (I tried to explain that I meant it as a compliment, but that only appears to have made things worse.)
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To: Kenny Bunk; swarthyguy

First lines are just like I was trying to tell you earlier, only the Time writer is much smarter than me. St. Barack [pbuh] is only calling more attention to the rumors, the “smears.” He’s sounding more and more like an indignant John Kerry about his own weaknesses.


5 posted on 06/13/2008 3:39:08 PM PDT by Shermy (Handlebars, Flobots. A prophecy about egomania, megalomania and Obama.)
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To: NonValueAdded

“but then, his whole campaign is aimed at non-thinking people.”

Well, that all of this was leaked to the Time reporter, the message of this article may be from his campaign workers to the world, “Hey, it’s not our idea! We’re following Barack’s personal orders!”


6 posted on 06/13/2008 3:41:39 PM PDT by Shermy (Handlebars, Flobots. A prophecy about egomania, megalomania and Obama.)
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To: Shermy

He can run, but he can’t hide.


7 posted on 06/13/2008 3:43:19 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY ((((Stop the Obamanation!))))
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To: Shermy

Isn’t that what the mainstream media is for? Carrying water Obama.


8 posted on 06/13/2008 3:44:29 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Hillary to Obama: Arkancide happens.)
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To: Shermy
Michelle's chief of staff Melissa Winter grilled her on the particulars of the various versions. Had she ever spoken at Trinity Church? Could she ever recall having uttering that racial epithet? No, no, Michelle answered again and again. Additionally, she said, "whitey" is simply not a word that African Americans of her generation tend to use — or that she herself would ever say. Michelle was shocked and frustrated when her aides approached her the second time about the alleged incident.

So Michelle, how does it feel to be considered a racist b/c of something you can't prove you didn't do?

Don't worry Obama will hunt down and quash such silly talk when he is President. Oh yes he will just like Chavez and Mao and Stalin took care of these things.
9 posted on 06/13/2008 3:45:01 PM PDT by socialismisinsidious ( The socialist income tax system turns US citizens into beggars or quitters!)
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To: Shermy

So if a rumor isn’t debunked on the site, it must be true. Right?


10 posted on 06/13/2008 3:45:55 PM PDT by HarryCaul
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To: Shermy
Will Obama's Anti-Rumor Plan Work?

Provided said rumors are actually rumors.

Based on that, I think he's screwed...

11 posted on 06/13/2008 3:46:27 PM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: Shermy
Ha!

He's setting himself up for a game of 'whack-a-mole.'

I'd wish him luck, but I'd be lyin'.

12 posted on 06/13/2008 3:47:43 PM PDT by the anti-liberal (Write in: Fred Thompson)
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To: Free ThinkerNY
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.

Is this what Time reported back when Rather ran his fake-but-accurate "story" on Bush?
I didn't think so . . . .

13 posted on 06/13/2008 3:49:34 PM PDT by jeffc (They're coming to take me away! Ha-ha, he-he, ho-ho!)
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To: Shermy

Propoganda about propoganda, the MSM have reduced themselves to being Barack Hussein Obama junior press secretaries.

I’ll say and do whatever I want to about that twit they worship.


14 posted on 06/13/2008 4:03:38 PM PDT by Baladas ((M))
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To: Shermy
No it will not work because it's already been totally discredited. He lied about Rush. He lied about never being a Muslim.
15 posted on 06/13/2008 4:10:44 PM PDT by AmericaUnited
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To: Shermy
Plus... he never answered the question "When did you stop beating your wife for saying “whitey”?" :)
16 posted on 06/13/2008 4:12:36 PM PDT by AmericaUnited
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To: Shermy
Will Obama's Anti-Rumor Plan Work?

Why not? Look how well it worked for Richard Nixon.

17 posted on 06/13/2008 4:12:55 PM PDT by TonyInOhio (The dice are on the table. It is hot in Suez.)
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To: the anti-liberal
Naw, based on the first products of this site, its a spin cycle for lies and more false rumors.

Just more crap.

18 posted on 06/13/2008 4:33:38 PM PDT by dalight
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To: Shermy
To know the intention of a piece, I usually look at the last paragraph: the person whom the author quotes, and the tone of the quote. Sure enough, this is the last paragraph:

Speaking to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee last week, Obama greeted his largely Jewish audience, which has had doubts about his support for Israel, some fed by anonymous e-mail, by acknowledging, "Before I begin, I want to say that I know some provocative e-mails have been circulating throughout Jewish communities across the country. A few of you may have gotten them. They're filled with tall tales and dire warnings about a certain candidate for President. And all I want to say is, Let me know if you see this guy named Barack Obama, because he sounds pretty frightening."

19 posted on 06/13/2008 4:33:56 PM PDT by paudio (Like it or not, 'conservatism' is a word with many meanings. Yours may be different from mine.)
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To: paudio

What’s your read on the intention?


20 posted on 06/13/2008 4:57:35 PM PDT by Shermy (Handlebars, Flobots. A prophecy about egomania, megalomania and Obama.)
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