Posted on 06/28/2008 10:36:43 AM PDT by kristinn
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 a Maryland Democratic mayor was an adulterer.
Mosk displayed the same talent for exposing Freepers' identities in today's article that he did in the MD4Bush scandal. However, the only person he exposed then was the Republican. The person (or persons) behind the MD4Bush screen name was not reported by Mosk.
The article Mosk wrote today purports to be about efforts to track down where the 'Obama is a Muslim' allegations began. However, it is actually a warning shot across the bow to opponents of Obama that they will be tracked down and exposed for speaking ill of the Obamessiah.
Mosk even makes sure to let Obamaniacs know who is behind Free Republic and where he can be found:
Of the file folders that are spread in neat rows across Allen's desk, only one is bulging. It holds printouts of the reams of conversations about Obama's religion appearing on Free Republic. Since its start in 1996 by Jim Robinson of Fresno, Calif....
The effort by The Post to protect Obama from rumors is in stark contrast to how they promoted potentially candidacy-damaging rumors eight-years ago.
When George W. Bush ran for president in 1999, The Washington Post led the way in rumor-mongering about whether he used cocaine in his youth. Bush refused to deny cocaine use saying that denying rumors just leads to having to deny more and more rumors. No one ever came forward with allegatons that they had first-hand knowledge of Bush using cocaine, but that didn't stop The Post and the mainstream media as painting Bush as a cokehead. No reporter ever asked Bill Clinton about cocaine use, even though several people known to Clinton claimed to have first-hand knowledge of Clinton using the drug while in public office.
While Mosk ignores The Post's own rumor-mongering, he leaves the impression of Free Republic as the rumor mill of the right. A fair reporter would have noted that Freepers exposed the fraudulent Texas Air National Guard documents that CBS News used in its attempt to derail President Bush's reelection bid in 2004. Buckhead, the Freeper who called foul on the documents, was tracked down by the Los Angeles Times even though he did not post his name on Free Republic.
Mosk's article closes with Allen complaining that the Internet has become as influential as unions and political action committees (PACs) in elections. Unstated is that the political activities of unions and PACs are heavily regulated by the federal government.
Allen seriously misunderstands the right to anonymous political speech--equating political speech with the right of a citizen to face his accuser when charged with a crime by the government:
..."This kind of misinformation campaign short-circuits judgment. It also aggressively disregards the fundamental principle of free societies that one be able to debate one's accusers."
While Mosk and The Post are furiously protecting Obama from the Obama is a Muslim allegation, they steadfstly refuse to report on Obama's well-documented connection to the terrorist supporter and Osama bin Laden sympathizer, Jodie Evans, co-founder of the anti-American group Code Pink.
The Post article claims that the Internet's danger to politics is the ability to spread rumors anonymously. The real danger is the left's willingness to use the Internet to track down and destroy its perceived enemies. Allen and Mosk's teamwork exposing Freepers is one more example of that.
Reporting for duty! I can help with that :)
Keep it up, FReepers! We must really be getting to them when they have to write articles like this.
I didn’t say that I liked the man. I repeated what another more experienced man said. If I did some looking I am sure I could find a much nicer picture of him and a much worse picture of the Flipper. Ask women what they think about his looks. That’ll let you know what’s happening.
Because of what is politely referred to as “reduced financial circumstances”, I have not been able to donate to FreeRepublic recently.
But, this has inspired me. I am not going to fill up our li’l rice burner this week, and will be eating beans and rice, so I can make a nice big donation to to JimRobinson, and all of you wonderful Freepers.
When is the next donation drive?
Danielle looks like a man hater. I wonder if she lives with her girl friend.
but the cadre of hard core liberals are very dedicated and should not be underestimated.
_________________________________________
“You underestimate them yourself...call them what they are...communists.”
I stand corrected lol - but only of implying the two words (liberal and communist) are synonomous.
I need to find the driver of that car my husband and I saw yesterday with this bumper sticker:
I’M OUT OF ESTROGEN
AND I HAVE A GUN
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
But it became a hindrance now..
Obama is a muslim!
Obama is a muslim!
Obama is a muslim
Kristinn and Jim: For the record, feel free to give my personal information to this Mosk thing the very moment it presents you with a subpeona.
L
Woohoo! Perfect! I knew someone would come up with a catchy phrase for the malleable one. Thank you so much!
Danielle S. Allen
School of Social Science
Institute for Advanced Study
Princeton, N.J. 08540
(609) 734-8252 (Voice)
e-mail: dsallen@ias.edu
I saw that doc. Certainly didn’t look 100% to me. If I knew some people who were born in Hawaii around the same time, I’d see if I could obtain their cert and compare them.
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