WaPo After Free Republic Again, Now Over Barack-is-a-Muslim Email

Newsbusters.org ^ | 6/28/08 | Warner Todd Huston

[Mobile Vulgus]

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 really investigate the matter that it boggles the mind. Naturally, all the journalistic missteps serve to shield Barack Obama from any controversy and make all opposition seem nefarious or unhinged.

The Obama flak in question is one Danielle Allen of the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton. Mosk wishes to assure us that she is one smart cookie, apparently. To settle any question to the contrary, we are treated to some earnest, if over-the-top, adulation for good Doctor Allen. Allen is called a "razor-sharp, 36-year-old political theorist," that she's "gained valuable insight into the way political information circulates," and that she works at the institute "most famous for having been the research home of Albert Einstein." Mosk tells us that Allen "boasts two doctorates, one in classics from Cambridge University and the other in government from Harvard University." The Post tells us that one winter morning Allen was "studying in her office at the Institute for Advanced Study, the renowned haven for some of the nation's most brilliant minds." Mosk also tells us that Allen "works alongside groundbreaking physicists, mathematicians and social scientists. They don't have to teach, and they face no quotas on what they publish. Their only mandate is to work in the tradition of Einstein, wrestling with the most vexing problems in the universe."

Jeeze, next Mosk will be telling us that Danielle Allen is the virtual reincarnation of Einstein himself!

Byron York saw how silly all this puffery was, too. Over at NRO's Corner Blog, York takes a jab at those vaunted “vexing problems in the universe” and succinctly sums up the big nothing that is the real underlying conclusion of the Washington Post's extensive four-page story.

And one of the most vexing problems in the universe, which Allen has decided to pursue in the tradition of Einstein, is the origin of a number of e-mails claiming that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Using the advanced research tools at her disposal, the razor-sharp Allen found…a couple of posters on the Free Republic website, plus a former political rival of Obama's who sends out zillions of e-mails to reporters every day.

The piece goes on and on in grave tones about the chain email that seems to have first surfaced sometime in 2004. Allen "obsessively" worries about such things as chain emails we come to discover. Allen tells the Post, "I started thinking, 'How does one stop it?'" She then informs Mosk that the whole mysterious, shadowy email has a nefarious and unidentified genesis. Mosk assures us that this email is the "modern version of a whisper campaign," and worries about the "secret identities" of the Freepers that Allen reveals to him.

We are dealt the conclusion that all this email and Freeper stuff is… well, dontcha know it's scary, kids? I wondered if Mosk wanted his Mommy to keep the nasty Freepers away from him by the end of this curious piece?

So, what about this email saying that Obama is a secret Muslim? Where did it come from? Matthew Mosk doesn't know and neither does his main source, the brilliant Doctor Allen. But they are both sure it has something to do with the website Free Republic. Or maybe a perennial candidate from Illinois named Andy Martin... or a guy in Philadelphia who operates a website and posts on Free Republic... or maybe not. But whatever the case, Matthew Mosk of the Washington Post just took the word of open Obama supporter Danielle Allen as gospel, assuming that her "research" was indisputable.

Allen began her "investigation" by using key phrases that appears in the email and Googling them to see where else they appear. As a result, she found Andy Martin of Illinois.

Back in 2004 in Obama's hometown, Chicago, a fellow named Andy Martin was attempting to launch his own attempt to become Obama's opponent for the Senate. Martin is a political gadfly and perpetual candidate in Illinois who has never been elected to much of anything, the sort of guy who has been hanging on the fringes for decades without ever getting much traction. To be sure, he was an actual candidate in the last primary to determine who will be the poor GOP sacrificial lamb to face Dick Durbin in the coming general election, so he did get on a ballot for a change. One thing is for sure, that Martin is tenacious and knows how to publicize himself is beyond doubt.

In the run up to the 2004 election, Martin admitted to the Post's Mosk that he had circulated the claim that since Obama was born to a Muslim Father, Barack himself would be considered a Muslim by birth to any other Muslim. Martin also pointed out that the Obama campaign then, as now, rejects any claims that Barack is now or ever has been a Muslim. Martin was quite upfront that he believes that Obama is not being truthful over the whole Muslim question.

But, it is also completely obvious that Martin did not write the original email nor that he is a member of a secret anti-Obama conspiracy. Martin’s activities are well known to many and are completely out in the open.

On top of all that, there is no indication that Doctor Allen ever contacted Andy Martin during her "investigation."

See the rest at NewsBusters.org...

[weegee]

they will now say we are starting a rumor that BarryO is a cross-dresser.

I have NEVER seen Barack Hussein Obama wearing a Christian cross.

Posting pictures if you've got them.

[weegee]

There. WaPo can quote FR as they wish.

I think I posted on the AP "rules" thread that Jim needs to start charging the MSM $12.50 for every 4 words PER publication (Ass Press is in 4000 papers). No more funderaisers??

[weegee]

WaPo can quote FR as they wish.

>> Yet they sued Free Republic for quoting too much of their content. Ironic.

Yes. See the horrible double standard at play in permitting something to be STOLEN in "certain" circumstances because it is deemed NEWSWORTHY by the MSM? Guardians of the fourth estate?

FR cannot quote the WaPoo in total but there is no limit how much they can spew from FR.

[monkeyshine]

What a great idea. It was a horrendous fight that the LAT et al took to FR. IMHO it was to their detriment. But since they waged it and forced a settlement, it is only fair that they offer the same consideration in return.

[Libertina]

Nicely done, Mobile! Of course their little “genius” Danielle Allen will surely want to investigate the even more interesting Obama bits such as his relationship with the Orange Democratic Movement and (Cousin?) Raila Odinga... Hmm...Obama certainly has the questionable friends - here and overseas - and the list keeps getting longer. ;)

[Rummyfan]

Barack HUSSEIN Obama a muslim? Perish the thought!

[weegee]

Consider the wire services coverage of the final passage of the Challenger flyby witnesses and historically noted by FReepers across the Western half of the United States.

Every word a price. Every brand of paper and circulated copy a “client”.

Theft.

the music industry wants thousand for a single stolen song by one consumer. Imagine if they were bootlegging copies of a studio track on albums for commercial sale?

[piasa]

He might be right-- babies are completely selfish ..."it's all about me" is the mindset. They cry at all hours to be fed, cuddled and cleaned and all without any concern for the needs of others. They poop in their own pants, wet beds, and spit up on people trying to help them.

They have to be taught to be patient, to be respectful, to be honest, to clean up their own messes, to selflessly do things for others, to resist peer pressure, to resist the urge to hit their siblings, etc.

[livius]

Actually, this whole WaPo thing was meant as an exercise in intimidation. They still have no legal way to go after people who say Hussein Obama is a Muslim (well, unless they want to admit that being a Muslim is a bad thing and it’s an insult to be called a Muslim!) because there’s absolutely nothing wrong in saying this. It’s personal opinion based on some known facts about him and his evasiveness about everything, and how one responds to it depends on what one thinks of Islam in general and Barry O in particular.

But Obama’s left simply wants us to know that they’re watching. When they get power, you can expect that this will be more than just watching.

[evad]

When they get power, you can expect that this will be more than just watching.

They're doing everything they can to shut down dissent...
just think "Fairness Doctrine"

[Bigg Red]

Three reactions:

The photo — That’s a woman? Are you sure?

These rumors have been circulating for 4 years? How many people had even heard of Obummer in 2004?

This piece needs some editorial polishing.

[Mojave]

[maica]

Did Mapes or Rather write the Wa Po Article?

######

Matthew Mosk is the same reporter who wrote the “Md4Bush” expose’ that got Maryland politics in such an uproar a few years ago. It was a story, based on chicanery by dem operatives, connected to Martin O’Malley, and used to silence anyone who had been discussing rumors of his infidelity, before his race for governor.

It worked. Everyone in Maryland was intimidated, shall we say, into admitting “it was just a rumor” and so it was never used againgst him in the election, but instead used against people who worked for his opponent, the then Republican governor.

Slick, and effective.

This is a REPLAY - intended to take ‘Obama + muslim’ off of the discussion board from now til November.

Just like so many sequels not living up to the first show, I don’t thisk this effort will have the desired effect.

I think his mother was an atheist and socialist, who harbored grievances against America. It seems a sure bet that Barry O was never baptized as a child, and his mother was just being expedient when she enrolled him in the various Jakarta schools.

[True Republican Patriot]

Danielle Allen is a sellout and an Ultimate Embaressment to “The Institute of Advanced Studies” at Princeton University. The Institute, former home of Albert Einstein, and home to Our Leading Physicists and Mathematicians is demeaned by the actions of a political hack as Allen is in order to get a cheap political shot in for her closet Muslim friend, B.O. HUSSEIN!

[maica]

To me, he’s not black, he’s not half black and half white; he’s one hundred percent red.

@@@@@@

An excellent way to speak of Barry O when with friends this summer ===

What is black and white and red all over?

(It used to be a newspaper!!!) LOL!

[bert]

Well where ever it started, it is effective.

I listened to a Steel Workers union member, a team leader on the job, who told me he would have extreme difficulty voting for Hussein because he was a Muslim and not Chrisitan.

I don’t know why the union type opened up to me, but my final take was that he is a good Democrat unwilling to vote for a black man, but very willing to not vote for a Muslim.

[maica]

RE your post about the percent increase in whatever you were referencing —

One of the big failures of modern education, (besides the left wing indoctrination) is the lack of knowledge of percentages. It really is abysmal how little people know about it, and one of the reasons why politicians can spin so much.

1 added to 1 is a 100% increase. (Headline: “AIDS cases doubled among women” — when the number went from 2 per hundred to 4 per hundred — but the headline is a scare tactic.)

When our governor wanted to raise the sales tax from 5% to 6%, everyone who agreed with him, [see WaPo,etc] called it a one percent increase. In real money, it was a 20% increase.

[bert]

......I have NEVER seen Barack Hussein Obama wearing a Christian cross......

But this week, the presstitutes did a piece on what he carries in his pockets. One of the items was a cross.

The piece was obviously staged to show hussein carries a cross as a good luck piece. He doesn’t wear a cross.....he carries a cross.

..

[maica]

Actually, FR is one of the places outside of the DNC where Obama was being discussed. Alan Keyes ran against him.
The tribulations of the R that was hounded out of the contest, so that Keyes was asked to step in was also well covered here.

[StAnDeliver]

Untraceable e-mails spread Obama rumor

"Obama himself, according to a pair of widely circulated anonymous e-mails, is a Muslim. “Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background,” warns an e-mail titled “Who Is Barack Obama,” that was circulating in South Carolina political circles this summer and sent to Politico by a South Carolina Democrat...

... the Unification Church-owned online magazine Insight the next month, which reported, with no named sources but a political twist, that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign was pushing a story about Obama’s Muslim heritage. 'Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?' Insight asked Jan. 17 [2006]."