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Obama Faces The Smear Machine
Washington Post ^ | 8/15/2008 | By Eugene Robinson

Posted on 08/14/2008 11:52:43 PM PDT by Jim Robinson

Here come the goons, right on schedule.

The "author," and I use the term loosely, whose vicious lies damaged John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign has crawled back out from under his rock to spew vicious lies about Barack Obama. Right-wing radio talk-show hosts are dutifully transmitting this concocted venom. This presidential campaign has officially gotten ugly.

The "author" I'm talking about is a man named Jerome Corsi. In a book published last year, "The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada," Corsi claimed that George W. Bush was at the heart of a secret conspiracy to subsume the United States into a post-national, one-worldish North American Union. Corsi's writings on far-right blogs have been even more paranoid and delusional. He has written that pedophilia, for which he used a more graphic term, "is OK with the Pope as long as it isn't reported by the liberal press." He has referred to Muslims as "ragheads."

Corsi would be known as just another visitor from the outer fringe if he had not been the co-author of "Unfit for Command," the book that slimed Kerry's exemplary record as a Swift boat commander in Vietnam. The allegations in that book were discredited, but not before they had been amplified by the right-wing echo chamber to the point where they raised questions in some voters' minds -- perhaps enough to swing the election.

It was an abominable trick, but quite remarkable. Kerry's opponent, George W. Bush, had avoided Vietnam by taking refuge in the Texas Air National Guard. Kerry was a decorated war hero, yet somehow his valor and sense of duty were turned into a political negative and used against him.

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


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bookreview; corsi; obama; obamanation
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"Yesterday, the Obama campaign released a lengthy rebuttal of Corsi's book. The vacationining candidate himself remained silent, leaving it to others, such as Kerry, to give a more full-throated response. Kerry knows better than anyone what it feels like to be Swift-boated, and he's determined not to let it happen to anyone else."

Oh, yeah? How's he gonna stop the truth from getting out?

1 posted on 08/14/2008 11:52:43 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
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To: Jim Robinson
"George W. Bush, had avoided Vietnam by taking refuge in the Texas Air National Guard."

Not above a little smear job yourself, eh, Eugene. By the way, whose uniform did Obama wear?

2 posted on 08/14/2008 11:56:23 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
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To: Jim Robinson

We live in a time when illusion is king, and reality is scoffed at. The scoffers didn’t take long to surface.


3 posted on 08/14/2008 11:57:17 PM PDT by c-b 1 (Reporting from behind enemy lines, in occupied AZTLAN.)
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So, Eugene ... what do you think that was on Arafat’s head- a tiara?


4 posted on 08/14/2008 11:59:27 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: Jim Robinson

Liberalese: “Obama Faces The Smear Machine”

Translation into English: “Unleash The Smear Machine for MsCain”


6 posted on 08/15/2008 12:00:34 AM PDT by FormerACLUmember (When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.)
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To: Jim Robinson
George W. Bush, had avoided Vietnam by taking refuge in the Texas Air National Guard.

Once again, these one-track idiots attack the President by smearing the National Guard, as if joining the Guard and flying fighter planes was equivalent to running off to Canada, which they certainly approved of.

This whole thing sounds like the kind of miffed-juvenile screed one would expect from someone who probably spent grade school being endlessly teased for being named "Eugene."

7 posted on 08/15/2008 12:00:48 AM PDT by JennysCool (A man who served his country well vs. a walking Che poster. Is it really that tough a choice?)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: Jim Robinson

Oh, Jim, you always pick the good articles to post. LMAO.


9 posted on 08/15/2008 12:01:28 AM PDT by NurdlyPeon (New tag line in progress.)
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To: Jim Robinson

I got so mad when I read this article By Eugene Robinson that I just ordered Corsi’s book. By the time the book arrives Obama will be finished, but I’ll have it in my library.


10 posted on 08/15/2008 12:02:53 AM PDT by tommix2
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To: Jim Robinson
George W. Bush, had avoided Vietnam by taking refuge in the Texas Air National Guard."

Flying F 102's is hardly refuge from the dangers of war, in fact it was pretty dang dangerous work.

11 posted on 08/15/2008 12:04:47 AM PDT by HerrBlucher (Barack's mesmerizing speeches are little more than oratory Three Card Monte)
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To: Jim Robinson

12 posted on 08/15/2008 12:10:54 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper (Vote For McCain But Trust In The LORD.)
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To: Jim Robinson

If by “smear” they mean asking tough questions, facing the truth and putting his feet to the fire...then yes, it’s about darn time.


13 posted on 08/15/2008 12:13:19 AM PDT by Earthdweller
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To: Jim Robinson
"Not above a little smear job yourself, eh, Eugene. By the way, whose uniform did Obama wear?"

For that matter, whose uniform did Eugene Robinson wear? Oh, and since when is the Air National Guard not a military component? I worked security at an Air Guard base for 3 1/2 years after leaving the Army, and they sure looked like the military to me (warplanes, live ammunition, uniforms, real bombs, salutes, rank insignia, etc..) Why do we allow the left to impugn our people without a response?

14 posted on 08/15/2008 12:14:19 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Barack Obama: In Error and arrogant -- he's errogant!)
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To: Jim Robinson
Typical democrat tactics...

Description of Ad Hominem Translated from Latin to English, "Ad Hominem" means "against the man" or "against the person." An Ad Hominem is a general category of fallacies in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the author of or the person presenting the claim or argument. Typically, this fallacy involves two steps. First, an attack against the character of person making the claim, her circumstances, or her actions is made (or the character, circumstances, or actions of the person reporting the claim). Second, this attack is taken to be evidence against the claim or argument the person in question is making (or presenting). This type of "argument" has the following form: Person A makes claim X. Person B makes an attack on person A. Therefore A's claim is false. The reason why an Ad Hominem (of any kind) is a fallacy is that the character, circumstances, or actions of a person do not (in most cases) have a bearing on the truth or falsity of the claim being made (or the quality of the argument being made). Description of Poisoning the Well This sort of "reasoning" involves trying to discredit what a person might later claim by presenting unfavorable information (be it true or false) about the person. This "argument" has the following form:

Unfavorable information (be it true or false) about person A is presented. Therefore any claims person A makes will be false. This sort of "reasoning" is obviously fallacious. The person making such an attack is hoping that the unfavorable information will bias listeners against the person in question and hence that they will reject any claims he might make. However, merely presenting unfavorable information about a person (even if it is true) hardly counts as evidence against the claims he/she might make. This is especially clear when Poisoning the Well is looked at as a form of ad Homimem in which the attack is made prior to the person even making the claim or claims.

15 posted on 08/15/2008 12:19:46 AM PDT by highlander_UW (illegal alien is to an undocumented worker as a drug dealer is to an unlicensed pharmacist)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Why do we allow the left to impugn our people without a response? “

We don’t.

But all we little people have is FR.

Thank you, Mr. Robinson.


16 posted on 08/15/2008 12:22:04 AM PDT by EyeGuy
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To: JennysCool

Once again, these one-track idiots attack the President by smearing the National Guard, as if joining the Guard and flying fighter planes was equivalent to running off to Canada, which they certainly approved of.


In fact, when GW Bush joined the Texas Air Guard, he volunteered for foreign duty. He wanted to serve in Viet Nam, but the type of plane he was trained on wasn’t used there.


17 posted on 08/15/2008 12:25:44 AM PDT by FFranco
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To: HerrBlucher
Flying F 102's is hardly refuge from the dangers of war, in fact it was pretty dang dangerous work.

20% of all F-102s crashed in peacetime operations, often taking the pilot with it. Many of the early jets were widow-makers. Flying fighters is, of itself, a daily act of bravery, even today.

18 posted on 08/15/2008 12:31:33 AM PDT by 300winmag (Deterrence is an activity, Destruction is a profession)
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To: c-b 1
The scoffers have there own New Reality and that to them is their truth and we see it as delusional.
19 posted on 08/15/2008 12:44:19 AM PDT by Global2010 (OKIE DOKIE)
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To: Jim Robinson

Since the real “Smear Machine” consists of the army of Democrat Party hacks and their MSM lackeys who are continually smearing conservatives, for Obambi to “face” them would mean he was committed to cleaning up the cesspool of his own political party. That is obviously not the case, so I do not know what “Smear Machine” he could possibly be facing......


20 posted on 08/15/2008 12:49:05 AM PDT by Enchante (Obama-cons: Trying to fool America, one media dupe at a time!)
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