Fox ‘News’ & ‘Moonie Pub.’ Smear Obama and HRC

–updated below–

Hey, it\’s a twofer!

What could be better than smearing a rising Democratic presidential star, while
strafing another Democratic leader at the same time? I covered this latest double
smear on my guest show over at BlogTalkRadio, which airs every Friday. Also, you\’ve got to see this petition, which was also a topic of my show today, along with Iraq and Iran, that\’s right, Iran. (My regular radio show podcasts are here.)

Via Think
Progress. Here\’s part of the transcript of the Fox \”News\” show
that started it all:

DOOCY: Why didn’t anybody ever mention that that man right there was raised — spent the first decade of his life, raised by his Muslim father — as a Muslim and was educated in a madrassa? [snip] DOOCY: We should also point out that Barack Obama’s father is the one who gave him the middle name of Hussein. And the thing about the madrassa, and you know, let’s just be honest about this, in the last number of years, madrassas have been, we’ve learned a lot about them, financed by Saudis, they teach this Wahhabism which pretty much hates us. The big question is was that on the curriculum back then? Probably not, but it was a madrassa and the big question is whether or not any of these revelations about the fact that he was a Muslim — right now I understand he does go to the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, although not a regular parishioner — but raised as a Muslim, went to a madrassa. [snip] DOOCY: Is it ancient history or do you think madrassa matters. [phone ringing] Josh joins us from Colorado. Good morning to you Josh. CALLER: What’s up? DOOCY: What do you think? CALLER: I think that ultimately this will probably be one of the main reasons is he not elected. DOOCY: Just the fact that his father was a Muslim, he was raised as a Muslim for awhile, and went to a madrassa school in Jakarta? CALLER: Right. I mean, you think that would possibly give him better insight on the enemy, maybe he doesn’t consider terrorists the enemy. KILMEADE: Well, we’ll see about that. Yeah, Josh says that.

But it doesn\’t stop there. From the wingnut rag Insight,
we also get this headline in bold red above a lonely photoshopped (?)
picture of Senator Obama. Experts at photoshop should look at the shot and weigh
in. Graphics aren\’t my strong suit.

Hillary\’s team has questions about Obama\’s Muslim background

Here\’s a statement from Hillary\’s spokesperson, via an email from Peter Daou.

\”We have no connection to this story. It is an obvious right wing hit job by a moonie publication and an attack on both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama.\” – Howard Wolfson

Well done, Howard. Much better than his lame swipe
against Edwards last week. Point goes to Wolfson on this one.

Here are the facts about Obama, which were emailed to me earlier from someone
who got them from \”Obama\’s top staff.\” They\’re gold.

FACT: Barak (sic) Obama\’s Father Was Not Muslim. Although Obama\’s father was raised as a Muslim, he was \”agnostic\” by the time he met Ann Dunham, Obama\’s mother. FACT: Barak (sic) Obama\’s Mother Was Enrolled in the Unitarian Church; Obama Describes Her as a \”Secular Humanist.\” Obama\’s maternal grandfather enrolled his family in the local Unitarian Universalist congregation. Obama describes his mother as a \”lonely witness for secular humanism. FACT: Lolo Setoro Was Not a Radical Muslim. The variations in the practice and interpretation of Islam – in a much less strict form than that practiced in the Middle East – in various parts of Indonesia reflect its complex history. Obama writes that Setoro \”followed a brand of Islam that could make room for more ancient…and Hindu faiths.\” FACT: Obama Attended A Local School in Indonesia and then a Roman Catholic School. When he first moved to Indonesia, Obama\’s mother did not have the money to send him to the International School, where most of Djakarta\’s foreign children went. He attended a local school and supplemented his education with US correspondence courses. After that, he attended a Roman Catholic school. Recounting the experience, he states that , \”I went to a Catholic school in a Muslim country, so I was studying the Bible and catechisms by day, and, at night, you\’d hear the [Muslim] prayer call.\” FACT: Barak (sic) Obama is a Christian. Obama is not shy about saying he has a \”personal relationship with Jesus Christ.\” As a sign of that relationship, he walked down the aisle of Chicago\’s Trinity United Church of Christ in response to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright\’s altar call one Sunday morning in 1988. He also talks about an \”ongoing conversation with God.\” FACT: The Banckrupcy Bill Vote Was NO. Obama voted against the bankruptcy bill. Obama’s written response to people who supported the bankruptcy bill is, as follows: “In my view, the bankruptcy reform bill passed by the United States Senate by a vote of 74 to 25 does not strike a fair balance between the dual goals of holding individuals responsible for the consumer debt they acquire and ending abusive lending practices by creditors. I voted against this proposal because, in the final analysis, I thought it was overly harsh on Americans who suffer genuine financial misfortune and too easy on creditors whose policies encourage the consumer debt.”

Of course, this won\’t stop this insanity. The wingnuts are scared to death
about \’08. When you have a mutiny in the Republican ranks on Mr. Bush\’s escalation
plan, which dovetails into their most popular \’08 candidate\’s foreign policy
dreams, the McCain Doctrine is going to cause the GOP big headaches going forward.
These are just preemptive smears and preventative \’08 implosion attacks, which
won\’t stop any time soon.

But this isn\’t our parents\’ Democratic Party, baby. We\’re fighting back.

UPDATE (3:08 p.m.): Via Chris Hayes we get another level of Obama smearing.

UPDATE: As you may have noticed, Barack Obama\’s name is misspelled in three places in the \”FACT\” text above. That\’s one reason I have the source in quotes. As a friend said in an email exchange to me on the subject, how could Obama\’s people misspell their own candidate\’s name? I\’m still waiting for confirmation on the original source. I provided the information because the facts are indeed correct.