The Epitome Of Bad Journalism

By TIM KILLEEN

Yesterday, The Post & Email, "an electronic newspaper," ran a story once again calling into question the place of Pres. Obama's birth. While stories like this have circulated ad nauseum during and after the 2008 election, The Post & Email presents new "evidence" of Pres. Obama's African birth. What is that evidence, you ask?

An online newspaper based in Tanzania is reporting that “Barack Abdallah Husein Obama,” the “first black US president,” was born outside of the United States.

Written in broken English, the article notes that the President of the United States has historically been required to be born on U.S. soil but that “This might have been the result of racism or belief that a person other than ‘original’ US citizen was capable of effectively leading the powerful nation and help it to maintain its values.”

The writers go on to say that “We witnessed last year a senator with his origins from east Africa, Barack Abdallah Husein Obama, becoming the first black US president. He won the race on Democrat ticket and was sworn on January 20, 2009 as US president.”

Of course, The Post & Email, as a legitimate news organization, followed up on with the "online newspaper based in Tanzania" on its sources for the claims. In response, the Editor of The Post & Email got this response:

Dear Editor,
What our writers in the story you refer to meant to highlight is Barack Obama’s ancestry. There is no doubt that the President’s father, Barack Obama Sr, was a Kenyan, who went to study in the United States and met his mother at university. Surely, the people in the US, the most sophisticated country on earth, have all the research capability to put these rubbish claims to rest. President Obama was born in Hawaii. Isn’t that part of the US? To us in Africa, the increasing lies about Mr Obama’s birthplace are proof of the racism that is so ingrained in American society. Why don’t you send a team to Kenya to scour the records in the birth registry in Nairobi and Kisumu to see if there is any shred of evidence that Barack Obama Jr was born in Kenya? You have made great scientific breakthroughs, including landing a man on the moon, confirming that President Obama was, indeed, born in the US shouldn’t be that difficult.

However, despite the fact that The Citizen (the Tanzanian "online newspaper") wrote that it, in no way, claimed that Pres. Obama was born in Africa, readers at the less-than-logical freerepublic.com jumped all over the story, noting:

Well if that’s not proof enough for you I just don’t know what is.

If he’s constitutionally ineligible, then any law he signed is invalid, including Healthcare and the stimulu packages.

“Barack Abdallah Husein Obama” All that is left is to tack “Muhammad” on to it. That would just be the cherry on the cake of my day.

Given the choice between the "Mainstream Media" and "newspapers" like The Post & Email, I think I might stick with the former.

A Follow-Up From The Lunatic Fringe

Early today, I noted the buzz from freerepublic.com about the Gen. McChrystal story. Now that Pres. Obama has named Gen. Petraus as the new commander of the Afghan war, here is a taste of what's being said about the statement that the President welcomes debate but won't tolerate division:

I don’t tolerate division either! That Rat Bastard has divided our country in a way it hasn’t been in 40 years! Screw him and all his Commie ilk!!!!!

Spoken just like Chavez. Anyone ever notice how Obama loves to use the tyrant phrase: “I won’t tolerate...” ???

You only talked with the liberal leftist general once obama... you are a lying sack of muslim monkey sh!t!

Certainly, this kind of rhetoric is not typical of those on the political right who actually think about the issues, but after analyzing Robert A. Hall's words last week, I think it's important for people to know that these kinds of things are being offered up and validated by the lunatic fringe of the conservative movement.

The Hateful Right Throws A Curveball

Yesterday, a friend asked me whether or not I'd be writing about the Gen. McChrystal Rolling Stone interview. I told him I'd wait to see how the story shook out- that is, if it just happened and was talked about all day by the pundits there would be no reason to add my two cents, however, if the far right-wingers blasted Obama for calling McChrystal to task and backed the general over his boss (which I figured would happen), then that hypocrisy would be worth discussing.

Well, I stand corrected in my assumption. Though I came across a few people saying Obama shouldn't fire McChrystal and that he was overbearing and unrealistic about his generals, I came across a much different line of discussion than I'd expected.

Whenever I want to know how the craziest of the far-right is feeling on an issue, I check out freerepublic.com- a bastion of hateful people who prefer not to hear any opposing views and simply reaffirm each other's off-the-wall beliefs.

A small point I'd noticed when I first read about the McChrystal interview yesterday morning was that, despite having voted for Obama, the general was upset with the way the war in Afghanistan was being run. This, apparently, was an absolute shock to the system of "freepers" who noted the following:

Hardly any question remaining that the military is infested with PC Islamofascist enablers. Fort Worth removed all doubt. When Obama came to power and they were arguing over sending more troops to fight the war, I felt a pit in my stomach. I read about Viet Nam and what leftists do to our soldiers when they love the enemy more than the US. We should bring the troops home before the leftists in the military and Obama and his homies sacrifice them on the altar of political correctness.

And this:

Hell with you McChrystal, you voted for this idiot and his marxist minions. I hope you are miserable, same way the American people and the troops probably are. You deserve what you get.

And, finally (amongst others):

He [McChrystal] can make it right by putting Hussein, Biden, Pelosi, and the Congressional Progressive caucus on a plane to Cuba, instituting a provisional military government for 6 months, all Constitutional amendments except the Bill of Rights rescinded, then holding new elections, no incumbents need apply and only tax payers and veterans should bother showing up to vote, because no one else will be allowed.

Yea, someone actually wrote all of these things (and did so seriously). This was an interesting development that I didn't see coming, as I'd figured that nothing could ever come between the far-right and their love for all things military. Apparently, the one thing that can is their hatred for Barack Obama. So know this, current, future and former members of the military, while you may think that you can rely upon the unconditional support of those on the farthest right of the political spectrum, if you ever think about voting for (or now supporting) the President of the United States, you'll be cast off like yesterday's George B. McClellan.