Smears and Fear — How the Right Wing Plans To Steal Another Election
August 2, 2008
by assistant blogger Jason Pence:
The well-oiled machine of the right-wing attack dog is back in action and looking for blood in this year’s election by launching a swift boat-style whisper campaign against Barack Obama.
“Obama is a Muslim, a traitor, friend of terrorists, an appeaser, anti-Israel, was sworn into office with his right hand on the Koran, refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance, wants to lose the war in Iraq, can’t produce his birth certificate”, and my personal favorite: “Osama wants Obama to win the election.”
Odds are that you’ve seen at least one of the above claims in an email sent by misguided friends, family or coworkers — claims that are so ridiculous and easily refuted that I often wonder if the architect is some computer-savvy kid locked away in his bedroom making up stories about Obama for shits and giggles.
Mark Twain once said that a lie can make it halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its boots on. That was well before the arrival of the information age. These days an email laced with misinformation and propaganda can circulate the globe many times before the truth has its first cup of coffee in the morning.
To most of us these outlandish attacks are pure fiction — fabrications designed to pour sugar in the gas tank of an Obama campaign — and would be laughable if not for the fact that damage has been levied.
So much damage, in fact, that the Obama camp launched Fight the Smears, a website devoted to debunking the lies and conspiracy theories about Obama circulating the Internets like freedom fries at a neo-con cookout.
The site, complete with a copy Obama’s birth certificate, is a great idea in theory. However, it’s likely that the majority of its traffic will come from Obama supporters — most of which already know the truth about the skinny candidate with a funny name — and not the targeted audience of those who seem to know very little about Obama’s stance of the issues, religion, or status as an American citizen.
What’s more disconcerting is that the whisper campaign is gaining traction.
A recent Pew poll reveals that some 12 percent of American voters believe that Obama is a Muslim — up from 8 percent in December — a statistic that shows the smears are achieving the desired effect.
Fear and confusion have been the main ingredients in the conservative campaign casserole since 2002 when the current administration masterminded the color-coded terror alert system and used it on a weekly basis to keep the flock in line.
It’s a rare occasion that we hear terror alerts these days — most likely due to the fact that Bush & Co. have no more elections to steal.
This does not mean, however, that the right has abandoned the politics of fear.
Last month a fabricated op-ed piece from the New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd surfaced with allegations of Middle Eastern ties to the Obama Internet fundraising network.
The June 29th peice, complete with the Times font, layout and Dowd byline, suggests that wealthy financiers from Iran, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere are the driving force behind Obama campaign contributions.
“What I learned from this insider was shocking but I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised that when it comes to fundraising there are simply no rules that can’t be broken and no ethics prevail.” […]
I guess we should have been somewhat suspicious when the numbers started to come out. We were told (no proof offered) that the Obama Internet contributions were from $15 to $25 or so.
I the $200 million is right, and the average contribution was $15, that would mean over 13 million individuals made contributions? That would also be 13 million contributions would need to be
processed. How did all of that happen?”
Of course we know these claims are absurd and Dowd penned no such column. Her June 29th piece (It’s Over, Lady!) was actually about Clinton supporters.
Dowd denied writing the piece saying “by the time I got to the second line I knew it wasn’t me.” She joked that it was the first time that she had been indirectly involved in a smear.
Another fear-based email went out en masse a few weeks ago claiming that Obama, if elected, planned on raising taxes on everything from capital gains to water.
In true fearful fashion the intro to the email says it all:
“This is something that you should be aware of so you are not blind-sided. This is really going to catch a lot of families off guard. It should make you worry.”
Factcheck.org released the following statement after reviewing the dreadful email:
“Alert readers may already have noted that this claim does not provide links to any of Obama’s actual proposals or cite any sources for the claims it makes. That is because they are made up. This widely distributed message is so full of misinformation that we find it impossible that it is the result of simple ignorance or carelessness of the writer. Almost nothing it says about Obama’s tax proposals is true. We conclude that this deception is deliberate.”
This deliberate deception isn’t the first, nor the last to invade inboxes of the unwitting in weeks to come. Misleading, scaring, and confusing the American public is the only way that the right can win elections when they are out of ideas — and they are damn good at playing the game — just ask John Kerry.
This may very well be the most important election of our lifetime. This country, and the world, cannot afford a third Bush term via McCain.
Turn about may be fair play, and while writing fiction about John McCain may sound like a lot of fun, most liberals I know would never dream of taking part in such squalid behavior. Fear-mongering, lies and deceit are the hallmark of the right.
There may not be much that can be done to stanch the flow of right-wing lies flying at us through our computer screens like cruise missiles aimed at Tehran, but we can’t just lie down and let chicken hawks like John McCain steal another election by using scare tactics.
If every lefty donated a dollar or two to Obama for every bogus email received we’d have a war chest to rival that of Exxon’s quarterly profits. That kind of cash could by a lot of air time and could help bring some intelligence to the conversation.
If you can’t afford to donate due to $4 a gallon gas and other circumstances victim to the current Bush economy, volunteer.
Write a blog or send in a guest submission to your local paper. Write tight and raise hell. Your voice will be heard and you will make a difference.
Every time you receive an email laced with smears, hit reply to all and shed light on the lies. Ignorance abounds if there is no counter discussion.
Above all, don’t just sit on the sidelines as a casual observer — get involved!
August 2, 2008
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Posted in: Politics
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One Response
You bring about a great point for all of us to remember. No matter what side you are on you need to get involved and know fact from fiction. The truth is worth a thousand words.
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