The Political Voices of Women

The Obama campaign builds a rumor debunking website called Fight The Smears. — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at The Care2 Election Blog)

I think this is an excellent idea, and I hope it will help to cut down on the amount of lies swirling around Obama. For the life of me, I don’t understand how people actually believe this stuff. I believe people should start looking at these smear emails that are forwarded to them, the same way we look at tabloids when we are standing in line at the grocery store. These emails are the cyber equivalent of a tabloid magazine, and we all know we can’t believe what we read in the tabloids.

From TIME…

As long as there have been rumors in politics, there has been one widely accepted way for a candidate to deal with them. Basically, it’s not to. Otherwise, according to prevailing wisdom, all a candidate achieves is to elevate the rumors to a legitimate story for the media to feast on. That don’t-go-there approach was Barack Obama’s plan for months until, on the candidate’s first full day of campaigning as his party’s presumed presidential nominee, a reporter from McClatchy Newspapers who was traveling aboard his plane asked him about a particularly toxic bit of hearsay that was zooming around the Internet about his wife Michelle. Obama lost his cool. “We have seen this before. There is dirt and lies that are circulated in e-mails, and they pump them out long enough until finally you, a mainstream reporter, asks me about it,” Obama said, bristling. “That gives legs to the story. If somebody has evidence that myself or Michelle or anybody has said something inappropriate, let them do it.”

That night, in a conference call, Obama told his top aides it was time for a more aggressive solution to the rumors that have been popping up on the Internet about him and his family for months. And so the Obama campaign has built what might best be described as a Web-based rumor clearinghouse, located at fightthesmears.com, in which it hopes all the shady stories about Obama’s faith, his family and his rumored connections with controversial figures can go to die.

From MSNBC…

Obama’s campaign has mastered the use of the Internet for fundraising. His backers have used viral videos like the “Yes we can” mash-up and the ‘Empire Strikes Barack’-style videos to rev up supporters. But there have also been instances where the Web has hurt Obama, like the Rev. Wright playing on a loop on YouTube. There have also been numerous emails about Obama being a Muslim and a man who refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance and most recently messages accusing his wife Michelle of uttering a racial epithet at Obama’s former church.

With all the talk about Hillary supports not supporting Barack Obama, it was nice to see some pro-Hillary sites promote the new site by Obama.

From The Hillary 1000…

Hell, The Clintons could have used a site like this during the Vast-Right-Wing-Conspiracy’s infancy. Notwithstanding the opening quote at the top of the page that the Obama campaign is above the politics-as-usual approach of demonizing his opponent['s tears (she didn't cry over Katrina), roots (Annie Oakley), and memories (RFK, anyone?)], I’m nonetheless satisfied that he’s taking on the xenophobic, racist attacks against him (you know, that he’s an unpatriotic terrorist who hates white people).

Fightthesmears.com is required reading for anyone compelled to leave similar incendiary remarks at this site. Let’s keep up the fight here for Obama to answer to the sexism and misogyny that helped propel his victory, and expect him to keep exposing McCain as not an independent, post-partisan maverick but as the right-wing conservative he is.

Emily from Political Artwork has an interesting post on the new website by the Obama campaign.

From The Daily Democrat…

For weeks now there has been an internet rumor, started by Larry Johnson, that there was a very damaging tape out there with Michelle Obama saying something racist against whites. Johnson promised to produce the tape, or at least more solid information about it, but we have seen nothing. But the Republicans have learned that the rumor is enough to cause problems. The right wing radio shows are smearing Michelle with this rumor, and now FOX News has joined in with its own ugly racist approach.

So now McCain, once the victim of typical Republican smear tactics, is allowing his surrogates to use such attacks against his opponent. Why? Because there is no way he can win against this incredibly popular, intelligent, youthful, and historical candidate unless he makes him completely unacceptable to white America. He has to paint Obama - and if not Obama, then his wife - as a dangerous black person, someone not to be trusted, someone who is not “one of us.” McCain is old, increasingly forgetful or confused, and is supporting failed policies and failed wars. Unless he can appeal to the covert racism in many voters, and make Barack and Michelle Obama into suspicious and un-American characters, he will lose. So the wingnuts on FOX and right wing radio are beginning the campaign.

From Seeing the Forest…

Conservatives campaign with smears. It goes back to the days when the tobacco industry was trying to discredit people who said their product was harmful to people. The way they campaign for office is to destroy their opponents rather than make the case for themselves.

They destroy our leaders. And they have been working to destroy Obama with lies and innuendo and smears.

The Obama campaign has launched a website to fight the smears…