Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Rumors and Lies: More GOP Spin about Obama

Don't believe everything you read. That's good advice, especially in an election year. 

So AT was distressed (but not surprised) today to receive an e-mail today regarding the dining habits of Michelle Obama. As the Right-wing websites and radio talkers have it, the oh-so-snotty Michelle was staying at New York's Waldorf-Astoria (of course) where she ran up a bill of more than $400 on lobster and caviar (of course).

Good story if you are interested in bashing the "elite" Obamas. It just happens to be false. 

Here's the retraction from the New York Post's "Page Six," where the original story appeared:
The source who told us last week about Michelle Obama getting lobster and caviar delivered to her room at the Waldorf-Astoria must have been under the influence of a mind-altering drug. She was not even staying at the Waldorf. We regret the mistake, and our former source is going to regret it too. 
Oops! Unfortunately for the Post, facts matter. That's not the case on talk radio and on the right-wing blogs, which remain largely fact- and evidence-free. 

It's so much easier to smear the opposition when you can make things up. 

Read the retraction for yourself here. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

McCain and GOP tactic from now until Election Day: full-out slime and lies. What a surprise from these operators.

Too bad McCain has only half the money of Obama. And Obama's came overwhelmingly from small donors.

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In other news, a pithy quote from the mayor of London:

"However well-intentioned it was, the catastrophic and unpopular intervention in Iraq has served in some parts of the world to discredit the very idea of western democracy.

"The recent collapse of the banking system, and the humiliating resort to semi-socialist solutions, has done a great deal to discredit - in some people's eyes - the idea of free-market capitalism.

"Democracy and capitalism are the two great pillars of the American idea.

"To have rocked one of those pillars may be regarded as a misfortune.

"To have damaged the reputation of both, at home and abroad, is a pretty stunning achievement for an American president."

Anonymous said...

McCain's tactics are really doing well for him.

Pew now has the race as 52% Obama, 38% McCain.

Factors cited:

- Greater confidence in Obama
- Doubts about McCain’s judgment
- McCain's age
- 60% of women and 49% of voters express an unfavorable view of Palin