CNN Re-Legitimizes 'Scurrilous' Obama Email

CNN, allegedly the most trusted name in something, took it upon themselves to defibrillate a long-since dismissed November 2007 email-forward which suggested that Barack Obama was a madrassa-trained terrorist who didn't properly drape himself in the American flag, posting one of their patented "Quick Polls" that asked, "Does Barack Obama show the proper patriotism for someone who wants to be President of the United States."

CNN builds this "poll" around an email that flew to inboxes far and wide in the months before the Iowa primary, in which it was alleged that Obama was "secretly hiding his Muslim faith" and categorically refused to properly pledge allegiance to the American flag. The matter dogged Obama for some time despite carrying no more merit than the average missive from the fictional spouses of recently deposed African leaders seeking bank shelters for outrageous sums of money. The big, blockbuster finding was that Obama maybe practiced the act of singing "The Star Spangled Banner" incorrectly. No one really should be questioning the patriotism of any of the Presidential candidates, but the media did their due diligence, traveling to far-flung Indonesian schools in an effort to prove that the candidate did not graduate summa cum laude from an al Qaeda training camp.

The central flaw with online polls of this nature is that they are more or less guaranteed to yield statistical results that aren't based on anything sincere. The polls go up, the word goes out, partisans of all stripes rush to the site, and eventually, the Ron Paul supporters stay up all night to try to generate a result that proves Paul is the only candidate who really believes in freedom. If Obama loses the poll, someone gets to suggest that public opinion has been measured against the candidate. And if he wins the poll, it becomes proof that the candidate benefits from the support of wild-eyed, cultish zombies infected with Hope Rabies.

Of course, what CNN gets out of it is a news story, and this poll is currently driving the #4 Most Viewed story on the CNN website. CNN has taken to bullet-pointing their stories at the top of the page for the benefit of people who can't bother to read, and their second bullet goes a long way to demonstrating just how dishonest the whole enterprise is: "Obama cited for not wearing American flag lapel pin, among other things." Naturally, the only entity doing any "citing," is CNN itself, with their disingenuous poll. As a vehicle for news, CNN's found themselves a very swift boat, spinning in idiot circles.

Comments

[wilhelmR]

02:23 AM on 03/02/2008

Jon Stewart, SNL, the outdated bourgeois "falic women" supporting Hillary, and Hillary herself should moved to the Republican Party and stop hurting the many nice people trying to make our country a better place to live. What Hillary and her cohorts are doing against Obama is disgraceful and if, by any chance, they steal the Primaries I predict she would lose to McCain: Most of the "new voters" brought by Obama will not vote for her or McCain in the General Elections because of her destructive ways and means.

[dragonfly142]

05:45 PM on 02/27/2008

I again say that according to wargs dot com Obama is anything but change. HE IS THE STATUS QUO...and the Establishment ..and he too is from washington he is a senator... library of congress geneologist shows proof and research about Obama's ancestry...quite misleading on Obama's part...it is not impoverished.(maternally).he is related to four presidents 2 are Bush's one vice president-guess who Dick Cheney...3 senators 2 congressment 2 supreme court justices ...and more to include nobility...etc etc etc.....This is the good ol boys at their finest keeping it amongst the bluebloods.....It is Hillery who is the outsider...related by marriage only to a president

[kingshmoopy]

07:48 AM on 02/28/2008

Are you serious about this? I am related to a very powerful Irish chieftan clan on my grandmother's side. On my grandfather's side I am related to Al Gore. Does this mean I am either an Irish political insider, or a Washington insider? This is crazy talk! Get a grip on reality, dragonfly, and come back to planet earth!

[fearwig]

10:29 PM on 03/01/2008

Planet Earth and HuffPost comment boxes never did get along very well. Let the lunatics run the asylum as they see fit (into the ground, from the look of things).

[wilhelmR]

02:27 AM on 03/02/2008

If Hillary & Bill steal the Primaries the huge amount of new voters will not be there for them. She will lose to McCain. I, for one, will not vote for her: It has already been too many dirt brought by her and her cohorts. I prefer for McCain to win and let Obama get another run when Hillary & Bill will be destroyed in the eyes of the DNC.

[dragonfly142]

05:44 PM on 02/27/2008

I again say that according to wargs dot com Obama is anything but change. HE IS THE STATUS QUO...and the Establishment ..and he too is from washington he is a senator... library of congress geneologist shows proof and research about Obama's ancestry...quite misleading on Obama's part...it is not impoverished.(maternally).he is related to four presidents 2 are Bush's one vice president-guess who Dick Cheney...3 senators 2 congressment 2 supreme court justices ...and more to include nobility...etc etc etc.....This is the good ol boys at their finest keeping it amongst the bluebloods.....It is Hillery who is the ouutsider...related by marriage only to a president

[dragonfly142]

05:41 PM on 02/27/2008

I again say that according to wargs dot com Obama is anything but change.HE IS THE STATUS QO...and the establishment library of congress geneologist shows proof and research about Obama's ancestry....it is not impoverished.(maternally).he is related to four presidents 2 are Bush's one vice president-guess who Cheney...3 senators 2 congressment 2 supreme court justices ...and more to include nobility...etc etc etc.....Yhis is the good ol boys at their finest keeping it amongst the bluebloods.....It is Hillaery who is the ouutsider...related by mnarriage only to a president

[BoulderSue]

07:30 PM on 02/26/2008

Afrogirl, I think you made your point three times when I quit counting, whatever it was. Three times and I still didn't quite figure it out, but I'm just one of those dunces who believes that every good idea begins with the hope that it can be accomplished. Are you equally exercised by Rep. Keith Ellison, who really is a Muslim and was sworn in on the Koran?

[resonate]

04:25 PM on 02/27/2008

Why the hell does anyone watch CNN anymore?

[MITeacher]

02:24 PM on 02/28/2008

I returned to CNN after I got so disgusted with the WE LOVE OBAMA NETWORK - MSNBC!

[sheikhhasan]

02:20 PM on 02/26/2008

How come no one has any issue about Obama being a member of senate without any patriotism, muslim links, coward and other accusations. But they have a problem when he is running for president. The same issues exists when he is a senator right?

This makes me think how did he even get membership in DNC, got elected as senator, interact with so many political leaders like Hillary and McCain and getting support of millions?

Do these allegations make any sense to anyone?

[Afrogirl]

06:04 PM on 02/26/2008

Mr. Obama got elected to the senate by a quirk. The Democratic contender he was running against dropped out of the race and there was no Republican candidate. He was running unopposed because everyone thought the Democratic candidate would win. He got caught up in unethical business and had to drop out. The Republican Party got Alan Keyes to move from Maryland to Illinois so Obama would not run unopposed. Given Keys recent move to the area, etc. running for Senate was a walk in the park for Obama. He had no opposition. Having been elected senator automatically put him in the position of interacting with Hillary and McCain. He has gotten the support of millions by hiding a lot about his past. The allegations make lots of sense to me - it is about people wondering what happened. How could someone with Obama's lack of background get this far? We have never had a candidate for President where cocaine was an issue. With Obama, not only is drug use an issue, but it has been made a secret, one some people know about (not many) and one it is considered ugly to talk about - why? I would like to know about these things from someone who wants to be President of my country. His drug use is hiding in full view and is untouchable and not to be held against him. He is not out of the ghetto. He is from top private schools and much privilege, there is no free pass on drug use for such a person. His religion is an issue. But no, no, that has been made off bounds. We can't talk about that because it is dissing Obama and we can't do anything even close to discussing truth about Obama. Louis Farrakhan talks about him as though he walks on water and is the reincarnation of the founder of the Black Muslims. In an hour long speech in which Farrakhan dissed Hillary pretty badly, the media does not report on any of this - why? Do you want Middle Eastern policy written by the Black Muslim leader and his supporters? there are two campaigns going on in this country - one directed to Whites, and one to the Black community. The one directed at the Black community is putrid and full of the most racist and sexist comments - all anti-Hillary written by Princeton University professors and others who are friends of the Obama's and it is not reported on or even hinted about by any media - off bounds again, that would be unfair to Obama. Hillary is clobbered by everyone because of Obama's claim that she circulated a harmless photo around the media. What is wrong with the photo? Something unseen that we should know about? We as a people gave Mitt Romney a horrible time for his religion - Mormonism - and we make excuses for Obama's. I saw someone claim he was Baptist and I've heard others say similar stuff that is not true. The church he belongs to is a part of the U.C.C. denomination, which gives its churches autonomy. It is mostly Black and strongly tied to Louis Farrakhan and his beliefs. What was so wrong about Mormonism and what is so right about being tied to a religion which believes all Whites are devils and worse? You White folks have some kind of persecution complex going in this election? What is going on is that whatever happens Obama has a teflon exterior. the last Teflon King I heard about was head of the Chicago mafia. What is at stake among our rulers that this Democratic George Bush who has made enough comments to let you know the era of cowboy politics will not be over if he is elected president and we still cheer. Is this how Chavez was elected in Venezuela? Is this how country's go sour - or go crazy? Is this what happened in Louisiana when Long took control and held it for so long? the big scare in the Black community today is the terror circulating with folks making phone calls telling you how "we" have to close ranks behind Obama because he is in danger of being assassinated and "we" have to get behind him and support him to let "them" know we protect our own. Since when did Obama become one of us? He has been talking about his "different" background from day one. Now all of a sudden he is one of "us" and I must give up supporting Hillary because if I don't Obama may be assassinated? What kind of crap is this. People like Martin Luther King, Jr. were assassinated because they were about real change. No talk - action. And why have we closed our eyes and ears when the wife of one of our candidates says she was not proud of this country until her husband started running for president? Her own history sounds like a princess who is very unhappy when she is not the center of all attention and acknowledged as the best in the room. I was appalled to hear that Princeton would not release her thesis. What are they hiding? It is interesting to hear her claims about the society's racism and her struggle with it and who does she marry? A man who was raised by a white couple and who was split between being culturally Muslim and culturally White. Yes he is culturally Muslim. He lived with his Muslim father for two years and his radical Muslim step father in a Muslim country for several more years before returning to Hawaii to live with his White grandparents. He has no ties to the African American slavery history at all - which is her talk - and very little exposure to the African American community - which is what folks mean when they say he isn't "Black." He isn't - and is that why he is the teflon king? He absolves most Whites of racism - they can cling to Obama and claim him as the exception who proves the rule? Or is all this heat around this election because of our fear "please God make it so" - that a woman could be elected president? In Liberal Massachusetts when they had a choice of a woman or Mitt Romney they chose Mitt Romney! That speaks volumes to me about this race.

[RumiSouth]

06:32 PM on 02/26/2008

That's an awful long comment to be so easily countered: Hillary had no party opposition when she ran for senate. Giuliani was expected to run and led her in the polls until he dropped out to fight cancer. The Republicans found a no-name token candidate to run against her; he had no money and zero debate skills. Obama, on the other hand, has won state house seats in Illinois through competitive elections. So YOUR candidate is the "untested" one!

[bsmechanic]

01:18 PM on 02/27/2008

Countering better instinct, I actually tried to read your spam article. Fortunately, you wrote this early in your piece...

"We have never had a candidate for President where cocaine was an issue."

... so, I guess George Bush never snorted. He just "gummied."

[bigdaddyvike]

06:07 PM on 02/26/2008

Makes perfect sense. The Clinton News Network is keeping very busy. This is so ridiculous whoever decided to resurrect this bullshit should be fired by any legitimate news editor. I received the email in question and it's the most contrived pack of lies I've ever read. Makes Swiftboating look like an endorsement. Probably never became a factor in his Senate race, but everyone's going to use every trick in the book (and some that aren't) to trash him for the Big One, given all the $$$$$$ at stake. Case in point: calling him "Barack Mohommad Hussein Obama" is the newest slime to surface. (Mohommad is not one of his names.)But look at the mileage they get out of it in Joe Sixpack's little mind.

[vsign]

11:48 AM on 02/26/2008

What scares me for America is that Obama is really a coward.

It scares me that his followers don't know how to judge his character and don't understand that character is the first thing they should judge.

I'm scared everyone is getting so brainwashed and the media doesn't tell the public what is happening. This is a false prophet. Be careful!

[Jazz42]

12:12 PM on 02/26/2008

I understand your reasoning for the negativity you display toward Senator Obama.
Your candidate is looking bad. It has been proven, that.
If one disagree with you, you do all you can to disquailify them. Lets face it. It's not working

[pleeezzze]

08:12 PM on 02/26/2008

You mean how it was learned from Obama ???

[peskyliberal]

03:39 PM on 02/26/2008

Tell us how Obama is a coward. Because he opposed the Invasion of Iraq?

What you should be scared of is people just spewing crap without one example.

[fact finder]

10:46 AM on 02/26/2008

why won't it let me vote.?

[nick1936]

08:33 AM on 02/26/2008

Just remember the MSM loves Obama now but just as soon as he wraps up the nomination they will turn on him just like they did with OLD MAN McCain

[Jazz42]

09:29 AM on 02/26/2008

(OLB MAN McCain)
Not to worry.
If Senator Obama has done quite well against the Clinton sleaze machine. I'm confident that he will do well agains the Republican slime ball tactics as well.

[melann830]

08:00 AM on 02/26/2008

What I find most appalling is that the media got caught with their pants down on this one. If you are Muslim and want to run for office, you are free to do so. You may not get elected, but you have the liberty in this country to throw your hat in the ring. I am a supporter for Hillary, yet I still make this point. However, more than one media chain chose to keep it secret. Obama's camp is NOT happy about the release of the photo. Some Obama supporters do not know what to make of it all, plus the Larry Sinclair issues and it makes for a very messy situation. Lets think for a moment. If it were such a harmless photo, why would he be so upset? Why would he be trying to block Group ADs Lauding Clinton Stirring Discord, (Wall Street Journal),for which reporters for the WSJ have found no improprieties against Clinton? I find it rather amusing that journalists and the media think we are so stupid that we can't discern for ourselves and now take it upon themselves to protect Obama like he is a two year old. This man is running for the highest elected office in this country. He has to learn to deal with it and so do his supporters and if they can't and if he can't, then he should step down from the race like the two year old they depict him to be.

[JiminNC]

08:30 AM on 02/26/2008

I can see Clintonista Denial is full bloom. They have some meds for that folks.

[melann830]

08:36 AM on 02/26/2008

Your cynicism is amusing. We don't need meds thank you. We leave medicating to Obama supporters and Obama himself who according to Larry Sinclair never stopped medicating himself with cocaine. Yes, As late as 1999 Obama used drugs and received the same treatment Bill Clinton did from Monica- only Monica was a girl. Well you know the rest, Larry isn't. The funny attempts by Obama's camp to cover it up is hysterical. The blogger is quite illiterate toward the end. Is it true, don't know. But its as funny as the picture of Obama.

[timeforachangenow]

10:04 AM on 02/26/2008

http://www.republicansforobama.org/?q=node/359

[AnnaList]

12:54 PM on 02/26/2008

melann830, That's the problem, "Momentary Thinking." One needs to think for more than a "moment." First of all, Obama is not a muslim, his father was...All Americans of African decent have muslim roots, Africa is where the ancestors originate from... Nowhere did I see or hear Obama respond to the story. I use the term "story" loosely. That's what CNN expected
him to do. Sorry, no Obama statement to quote. CNN participated in a sorry attempt to connect the African attire, to "Fear of Muslims." Fear is the instrument of last resort for CNN and the Clintons. I wonder why they didn't learn something from South Carolina, where they tried and failed to create divisions; but as expected, they continue to do the same things, expecting a different result. Obana deals with things that merit his attention, not this type of petty desperation. He is focused on the big things, substantive ideas that impact the lives of the American people. As for the "outfit" don't be surprised if it appears on the cover of fashion magazines as the latest thing for the fashion conscious. Style sells! Finally, it is not surprising that WSJ would support HIllary Clinton, afterall, Wall Street is who she truly represents.

[Afrogirl]

06:34 PM on 02/26/2008

You must be joking with this response. You claim "all Americans of African decent have muslim roots" - what history books have you been reading? Africans were brought to U. S some 300 years ago. Islam in sub-Sahara Africa, from whence slavery came, is a more recent phenomena. It started in North Africa and slowly moved south - very slowly. Slaves were taken from sub-Sahara Africa both East and West. At the time of the major slave trade some Africans were Muslim, but very few. Many of the slave traders were Muslim, but the Africans they sold into bondage - were mostly not Muslims. As far as fear goes? It is used by the Obamas on the Black Community as a bludgeon and is used very effectively. Another falsehood in your reply is about South Carolina. The Clintons didn't try to create divisions - the Obama campaign did that. Bill Clinton made a simple political strategy remark and it was dubbed racist by the Obama campaign. He said they didn't put lots of resources into South Carolina because Jessee Jackson took the state in 1984 and 88 and today there are far more Blacks living there then in those past years. That bit of divisiveness was solely promoted by the Obamas. So was the remark Hillary made about Lyndon Johnson's support of Martin Luther King from the presidents office claimed to be denigrating of Martin Luther King when in actuality the dumping on Hillary Clinton for her comment was really dumping on the memory of Lyndon Johnson - a strong King supporter who brought about many changes. We were all to caught up in the Kennedy mythology at the time and a part of that mythology was their hatred of Johnson, which Obama picked up and threw at Hillary. Interesting your interpretation of these things - so off the wall! If Obama has substantive ideas that impact the lives of the Ameridcan People upon which he is contemplating he isn't sharing them. And as far as the WSJ support - Obama's stands - the few he has taken could have been written by the banks and other corporate entities. They are exactly what they would like, if pushed to have stands on the current mortgage crisis, etc.

[kirafa]

10:14 AM on 02/27/2008

Do you live in South Carolina? Because I do and was an avid Obama supporter, but found out soon enough that this campaign started out with race and will end with it. When I was asked to man the phone banks and start calls for Senator Obama, the first list I was given was to call every black registered voter in our district. I was a little surprised but I did was I was told by the District Campaign Manager. There was not overwhelming support, believe me. For every 10-20 calls I made, a true Obama supporter was listed. He did not get the nod here until Oprahrama. When I was given the list of white voters, I was ashamed when I heard the venom on the other side. Soon after, I decided not work on any campaign and vote my heart. I voted for Hillary. The United States is in a mess and I want results, not hope or inspiration.

[w&cheneysuck]

06:54 AM on 02/26/2008

Doesn't anybody notice that the other shoe is dropping? Clinton is desperate.

[melann830]

08:11 AM on 02/26/2008

From what I hear and read so is Obama and his supporters, to the extent that I recieved a piece of hate e-mail from one such supporter informing me that I was stupid, brainwashed and other things as well, which I quickly reported to Spam. These are the tactics Obama's supporters in Oregon are using. Apparently that is where the person lives. So I am voting for Sen. Hillary Clinton because she doesn't put us up to resorting to these tactics and lets us decide on our own.

[slow2]

09:25 AM on 02/26/2008

melann830 --

Clinton "lets us" decide on our own? Like we can be big girls like she is?

Jeeze, all this time we thought it was the CONSTITUTION that provided the mechanism for choice.

Hmmmm. It seems you see a Mommy and we see a president.

[AnotherTry]

06:40 AM on 02/26/2008

This is why we have super-delegates - to save us from ourselves.

I see, thank god.

[uberlefty]

02:49 AM on 02/26/2008

Did you think whitey was going to give it all away without a fight? The MSM may not like Hillary but their masters hate the idea of a black president more. Muslim, Terrorist, and wont wear pussy ass flags on his lapel like all the white corporate congressman lackeys. This is a fight for the soul of this country against the soulless and sold out. Its not just Obama who scares them but the people who are coming out to vote for him. We are all supposed to be voting for Nader. They will continue to bombard us with all of this crap and more. Just look at the CNN lineup. Lou Dobbs the racist, nativist baritone. Larry King family friend of the Bushes. CNN came into its own as a result of Gulf War 1 and loved Gulf War 2 until the news was bad. They are part of the military industrial complex. They are its Pravda. Fox is ...well its Fox. MSNBC wants to be the Blue network but will always be a tool of GE ( they bring good things to death ). Turn off the TV and think for yourself Luke.

[TishiJo]

02:52 AM on 02/26/2008

Yah, what did you expect from the Clinton Network News?

[melann830]

08:05 AM on 02/26/2008

Your use of the word to describe those of us lacking color is highly offensive and it truly shows why we can not make progress with respect to race relations in this country. I am sure you are a smart person. Please refrain from using it.

[XYZ]

02:03 AM on 02/26/2008

Well what was the poll? Was it yeah or neh?? I'm curious as to what they have found out, pulled now but I want to know.

[Manx]

01:50 AM on 02/26/2008

CNN is basically a tabloid network, fixating on helicopters filming car chases, sensational rapes and murders, conflagrations, trailer-trash Hollywood starlets, and so on.
And they (Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer) had the audacity to criticize the New York Times story on McCain and his connection with lobbyists.