Pro-McCain Group Dumping 28 Million Terror Scare DVDs in Swing States

(UPDATE 9/13 - 70 newspapers in swing states have been paid to distribute Obsession this weekend and next, which means not all the DVDs have been delivered yet. Check the list at the end of this post to see if your newspaper is one of them, and let them know how you feel about their participation in this shameless propaganda campaign.)

This week, 28 million copies of a right-wing, terror propaganda DVD are being mailed and bundled in newspaper deliveries to voters in swing states. The 60-minute DVDs, titled Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, are landing on doorsteps in a campaign coinciding with the 7th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Funding is coming from a New York-based group called the Clarion Fund, a shadowy outfit whose financial backers are unclear.

The program was originally shown on Fox News in the days leading up to the 2006 mid-term elections, and far right-wing activist David Horowitz toured the country screening the film on college campuses during 2007. Mainstream religious groups have called Obsession biased and divisive. It cuts between scenes of Nazi rallies and footage of Muslim children being encouraged to become suicide bombers.

Talking heads in the film include infamous anti-Muslim, self-proclaimed "islamophobes" like Daniel Pipes and Walid Shoebat. In 2001, Pipes claimed the "presence" and "enfranchisement" of Muslims in the U.S. presented "true dangers to American Jews." Shoebat is an evangelical Christian who falsely claims to be a former Muslim terrorist. Last year, Shoebat told the Missouri Springfield News-Leader, "Islam is not the religion of God - Islam is the devil."

As detailed in an OffTheBus report on HuffPo two days ago, the DVDs were distributed last weekend in national editions of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal within selected swing states. These included Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Iowa, Florida, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Hampshire and Virginia.

Sally Lopez of Lemoyne, PA displays a copy of the DVD that came in the mail.

Here in North Carolina, another battleground state that John McCain must win to reach 270 electoral votes, 160,000 copies of the DVD are to be distributed tomorrow by the state's leading newspaper.

The Raleigh News & Observer reported yesterday on its Under The Dome politics blog that the paper is preparing to bundle copies of the DVD with this Saturday's newspapers. Jim McClure, vice president of display advertising for the N&O, said the "ultimate decision" to distribute the DVDs had been made by publisher Orage Quarles, and compared the propaganda to harmless household samples.

"'Obviously, we have distributed other product samples, whether it's cereal or toothpaste,' he said. He declined to say how much the agency paid."

The News & Observer recently announced deep buyouts and layoffs for its employees. It is owned by the struggling McClatchy news chain, which is slashing newsroom jobs and pages at the papers it owns around the country. Advertising revenues have plummeted during the ongoing economic downturn, and it appears the N&O is now auctioning off its journalistic integrity to the highest bidder.

The paper's announcement touched off immediate criticism from angry subscribers:

"A box of cereal? Toothpaste? Does a box of cereal or a tube of toothpaste encourage me to look with hatred and suspicion on my law abiding neighbors who have a different religion than mine? Does cereal and toothpaste lead to pogroms, religious harassment, fear and intimidation? The trailer for this video is about hate, pure and simple, and shows the video has only one goal -- to instill fear and hatred of neighbor against neighbor.

If I receive this DVD in my paper, that day, after 22 years of receiving the N&O, will be the last day of my subscription.

Please, please reconsider this decision!"

Although supposedly a 501 c(3) non-profit, this week the Clarion Fund's website featured an article supporting John McCain. Yesterday, the Patriot-News in PA reported on the DVDs showing up in Pennsylvania, and noted:

"On Wednesday, though, there was an article on the group's new Web site, www.radicalislam.org, that backed Republican presidential candidate John McCain. The article discusses both candidates and concludes: "McCain's policies seek to confront radical Islamic extremism and terrorism and roll it back while [Barack] Obama's, although intending to do the same, could in fact make the situation facing the West even worse."

According to Clarion Fund director of communications Gregory Ross, the article "crossed the line" and would be removed.

Where else exactly are these DVDs landing, and who's funding the Clarion Fund?

If you'd like to give News & Observer executives a piece of your mind, executive editor John Drescher can be reached at [phone], or [e-mail]. Or ask for publisher Orage Quarles at the paper's main phone number, [phone].

(UPDATE 9/13 - Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher has more details. And here's a state-by-state list of most of the 70 newspapers in swing states that have agreed to deliver this garbage to their subscribers:

Colorado - Boulder Daily Camera, Centennial Citizen, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post, Fort Collins Coloradoan, Greeley Tribune

Iowa - Daily Nonpareil, Des Moines Register, Iowa City Press Citizen, Quad City Times, Sioux City Journal

Florida - Daily Commercial, Florida Times-Union, Ft. Lauderdale El Sentinel, Ft. Myers News Press, Miami Herald, Ocala Star Banner, Orlando Sun Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Tampa Tribune, Tallahassee Democrat, St. Petersburg Times, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Michigan - Detroit Free-Press, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Lansing State Journal

Missouri - Springfield News-Leader

Nevada - Las Vegas Review-Journal/Sun, Nevada Appeal, Reno Gazette-Journal

New Hampshire - Portsmouth Herald News, Union Leader

New Mexico - Clovis News Journal, Hobbs News-Sun, Rio Rancho Observer

Ohio - Akron Beacon Journal, Canton Repository, Columbus Dispatch, Dayton Daily News, Hamilton JournalNews, Middletown Journal, Morning Journal, Springfield News-Sun, Toledo Blade, Youngstown Vindicator

North Carolina - Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News & Observer

Pennsylvania - Bucks Co. Courier Times, Erie Times-News, Morning Call, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Reading Eagle, The Patriot-News

Virginia - Sun-Gazette, Virginian-Pilot

Wisconsin - Green Bay Press-Gazette, Janesville Gazette, Journal Times, La Crosse Tribune, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

(UPDATE 9/15 - Only two papers bravely refused to push this poison on their communities - the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in Missouri and the Greensboro News & Record in North Carolina. The American Muslim website has posted a lengthy list of "Resources for Responding to Obsession DVD Mass Distribution," and a detailed look at organizations and individuals involved in the production, promotion and distribution of the film - "Who is behind Relentless, Obsession and The Third Jihad?"

The progressive Jewish group JewsOnFirst.org has a thorough report on the Clarion Fund's background and role in pushing these hate DVDs. Highlights include the film's past ties to the Republican Jewish Coalition, Clarion's rent-an-address location, its incorporator, New York attorney Eli Greenberg, spokesman Gregory Ross' implausible denial that the Fund also paid to distribute Obsession at both the Democratic and Republican conventions, and Ross' statement that the Clarion Fund will not disclose its donors' names.

Obsession at the conventions.

However, one detail in this report seems mistaken, that "because it was established only recently, the Clarion Fund has not yet filed its first required disclosure (Form 990) with the IRS." According to the New York Secretary of State's website, the Clarion Fund was incorporated nearly two years ago, on December 28, 2006. So where are their Form 990's? Hello, IRS?)

(UPDATE 9/26 - NPR's Secret Money Project has picked up the trail of who's behind the Clarion Fund, and posted good information HERE and HERE. Earlier today, NPR also aired a story on Morning Edition - "Charity Floods Swing States With Anti-Islam DVD." Omid Safi of the American Academy of Religion has exhaustive coverage of Clarion Fund backers in his post, "Who Put Hate in My Sunday Paper?")

(UPDATE 9/30 - On Sept. 26, four days after the Dayton Daily News in Ohio distributed Obsession to its subscribers, there was a cowardly attack on three hundred American Muslims at a Dayton mosque. Unknown assailants, described by a witness as two white men, sprayed a toxic substance through a window of the mosque into a room where infants and children were waiting as their parents conducted Ramadan prayers. Chris Rodda of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has the full story, including excerpts from a graphic e-mail sent out by a family member of children who were gassed. Dayton police are refusing to treat the attack as a hate crime.

The incident has received little mainstream media attention since it occurred, except for one post from yesterday by Philadelphia Daily News senior writer Will Bunch. Not surprising, because it's pretty damning evidence that the newspapers who distributed Obsession DVDs have stirred up intolerance and hatred in their communities and encouraged this kind of terrorism.)

Erik Ose is a veteran of Democratic campaigns in North Carolina and blogs at The Latest Outrage.

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Comments

[wakeuppl]

01:56 PM on 10/10/2008

I wrote a great post and it wasn't posted. Get a biased opinion about what is really going on. Read award winning journalist Robert Fisk's article on the matter. He's even broadcasted via You Tube.

[wispivey]

04:03 PM on 10/03/2008

I got two of these hateful things in the mail today. Shocker, I live in a swing state. I promptly did the following:
1 - Nuked the unopened packages for about 10 seconds in the microwave. (a quick smack with a hammer thru the paper would work as well)
2 - Wrote in huge block letters on front and back RETURN TO SENDER.
3 - Mailed the trash back.
Let them pay for 28 million of them TWO ways instead of one and make sure their INVESTMENT is rendered useless!!!

[SCCavie93]

10:22 AM on 10/02/2008

WOW I too got one but thought it would make a GREAT coaster for my ice cold can of Coca Cola.

[NPA]

08:58 AM on 10/02/2008

Where is the right wing outrage that McCain will not attack Bin Liden if he is in Pakistan?! If Obama supported that notion his patriotism would be questioned. Alqeada recently bomb the Marriott hotel in Pakistan and attacked the U.S. embassy in Yemen (where the USS Cole was bombed). We are not safer the terrorist are still alive and plotting in the same area they plotted 9/11.

[NPA]

08:54 AM on 10/02/2008

I received this DVD now where is the right wing outrage that McCain will not attack Bin Liden if he is in Pakistan?! If Obama supported that notion his patriotism would be questioned. Alqeada recently bomb the Marriott hotel in Pakistan and attacked the U.S. embassy in Yemen (where the USS Cole was bombed). We are not safer the terrorist are still alive and plotting in the same area they plotted 9/11.

[kjwhite]

10:40 AM on 10/01/2008

Given all of the other very blatant lies John McCain has told during this campaign, this dirty stunt has McCain's prints all over it.

He has shown he will do just about anything to win. I would not doubt for one moment that he and his people are behind this.

Shameful. I hope everyone tosses them into the trash where they belong, along with any potential votes for John McCain. Round-file them.

[poorpearl]

03:27 PM on 09/29/2008

this may have been posted already, but there has been at least one terrorist attack on a mosque in Dayton, reported in the Dayton Daily News as a result of this hate DVD. Is this what the McCain campaign has stooped to, is this the "family values party?" This is shameful and pathetic, but not surprising. And I'm sure it's not the end of the hatred. But what the country and the world sees when McCain and Obama debate is undeniable: they see a statesman and leader standing next to a contemptuous shell of a man who cannot even look Obama in the eye.

[JStandish]

04:37 AM on 09/28/2008

I was appalled that The New York Times was part of this cabal. I wrote a letter to the publisher, president, managing-editor, executive-editor, public editor, and the letters editor stating that it was outrageous that The Times was distributing this anti-Islamic, biased DVD. I received the letter below from the advertising editor. I, then, sent a response to the above-mentioned executives and editors at The Times stating the problems with the DVD and the fact that the Clarion Fund is a 50l c(3) and had no business distributing politically biased material, ending the letter with the following statement: This DVD obviously crosses the line and The New York Times owes their readers truth in advertising.
ADVT. EDITOR :
We believe the broad principles of freedom of the press confer on us an obligation to keep our advertising columns as open as possible. Therefore our acceptance or rejection of an advertisement does not depend on whether it coincides with our editorial positions. In fact, there are many instances when we have published opinion advertisements that run counter to the stance we take on our own editorial pages.
We do require that opinion advertisements include the name of the sponsoring organization and a mailing address or a telephone number. This enables our readers to communicate directly with the sponsor should they seek additional information or wish to express agreement or disagreement with the advertised message. This insert was clearly labeled as an advertisement and complied with these requirements.

[isis]

06:07 PM on 09/26/2008

My parents in Iowa just got one. It has very little information about the group on it and seemed like the newspaper sent it.

[ChrisInLincoln]

03:21 PM on 09/26/2008

My uncle, a registered Democrat in Illinois, received one of these from a "non-profit" organization. (Why they are wasting money in IL is beyond me.)

If you received one sent with non-profit postage, send it, or a copy, to the IRS to complain about a violation of non-profit status. Follow this link for instructions.

http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=178241,00.html

[ChrisInLincoln]

03:34 PM on 09/26/2008

HuffPost doesn't include commas in links, so click this one instead:
http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0%2c%2cid=178241%2c00.html

[rufushum]

03:38 PM on 09/24/2008

Mine just came via the US mail...I'm outraged and I'm sending it back to them...with a personal comment. This is about the dirtiest trick I've seen, but not surprising at all. Their desperation is showing.

[gwingert]

08:13 PM on 09/23/2008

I wondered where that piece of crap came from. I threw it in the trash with the rest of the garbage. It came with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Sunday edition. Good thing I don't pay for a subscription.....

[sharonh]

03:26 PM on 09/21/2008

Tampa Tribune informed me today to expect my CD in next week's paper. Of the 2 major daiies this is considered the more conservative. Unfortunately the St. Pete Times also plans on distributing this unfortunate piece of propaganda. I voiced my outrage to the tribune and encourage you to do so as well at www.tbo.com. Follow the link to the Trib or Times.

[freezone]

01:35 PM on 09/21/2008

This is clear cut propaganda, not even subliminal!
The newspapers involved in this distribution have shown that mercenary journalism is alive and well. I expect many a subscription cancellation, out of pure disgust at the insult the newspapers have handed out to their subscribers.
Where were the editors and ombudsman when this decision was made?

[KarlaElisa]

04:07 PM on 09/19/2008

Pity we can't take headline clips and legislation excerpts and make our own 'fear the neo con in charge' dvd's to enlighten those too busy watching fox and american idol the last few years to show them who their real enemy is.
but it'd be way too long to hold the 'sound bite' attention span of most.

[spades champ99]

10:27 AM on 09/20/2008

I contacted my newspaper the Virginian Pilot, they are NOT sending out a mailing. They told me and another caller that they were not participating in the mailing. They were a bit upset that it was posted on the site.