Last weekend in Reverend Moon's Washington Times, Jeffrey Kuhner expressed concern that "[t]he liberal media are determined to tarnish the reputation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin." Kuhner was the one who started the rumor that Barack Obama was a closet Muslim. In January 2007 edition Kuhner made the claim in the online Moonie publication, InsightMag.com, that the Clinton campaign was spreading the rumor that Obama was a closet Muslim and had attended a madrassa (here's a brief overview of Kuhner's debunked claims). As I reported in my personal blog, Kuhner went on Sean Hannity's radio program and made inflammatory statements about Obama and Islam that included a veiled call for Muslim extremists to assassinate Obama (Hannity, of course, ate it up). Last week, Sean Hannity--against all evidence--claimed that nobody on Fox News claimed that Obama is a Muslim.My thoughts: It's ironic that Obama's Americanism would be challenged by publications owned by an America-hating theocratic criminal (though this is hardly unique: some of the voices on the right that accuse the left of hating America have a soft spot of the old Confederacy). This is an illustration of how fringe Moonie publications can lead to a disinformation campaign that reaches tens of millions (I previously explained how this media food chain operated--though for more info, check out David Brock's book The Republican Noise Machine).
Final Thought: The "Obama is a Muslim" Spam E-mails"
The fact that dirty tricks operatives use spam e-mails to spread the Obama/Muslim rumor is proof that a small but significant number of Americans are morons. I have had e-mail for the last 14 years and the only thing in my spam folder have been solicitations for prescription drugs, Nigerian 419 scams, skanks wanting me to check out their webcams, people selling Rolex watch knock-offs, and people selling concoctions to enlarge penises. For fuck's sake, why would anyone read an anonymous spam e-mail and believe it, especially when a quick Google search will find that the rumor in question is false?
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Note that UPI has an opinion piece out now which is pushed as news. Moon told his media to move from fact based reporting to telling the readers what it means - i.e. mold minds - and I guess Seif is doing that. Note that his first complaint is that Stephanopolis corrected Obama when he mispoke about his religion. Funny how Seif complains that a smear Obama is forced to deal with that was started in one of Moon's other propaganda outlets was corrected and therefore shows bias.
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