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Author Topic: Obama campaign creates Web site to debunk rumors  (Read 36529 times)
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caesu
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« Reply #120 on: June 28, 2008, 01:43:43 PM »

some background into how those effective - but baseless - internet chain e-mails attacks get organised.

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The e-mail landed in Danielle Allen's queue one winter morning as she was studying in her office at the Institute for Advanced Study, the renowned haven for some of the nation's most brilliant minds. The missive began: "THIS DEFINITELY WARRANTS LOOKING INTO."

Laid out before Allen, a razor-sharp, 36-year-old political theorist, was what purported to be a biographical sketch of Barack Obama that has become one of the most effective -- and baseless -- Internet attacks of the 2008 presidential season. The anonymous chain e-mail makes the false claim that Obama is concealing a radical Islamic background. By the time it reached Allen on Jan. 11, 2008, it had spread with viral efficiency for more than a year.

During that time, polls show the number of voters who mistakenly believe Obama is a Muslim rose -- from 8 percent to 13 percent between November 2007 and March 2008. And some cited this religious mis-affiliation when explaining their primary votes against him.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062703781.html?hpid=topnews
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WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #121 on: June 28, 2008, 09:57:36 PM »

some background into how those effective - but baseless - internet chain e-mails attacks get organised.

Quote
The e-mail landed in Danielle Allen's queue one winter morning as she was studying in her office at the Institute for Advanced Study, the renowned haven for some of the nation's most brilliant minds. The missive began: "THIS DEFINITELY WARRANTS LOOKING INTO."

Laid out before Allen, a razor-sharp, 36-year-old political theorist, was what purported to be a biographical sketch of Barack Obama that has become one of the most effective -- and baseless -- Internet attacks of the 2008 presidential season. The anonymous chain e-mail makes the false claim that Obama is concealing a radical Islamic background. By the time it reached Allen on Jan. 11, 2008, it had spread with viral efficiency for more than a year.

During that time, polls show the number of voters who mistakenly believe Obama is a Muslim rose -- from 8 percent to 13 percent between November 2007 and March 2008. And some cited this religious mis-affiliation when explaining their primary votes against him.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062703781.html?hpid=topnews

How would Obama describe his childhood and the religious influences within his family and community?

How would he describe his path to Christianity?  Was he always a committed Christian?  What about the time before?  How would he describe himself?  Isn't it possible that many voters have travelled similar paths? 

It is my belief that there are many things we cannot change about ourselves.  Things that cannot be changed include the basic physical body we are born into, and our upbringing.  imho

There are things that can change.  Things that may be changed include the cut of our hair, the shape of our nose, general outlook on life, and our religious affiliation.

Simply stated -

Yesterday is gone forever, tomorrow is a dream, all that exists is the present.
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LouiseVargas
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« Reply #122 on: June 28, 2008, 11:36:01 PM »

Perhaps you can order a back issue of Time Magazine dated April 21, 2008.
"How his mother made him what he is." RAISING OBAMA by Amanda Ripley.
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WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #123 on: June 29, 2008, 09:15:32 AM »

Perhaps you can order a back issue of Time Magazine dated April 21, 2008.
"How his mother made him what he is." RAISING OBAMA by Amanda Ripley.

I googled and I think I found the article.  I believe Time Magazine has graciously made the article available over the internet with a different date -

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1729524,00.html

"The Story of Barack Obama's Mother"

I looked at the article I don't see where it shows how the local school, community, or his step-father provided for his religious upbringing.

Was Obama raised in a religious vacuum?
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WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #124 on: June 29, 2008, 09:21:01 AM »

Here is the Time cover - "Raising Obama"

http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20080421,00.html

It would have been interesting to see how Obama's mother described his upbringing and all the influences in his early life.

From the article, I would say she was a young woman, single mother, who followed her own path in life.  imho
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It doesn't do any good to hate anyone,
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WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #125 on: June 29, 2008, 10:06:46 AM »

There is also another story with the title "Raising Obama" by VF - that looks at another side of his history -

Quote
Raising Obama

Is he tough enough? That’s the question being asked of Barack Obama. To those who have known the candidate since boyhood, it’s not just those “dreams from my father” that make Obama a contender, but also his mother’s daring, his grandmother’s grit, and his own relentless drive.

by Todd Purdum March 2008


Quote
A few months later Obama went to see Emil Jones Jr., the newly chosen state-senate president and the man who loomed as perhaps the most powerful black politician in Illinois. He went to see Jones with a big idea. By that point the two men had known each other for the better part of 20 years, but theirs had not always been an easy relationship. They had first met in the mid-1980s, when Obama, as a community organizer on the far South Side, had seen Jones as an “old ward heeler” who backed the wrong horse in Harold Washington’s successful quest to become the city’s first black mayor. Jones had had to jockey for a place on the stage near the new mayor at a public event that Obama had helped plan.

Jones, a chain-smoking, gravelly voiced, unvarnished throwback to the era of the old Daley machine, was wary of Obama, a freshly minted agitator from Columbia University. Obama and other community activists were the sort who used politicians as foils, “shunned them, more or less, I guess,” Jones told me on a winter morning, a cigarette smoldering in the ashtray in his office high above the city that Carl Sandburg famously called “coarse and strong and cunning.” Jones went on: “They were in-your-face types. I happened to see them out there one day. And I told them, I said, ‘You don’t gotta be outside. Come on in the office.’

Quote
“I adored Jack Kennedy,” Minow explains, “and I saw the 21st-century version of Jack Kennedy in my mind. He is astonishing. I think the fundamental point is the country wants a different kind of politics.” He adds, “I also believe the race issue and the gender issue are yesterday, particularly with young people.” One-upping Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’s famous summary of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s gifts, Minow, a former Supreme Court clerk, says, “I believe as the country sees Barack, gets to know him, they will see the same thing I see: really a combination of a first-class mind and a first-class temperament, all in the same person.”

Quote
Obama’s own farewell to his colleagues in Springfield, on November 8, 2004, was less eloquent but no less heartfelt. Afterward, he faced the Springfield press corps for the last time. Someone asked why he had already ruled out running on a national ticket with Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2008. His answer was crisp and immediate. “You know,” Obama replied, “I am a believer in knowing what you’re doing when you apply for a job. And I think that if I were to seriously consider running on a national ticket I would essentially have to start now, before having served a day in the Senate. Now, there are some people who might be comfortable doing that, but I’m not one of those people.”

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/03/obama200803

If race and gender are no longer an issue, especially with young people, why does religion seem to matter?

I think it's about who we are as individuals, and that includes things like moral and ethical values.  In my mind, moral and ethical values may be related to one's religion, but they may also stand alone, outside the religious framework. 

An individual's moral and ethical beliefs are easy to 'spew' among the masses.  Email comes to mind in the modern era.  In times past, maybe it was printed media, a church service, or through something as simple as 'gossip'. 

Moral and ethical values sometimes change when people are tested or challenged by adversity.  Some may never know what it is like to be without the basics necessary for life.  Simple things like food and shelter.  Some may never know what it is like to be incarcerated.  Some may never know what it is like to have to make a decision between "doing the right thing", and continuing with "business as usual". 

Today, it seems that many may get negative emails like those that claim Obama is a "radical Muslim".  I think it just as likely that many do not forward those emails, and they do not believe the content. 

Claiming a "smear", in my mind is distracting from the real issues. 

What is your vision for the future?  What would you like your presidency be remembered for?

If you are the next Kennedy, what are these changes you and your following are so fired up about?

What is your plan to make things better?  What do you see as the big challenges facing the United States?

Should I be more afraid of the devil I don't know?  Or, the one I do?

Which devil is willing to talk about his plans and visions for the future?

Most of the dreamers I've read about, are willing to talk about their dreams for the future. 

It is easy to talk about change...we need change...expect change...

How do you plan to change something if you don't talk about what needs to be changed?
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nonesuche
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« Reply #126 on: June 29, 2008, 11:49:09 AM »

WhiskyGirl-

Good job of defining the key points in this, which is exactly what the charisma-committed Obama campaigners are hoping you will not do - do not ask questions or ask for details - just leap into the movement and be part of the herd mentality?

No thank you. Change requires change management, a strategy in place with the skill to implement the many sequential steps required to usher/lead/implement the change. Until Obama is willing to stand still and answer those extremely important questions, he's nothing more than one more half-baked politician.

Do you notice that not one of Obama's fervent devotees on this forum have been able to detail the change?

Amazing, and why isn't Obama's mother front and center, giving interviews to many about how her brilliant upbringing for her son produced such a genius? Having great intellect that translates well in academics is far, far different from the intellect and genuine strategic skills necessary to affect change at a national or global level.

Someone, anyone show me this man's money? I wait........and wait.........

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WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #127 on: June 29, 2008, 02:53:35 PM »

Obama's mother has passed away and is not here to share memories of her son.

I do believe that the country is in need of change. 

Change = something to think about.



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nonesuche
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« Reply #128 on: June 29, 2008, 07:49:35 PM »

It is truly unfortunate when anyone's mother dies, or their father or their husband or their wife, sister, brother, or child.

This allows others to recreate her memories and also diminish any negative memories also.

Just one further concern in my opinion. That plus so many other pieces of the puzzle that do not fit.

I do think we should listen to Reverend Wright on one point, that politicians speak to get elected........not always truth or commitment to ideals......just whatever it takes to win.

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WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #129 on: June 29, 2008, 07:51:32 PM »

I went over to www.ebay.com and searched on John McCain and Barack Obama.

John McCain has just over 500 items, mostly pins, stickers, books, and an occasional t-shirt.  Not nearly as much stuff as Obama. 

Barack Obama has over 2,500 items including jewelery with slogans, a flag reminiscent of the U.S. but not quite, catchy stickers, pins, books, oil paintings, license plates, toys, teddy bears, loads of t-shirts, key chains, i-pod cases, watches, etc.  I didn't see an action figure, but I expect it's in the list somewhere.

Do the candidates or their campaigns profit from all these sales?  Is this a replacement strategy for the 527 groups?
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LouiseVargas
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« Reply #130 on: June 29, 2008, 09:06:50 PM »

It does not matter what Obama's strategy is. It does not matter what questions you want answered.

Read what WhiskeyGirl wrote. “I adored Jack Kennedy,” Minow explains, “and I saw the 21st-century version of Jack Kennedy in my mind. He is astonishing. I think the fundamental point is the country wants a different kind of politics.” He adds, “I also believe the race issue and the gender issue are yesterday, particularly with young people.” One-upping Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’s famous summary of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s gifts, Minow, a former Supreme Court clerk, says, “I believe as the country sees Barack, gets to know him, they will see the same thing I see: really a combination of a first-class mind and a first-class temperament, all in the same person.”

The Obama phenomenon transcends everything. People are sick of right wing Republicans.
 

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WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #131 on: June 29, 2008, 09:50:39 PM »

It does not matter what Obama's strategy is. It does not matter what questions you want answered.

Read what WhiskeyGirl wrote. “I adored Jack Kennedy,” Minow explains, “and I saw the 21st-century version of Jack Kennedy in my mind. He is astonishing. I think the fundamental point is the country wants a different kind of politics.” He adds, “I also believe the race issue and the gender issue are yesterday, particularly with young people.” One-upping Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’s famous summary of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s gifts, Minow, a former Supreme Court clerk, says, “I believe as the country sees Barack, gets to know him, they will see the same thing I see: really a combination of a first-class mind and a first-class temperament, all in the same person.”

The Obama phenomenon transcends everything. People are sick of right wing Republicans.
 



Here is the historical Kennedy I remember (with a little help from the Wiki)

  • Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety.
  • In 1955, while recuperating from a back operation, he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history.
  • His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country."
  • He wished America to resume its old mission as the first nation dedicated to the revolution of human rights. With the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps, he brought American idealism to the aid of developing nations.
  • Bay of Pigs
  • The months after the Cuban crisis showed significant progress toward his goal of "a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion." His administration thus saw the beginning of new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jk35.html

People have been searching for peace for thousands of years.  It does not appear to be everlasting.  It is a concern for every generation and will remain a concern.  jmho

John F. Kennedy was one of a kind...

John F. Kennedy served his country in a time of war and had a vision for peace...

John F. Kennedy was willing to debate Nixon...

~ Questions to self ~

What is Obama's vision for the future? 

Who is going to pay for it?  Yesterdays children?  The children of tomorrow?

Where does Obama see American troops being stationed?  Afghanistan?  Iran?  Same story different page? 

Where does peace start in the Obama vision of the future?
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WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #132 on: June 29, 2008, 10:36:56 PM »

There is one person that comes to mind when I think of Barack Obama - Henry Kissinger "detente".

Quote
Henry Alfred Kissinger (born Heinz Alfred Kissinger on May 27, 1923) is a German-born American bureaucrat, diplomat, and 1973 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the Richard Nixon administration. Kissinger emerged unscathed from the Watergate scandal, and maintained his powerful position when Gerald Ford became President.

Quote
During his time in the Nixon and Ford administrations he cut a flamboyant figure, appearing at social occasions with many celebrities. His foreign policy record made him a nemesis to both the anti-war left and the anti-communist right alike.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kissinger

I remember watching the movie "PT 109" about Kennedy's service in WWII.

Kennedy is a legend...

Quote
The White House had full approval of casting and aspects of the film. Among other actors considered for the lead were Peter Fonda who objected to having to do his screen test with an impersonation of JFK's voice, [1] Edd Byrnes, Jacqueline Kennedy's choice Warren Beatty, Jeffrey Hunter, and other stars.[2] Kennedy selected Cliff Robertson after viewing their screen tests. Robertson met with President Kennedy who set three conditions on the film; that it be historically accurate, that profits go to the survivors of PT 109 and their families and President Kennedy had the final choice of actor.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PT_109_(film)

Quote
A National Geographic expedition led by explorer Robert Ballard has found what is believed to be the remains of John F. Kennedy's PT-109. Experts from the U.S. Navy recently confirmed the May 2002 find is most likely the World War II patrol boat.

PT-109 sank in the Solomon Islands when a Japanese destroyer sliced through it, setting into motion the survival odyssey that became a cornerstone of the Kennedy legend.


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0709_020710_kennedyPT109.html

Quote
The Story of PT-109

Asked why he wanted to look for the PT-109 in the first place, Ballard said, "Many young people these days don't even know the story of PT-109. [Kennedy] emerged from this experience the person who went on to become the President of the U.S."

Asked how he became a war hero, Kennedy once answered, "It was easy—they sank my boat." But the sinking may have been the only easy thing about it.

The dashing new lieutenant was likely drawn to the adrenaline and independence of PT service. With crews of 12 to 14, the high-speed, 80-foot (24-meter) "mosquito boats" nimbly harassed much larger enemy ships. And in World War II, PT service was nearly the only way a relatively new officer could skipper his own boat.

When Kennedy took charge of PT-109, on April 25, 1943, he was already a millionaire heir, society figure, and ambassador's son (see photo). But fame and fortune were scarce comfort to him on August 2, 1943.

That night at about 2 a.m., the Japanese destroyer Amagiri (see photo), by accident or by design, bisected the much smaller PT-109 (see size comparison), killing two of Kennedy's crew.

Kennedy spent the rest of the night helping rescue injured and wave-tossed crew members (see photo). By dawn the survivors were all clinging to the still-floating bow.

By afternoon they were making a several-hour swim—the strong towing the injured—to a deserted island (see photo). Despite a back injury, Kennedy himself pulled the worst case, tugging the sailor's life vest with his teeth.

Quote
Kennedy the President had a PT-109 float in his inaugural parade, doled out 109 tiepins to visitors, and kept his medals on permanent display. And on his Oval Office desk sat, lacquered and almost illegible, the world's most important coconut.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0709_020710_kennedyPT109_2.html
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WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #133 on: June 29, 2008, 11:21:19 PM »

Kennedy -

Quote
For his courage and leadership, Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and injuries suffered during the incident also qualified him for the Purple Heart; Ens. Leonard Thom also received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. But the consequences of the event for John F. Kennedy were more far-reaching than simple decorations. The story was picked up by the writer John Hersey, who told it to the readers of The New Yorker and Reader's Digest, and it followed Kennedy into politics, where it provided a strong foundation of his appeal as a young veteran. For here was a war hero who had not won battles but who had shown courage and dogged will, responsibility for those he led and the ability to inspire them—and it would be hard to beat this as a short list of qualifications for such a young and otherwise inexperienced political leader.

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/John+F.+Kennedy+and+PT109+Page+2.htm

Quote
Lt. Commander McCain was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal off the coast of Vietnam. On July 29, 1967, McCain, an A-4 Skyhawk pilot, was preparing to take off on a bombing mission over North Vietnam, when a horrifying disaster struck. A missile accidentally fired from a nearby plane, striking the fuel tanks on McCain's plane.

In the ensuing explosions and fire, McCain escaped from his plane by crawling onto its nose and diving into the fire on the ship's deck. He turned to help a fellow pilot whose flight suit had burst into flames. But before McCain could reach him, more bombs exploded, blowing him back 10 feet,

It took 24 hours to contain the inferno on the Forrestal. By the time it was all over, 134 men lost their lives, hundreds more were injured, and more than 20 planes were destroyed. It was the worst non-combat-related accident in American Naval history.

After the Forrestal disaster, McCain could have returned home. But he would have none of that. Instead he volunteered for more combat duty aboard the carrier USS Oriskany, It was a fateful decision that would stop the clock on John McCain's life and separate him from his family, and from America, for five and a half years.


Quote
Within a few months of McCain's becoming a prisoner of war, his father, Admiral Jack McCain, was appointed commander of all U.S. forces in the Pacific. The North Vietnamese, sensing a propaganda prize, offered McCain early release.

But McCain refused early release, citing the code of conduct that prisoners of war should be released in the order in which they were captured. His captors demanded he accept their offer. McCain refused, over and over again. For his repeated defiance, his communist captors savagely beat him.

Before it was over, John McCain spent 5 years as a prisoner of war, two of them in solitary confinement.

http://www.friendsofmccain.com/about/

In my humble opinion, Barack Obama may have more in common with President George W. Bush.  It will be interesting to see if he take a military person as a VP.

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All my posts are just my humble opinions.  Please take with a grain of salt.  Smile

It doesn't do any good to hate anyone,
they'll end up in your family anyway...
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