Did you get a Wingnut e-mail about Obama sourced by Washington Post reporter Dale Lindsborg?

[DeepModem Mom]

Editor&Publisher: Bogus 'Washington Post' Reporter Featured in Obama Smear
By Greg Mitchell

NEW YORK (October 16, 2008) -- In recent months, conservatives have been caught red-faced spreading smears about Barack Obama via emails and blogs and Web sites, their sources eventually unmasked as tainted or non-existent people. Now here's another example, but this one is a little different--the source is a Washington Post reporter named Dale Lindsborg. Of course, there is no Dale Lindsborg at the Post (or seemingly anywhere) but when did that get in the way of a good smear?...

For at least two weeks the "Lindsborg" account of an Obama appearance on "Meet the Press" on Sept. 7 has been rocketing around the world and back again via email and the Internet, sometimes showing up at reputable sites -- such as the Post itself -- in their Comments sections. Someone even brought it up on Wednesday in an online chat with Washington Post reporter Ann Kornblut at the paper's site. She said she knew of no Lindsborg but would check on it (hey, put Bob Woodward on the case).

The charge is the old familiar tale of Obama not believing in honoring the flag, and hating America, with the new twist that he said this on "Meet the Press" a month ago (somehow the world missed this) and that it has been confirmed by the aforementioned Dale Lindsborg.

It was debunked this week on the Snopes.com site, which traced it back to a satiric entry at an obscure site that was taken seriously and spread widely.

The giveaway should have been Obama saying he wanted to junk our "bellicose" national anthem, the "Star-Spangled Banner," and replace it with the more peaceful "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" -- adding that if that was our anthem "then I might salute it." He supposedly then added, "It's my intention, if elected, to disarm America to the level of acceptance to our Middle East Brethren." And: "My wife disrespects the Flag for many personal reasons. Together she and I have attended several flag burning ceremonies in the past, many years ago."

Reporter "Lindsborg" then winds up his account: "Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you heard it right. This could possibly be our next President. I, for one, am speechless."

Taylor Batten, editorial page editor at the Charlotte Observer, commented yesterday at one of his paper's blogs: "Come on, people. You're e-mailing this to all your friends, in a panic, in disbelief that this man is leading in the polls. Here's an idea: think for yourself! Spend, oh, 10 seconds on Google and see if there really is a 'Dale Lindsborg' at the Washington Post. Spend 30 seconds seeing if Obama was even ON the Sept. 7 'Meet the Press.' Are you so predisposed to one candidate or the other that you can't think critically?"...

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003874836

[greenmutha]

1. I saw it posted in the "comments" section of a local tv station

in response to a story about newspapers endorsing Obama. I had never seen or heard of it before so I looked it up on Google. It was yet another example of satire being taken for truth. I know it's Utah and I'm just :banghead: but I cannot let this crap just fly by uncontested. Look here:

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=157&sid=4554333&comments=true

Scroll down through the comments. You'll see that some other nitwit ("Who the heck is Nate Walsh?) posted crap from "The Onion" on there too. (I'm "earthmom" in the comments section.)

Oh, and here's the deal on that "Lindsborg" article:

A syndicated columnist named John Semmens wrote it.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/459/

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Un-effing-believable! Thank you for all of this additional info. nt

[VP505]

3. That's pathetic, I mentioned

in another thread that I received a mailing smearing Obama from the RNC today, maybe I better have another look at it if I can find all the pieces. I tore it up when I say RNC on it.

[greenmutha]

4. Obama Campaign wants you to report these to them!

I got this email from the Obama Campaign last saturday:

"Voters in key battleground states are receiving automated phone calls from John McCain's campaign that are spreading some of the most vile smears of this election.

But these "robocalls" -- and the hate-filled mailers that usually accompany them -- say more about John McCain than they do about Barack.

After all, McCain himself denounced these underhanded and cowardly tactics as "hate calls" after a rash of them sunk his primary campaign in 2000. The perpetrator behind that slimy attack: George W. Bush. Now, not only has John McCain embraced these sleazy tactics, he's hired the same firm that Bush used against him to orchestrate them.

Your voice is the most powerful tool to help fight back against this tide of lies and spread the truth.

If you or your family and friends have received one of these sleazy calls or mailings, help us keep track of them by reporting it.

It's clear John McCain would rather lose his honor than lose this election.

While there's nothing new about these scare tactics, McCain has signaled he'll stoop to any level to win.

There's too much at stake to let the politics of the past derail this campaign. And with just 17 days to go before Election Day, the need to take a stand couldn't be greater.

Reports from folks like you are the only way the full extent of these hateful calls and mailers will ever be known by voters across the country.

Expose John McCain's slimy tactics -- forward this email to everyone you know and make sure McCain's "hate call" tactics get reported:

http://www.fightthesmears.com/report

Together, we'll turn the page on McCain's low road tactics.

Keep fighting the good fight,

Obama Action Wire"

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Thanks for this reminder, greenmutha!!! nt