Monday, October 13, 2008

Lies and Videotape

The rate of flying rumors the last few weeks seems to be increasing exponentially. Some are spun in a spiraling stock market in hopes of profit, others are meant to sow doubt in the last weeks of a bitter presidential campaign. Fox News was taken to task for admitting a questionable character, Andy Martin, on air with unsubstantiated claims about Barack Obama. Other persistent rumors include the claim that Obama's birth certificate has been forged and that he is a secret Muslim, a fear fanned by a connection with Bill Ayers, a radical academic. Such spurious tactics distract from a serious assessment of a candidate's qualifications and positions. The highly-charged emotional atmosphere as seen at some Republican political rallies last week, added to a deepening economic crisis, may escalate if cooler heads don't prevail.

1 comment:

Hezekiah Garrett said...

"...he is a secret Muslim, a fear fanned by a connection with Bill Ayers, a radical academic."

This isn't the first time I've heard the claim, but it seems to me to be an incredibly stupid one. Beyond the common enjoyment of killing innocents in pursuit of political ends via explosive devices, I can really find next to nothing to link Ayers to Militant Islam.

That's not to say his relationship to an unrepentant Marxist butcher isn't of concern,merely that I fail to see how it links to the "secret muslim" charge.

A charge that likely never would have gained traction if the Obama campaign had ever been honest about his Muslim background and connections.