Glass Houses: Michelle Obama Urges Distrust of Bloggers Because "People Lie"

by Deb Cupples |    In a speech in Billings, Montana (a state having a primary today), Michelle Obama said this:

"'The way this campaign has been run is the way we need to be forever," [Michelle] Obama said. 'Don't trust bloggers or someone else's opinion, because people lie.'"

I'm quoting the Billings Gazette.  Here's the link, so you can check whether I've lied about the quote.

On one hand, Mrs. Obama is right: people should check un-sourced opinions (and campaign statements) instead of simply believing them. 

On the other hand, I just had massive visions of stones soaring toward glass houses.  Below, I separately address each of Mrs. Obama's sentences.

"The way this campaign has been run is the way we need to be forever."

Below are just a few things that I remembered after spending just a few minutes thinking about how Obama's campaign has been run since January.

I remember that in January, before the primary in the heavily African American state of South Carolina, Obama supporter James Clyburn implied that Hillary Clinton was a racist: yes, the same Hillary whose  record of civil-rights activism stretching about 40 years, the same Hillary whom civil rights leader Maya Angelou publicly endorsed.

I remember Obama's sitting silently on the sidelines -- hands in his pockets, safe from the flying mud -- while some media and frenzied supporters amplified the racism accusations.   

I remember Obama's campaign putting out a memo -- back in January -- suggesting that accusations of racism were part of an official campaign strategy (Huffington Post).

I remember Obama's campaign sending out two fund-raising emails (March 5 and April 14) that strongly implied that Hillary should drop out of the race -- just move over and let Obama declare victory -- even after she won Ohio's primary by double digits. 

I remember Obama's sitting silently for weeks while the calls in the media grew to a crescendo.

I remember a campaign email (March 11) signed by Obama, himself, claiming that Hillary was attacking Obama's supporters. The Obama campaign sent another email (April 14), which repeated the point -- in case any supporters had failed to fully perceive Hillary as a personal "enemy" at war against them.

Are those the sorts of things that Mrs. Obama thinks should be perpetuated forever?

'Don't trust bloggers or someone else's opinion, because people lie.'"

Mrs. Obama is right: some people do lie -- or at least misrepresent the heck out of facts and events.  Below are just a few examples.

Sen. Obama publicly claimed that he doesn't take special-interest money.  Actually, he has taken money connected to lobbyists, PACs, and corporations -- just like most other federal candidates. (USA Today,  LA  Times, SourceWatch, Newhouse News Services, Chicago Tribune).

Sen. Obama publicly claimed that he supported re-votes in Michigan and Florida, while his campaign opposed efforts to arrange re-votes (TPM and Time Magazine/CNN)

Sen. Obama publicly claimed to support the counting of votes from Michigan and Florida, but his representatives at the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee hearing last weekend emphatically insisted that less than 100% of those states' votes should count.

Sen. Obama publicly claimed credit for U.S. Senate legislation that his colleagues said he'd had little to do with. (Washington  Post).

Sen. Obama publicly claimed (at a debate) to give Hillary a pass on the Bosnia misrepresentation.  Three days later, Obama's staff made media conference calls to revive the Bosnia issue (ABC).

I could go on with examples, but I've illustrated the point: Mrs. Obama is correct. 

Some people really do misrepresent the truth to the point that others might perceive them as lying -- but such behavior is not restricted to the blogosphere.

Somehow, I doubt that Mrs. Obama was referring to the entire blogosphere -- at least not to those Obama-supporting blogs that slam Hillary whenever possible and fail to report significant "negatives" about Obama.

It seems more likely that Mrs. Obama's message was, "Don't believe any blogs that disagree with or report negative things about my husband."

If that was her message, I find it frightening because of it's similarity to the message that Rush Limbaugh and the folks at Fox have repeated for years: "Don't believe any media that disagree with us or with President Bush."

Millions of those Limbaugh and Fox fans likely still won't even consider reading a copy of the New York Times or Washington Post.  And millions of them likely still believe that George Bush told the truth about the Iraq war.

Comments

[AC-n-NC]

The Obama's are racist hate mongers. Thanks for the information, links and a new favorite bookmark.

[Deb Cupples]

AC,

Frankly, I'm not sure if Barack is actually a racist, but his campaign certainly has stirred up hate by accusing others of being racists.

It's terrible.

[candymarl]

Well if bloggers in general are not to be trusted wouldn't that include the bloggers supporting Barack as well?

Just askin'.

[Deb Cupples]

Unless Mrs. Obama has a double standard. :)

[Sparky Duck]

My My My, as we approach 11 pm EST, what a quiet quiet blog

[dlb08]

I don't trust a couple of the blogs I went to daily for almost 5 years. I saw how they turned on Hillary and poured out the HATE for the CLINTONS. They are not in my my good sources of trust at all anymore. I won't even go to their site I boycott them. One thing I have to mention is once about a month ago I just for a minute took a peek in and lurked for about 3 minutes and say some really interesting things. Blog comments were WAY DOWN from even a slow day on their site. AND they both had up the begging for funds thread. I laughed my ass off - because one I know for sure I hadn't seen them ask for money in the threads EVER and the other ask's regularly because he's a money grubbing whore of an x-republican.

I wonder if the glass house will shatter when the "Whitey" video is played for America. If Hillary knows this video exists she should NOT I repeat not drop out of this race.

[Undercover Black Man]

Deb Cupples: If the Obama campaign has "stirred up hate by accusing others of being racists"... has the Hillary campaign stirred up hate by accusing others of being sexists?

[Deb Cupples]

Hi Undercover,

IF Hillary had accused Obama of being sexist, then she would have been spreading hatred.

I DON'T think he was sexist (I doubt Michelle would stand for that, and I doubt that Barack's mom gave such an example).

Hillary DIDN'T accuse Obama of being sexist. She accused certain media outlets of it.

Obama's campaign directly accused Hillary of being racist (and her hubby).

That's a pretty important distinction.

[Deb Cupples]

DLB08,

I too have heard that some of the Hillary-hating blogs have lost a lot of readers. I wonder if it's true.

[Blythe]

Finally someone said it! I can't vote for this guy because he gives me the same sort of creeps that W did ever since I found out that I shared a planet with him. At that time I had turned to the chimpy site where it was a bit soothing to see people questioning the same things I was, and coming up with some great commentary and information. I've had to change my "start" page when they started to be way too biased, unfortunately I chose poorly (obamington post). I'm disgusted by the level of argument and the comments made by people on this site.

I used to venture over to the land of the freepers to see what people were gagging over on threads on SC, and find myself in need of a shower afterwards. Sadly, both sites I referred to above in addition the DU make me feel the same now. Any suggestions for a new general non-irritating start page? (And yes, yours is a strong contender)

[Buck Naked Politics]

HI Blythe,

Thanks for the kind words. What a couple of days it has been.

The Obama campaign got away with a lot (so far), and the DNC did too.

The problem: crap begets crap. You can't fool all of the people all of the time, and you can't get away with stuff forever.

Unfortunately, our nation will suffer somewhat from the karmic fallout.