Reply #44: Robert Parry's take on this--

[eridani]

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/112907.html

Normally when the Washington Post refers to stories on the Internet – even legitimate ones like thinking Al Gore prevailed in the news media’s recount of Florida ballots – the Post’s writing drips with sarcasm as it mocks supposed “conspiracy theorists.”

But a very different – even respectful – tone infused a front-page story on right-wing rumor-mongering about Barack Obama’s alleged adherence to the Muslim faith.
That Nov. 29 article is constructed almost as a justification for spreading these rumors, including the one about Obama’s supposed childhood attendance at a religious madrassah, a slur that was debunked earlier this year.

The Post article by Perry Bacon Jr. begins by essentially blaming Obama for inviting this outbreak of bigotry. “In his speeches and often on the Internet, the part of Sen. Barack Obama’s biography that gets the most attention is not his race but his connections to the Muslim world,” the story states.

Though noting that Obama is a member of the United Church of Christ in Chicago, the article then veers off into a recitation of right-wing accusations which have circulated on talk radio and the Internet.

The Post, however, treats these slurs seriously, avoiding any direct criticism of their lack of supporting evidence and relying on Obama and his backers to provide the only counter-balance. The Post, in effect, has given its blessing to the legitimacy of the smears.