(Cross posted at E Pluribus Unum)
Plenty of diaries today, and earlier, about Obama's pushback on the Internet whispering campaign targeting him and Michelle.
So, today, when I received an email from a friend that contained some of the most vile, bizarre and heinous stuff I've ever read about John McCain...well, you tell me what you think:
John McCain's infamous temper has been wildly underreported in the media. For instance: The beautiful young woman who is presented to the media as his daughter is really an actress - McCain beat his real daughter to death when she was two and crying with hunger (the McCains do not believe in pampering the young by feeding them).
...and so forth and so on. Like I said, crazy stuff, totally unbelievable and bordering on the hilariously insane.
Now, this friend (who thinks we can defeat islamofascism by nuking Mecca) wasn't the sort of guy to spread this sort of stuff around.
Or was he?
I emailed him back and asked him where he found this. While I was waiting for his response (which never came, natch) I googled the email and found ... well, here's what I found:
Unhinged Obamaton: McCain Receives Payments from Ayatollahs and the Mob, Beat His Daughter to Death and Killed Vince Foster
Yes. Well. Obamatons. Of course!
Let's cut to the chase: this guy claims that the personal pages at BarackObama.com are overrun with whackjobs spreading vicious crap about St. John, proving that Obama followers are insane. This blogger links to additional crap (now gone from the Obama site) to prove his point ... and then links to (wait for it) Little Green Snotballs which is apparently in a pearl-clutching frenzy and looking for their fainting couch over this affair.
Now, after thinking about it for about 12 nanoseconds, it occured to me that whoever posted this crap about McCain is most likely carrying water for the Republicans.
For example, remember this story?
[In the] 1986 Texas gubernatorial race...[Karl] Rove's candidate Bill Clements was taking on Democratic Governor Mark White. Just before a debate between the two candidates, Rove spun the story that his office had been bugged. No proof. But the insinuation that White's people had carried out the bugging was reported by the media. In the election, Clements defeated White.
So get ready for a slew of stories about vicious Internet rumors sliming St. John McCain -- coming from the Obama campaign, no less -- and be ready to push back hard against it.