FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS BELIEVE RUMORS (about Obama)

A Great Daily Howler

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FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS BELIEVE RUMORS: Michael Bloomberg did a remarkable thing last Friday; he went to Florida and told Jewish voters that people frequently make sh*t up. His statement was blindingly obvious, yet truly remarkable; given the history of the past twenty years, it’s amazing how rarely voters are given similar warnings. People will lie to you, Bloomberg said. Michael Barbaro reported his statement in the New York Times:

BARBARO (6/21/08): Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, injecting himself directly into the presidential campaign, forcefully denounced on Friday what he called a “whisper campaign” linking Senator Barack Obama the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to Islam.

Speaking before a crucial constituency in the coming election, Jewish voters, in the pivotal state of Florida, Mr. Bloomberg said that rumors of Mr. Obama secretly being a Muslim represent ''wedge politics at its worst, and we have to reject it— loudly, clearly and unequivocally.''

''Let's call those rumors what they are: lies,'' said Mr. Bloomberg...

Good for Bloomberg, who used a basic word— “lies.” Good for Bloomberg—and very bad for several important elites.

As everyone secretly knows by now, rumors, inventions and well-crafted lies have driven an astounding amount of our discourse in the past twenty years. In the next few days, we’ll go back to December 1999 to show you a few examples—to let you recall the work that was being done at the news division Tim Russert helped run. More specifically, we’ll let you review the work being done by one of Russert’s Irish-Catholic confreres. The gentleman sat on TV last week and waxed, at length, about his group’s vast and exceptional love for the truth—about the way We Irish behave like “prosecutors” when others stray from the path. We think you should see the basic reality behind the myths that were peddled last week. You need to see the actual conduct that transpired at Russert’s network—right in Washington, where Russert served as NBC chief. Right under his nose. On his watch.

They are not rumors - they are lies.

''Let's call those rumors what they are: lies,'' said Mr. Bloomberg...


Good for Bloomberg.