<link>

"The African Press International news agency, which reported that Michelle Obama called to protest its coverage of WND investigative stories about her husband – characterizing the source of the material as "racist" and describing WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi as "evil" – now is calling on the possible first lady of the United States to "come clean" about her call."

"The Obama campaign immediately denied there had been any telephone call from Michelle Obama, flatly dismissing the story as "not real" and "made up." API later responded by claiming it had recorded the conversation. Besieged by demands from both sides of a campaign that has reached the white-hot stage, the agency said although it had the tapes, it would not release them immediately"

"Now, in a statement dated Friday because of the time difference, API Chief Editor Korir has promised that the tape will be made available after his lawyers clear it for publication, and he denied being an advocate either for or against Obama's campaign."

"He said the delay also is intended to allow Michelle Obama to explain her actions first."

""A number of Americans who are die-hard Obama followers have tried their best to intimidate API using all kinds of threatening methods when they call in and when they e-mail us," the API statement said. "They are implying that API is planning to destroy Obama's chances to become the next U.S. president. API does not have a direct interest in the U.S. presidential elections and we want Obama supporters to understand that. However, when someone who may become the next first lady makes such comments as in the story we have published, the public have the right to know. Intimidation directed to the publishers of the story is not the answer."

""The delay to make public the recordings is expected to give time to Mrs. Obama to come clean and tell the American people that her comments were not meant to harm anyone but that she was reacting to the media pressure on her husband. She should also come out and tell the American people that she will not discriminate those who are not Obama fanatics if she becomes the first lady," the statement said." <link>

"Mrs. Obama asked API to write a good story about her husband and that will earn API an invitation to the inauguration ceremony when, as she put it, her husband will be installed as the next President of the United States of America next year," the report said.

Shame on the Obama's.

Nice try. If Michelle Obama labeled Jerome Corsi a racist, she was right. Corsi is making quite a name for himself with the hard right. Most notably, he co-authored, with John O'Neill, Unfit for Command, the "swift boat" book that has been thoroughly discredited, but contributed to the defeat of John Kerry in 2004. Corsi has been quite active this year in attempting to discredit Barack Obama in the same way, but has yet to gain traction, and time is running short.

Sorry friend, you are not mining any new gold here.

Dear jcscrib,

I didn't know anything about it, but judging from the little information I read here, your response is inadequate. Who is and is not a racist is not an issue. Intimidation of the media is. Especially coming from the person most likely to be our next first lady.

Don't get your hopes up. Jeez, you guys are getting really desperate here.

Dear Texvol,

I'm not getting my hopes up, I'm just preparing for the future, learning the ropes of the brave new world. What would be allowed to say and to do and what would be forbidden.

It helps to know such things in advance to save one's skin.

This is supposedly (no verification yet) a quote from Michelle Obama from the article linked in this thread. Wow! Listen to that pressure! Listen to that vitriol! What a damaging conversation!

"African Press International is supposed to support Africans and African-American view," she reportedly said. "It is strange that API has chosen to support the racists against my husband. There is no shame in being adopted by a stepfather. All dirt has been thrown onto my husband's face and yet he loves this country. My husband and I know that there is no law that will stop him from becoming the president, just because some American white racists are bringing up the issue of my husband's adoption by his stepfather. The important thing here is where my husband's heart is at the moment. I can tell the American people that my husband loves this country and his adoption never changed his love for this country. He was born in Hawaii, yes, and that gives him all the right to be an American citizen even though he was adopted by a foreigner."

Oh wait, that's pretty vanilla. Huh. Never mind.

I will say, reading more of the purported interview quotes, I don't believe it. It's certainly possible it's true, but a lot of the phrasing is very atypical. We'll see.

eom

Ah, yet another fake tape supposedly implicating the candidate's wife making statements damaging to the campaign. We've been down this road before. Do none of these right-wing operatives remember the story of the boy who cried wolf?

More lies from Archy.

<link>

Salon.com Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008 18:35 EDT The Michelle Obama "interview" that wasn't

It's notoriously difficult for reporters to get access to Michelle Obama. So when African Press International -- a previously obscure Web site apparently operating out of Norway -- claimed to have recieved an angry phone call from her, even anti-Obama bloggers should have greeted the report with a healthy dose of skepticism. Not surprisingly, even though by every indication the story is completely bogus, they didn't.

It wasn't just the idea that the wife of the Democratic presidential nominee would take time out of her day to call a Web site few people had ever even heard of before that should have raised eyebrows. What she purportedly said during the call, how she said it (apparently she speaks broken English ... who knew?) and how it was written up -- all were blatant red flags suggesting this story isn't worth the bandwith it's taking up. . .

All of this is, of course, ridiculous. The idea that Obama would say any of this -- especially to an outlet like API -- is absurd. Naturally, the Obama campaign has denied the report.

To their credit, some conservatives, like the National Review's Byron York, warned their readers away from the story. Others weren't quite so skeptical.

At Newsbusters, the blog of the Media Research Center, a conservative press watchdog, P.J. Gladnick called on the mainstream media to investigate, writing, "Your humble correspondent checked on the credentials of API and it has been in existence for a little over two years and has filed numerous stories in that period ... If the MSM wants to verify this story they can contact API directly to investigate its veracity. Perhaps they don't want to check out this story because Michelle Obama comes off with an extreme case of bad temper."

At Atlas Shrugs, in a post she has since taken down, Pamela Geller wrote:

First thug Michelle Obama is giving us a preview of the tactics the Hussein Obamas will use to block the truth, silence critics and destroy free speech. We ain't gonna shut up Michelle. She is clearly worried about what we on the blogs are publishing ... She calls everyone who is not a zombie for Obama a racist when in fact her husband is thisclose [sic] to the White House because we are not a racist nation. SHE IS A RACIST ... She's the psychic twin of the ugly, racist, America hating, Jew hating, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

(Her emphasis.)

Plenty of other bloggers, including Gateway Pundit, Confederate Yankee and Dan Collins of Protein Wisdom, also jumped on the bandwagon. So did World Net Daily, a right-wing news site that's home to "Obama Nation" author Jerome Corsi.

<link>=

That Michelle Obama Report [Byron York]

I'm sure a lot of you have seen references this morning to statements allegedly made by Michelle Obama in an interview with an organization called African Press International. I just asked the Obama campaign whether Michelle Obama did in fact speak to that organization, and spokesman Tommy Vietor answered:

The answer is no, it's not real, the report is made up. She did not speak to the organization.

_________

As I've said to you before Archy, you're either an easy mark or a liar.

Hey Archy, did you hear about the bigfoot body found in Georgia? They claimed to have proof too.

as soon as the Obama Campaign puts down one false accusation....up pops another one. It is so discouraging. I don't know how to fight these people...I just hope Obama does.

bandy

bandy_etc:

as soon as the Obama Campaign puts down one false accusation....up pops another one. It is so discouraging. I don't know how to fight these people...I just hope Obama does.

bandy

One cool thing about the internet bandy is that there's usually someone out there checking the facts of these baseless assertions. I usually just google "fact check" and then fill in whatever assertion they are making like, "fact check Michelle Obama API" or "fact check obama odinga".

A lot of the returns will be from websites promulgating the lies (like "world net daily" or "stop the aclu"), but if you take a second to look through the results you can usually find a reliable source like snopes, factcheck.org, or a reputable newspaper article.

Best, tubbs

I can use all the ammuntion I can get...I have a appreciation for "facts". So often I feel like calling the CRAZIES names like "You Filthy Lying MOFO PIG...STFU!!!" but I have learned "If I get mad...I lose."

Thanks for arming me with fact check

I'm a new woman.

best

bandy

For sure bandy, getting mad equals losing any argument regardless of whether your facts are actually right or wrong.

Keep a cool head (it's tough on the internet) and fight lies with facts.

Factchek.org, politfact, snopes, and most reputable newspapers will help greatly.

You are welcome and good hunting!

p.s. I don't think it's a bad thing to call someone who lies a liar. By definition of the word, that's what they are. It's not a slur.

tubbs