I have just received an important clarification from CentCom regarding remarks that I made in my diary yesterday about John McCain.  It seems as though there was a misinterpretation and misunderstanding, so this necessary update and clarification was issued a few moments ago.

Please note the following changes in bold and/or strikethrough from the original comments that were "purportedly made" by me:

Okay, so I had one repost request. That's popular enough for me. :)

Maybe I missed something -- that can happen. In real life, things can sometimes occur that are unexpected. But this seems almost surreal:

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Obama website's opposition to successful surge gets deleted

A funny thing happened over on the Barack Obama campaign website in the last few days.

The parts that stressed his opposition to the 2007 troop surge and his statement that more troops would make no difference in a civil war have somehow disappeared. John McCain and Obama have been going at it heavily in recent days over the benefits of the surge.

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UPDATE: First time on the rec list! I'm flattered and overwhelmed, and a little giddy about it. If you have any more of smear-merchant-spam you'd like me to debunk, please e-mail it to me and I'll get to it when I can. THANK YOU ALL!

I've edited my diary title per a commenter's suggestion. Original title was "Debunking my Boss - 38 of Obama's "Not Exactly Statements" (Part ONE)"  

My boss' brother-in-law is one of those kooky "Obama is the muslim Anti-Christ" types, and he regularly sends him those odious, far-right, unresearched, gossip-mongering, slanderous e-mails we all hate so much. As the resident political junkie in the office, I often find myself being asked by my boss to verify the ::shudder:: authenticity of the e-mails.

So I decided to feature my findings in a diary. Huzzah! This diary will be the first in an irregular series of diaries I will publish as my boss sends me stuff to debunk. This one was REALLY long, and while I compiled the debunkment pretty quickly, I didn't think to record the websites I used as references. So since it's taking me a while to re-research the links I use to back up my rebuttal, I'm going to post this in two parts, 16 statements each. Everybody ready? Okiedokie. Here we go...  

Crossposted to ePluribus Media, DailyKos, Docudharma and Below Boston

Maybe I missed something -- that can happen. In real life, things can sometimes occur that are unexpected. But this seems almost surreal:

_____

Obama website's opposition to successful surge gets deleted

A funny thing happened over on the Barack Obama campaign website in the last few days.

The parts that stressed his opposition to the 2007 troop surge and his statement that more troops would make no difference in a civil war have somehow disappeared. John McCain and Obama have been going at it heavily in recent days over the benefits of the surge.

___

UPDATED --
So I just had a revelation.  I can't vote for Barack Obama in November.  This amazing, completely true song I heard on the interweb opened my eyes to him and to all Democrats.  It's called, "The Republican Song," which I clicked on because "Money (That's What I Want)" is super fun, but this song is metered truth:

Now we're trying to win a war and wipe out the terrorists,
We're not fightin for oil we got plenty if we drill it.
But the liberals and the media are spreading their lies,
Get the hell out of our way and let our soldiers fight.

I mean, c'mon, right?  It's like he's writing an Op-Ed in The New York Times.

The big difference between the New Yorker cover and David Horsey's parody?

The McCain version is very close to the truth, and it is based on facts rather than lies.

Ars Oblivionalis, the Art of Forgetting, is a term coined by Umberto Eco. He claimed it did not exist because active forgetting was impossible.  

Despite the presumed impossibility of that feat, this administration and its apologists practice the Art of Forgetting on a daily basis.  While they may have convinced themselves they create their own reality, the fact is they do not.  Unfortunately, they will continue deluding themselves and those around them into thinking that is true as long as we remain quiet.  That is why we have to actively remember, to hold up the mirror of reality and force them to confront the consequences of their madness.  Ironically, this is where the dead truly find their voice.

So----there have been a lot of storms in the Atlanta area.  I have been annoyed at my satellite reception...but more than annoyed this weekend.

I have been slightly paranoid.  

All of the cable news broadcasters except for FOX are off the air.  I am almost in a panic.    I assume there is some technical explanation but....

I began to think of all of the "disappeared" media we have experienced in the past 8 years.  Hence the title...creep....creep.

Inspired by this front page diary, and by the "USA PATRIOT Act" the real name of which is "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism," I thought I'd dust off this piece, "Fun With Acronyms", written by some of us out in IN-06 back in 2004...

"USA PATRIOT" act is  an ACRONYM! Boy they must really think this bill stinks if they have to dress it up in this way. Anyway, it inspired us to make some acronyms of our own:

BUSH - Bureacracy Under  Stupid Head-of-state

The Doughy Pantload - known to his "friends" as Jonah Golberg - is bad enough by himself.

Not content with knowing the definitions behind the labels he likes to toss out at people - the latest word that he is throwing around is Facism - he prefers to just make up definitions as he goes along.

Even if well recorded history proves him wrong again, and again, and again, he just keeps it up.

Now, read below the flip on how Golberg's writing has caused one person to completely snap and loose touch with reality ---->

Longggtime lurker here, posting my first diary.  I've often wanted to add my input, but so many people here do it so much better.  

Today I received one of those right wing ha-ha-but-not-really-funny emails that we all find in our inbox.  I get more than my share as a Wall Street worker.  I couldn't resist this time and had to send a response.  Below is the "original" from the self described "dittohead".

OLD VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

-------------------------------------------

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

Yes, I'm aware that it's supposed to be a blog no-no to make comparions between right-wing excesses and Nazi Germany, but as a media member and media junkie, with a side interest in the history of the holocaust, it seems a sin of ommission not to point out the paralells when Fox news pulls a propaganda whopper worthy of Goebbels, and as obvious as the nose on my face.

The backstory: Fox News channel, while still pulling in an overall audience just under that of CNN and MSNBC combined, had experienced a slower growth rate in viewership in the second quarter of 2008 (10%),  than both MSNBC and CNN's galloping growth rate of more than 50% each in viewers.

Have you seen the front page of HuffPo yet today?  They point to a Media Matters article catching Faux "news" distorting the photographs of 2 NYT reporters, Jacques Steinberg and Steven Reddicliffe:

During a segment in which Fox & Friends co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade labeled New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe "attack dogs," Fox News featured photos of Steinberg and Reddicliffe that appeared to have been digitally altered -- the journalists' teeth had been yellowed, their facial features exaggerated, and portions of Reddicliffe's hair moved further back on his head.

Now, we all know that Faux "news" is a propaganda outlet for the GOP; we all know that this is Standard Operating Procedure for any propaganda outlet.  However, this does NOT mean that we are to ignore them for doing it!  It's time to expose them for the Frauds they truly are.

I've had enough of their tactics, and I'm going to fight back from now on!

Here’s how the propaganda model works: Take an issue that is at odds with how elite policy makers view the world, say Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s (D-OH) bid to impeach President Bush in early June 2008, and evaluate the media coverage of the event.  Kucinich’s attempt to impeach the President elicited a mere 132 words in every major media outlet including the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN.com.  In this case, the mainstream media (MSM) did not conduct any of its own reporting or writing, instead it presented the public with an Associated Press (AP) report, which lacked depth and context regarding Kucinich’s argument.  The paltry word count aside, the article was rarely found in print, but left to be discovered on the websites of major media players, designated to an obscure link on the margins. The only remnants of the media coverage can be found in an exact and precise Google search, which will lead readers to the brief article.

[Cross-posted at The Left Coaster.]

Poor Tommy Friedman in today’s New York Times suddenly noticed—nearly eight years after the penultimate event heralding all the disastrous indicators he trots out ¹—that America is in "debt and decline."  It all happened so fast, just in 2001 we had a terrific savings rate and budget surplus, and now well hell, all of mighty sudden we’re at "a 34-year low."  Thanks for telling us how screwed we are, Tommy, it’s so news to us.  When your brain can tell the reader why this happened with empirical proposals to fix it we might even think of you as a journalist.

This will be a relatively short diary, one I will attempt to expand upon soon, but I just wanted people to be aware of the existence of the for-profit, Christian right/GOP front media conglomerate, Salem Communications. It's employee list reads like a who's who of some of the best known stars of the far right: Bill Bennett, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, Laura Ingraham and Dennis Miller. And it's founders, Stuart Epperson and Edward Atsinger III, have between them, donated $100,000 to the Bush presidential reelection campaign and $780,000 to the 2000 "California Defense of Marriage Act" (Proposition 22) ballot measure.

Beware these relatively unknown but well financed and influential propagandists for the far right!

This diary is pure telecom propaganda.  The diarist claims that it is just her third diary when in fact it is her first second.  In addition, there is only one comment of hers that is not attached to this diary.  Folks, we're getting snowed by a professional bullshitter here.

SEE BELOW FOR UPDATE

It is primarily an emotionally charged vehicle to get people to say, I love Obama and don't mind if he abandons progressive principles as long as he gets elected.

THIS IS WRITTEN BY A TELECOM CORPORATE LAWYER.

IT PUSHES FAUX NEWS TALKING POINTS SLAMMING TRIAL LAWYERS REGARDING FISA

I recently received a "Republican Party Census" document in the mail.  The "census" is obviously a fund raising and propaganda tool, but to me the content was just another example of the wrong-headed and lop-sided priorities of the Republican Party.   I don’t know what list I am on to have received it, as I have never contributed to the Republican Party nor registered as a Republican.  Perhaps this "census" was sent to all residents in my area for the purpose of identifying supporters.

There is more . . .