Republican Smear Machine Gearing Up for 2008

The 2008 presidential race is already underway, and in its early stages, the Democratic contenders are looking pretty strong compared to their Republican counterparts. So it should be no surprise that the right-wing smear engine is already gearing up.

This Salon.com column by Joe Conason explains how they're lifting a trick from the old Nixon days. Not only did Insight Magazine -- the magazine connected with the Washington Times, the Sun Myung Moon-owned newspaper that spent the 1990's trying to destroy the Clinton administration -- print an article alleging that Senator and Presidential contender Barack Obama attended a "madrassa" (a term for schools sponsored by radical Islamists, where the next generation of terrorists are taught) as a child; it tried to claim that the story came from Hillary Clinton's campaign.

In fact, Obama did attend an Islamic-sponsored school in Indonesia for a copule of years, when his mother and he were living their with her second husband. (He also attended a Catholic school later.) However, not only was this around 40 years ago -- before radical Islam began its modern rise -- but the school had then, as it has now, students of other faiths (Christians, Buddihsts, and Confucians) and does not emphasize religion. Girls attend as well as boys, and there are women amongst the teachers as well.

In case Conason (author of such books as Big Lies and The Hunting of the President) isn't credible enough for you, how about CNN? They sent reporter John Vause to the school. His summation:

Vause reported he saw boys and girls dressed in neat school uniforms playing outside the school, while teachers were dressed in Western-style clothes.

"I came here to Barack Obama's elementary school in Jakarta looking for what some are calling an Islamic madrassa ... like the ones that teach hate and violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan," Vause said on the "Situation Room" Monday. "I've been to those madrassas in Pakistan ... this school is nothing like that."

The Clinton campaign has denied any involvement in sourcing the story, and AFAIK, no one has presented any actual evidence that they had any hand in it. Given the history of the relations between the Clintons and the Washington Times, it seems much more likely that this is an attempt to smear two campaigns with one story.

Naturally, however, that hasn't stopped the story from spreading, to Fox News and beyond. Kudos to CNN for jumping on it and showing it to be a pack of crap. I hope that's a precedent for all the futher smears to come.