The Times Has Plenty Of Ink For Obama's Detractors, None For His Dubious Allies

The delightful self-parody we know as the NY Times continues today with a front-pager answering the question on everybody's lips - who is Andy Martin?

I confess - I had no idea who Andy Martin was, so if you are in the dark you are not alone.  Learn with me:

The Man Behind the Whispers About Obama

By JIM RUTENBERG

The most persistent falsehood about Senator Barack Obama’s background first hit in 2004 just two weeks after the Democratic convention speech that helped set him on the path to his presidential candidacy: “Obama is a Muslim who has concealed his religion.”

That statement, contained in a press release, spun a complex tale about the ancestry of Mr. Obama, who is Christian.

The press release was picked up by a conservative Web site, FreeRepublic.com, and spread steadily as others elaborated on its claims over the years in e-mail messages, Web sites and books. It continues to drive other false rumors about Mr. Obama’s background.

Just last Friday, a woman told Senator John McCain at a town-hall-style meeting, “I have read about him,” and “he’s an Arab.” Mr. McCain corrected her.

 Until this month, the man who is widely credited with starting the cyberwhisper campaign that still dogs Mr. Obama was a secondary character in news reports, with deep explorations of his background largely confined to liberal blogs.

But an appearance in a documentary-style program on the Fox News Channel watched by three million people last week thrust the man, Andy Martin, and his past into the foreground. The program allowed Mr. Martin to assert falsely and without challenge that Mr. Obama had once trained to overthrow the government.

And away they go with all you need to know about Andy Martin to guide your informed vote this November.

Just by way of comparison, George Stepanopolous asked Barack Obama about his relationship with unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers at the Democratic debate in Philadelphia last April 16, and Hillary Clinton joined in.  Naturally, this prompted a major research effort by the Times, right?  Right?  The two leading Dem presidential candidates, a nationally televised debate, the public's right to know - you bet it did!

The Times ran this puffer as a follow-up on April 17 which unearthed this Obama-Ayers tie:

Mr. Ayers is listed as a member of the nine-member board of the Woods Fund of Chicago, an offshoot of the Woods Charitable Fund, founded in 1941 by a prominent lawyer and telephone company executive. According to the fund’s Web site, it has focused in recent years on “issues that affected the area’s least advantaged, including welfare reform, affordable housing” and “tax policy as a tool in reducing poverty.”

For a time, Mr. Obama was on the board with Mr. Ayers, though he no longer has a formal association with the group. At the debate, he described Mr. Ayers as “a guy who lives in my neighborhood,” but “not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.”

Times' sleuths missed the fact that Bill Ayers founded and worked with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge for years, with Barack Obama as the chairman.  Too bad.  Lefty Steve Diamond first broke that on April 22 and right wing bloggers pounced a few days later. 

So when the Times followed up in May with a profile on Obama they had plenty of time to get their facts together, yes?  No:

Mr. Obama also fit in at Hyde Park’s fringes, among university faculty members like Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, unrepentant members of the radical Weather Underground that bombed the United States Capitol and the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War. Mr. Obama was introduced to the couple in 1995 at a meet-and-greet they held for him at their home, aides said.

Well, the aides lied, or to be charitable, were woefully misinformed - the first Chicago Annenberg Challenge board meeting was in March of 1995; the meet-and-greet was in the second half of 1995.  As to why the Times reporters had not done enough homework to challenge the misinformation with which they were presented, who can say?

The Times finally tumbled to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge in a September 9 article on Obama's education views and delivered a more complete whitewashing last week.

An interesting nose for news there in Timesland.  We look forward to an even more thorough examination of Andy Martin's foibles as the election approaches.  Well, unless news breaks on one of Sarah Palin's fourth grade classmates.

MORE: There are several articles today about Obama and Ayers but none explain why it is OK that Obama lied about this relationship all these months and (for all we know, since I think Obama and Ayers met in 1988) may still be lying about it.

The Boston Herald: Ayers and Obama pursued a radical eductaion agenda.

The Boston Globe:  No they didn't.

CQ Politics:  Obama and Ayers were relentlessly, boringly mainstream.

The Chicago Sun Times has ten things you should know about Obama and Ayers.  I guess number eleven explains why Obama has been lying.

There is the current Dem spin - we don't know the extent of the relationship and we don't know why Obama has been concealing it, but there is nothing to see there.  That ought to hold for three more weeks.  But last week the Captain thought there was still time - fingers crossed.

Comments

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Well, why miss a chance to be first:

What’s happening here is something we have never seen before: centrist Clinton Democrats and Republicans are working together to expose the DNC and Obama campaign’s illegal activities and orchestrated, coordinated fraud. Both parties are working with federal agents to investigate ACORN, which has been funded with upwards of $800,000 in questionable donations from the Obama campaign (in what appears to be the expressed and explicit direction to engineer voter fraud in the general election). The tactics being employed now in the 15 states currently under investigation are the VERY SAME TACTICS we saw on the ground in Iowa, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, Indiana, and other states working for Hillary Clinton in the primaries.

From Hillbuzz.

[Pofarmer]

The question is, is there time for all this vote fraud to mean something??? Surely there won't be any legal action as our legal system moves like molasses in the Arctic. How long since the suit asking for Obama's birth certificate?

[rhodeymark]

Help me out here, please. Hadn't the Obamas already worked with Dohrn at Sidley & Austin at that time?

[hrtshpdbox]

"Not just a silly rumor". LUN

[clarice]

Well a lot you know, TM-Krugman just won the Nobel prize for economics--and all this time you've been poking fun at him.

Pretty soon the saying will be "The Nobel prize and a nickel will get you...."

[hilzoy]

Tom: I posted links to some of the decisions in his court cases, and excerpts from some of his filings, here. Decide for yourself whether Andy Martin should be given a place in a "documentary".

[Doug V]

The question that I have is, why didn't any other news organizations look into this? Newsweek/USNews/Time, LA Times, etc. I know they are all liberal but at the time, Obama wasn't yet the "chosen one" was he? My suspicion is that there is someone very powerful pulling the strings, powerful enough to get all the main stream media to fall in line. Is George Soros powerful enough?

[Max B. Sawicky]

"Andy Martin's foibles."

Tsk tsk.

[Wilson's a liar]

And so it goes.....

The Times orchestrates the overall coverage of this campaign, and now Sean Hannity and his audience are marginalized, just as the Obama-Ayers connection has been properly sanitized so the rest of the MSM can avoid any more stories on Ayers.

But I don't know why conservatives have fallen into this Andy Martin trap in the first place. They have asked for the marginalization they are receiving. If those on the Right had spent as much time trying to demolish Obama's redistributionist, job-killing tax plan as they have trying to come up with proof that he is a Muslim or was not born in the USA, we would be winning this election.

[kim]

More and more I think McCain is just setting up the table with his 'you can trust Obama' rhetoric. He must be sitting on news which will change that tune, particularly since his campaign has already started the 'too risky' meme.

Waddya think, Leo, a little rope-a-dope?
==========================

[kim]

Ya know, hilzoy, it's the message not the messenger.
===============================

[boris]

Don't know who Andy Martin is.

Does the notion that America is a decent country make him want to puke?

Is he in a position to indoctrinate school children with revolutionary anti US propaganda?

How many of his girlfriends has he exploded?

Has he founded any organizations that John McCain worked for?

[kim]

You'd think a well known blogger would be stepping carefully down in the 'hood'. Yet here is Hilzoy parading around in an ad hominem as if we couldn't see it was transparent.
==================================

[boris]

Obama's redistributionist, job-killing tax plan ...

Of course establishing that Obama is a fellow traveler of radical socialists, criminals, vote fraud organizations, and racist demagogs might lead some to look closer at those proposals rather than groove to the sound of the soothing sonorous jive talk.

What part of "Obama tax cut = give money to people who don't pay taxes" needs to be explained?

[boris]

Perhaps a better way of phrasing the questin ...

IF establishing that Obama is a fellow traveler of radical socialists, criminals, vote fraud organizations, and racist demagogs does NOT bother voters ...

THEN why would giving people money they didn't pay and calling it a "tax cut" bother them?

[MayBee]

The press is driven crazy by the "Obama is a muslim" rumor like nothing I've ever seen.
They feel it is their primary duty to dispel that rumor.
It's a stupid rumor, but it is just a stupid rumor. I see more people talking openly about McCain making propaganda tapes for the VietCong.

[bunky]

Hillbuzz is a fun read but it has the feel of a setup.

[Chandler]

You all seem very knowledgeable about the subject, but I'm wondering if it might not be better to lay off the Ayers angle. If the press is pushed to do more research they might find the connections that Ayers has with McCain. The Annenberg Foundation was founded by Republican Walter Annenberg who was friends with Nixon and Reagan. The last president he gave money to was George Bush. His widow supports McCain. The Republican governor of Illinois thought the project Ayers worked on was great, as did the other Republicans on the Chicago School Reform Collaborative Working Group. David Kearns, a Republican that currently works with the McCain campaign approved the money that financed the project Ayers worked on. Arnold R. Weber, a fellow Republican also approved of Ayers receiving funding and is a known McCain supporter. I think you can see the problem. If Obama is guilty by association then so are all these Republicans. I hope the press doesn't notice these connections as it will reflect on McCain's character.

[MayBee]

Hilzoy finds her way here to attack the man everybody wants to know about, Andy Martin.
When she was corrected about Gramm causing the financial crisis? She couldn't be bothered to click over here and instead posted a "Tom Maguire is kind of a racist" screed. Which is similar to what Andy Martin is accused of doing, if you think about it.

Whatever we do, let's not let the story be about Obama.

[MayBee]

The Annenberg Foundation was founded by Republican Walter Annenberg who was friends with Nixon and Reagan.

Do these "clever" little word games convince even the writer?

[Soylent Red]

Waaaait a minute...

You mean Obamessiah (PBUH) isn't a Muslim? When did he convert? Was it before or after he came out of the well?

[kim]

Chandler, it's the manner and degree of association. Why do you think we talk about guilt by 'participation'? Pitiful that you think you have a point, there.

Tangential, but can the Annenberg Foundation sue for their money back? How about those who matched funds?
=====================================

[kim]

Chandler's playing six degrees of separation over in the corner and crowing when he finds a connection. Want some pudding, little one?
======================================

[Wilson's a liar]

Wow, I didn't know the astroturfers were up this early in the day, after spending all night spamming at Politico and Ace of Spades.

[glasater]

I think we should break out the indelible purple ink used in the Iraqi elections and use them on November 4th here.

[Rickter]

I belive Dr. Stanley Kurtz put it best, not guilt by association, guilt by Participation. LUN

[drjohn]

You don't put "just a guy I knew from the neighborhood" at the helm of a multi-million dollar foundation.

.......

"I'll take 'Intentional Stupidity' for $1000 dollars, Alex."

"They're simply not believable any more."

"Who is the NY Times?, Alex"

[candy]

Hey hilzoy, do you have the cases Obama filed re: redlining vs. mortgage banks with ACORN and individuals, cases re: motor voter, etc.?

Could you post them?

Also, do you have the earmarks and grants to ACORN through Woods, Annenberg, Joyce Foundation and other boards?

[candy]

Kim, Annenberg sue for their money back?

You're kidding right?

Three words: Annenberg Fact Check

Sound familiar?

[wilky]

I second the use of indelible purple ink as proof that I voted under my name.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

No KJI, the question was 'Please specify the precise "effort" Gov. Palin exercised to "benefit a personal...interest through official action".'

You said "read the report.'

So, what was the "effort?"

[kim]

Well, sure candy, but one can hope, huh?
==========================

[kim]

Other thread, Charlie.
==================

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Well a lot you know, TM-Krugman just won the Nobel prize for economics--and all this time you've been poking fun at him.

So? They gave Jimmy Carter a Peace Prize, and we still poke fun at him.

Justifiably.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Ah, hell. Thanks, real Kim.

[RichatUF]

Maybee-

They feel it is their primary duty to dispel that rumor.

Then maybe Obama can remember he's not without journalists prompting him. oops

Oh good greif this is garbage. Hannanity not doing his homework again and having one goofball in an hour long piece means these aren't the domestic terrorists you're looking for. I can only imagine what the NYTs is sitting on.

[RichatUF]

Wilson's a liar-

I didn't know the astroturfers were up this early in the day...

They are paid with valu rite and cigarettes by the word. In the mornings they are using pre-paid debit cards to illegally fund Obama's campaign.

[kim]

Hmmm. Did Ayer's mention Obama in his book, written in 1988?

H/t Creeper at TexasDarlin's blog.
================================

[Rocco]

More proof Obama was a member of the socialist party.

October 1996 Update :

Running to Win : The Key Races

Illinois: Three NP-members won Democratic primaries last Spring and face off against Republican opponents on election day: Danny Davis (U.S. House), Barack Obama (State Senate) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary).

[Rocco]

And from the Progressive Populist

New Party members and supported candidates won 16 of 23 races, including an at-large race for the Little Rock, Ark., City Council, a seat on the county board for Little Rock and the school board for Prince George's County, Md. Chicago is sending the first New Party member to Congress, as Danny Davis, who ran as a Democrat, won an overwhelming 85% victory. New Party member Barack Obama was uncontested for a State Senate seat from Chicago.

[kim]

Hmm, excellent Rocco, but was his race in 1996 contested or not?
===========================

[Topsecretk9]

HILZOY was all over the Trig is Bristol's baby, so excuse you all and take a pass engaging this hack rumor monger as Hilzoy has ZERO credibility except for rumor mongering ugliness

[hilzoy]

"HILZOY was all over the Trig is Bristol's baby"

You mean like this?

[kim]

Hilzoy, inappropriately obsessed with race. One of those guilt ridden liberals utterly unaware of how racist they, in fact, are. Look at with what facility they pull the race card from their sleeves.
========================================

[MayBee]

Oh man, it is smokey at my house.
There's a wildfire NE of us, and the winds are bringing the cloud over the house. I can smell it as I sit here.
This morning was the most incredible sight- the sun rising through the clouds of smoke gave the most red/pink/orange horizon over the mountains. It was beautiful and eerie. I hope everyone out there is ok.

[MayBee]

TM's point about the lying is well taken. McCain is trying to hit that, but nobody is answering.
Even Ben Smith, who was lied to in the early reporting, completely ignores those lies now when he reports.

Hilzoy- do you wonder why Obama and his campaign have been so cagey about this? Why the campaign said the kids go to school together?
Or does it not matter what stories Axelrod makes up, as long as he doesn't have a history like Andy Martin's?

[kim]

Yeah, Pooch, Hilzoy laid off of Trig. Instead it was troopergate, bridge to nowhere, Alaska Independence Party and book-banning. Just as trivial and irrelevant. Hey Hilzoy, you got the candidate that was inadequately vetted. Is is racist to wonder if he was born in Kenya? His Grandma says so.
=====================================

[kim]

Yeah, Hilzoy, why does 'just some guy in the neighborhood' get to babysit his children.

Also, not definitive, but this 'some guy in the neighborhood' mentions Obama in his book, written in 1988. That's twenty years ago. How long do you think those two can keep up this charade?
=================================

[PeterUK]

Mr Red,
"You mean Obamessiah (PBUH) isn't a Muslim? When did he convert?"

You mean,when did he become apostate?

[Elliott]

Kim,

I believe the book in question was written in '97, not '88. From Cashill's speculative article:

One more item of interest. In his 1997 book, A Kind and Just Parent, Bill Ayers walks the reader through his Hyde Park neighborhood and identifies the notable residents therein. Among them are Muhammad Ali, “Minister” Louis Farrakhan (of whom he writes fondly), “former mayor” Eugene Sawyer, “poets” Gwendolyn Brooks and Elizabeth Alexander, and “writer” Barack Obama.