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Anatomy of an Attack Ad

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Posted on Aug 28, 2008

The Center for Investigative Reporting has traced the origins of a mysterious attack ad that made headlines earlier in the campaign with its portrayal of Barack Obama as an anti-Christian Muslim who refuses to pledge allegiance. It turns out that the nonsense was assembled by a hypnotherapist, a wedding videographer and a felon on the run, showing “the outsize influence that a hodgepodge collection of political amateurs can have in a national election—in this case, by accident.”


Center for Investigative Reporting:

When Barack Obama explained his decision to opt out of public financing for the general election, he said he needed to defend against attacks by stealth conservative groups.

He pointed to one ad in particular, which showed an edited clip of him: “We are no longer a Christian nation ... We are also a Muslim nation,” spliced with a photo of Obama wearing a turban.

“It took a speech that I had made, extolling faith, and made it seem as if I had said that America was a Muslim nation,” Obama told reporters on June 20.

The ad, the first truly inflammatory spot to air on television this year, was produced by a shadowy group called the Coalition Against Anti-Christian Rhetoric.

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By dale Headley, August 29, 2008 at 3:06 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I don’t know why we waste all this time discussing the politics of this election, when it all boils down to one thing:  racism.  Even middle class whites who know John McCain will continue the destruction of the middle class that Ronald Reagan began, will vote for him because he is white.  The polls don’t mean anything, because many of the white people who tell pollsters they will vote for Obama, once they find themselves alone with their ballot, will not be able to bring themselves to put a check mark before the name of a black man.  Wait and see.

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By Christopher Berg, August 29, 2008 at 9:23 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

<quote>You right-wing fanatic types don’t care about real American values like liberty. You only care about forcing others into submission. You’re ignorant and that makes you dangerous.</quote>

You aren’t likely to find many “right wing fanatic types” perusing this site, except to troll, so to whom are you speaking?

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By Fahrenheit 451, August 29, 2008 at 4:21 am Link to this comment

Negative campaigning works.  Attack adds work.  The reason they work is because we, the guardians of democracy, are too damn lazy to do our homework and make “informed” decisions!  It’s really that damn simple.  Lazy = ignorant.  There is no excuse.

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By grumpy, August 29, 2008 at 3:04 am Link to this comment

who are you going off on? And the fact is that the reason it matters is that a large number of voters are Christian to some extent and they want a “leader” with similar values. This is one of the constants in politics and is thereby one of the easiest ways in which those who want to influence the election or derail a particular campaign can disrupt inertia. Kind of like the 20 seconds of clipped out excerpts from Obamas hour long Call to Renewal keynote sddress. That speech was fantastic, but about 30 words ripped out of context are circling the internet, propigated by bigots, to show him as a Christ/Christian hater and a closet Muslim extremist. ALWAYS doubt the information that is offered up as “something you need to know” about the candidate.

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By Hilary Smith, August 28, 2008 at 9:10 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Obama is a Christian not a Muslim. But why should it matter anyway? The Constitution states: “… no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” You right-wing fanatic types don’t care about real American values like liberty. You only care about forcing others into submission. You’re ignorant and that makes you dangerous.

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