Okay. We've had a few diaries in which a few posters have professed their belief that Barack Obama intentionally leaked his prayer, the one that he left in the Wailing Wall. A few others have said that, at the least, it's plausible. This little smear has been making the rounds at all my favorite right-wing websites and I will have no ability to debunk it there. I will do so here.
I just got off the phone with a Ma'ariv spokesman who says that the accusation is "completely false," and that he has no idea who these papers were quoting from Ma'ariv. "No official spokesman for Ma'ariv told this to any of the papers." I've got some calls in to these papers to find out where they got the quote. (I'll update here when I hear back.) He told me definitively that "the Obama campaign did not give us a copy of the letter or approve it for printing."
The story was complete and utter bullshit and shame on any of you who leapt into believing it because you don't care for Barack Obama. You are entitled to believe whatever you like. You are entitled to post it here, if you like. However, the fact that people were so damned quick and so damned glad to believe in a right-wing smear scares the hell out of me.
It was a fucking lie and you peddled it with glee and abandon. Shame on you!
I'm not calling you Republicans, or trolls, or PUMAs, or anything else. I'm not going to call you names. I'm simply going to tell you that I lost respect for each and every one of you that has ignored repeated attempts by the rest of us to show you that this was a lie, a smear, and totally made up.
Speaking as a Jew, it's a HUUUUUUUGE deal that some yeshiva student would do this. Prayers at the Wailing Wall are not for human eyes. And before any of you reply with "Well, he isn't Jewish!" neither is the Pope! His note wasn't read. PEOPLE DON'T READ THOSE PRAYERS! EVER EVER EVER.
It wasn't naive of Barack Obama to assume that nobody would break such a taboo. I don't know of any prior instance of it happening. That student and that newspaper violated a man's private conversation with his God. They should all be ashamed. And to those of you who were so goddamned eager to believe that it was a plant I say to you:
You should be ashamed.
You are free to think and speak as you like. I'm not muzzling you. I am, however, pushing back. You've earned this.
[Update]
Had a real great exchange at the bottom of the thread. I wanted to make sure you guys saw it!
I can't believe you are so gullible. There was a retraction update to the retraction also: UPDATE 1: I just spoke with an editor at one of the four publications who quoted the alleged "Ma'ariv spokesman." This editor broached the possibility that Ma'ariv was trying to deflect criticims of it by releasing these spurious rumors about the Obama campaign, but upon realizing that they'll have to back up those accusations, is now disavowing them. This editor is going to look into this alleged "Ma'ariv spokesman" they quoted in his publication so we can try to ascertain if this is a Ma'ariv cover-up. I'll update here when I hear back from him and if I get anything interesting from the other publications who also quoted this alleged spokesman. And then there's this: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/N ews.aspx/127001 Based on these statements by Maariv, Israel Insider concluded that the Obama campaign "managed the event brilliantly, if deceptively, getting the double benefit of appearing to be victimized by the invasive Israeli press and prayer-thieving Jew while at the same time leaking out his humble Christian plea to the Lord." The report noted that by the week's end, "a (relatively) slick video appeared on [public video website] YouTube that blended Obama's Western Wall prayer with various church scenes, crosses aplenty, a dove of peace, and a soundtrack based on Amazing Grace. The video closes with a "vote" button and an invitation to visit the official campaign website." This is a campaign. If you can't understand that you're watching political theater every time you see one of the pres candidates on TV, you must have been born yesterday. by lizpolaris on Wed Jul 30, 2008 at 07:30:49 PM ESTTo which I replied:
You fail at English comprehension. The update means that they're saying that Maariv made up the notion that Obama leaked it. That's the cover up. The implication is that when Maariv says they didn't originally say Obama leaked it they are lying. TNR is implying that Maariv said it, got called on it, and is now saying it never said it. TNR is not backing off of it's debunking. by Reaper0Bot0 on Wed Jul 30, 2008 at 07:34:26 PM EST
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