Prometheus 6

Go straight to Too Sense, where this is thoroughly dismembered.

Washington Post Stokes False Rumors About Obama's 'Muslim Ties'

I don't know how any journalist can sleep at night after writing an article legitimizing a falsehood under the pretense of simply "reporting that the rumors are out there."

Despite his denials, rumors and e-mails circulating on the Internet continue to allege that Obama (D-Ill.) is a Muslim, a "Muslim plant" in a conspiracy against America, and that, if elected president, he would take the oath of office using a Koran, rather than a Bible, as did Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the only Muslim in Congress, when he was sworn in earlier this year.

In campaign appearances, Obama regularly mentions his time living and attending school in Indonesia, and the fact that his paternal grandfather, a Kenyan farmer, was a Muslim. Obama invokes these facts as part of his case that he is prepared to handle foreign policy, despite having been in the Senate for only three years, and that he would literally bring a new face to parts of the world where the United States is not popular.

"Despite his denials"??? Don't you mean despite the fact that the rumor isn't fucking true?

Presenting it as all a matter of opinion and perspective, rather than a matter of truth and lies allows this reporter to eschew all manner of responsibility for repeating what is a patently false charge about a presidential candidate. The media can't bring itself to look closely at Rudy Giuliani's use of city money to fund his affairs or his ties to mobster Bernie Kerik, but it sure as hell can find time to give equal weight to anonymous chain emails and debunked smears from Right wing publications. Romney can imply support for population based ethnic quotas in his cabinet, but don't expect the MSM to pick it up the way it picks up conspiracy theories on Right Wing Message Boards.