smear campaign

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China Blocks NY Times Site for 'Smearing' Leader

Report on Wen Jiabao's wealth angers Beijing

(Newser) - China has blocked the New York Times' website and all searches for "New York Times" on microblogs, accusing it of smearing Wen Jiabao with a story about the immense wealth his family has amassed during his reign as prime minister. A foreign ministry spokesman said the report "blackens...

Reporters Probing Pentagon Hit With Smear Campaign

USA Today writers Tom Vanden Brook and Ray Locker find online shenanigans

(Newser) - A USA Today reporter and editor were targeted with an online smear campaign not long after publishing stories investigating the Pentagon's propaganda contractors, the paper alleged today . Just days after Tom Vanden Brook published his first story on the Pentagon's "information operations," a website registered in...

Gingrich Lambastes Romney for PAC's 'Smear Campaign'

Mitt says he can't control 'independent' group

(Newser) - Mitt Romney was confronted yesterday over the anti-Gingrich attack ads that a pro-Romney super PAC has been pumping out, prompting him to label the whole concept of super PACs “a disaster”—and insist he couldn’t lawfully intervene. “My goodness, if we coordinate in any way whatsoever,...

'Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy' Returns With Same Cast

But Clinton thinks forces aren't as strong as those he faced

(Newser) - Americans may be "less receptive" to right-wing messages than they were in the days of Bill Clinton, but as the former president put it last week on Meet the Press, the “vast right-wing conspiracy” that threatened to destroy his presidency is making an encore appearance—and it's surely...

Meet the Man Calling Obama a Muslim
Meet the Man Calling Obama
a Muslim
Oct 13, 2008 8:37 AM CDT

Meet the Man Calling Obama a Muslim

Lawsuit-loving, anti-Semitic eccentric behind false rumors

(Newser) - The pernicious rumors that Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim can be traced to one man, the New York Times reports: Andy Martin, a failed lawyer and politician known for his anti-Semitic comments and frivolous lawsuits. In 2004 Martin released a press release calling Obama a Muslim, and he has...

McCain Resorts to Atwater's Bag of Dirty Tricks
McCain Resorts to Atwater's Bag of Dirty Tricks
OPINION
Oct 8, 2008 11:15 AM CDT

McCain Resorts to Atwater's Bag of Dirty Tricks

They're trying to turn Obama into Willie Horton, Dowd writes

(Newser) - Before Karl Rove, Maureen Dowd reminds us, it was Lee Atwater who masterminded the Republican smear campaign, and his demolition of Michael Dukakis was his greatest, dirtiest success. Atwater painted the 1988 candidate as a weak Harvard-educated elitist with a weird last name, a man who supported "the Scary...

Race's Sharper Attacks Run Economic Risk
Race's Sharper Attacks Run Economic Risk
ANALYSIS
Oct 7, 2008 6:21 AM CDT

Race's Sharper Attacks Run Economic Risk

Knife-fight tactics are out of place in crisis, strategists say

(Newser) - Barack Obama and John McCain continue to sharpen their verbal barrage on each other ahead of tonight's debate, with Sarah Palin even going so far yesterday as to denounce Obama as "not one of us." But in economic upheaval, both candidates risk sounding off-message or even irrelevant, writes...

In '08, It's the Issues, Stupid
 In '08, It's the Issues, Stupid 
OPINION
Oct 6, 2008 9:41 AM CDT

In '08, It's the Issues, Stupid

For once, 'superficialities' won't win this election

(Newser) - Despite the accepted wisdom that “superficialities” win American elections, “substance is in this year,” writes Michael Tomasky in the Guardian. Just look at the public response to the debates and the financial crisis: Without zingers or folksy winks, Barack Obama and Joe Biden won the debates in...

Fake Polls Smear 'Muslim' Obama

Callers link candidate to Hamas, imply he is a Muslim in calls

(Newser) - The ugly tactic of “push polling” has resurfaced in key swing states, as fake pollsters seek to influence voters with scam questions that present an unfavorable view of Barack Obama, the Guardian reports. On one call, a Jewish voter in Pennsylvania says, she was asked if she would vote...

McCain's Lies Cross the Line
 McCain's Lies Cross the Line 
OPINION
Sep 18, 2008 12:59 PM CDT

McCain's Lies Cross the Line

Senator has run a dirty campaign

(Newser) - Politicians often stretch the truth, but John McCain has taken things to a new level, writes Joe Klein in Time. Journalists usually play softball when criticizing candidates’ falsehoods, but now even the restrained New York Times editorial board is calling McCain a liar. McCain’s campaign has been a “...

Obama Blasts Mac's 'Phony Outrage' in Lipstick Flap

GOP distracting from issues with 'Swift Boat politics,' Dem charges

(Newser) - Barack Obama fired back today at a McCain campaign ad claiming he smeared Sarah Palin, calling the tactic "phony outrage and Swift Boat politics," the Washington Post reports. Obama used the phrase "lipstick on a pig" to describe John McCain's policies during a campaign stop yesterday, which...

McCain Hires Strategist Who Smeared Him

Tucker Eskew, part of party's 'darker side,' attacked Mac in 2000

(Newser) - Republican strategist Tucker Eskew, who helped smear John McCain in the 2000 primaries, is now on board the GOP candidate’s campaign and will prep Sarah Palin for her role, reports Jake Tapper on ABC News. “He's one of the best and most collaborative talents in Republican politics,”...

Kerry Fights Back on Obama 'Swift Boating'

Launches site to refute Corsi book, urges prompt rebuttal

(Newser) - Jerome Corsi is back, and this time John Kerry wants to confront him head on. Kerry has launched a website to refute the attacks in Corsi’s new book, Obama Nation, which aims to dismantle Obama's reputation the same way 2004’s Unfit for Command helped destroy Kerry’s. “...

Republicans Scold McCain; Obama Camp Pounces

Negative turn generates anger toward candidate

(Newser) - A new Obama campaign memo obtained by Time documents Republican disapproval of the McCain camp’s recent tactics. Some highlights:
  • Pat Buchanan on the commercial juxtaposing Obama, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton: "Look, this is not an effective ad.”
  • Ed Rollins: “John needs to be the deliberate,
...

McCain Was Going to Pounce On Obama Either Way
McCain Was Going to Pounce On Obama
Either Way
analysis
Jul 31, 2008 6:25 PM CDT

McCain Was Going to Pounce On Obama Either Way

His staff had two ads ready after Europe trip

(Newser) - It's common knowledge by now that a John McCain campaign ad took Barack Obama to task for not visiting wounded US troops in Germany. But David Kiley in BusinessWeek reports that the McCain camp had another ad ready, this one if Obama had visited the troops. It would have charged...

McCain's Rip on Obama's Soldier Visit Lacks Facts
McCain's Rip on Obama's Soldier Visit Lacks Facts
ANALYSIS
Jul 30, 2008 1:34 PM CDT

McCain's Rip on Obama's Soldier Visit Lacks Facts

But Mac insists that his rival skipped over media coverage

(Newser) - John McCain is standing by his accusation that Barack Obama skipped a military hospital trip in Germany because he couldn't bring the press—even though the facts don't support it, the Washington Post reports. Firsthand accounts agree that Obama never intended to take reporters to the hospital. McCain's charge, running...

McCain Ad Links Obama to Castro
McCain Ad
Links Obama
to Castro
Jul 24, 2008 2:12 PM CDT

McCain Ad Links Obama to Castro

'Guilt by endorsement' ad runs on South Florida websites

(Newser) - The McCain campaign is running an Internet ad composed of photos of Barack Obama and Fidel Castro side by side, with the caption “Fidel Castro thinks he is 'the most advanced candidate,'" the Huffington Post reports. The ad is running on websites catering to South Florida, home to...

GOP Goes on Attack Against 'Mrs. Grievance'

Obama's 'bitter half' is fair game, Republicans say

(Newser) - They didn’t like Hillary Clinton or Teresa Heinz Kerry, and conservatives aren't hesitating to pile on Michelle Obama, either, the Los Angeles Times reports. Conservatives have seized on several statements from the Democratic candidate's wife, calling her angry and unpatriotic. The National Review recently ran a cover dubbing her...

Expect GOP to Turn Venom on Michelle
Expect GOP
to Turn Venom on Michelle
Opinion
Jun 11, 2008 9:58 AM CDT

Expect GOP to Turn Venom on Michelle

Dowd: Right will paint would-be first lady as angry black woman

(Newser) - Now that Hillary Clinton is out of the White House picture, it’s Michelle Obama’s turn to be the object of that “sulfurous national game of ‘Kill the witch,’” writes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times. The fairer Obama can be more prickly than...

Web, Key in Obama's Rise, Twists Public Views of Him

Viral campaigns spread lies about Democrat's past, and he's fighting

(Newser) - Barack Obama built his candidacy on the internet, but now the wild web is his biggest problem, Politico reports. A nigh-unstoppable wave of viral e-mails continue to spread false information about the candidate—and it’s working. One in 10 voters still believes Obama is a Muslim, and many quote...

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