“We’ve all become familiar with the ways the Republican noise machine transmits lurid bits of misinformation and tendentious attacks from the conservative fringe into the heart of American political discourse, the process by which a slightly misdelivered joke by John Kerry attracts the ire of Rush Limbaugh and ends up on the front page of the New York Times.”

The New Right-Wing Smear Machine

On February 27, 2001, two members of the American Gold Star Mothers, an organization of women who’ve lost sons or daughters in combat, dropped by the temporary basement offices of the new junior senator from New York, Hillary Clinton. They didn’t have an appointment, and the office, which had been up and running for barely a month, was a bit discombobulated. The two women wanted to talk to the senator about a bill pending in the Senate that would provide annuities for the parents of those killed, but they were told that Clinton wasn’t in the office and that the relevant staff members were otherwise engaged. The organization later submitted a formal request in writing for a meeting, which Clinton granted, meeting and posing for pictures with four members of the group.

But the story doesn’t end there. In May of that year, the right-wing website NewsMax, a clearinghouse for innuendo and rumor, ran a short item with the headline “Hillary Snubs Gold Star Mothers.” Reporting via hearsay–a comment relayed to someone who then recounted it to the column’s author–the article claimed that Clinton and her staff “simply refused” to meet with the Gold Star Mothers, making hers the “only office” in the Senate that snubbed the group.

At first the item didn’t attract much attention, but it quickly morphed into an e-mail that started ricocheting across the Internet. “Bet this never hits the TV news!” began one version. “According to NewsMax.com there was only one politician in DC who refused to meet with these ladies. Can you guess which politician that might be?… None other than the Queen herself–the Hildebeast, Hillary Clinton.”

The article goes on to state that, even with pleas from the Gold Star Mothers website that the allegations were fabrications and untruths, the emails and smears continue to circulate to this day.

I see nothing new here. The people involved in this behavior are the underbelly of our society. They are uneducated. They are bigoted. They are diseased. And, unfortunately, there is no humane way to dissect them from our society.

Multitudes of Americans, for multitudes of reasons, are annually held back from their right to vote. These idiots get bussed in! In my area anyways, they vigorously decry the “welfare state”, but THEY are the ones standing in line at the local grocery with some form of government handout clutched tightly in their hands. The hypocrisy is astounding!

Nope. Nothing new here!