Obama Madrassa Story Raises Media Hackles

RUSH: “Insight, a magazine [last week] owned by the Washington Times, cited unnamed sources in saying that young Barack attended a madrassah, or Muslim religious school, in Indonesia. In his 1995 autobiography, Obama said his Indonesian stepfather had sent him to a ‘predominantly Muslim school’ in Jakarta, after two years in a Catholic school — but Insight goes further in saying it was a madrassah and that Obama was raised as a Muslim.”
We mentioned this on the program, I guess it was Thursday or Friday. Fox News spent a lot of time on Friday talking about it, and this has led Howard Kurtz to write a piece all about: Gee, this is horrible! This is horrible! They used unnamed sources! They used one source who said this — and I thought this is just nuts. I love Howard Kurtz. I have no quarrel with Howard, except sometimes he takes me out of context with his audio sound bites because of the need for brevity on his TV show on CNN. Still, here we have the media, the Drive-By Media worried about publishing something without documentation? Ha-ha-ha! Dan Rather, anybody? Unnamed sources are used all the time in the Drive-By Media! Mike Nifong, Duke lacrosse case, any of these unnamed sources close to the investigation? This happens all the time! How about these leaks that come from the Pentagon and state department, they’re one-sourced. Now this is horrible. Why, this is terrible! Why, we’ve gotta get to the bottom of this! We can’t allow this to happen! Why, this is not good. Meanwhile, Insight magazine said it was a Clinton opposition research op that came up with this news about Obama, and New York Newsday today has the story, Glenn Thrush in their Washington bureau. (Warshington, for those of you in Rio Linda.)
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s pollster “fired an opening salvo at Senator Barack Obama and John Edwards yesterday claiming their campaigns are stalled or falling, suggesting that Obama isn’t tough enough to withstand Republican attacks in 2008.” Sure he is! Anybody can withstand a Republican attack! Republicans don’t attack anybody, not elected Republicans and candidates. They don’t attack anybody. They don’t get ideological. If Obama is not tough enough to withstand any “attacks,” it’s going to be the attacks that come from the Hillary camp! “The day after Clinton announced that she would run for president and win, her campaign’s chief strategerist Mark Penn sent a memo to reporters intended to offset an avalanche of articles emphasizing Clinton’s high disapproval rating and questioning her electability.” She gets 41% of the vote out there among Democrats, and that’s gotta be shockingly low to them. When you get right down to it, it’s gotta be shockingly low given they think they were anointed, that they are entitled, that this is not a cakewalk, but this is something that the country — not just Democrats, the country — is supposed to understand what Hillary Clinton has done.
This is her turn! It is her time!