It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
The Pinocchio Test:
Anonymous attacks by e-mail are, or at least should be, un-American. This particular one was also wrong on the facts: the ceremony in question had nothing to do with the pledge of the allegiance.
We award the scoundrel who put the e-mail into circulation four Pinocchios.
Analysis: No, Barack Obama didn't really say these asinine things. Nor does it say much for the intelligence of a segment of the American population that they believe he, or any serious presidential candidate, actually did.
Some of the words -- the sentences quoted first in the earlier variant above, such as "I like the song 'I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing.' If that were our anthem, then I might salute it" -- were put in Obama's mouth by conservative humorist John Semmens (see his October 27, 2007 column, "Semi-News, on the Arizona Conservative website). The intent was satirical.
Semmens was poking fun at two of the candidate's actions early on in the presidential campaign that were perceived by some as insufficiently patriotic -- his decision to stop wearing a U.S. flag pin, and his failure to place his hand over his heart during a rendition of the national anthem at a public event in 2007.
As if to demonstrate that smearmongering is a team sport, additional fabricated quotes were appended to the message on its journey from inbox to inbox (see variant #2 above), along with the false statement that Obama had uttered these words during an appearance on Meet the Press, and the false attribution to (nonexistent) Washington Post reporter Dale Lindsborg. Believe these lies at your own risk.
Originally posted by poedxsoldiervet
reply to post by skunknuts
No one was beliving it, until there was an actual video link with him saying it.... Dont get your panties in a bundle over nothing. There are plenty of other things to not like him for.... If this is a false statement it should be treated as such, if it isnt then it needs to go viral.
Originally posted by Anti-Evil
Message Received through the Paul Rever Email Network:
Originally posted by Anti-Evil
I like the song 'I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing'. If that were our anthem, then, I might salute
it.
No. That's false. The quote was one conservative writer's idea of a joke, which has been picked up and repeated as though it were true in a chain e-mail.
It began with a column dated Oct. 27, 2007, on a Web site called the Arizona Conservative, which is written by John Semmens and clearly labeled as humor. His column, in fact, is called "Semi-News -- A Satirical Look at Recent News."
Nevertheless, his column on Obama has been copied and sent around in e-mails, masquerading as true stories.