User:Johnpseudo/temppage

Whisper campaigns and false rumors
A whisper campaign alleging that Obama is a Muslim has been circulating, primarily via the Internet and especially through e-mail messages, since Obama appeared on the national political stage in 2004. The rumor that Obama had attended a radical Muslim madrassa appeared in the mainstream media in January, 2007 on Fox News before being debunked by CNN in a story showing that Obama had attended a public school for people of all faiths. Since then, the rumor has persisted, appearing on the CBS Evening News and the nationally-syndicated talk show The Savage Nation, as well as being spread by e-mail and flyers to voters in Iowa and South Carolina.

Obama's campaign organization has responded to the rumors

This rumor was picked up by Fox News, but denied by both Clinton and Obama. CNN sent a reporter to visit the school Obama had attended as a child and reported that it was (at the time of the CNN visit) a public school for people of all faiths.

The debunked allegations were repeated in June by right-wing radio commentator Michael Savage, who said on his nationally-syndicated talk show, The Savage Nation, that Obama was "indoctrinated" by a "Muslim madrassa in Indonesia."

In November 2007, The New York Times reported that voters in Iowa were receiving e-mail messages claiming that Obama was a secret Muslim and anti-American. His campaign organization responded with a letter signed by three Iowa ministers, a nun and a church elder, which said:
 * "Senator Obama is a committed Christian who found Christ long before entering politics and has been outspoken about his faith ever since."

The Times quoted Obama as saying to supporters:
 * “You have e-mails saying that I’m a Muslim plant that’s trying to take over America. If you get this e-mail from someone you know, set the record straight.”

In the same month, the New York Post reported that flyers calling Obama a "Muslim extremist" were being put on cars in South Carolina and that other slanders and rumors were being spread about other candidates, both Republican and Democratic. That month, the Washington Post also reported that negative rumors and allegations about Obama were still being spread on the Internet and quoted Obama strategist David Axelrod:
 * "He understands that there are scurrilous attack e-mails going on underground that distort his religious affiliation and worse, but his judgment is that he trusts the American people more than that,"