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Revision as of 12:36, 9 February 2007

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On January 17, 2007, Insight Magazine published an unsourced article claiming advisors to American presidential candidate U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton had discovered that rival candidate U.S. Senator Barack Obama was a former Muslim, had been educated in a Wahhabist "Madrassa" as a child in Indonesia, and were planning to make this a campaign issue. Over the next several days a number of conservative pundits and news programs on Fox News Channel picked up and repeated the story, including John Gibson of The Big Story, Gretchen Carlson and Steve Doocy, co-hosts of Fox & Friends, and Sean Hannity of Hannity & Colmes.

CNN reporter John Vause visited the Basuki School, a public elementary school, and found its staff in Western attire, its student body apparently consisting of Muslims, "Christians, Buddhists, also Confucian(s)". The CNN story also quoted a spokesman for Clinton dismissing the allegation as "an obvious right-wing hit job" on both candidates. Insight responded by denigrating CNN's investigation, claiming it did "not satisfy our standards for aggressive investigative reporting", while excusing themselves as being only responsible for supplying "political intelligence" on "a limited budget". Insight editor Jeffrey T. Kuhner maintains that the article is "solid as solid can be". A January 29, 2007 New York Times story, "Feeding Frenzy for a Big Story, Even if It’s False" debunked the allegations in Insight Magazine's unsourced madrassa story. The article notes, "Jeffrey T. Kuhner, whose Web site published the first anonymous smear of the 2008 presidential race, is hardly the only editor who will not reveal his reporters’ sources. What sets him apart is that he will not even disclose the names of his reporters." Fox News was later to admit that the story violated their basic rule of knowing "what you are talking about.”

Obama himself wrote about his early school years in his book Dreams from My Father (p.142):

"In Indonesia, I’d spent 2 years at a Muslim school, 2 years at a Catholic school. In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Koranic studies. In the Catholic school, when it came time to pray, I’d pretend to close my eyes, then peek around the room. Nothing happened. No angels descended."

Insight Magazine is an internet-only publication (the magazine edition ceased publishing in 2004) founded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church, who claimed to be "humanity's Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent", and sister publication to the Washington Times, whose mission Moon proclaimed was to "become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world."

References

1. "Hillary's team has questions about Obama's Muslim background". Insight. Jan. 16-22, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. "CNN debunks false report about Obama". CNN. January 22, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
3. "Hats off to CNN, but... about Obama". Insight. January 23–29, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-26.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
5. Kirkpatrick, David (29 January 2007). "Feeding Frenzy for a Big Story, Even if It's False". NY Times. Retrieved 2007-01-30.
6. Babington, Charles (2004). "The Rev. Moon Honored at Hill Reception - Lawmakers Say They Were Misled". Washington Post: A01. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

• Media Matters for America - Timeline of a Smear January 30, 2007
• "Obama Denies Education Allegations". Associated Press. WPVI-TV Philadelphia (ABC). January 25, 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• "Daily Show: Obamania" (Video). Comedy Central - MotherLoad (in "FOX News reports Barack Obama was raised a Muslim"). Premiered January 29, 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• YouTube - CNN Debunks Obama "Madrassa" Smear Wolf Blitzer and John Vause reporting

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