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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The people who believe Obama is the Antichrist are perhaps jumping to conclusions, but they're not nuts.

-- Newsweek (yes, THE Newsweek), Nov. 15, 2008, in a story simply headlined, "Is Obama the Antichrist?" 

Uh, actually, these people are kind of nuts -- and I don't think it would have been at all out of bounds for Newsweek to come out and, using more polite terminology, say so. Unlike some journalists, I don't have a problem with the media reporting on the existence of conspiracy theories -- they are part of the fabric of American life, for better or worse -- but the goal is to put them in some context. This one seems waaay too credulous -- am I missing something here?

We've discussed this many times here: Thank God America is a place where people are free to practice their beliefs -- no matter how bizarre -- and free to speak about them. That doesn't mean a major media org like Newsweek needs to hand over a megaphone to a fringe idea that, at its core, is pretty odious.

Posted by Will Bunch @ 9:14 AM  Permalink | 39 comments
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Comments
Posted by The Genius 09:16 AM, 11/18/2008
Right Will, but it is ok for them to report that Obama is Christ.
Posted by The Genius 09:17 AM, 11/18/2008
Right Will, but it is ok for them to report that Obama is Christ.
Posted by E.Plebnista 09:25 AM, 11/18/2008
good work, Genius. good work, Genius. Care to find any examples of even the dastardly "MSM" that say "Obama is Christ?" Care to find any examples of even the dastardly "MSM" that say "Obama is Christ?" Oh, right, there aren't any. Oh, right, there aren't any. Just a bunch of wingnuts in the marginalized minority waiting for the waaaaaahmbulance. Just a bunch of wingnuts in the marginalized minority waiting for the waaaaaahmbulance.
Posted by Talking point sleuth 09:28 AM, 11/18/2008
"kind of nuts...---}}} Kind of? Whaaaaaaa? Kind of? People who think that Obama is the anti-Christ are "kind of nuts?" Sorry, Will, people who think Obama is the anti-Christ are lunatics.
Posted by Talking point sleuth 09:33 AM, 11/18/2008
"Right Will, but it is ok for them to report that Obama is Christ....---}}} Truly a classic. Idiot argues against something Will never said about something "they" never said. Lol!
Posted by bryanc 09:38 AM, 11/18/2008
Does anyone else see the irony of an Attyood column starting with the title "Balanced Journalism"?
Posted by Tixtax 09:42 AM, 11/18/2008
I'm waiting for the headline "Sarah Palin: Anti-christ or Second Hitler?". Probably an old formula that started sometime in the 30s.
Posted by BOHICA 09:45 AM, 11/18/2008
Obama is not the Anti-Christ. Obama is one of the Devil's disciples clearing the way for the Anti-Christ to rise up and take over as Secretary of State.
Posted by SteveMG 09:45 AM, 11/18/2008
Why do you need Newsweek to call them nuts? You can't draw your own conclusions? I think it's a nicely phrased understatement, especially using the word "perhaps".
Posted by jmc 09:48 AM, 11/18/2008
I guess libs don't like the taste of the same poison they've been spewing for eight years. George Bush had to put up with wild accusations from nutjobs that have no basis in fact, so why shouldn't Barack Obama.
Posted by Talking point sleuth 09:49 AM, 11/18/2008
Does anyone find it telling that bryanc appears to have no understanding of the difference between a blog and journalism?
Posted by Talking point sleuth 09:51 AM, 11/18/2008
And jmc weighs in with the Attytood Republican toadies' favorite response. "Waaaaaahh, they did it first."
Posted by SteveMG 09:52 AM, 11/18/2008
You're right, jmc. Poor George W. Bush.
Posted by The Genius 09:59 AM, 11/18/2008
.................Timothy Noah asks at Slate if Barack Obama - junior U.S. senator from Illinois, best-selling author, Harvard Law Review editor, Men's Vogue cover model, and "exploratory" presidential candidate--the second coming of our Savior and our Redeemer, Prince of Peace and King of Kings, Jesus Christ. Apparently, Noah feels that Obama's press coverage suggests we can't dismiss this possibility out of hand, and he has established the Obama Messiah Watch, which will "periodically highlight gratuitously adoring biographical details that appear in newspaper, television, and magazine profiles of this otherworldly presence in our midst."
Comment removed.
About Will Bunch
Will's book: Learn about it here and purchase it here.

Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

E-mail Will by clicking here.

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