Jake Tapper’s Casual Smear of the Day

Jake Tapper at ABC News says “conservative blogs were all atwitter” about that silly rumor that Michelle Obama called an African media organization and ranted about racism.

The conservative blogs are all atwitter about a bizarre interview allegedly with Michelle Obama on a Web site called “African Press International.”

No, Jake. Conservative blogs were not “all atwitter.” At LGF we said the story was bunk in no uncertain terms.

The idea that conservative blogs universally accepted this bogus report is nothing but a smear, and it’s par for the course for the incredibly biased mainstream media. Some blogs may have taken the story at face value, but most did not.

Reporting it this way is sloppy and dishonest; it’s intended to portray the center right blogosphere as a monolithic group of lock-step morons, dumbly swallowing every rumor that comes out. And that description is much better applied to places like Daily Kos and Huffington Post.

(Hat tip:Chas)

Jawa Report: Orchestrated ‘Grassroots’ Smear Campaigns

n a monumental post, Rusty Shackleford traces one of the sources of the smears against Sarah Palin and finds some not-too-surprising connections: The Jawa Report: Hope, Change, & Lies: Orchestrated ‘Grassroots’ Smear Campaigns & the People that Run Them.

Our research suggests that a subdivision of one of the largest public relations firms in the world most likely started and promulgated rumors about Sarah Palin that were known to be false. These rumors were spread in a surreptitious manner to avoid exposure.

It is also likely that the PR firm was paid by outside sources to run the smear campaign. While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link to the Barack Obama campaign. Namely:

* Evidence suggests that a YouTube video with false claims about Palin was uploaded and promoted by members of a professional PR firm.

* The family that runs the PR firm has extensive ties to the Democratic Party, the netroots, and are staunch Obama supporters.

* Evidence suggests that the firm engaged in a concerted effort to distribute the video in such a way that it would appear to have gone viral on its own. Yet this effort took place on company time.

* Evidence suggests that these distribution efforts included actions by at least one employee of the firm who is unconnected with the family running the company.

* The voice-over artist used in this supposedly amateur video is a professional.

* This same voice-over artist has worked extensively with David Axelrod’s firm, which has a history of engaging in phony grassroots efforts, otherwise known as “astroturfing.”

* David Axelrod is Barack Obama’s chief media strategist.

* The same voice-over artist has worked directly for the Barack Obama campaign.

(Hat tip:Charlie@LGF)