Topic: Newsmax
In an Oct. 20 Newsmax article ostensibly trying to prove that what the obama campaign calls "smears" against their candidate are in fact "mostly true," Lowell Ponte focuses on one that is utterly false -- questions about Obama's birth certificate:
As proof, the Obama’s campaign has produced a “certificate of live birth” from Hawaii indicating that Barack Hussein Obama II was born Aug. 4, 1961. Critics, however say the document could have easily been forged and is not a substitute for a certified birth certificate.
No reporter has been allowed to see the original certificate of live birth or its certificate number, which is blacked out on copies of it on the Obama site.
Ponte fails to note that FactCheck.org proves the critics (and Ponte) wrong:
FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.
Ponte further fails to note that even his right-wing fellow travelers at WorldNetDaily agree (even if WND forgets that it did so):
A separate WND investigation into Obama's birth certificate utilizing forgery experts also found the document to be authentic. The investigation also revealed methods used by some of the bloggers to determine the document was fake involved forgeries, in that a few bloggers added text and images to the certificate scan that weren't originally there.
(Ponte's not the only Newsmax writer embracing the birth certificate lie; Geoff Metcalf insisted in an Oct. 20 column that a "Certified copy of original birth certificate" has not been released.)
Ponte also perpetuates other falsehoods under the guise telling the "truth."
Ponte writes of the Obama website's statements regarding William Ayers: "It does not mention that Obama and Ayers worked together on the board distributing millions of dollars with the aim of radicalizing Chicago schoolchildren. Nor does the site acknowledge that Obama kicked off his first political campaign in the living room of Ayers, the former Weather Underground leader."
Ponte fails to mention that the Chicago Annenberg Challege, on which both Obama and Ayers worked, was funded by prominent Republican Walter Annenberg, and contrary to his claim that it had "the aim of radicalizing Chicago schoolchildren," educational reviewers found that the project, in fact, "reflected ... mainstream thinking among education reformers." Further, according tothe Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet, "Obama's formal kick-off to announce his run for state senate was at the Hyde Park Ramada Inn on Sept. 19, 1995," and the coffee reception in Ayers' living was one of several held around the same time.
-- Ponte also claims that Obama "pocketed more than $105,000 in political contributions, the third-highest amount given to any lawmaker, directly from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." But he fails to mention that McCain McCain has accepted at least $169,000 from "directors, officers and lobbyists" connected to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the 2008 election cycle.
-- Ponte repeats his previous false claim that Project Vote was run by ACORN when Obama ran an operation for the group in 1992.
-- Ponte falsely suggested that when Obama said of his daughters, "[I]f they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby. I don't want them punished with an STD at the age of 16," that he was referring to abortion. In fact, Obama was answering a question on sex education.Ponte also claims that "Nurses have reported instances in which surviving aborted babies were left by abortionists to die without water, food, or warmth," without also noting that the claims made by that nurse, Jill Stanek were never substantiated.
-- Ponte suggested that the reason that Obama canceled a planned visit to wounded soldiers in a German military hospital was because Pentagon officials said he "could not have his visits with hospitalized soldiers videotaped by the media," adding, "Prominent liberal mainstream media reporters such as NBC’s Andrea Mitchell rushed to defend Obama, saying that the press had never planned to cover his visits to military sickbeds." But Ponte never disproves Mitchell's claim.
