Encouraging the Incorrigible

If I were a major newspaper like the Washington Post, I would be incredibly embarrassed if I were to run a front page article like the one about the rumors Barack Obama might secretly be a Muslim. It's embarrassing on so many levels. For arguably one of the most prominent political newspapers to run a front page story that simply regurgitates blogs, internet rumors, and anonymous postings on websites is probably the epitome of laziness. There is barely a single original quote in the article, with most of the 2 or 3 of them buried at the very end. The writer appears to just have did a Google search on 'Obama' AND 'Muslim', surfed the internet for a while, made 1 phone call, and then summarized what he read and called it a front page expose'.

The writer appears not to have even made much of an effort to clearly lay out any facts before giving prime space to all the rumors. It almost seems like he is deliberately trying to confuse the issue. The article does little do distinguish between what it means to be a follower of a religion and having some exposure to a religion in your early childhood. For example, I went to church regularly as a child, was even baptized, yet amazingly I'm as much an authentic christian as Christopher Hitchins is an authentic atheist. Sidenote: I think Christopher Hitchens is an intellectually dishonest opportunistic bandwagon jumper of the worst kind.

Also interesting is what the article did not say. It didn't include very many quotes from Obama. It also didn't mention the part of a certain document about no religious test for public office. It gives lots of ink to the conspiracy theory of 'Muslims' trying to take over America from the inside out and Obama being a 'Muslim plant', but does nothing to address the truth or facts of it.
If I had an 'On Notice' list, the Washington Post would get added to it.