Bad Deed Special – Newsmax Says Military Coup Would Take Care Of “Obama Problem”

Republican-leaning website Newsmax published the following on Tuesday: – “There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the Obama problem. Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic. America isn’t the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn’t mean it won’t.”

The writer then goes on to describe that our nation’s military is sworn to defend the Constitution, which he says is being trampled by the President, and says the country won’t be as America by the 2012 election, etc. (Get it? He’s implying that we can’t wait for the election, that something must be done now. But he is so coy as to never say do it, just that it could happen, but he does imply how military people could justify it.)

It’s not the first time that this website has published hate and lies:

· After the mysterious disappearance of Chandra Levy in 2001, contributor John LeBoutillier allegedly posted a speculative column on the site about the sex life of Representative Gary Condit, with whom Levy had an affair. The column quickly circulated among media members, even though Newsmax editors pulled it from the site.
· On May 26, 2000, Newsmax published an article claiming Hillary Clinton refused to meet with the Gold Star Mothers. According to the Gold Star Mothers organization, this was false and “Senator Clinton greeted us graciously on Gold Star Mothers Sunday, 2005. This story was also debunked at other websites and eventually led to a retraction by NewsMax.
· A 2005 NewsMax.com report about Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, claiming he was “teaming up” with rock band U2 for a fund raiser, gained considerable attention. Santorum had actually purchased 66 tickets to a sold-out show and was reselling these to campaign supporters at $1,000 per seat. The band issued a statement denying it was involved in the practice, saying, “U2 concerts are categorically not fund-raisers for any politician; they are rock concerts for U2 fans.”[12] Rather than admitting the error and issuing a correction, Newsmax simply changed its article about the fund-raiser without telling readers it had been changed, stating that the story was misinterpreted.
· During the debate over the failed 2007 Immigration Bill, Newsmax popularized opposition to an alleged “North American Union,” a dystopian vision of a future America where “NAU citizens no longer spend dollars or salute Old Glory. They spend ‘ameros’.”
· On August 9, 2007, Newsmax freelance reporter, Jim Davis, reported that Barack Obama was in attendance on July 22, 2007 during a controversial sermon giving by Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. at Trinity United Church of Christ in South Chicago, Obama’s place of worship. The claim that Obama was in attendance for this particular sermon was repeated by Newsmax as fact again on March 16, 2008. A July 22, 2007 speaking schedule for the National Council for La Raza in Miami, Florida shows Obama as a scheduled speaker for 1:30pm. Video confirms he attended the conference and spoke during his allotted time. New York Times op-ed author, William Kristol, who relied upon the erroneous Newsmax articles in an op-ed article in the New York Times on March 17, 2008, provided the following retraction and apology later in the day, “In this column, I cite a report that Sen. Obama had attended services at Trinity Church on July 22, 2007. The Obama campaign has provided information showing that Sen. Obama did not attend Trinity that day. I regret the error.” However, Davis later explained that Obama had attended the early morning service at Trinity United at 7:30 a.m., leaving sufficient time for him to travel by private jet to Miami; and the La Raza website confirms that Obama did not arrive until 1:50 p.m. Eastern time. Newsmax reports receiving confirmation from the Obama campaign that the candidate’s private jet did not leave Chicago until 8:50 a.m. A Washington Post fact checker has reported that the issue has not been resolved to his satisfaction one way or the other.

· Newsmax claimed that Barack Obama’s Vatican ambassador had been rejected several times for being “insufficiently pro-life.” The Catholic News Service and Time magazine confirmed on April 9, 2009 that Newsmax’s story was false.

Regards,

Jim