My mother is 60 years old. I love her very much and talk with her frequently. She knows that I'm liberal and does her best to "parent" me to the correct political ideology.
Yesterday, over the phone, she says to me in a baiting tone, "What if Barack Obama was actually born in Kenya?"
I answered, "He was born in Hawaii."
She replied, "How do you know, you weren't there."
Then I asked her if she has been listening to the Sean Hanity radio show again? There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment then she replied, "Well, what if Obama was born in Kenya? What would America do then?"
I laughed and answered her with my own question, "What if right after Obama is sworn in as President, space aliens blow up the White House? What would we do?"
"Oh, that's ridiculious!" she said, "I was being serious."
"No. You weren't. Just think about this for half a second; with the hard-core, never-say-die attitude of Hillary Clinton in the primary race, don't you think that if there was even an iota of doubt about Obama's eligibility for President, Clinton would have been all over that? Okay, take that one step further; Our current president has a vested interest in seeing his party maintain power in the White House. Are you suggesting to me that with the investigative powers of the CIA and FBI and NSA and Secret Service and whatever black ops Cheney heads up (these are topics we've discussed together before), that if there was even the remote possibility that Obama was not born an American citizen, it would have come up at some point before the release of Jerome Corsi's book?"
"Well, you never know." she says to me, "You really don't believe what they are saying on the news?"
"Oh, Mom, that's not the news. Those are the TV or radio equivelent to the National Enquirer or The Weekly World News. Sure they stand behind their 'reporting' but it is mostly just garbage with just enough truth thrown in to make it sound legit."
"No!" she exclaims, "It is on FOX NEWS! You know, the news station on cable. They are a legit news orginization just like abc or cnn. I'm not getting this story from some dumb super market tabloid. I know you don't watch TV, but this is the 'real' news."
I must tread softly here, as I know that her trust of TV news runs deep. "Have you read this in any newspapers or magazines like Time?"
Silence on the other end.
Then after she has had a minute to think about what I had said, "Won't they get in legal trouble for spreading lies about presidential candidates?"
"No."
"Oh, sure they would! That would be slander if Fox News told lies about a candidate." She countered.
"No mom, they won't get in trouble for reporting lies about politicians or other public figures. That is a protection that is given to journalists reporting on public figures so that they aren't forced to reveal confidential sources or able to report on things that have been said 'off the record'. It's all part of the fourth estate."
We changed the subject after that. I think she is wiser now to the manipulations of the news media and most especially Fox News. I don't know who she plans on voting for, but she is afraid of Obama because of the crap that the likes of Hanity and Savage have spewed from their pie-holes.
I ended our conversation with a reminder that her ballot is private. There is no way that anyone can determine whom she voted for by her ballot. Once she drops it in that ballot box, that's it. I asked her to please make a decision not based on rumors and false allegations from either side of the isle, but to vote for whomever will do the best job for America. I reminded her that Obama is not all that liberal. He is opposed to gay marriage and he wishes to reduce the size of the federal deficit and is campaigning on ending corruption in Washington D.C.
Please, mom, just vote for the right guy. The worng choice could be fatal (literally, as in a draft to war) for your grandson.





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