Anatomy of a Smear

The Daily Sandwich

It's always interesting to check out the latest e-mail forwards. Some are funny, some are retreads of decades-old urban legends. But there's another big category: right-wing propaganda. In some cases, the groups overlap-- like the still circulating claim that sinister liberals are trying to ban religious broadcasting. That was a chain letter before the Internet, and it still gets passed around, even though it's nonsense.

But a recent posting on the above site demonstrates another means by which some over-wrought rightie spreads fictitious stories about prominent Democrats. The latest: Hillary Clinton snubbed the mothers of veterans. The tip-off this time is that the e-mail cites Newsmax as the source of its info. Newsmax, of course, is a far-right website that specializes in attacking progressives. Usually without justification.
From the forward:

"Gold Star Mothers is an organization made up of women who sons were killed in military combat during service in the United States armed forces. Recently a delegation of New York Gold Star Mothers made a trip to Washington, DC to discuss various concerns with their elected representatives. According to NewsMax.com there was only one politician in DC who refused to meet with these ladies. . .

. . . You got it! None other than the Queen herself, The Hildebeast, Hillary Clinton. She refused repeated requests to meet with the Gold Star Mothers."

It's a timely claim, in a way, since the right is outraged that she might be running for president. It's also completely false. Here's what the Gold Star Mothers themselves had to say about the "incident" on their official site:

"With regard to the NewsMax article concerning our organization, the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., deeply regret the misunderstanding about Senator Hillary Clinton. The two mothers who visited Washington did not have an appointment with the Senator and she was not in her office on that day. We would appreciate it if the e-mails and negative comments about Senator Clinton would cease."

Case closed. Sadly, the rabid righties aren't the type to let the proverbial facts get in the way of a story.