More from the Smear Machine: Seen this? Refutation help, please

[garthranzz]

Someone forwarded this crap to my wife, a former Republican. She asked me if it was true, how to respond, etc. It smelled, but I couldn't immediately find the crap that was the source. I figured my fellow DU'ers could help.


Subject: FW: A word from a marine who saw Barack Obama in the middle east


JUST SHARING AN EMAIL REC' this morning, July 23, 2008.
This comment from a US Marine, does not go along
with what we saw on national liberal TV. S.

I Received this from someone who was in
Afghanistan when Obama blew in. I've taken out all the forwards


Hi all FYI--for what freedom is worth.

Tiffany and Jeff Porter are our friends who
live in Virginia.

(Below is from Tiffany)

I don't know each of your personal political
convictions, and apologize if anyone finds this offensive. I thought it
was important enough to share.
This is Jeff's first hand view of Senator
Obama.

Tiffany

---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Hello everyone,
As you know I am not a very political
person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram
Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to 'The War Zone'. I wanted to
share with you what happened.He got off the plane and got into a bullet
proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who
is the commander here at Bagram.

As the Soldiers where lined up to shake his
hand he blew them off and didn't say a word as he went into the conference
room to meet the General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the Clam
Shell (pretty much a big top tent that military personnel can play
basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity
pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the
opportunity to talk to Soldiers to thank
them for their service.

So really he was just here to make a showing
for the American's back home that he is their candidate for President. I
think that if you are going to make an effort to come all the way over here
you would thank those that are providing the freedom that they are
providing for you.

I swear we got more thanks from the NBA
Basketball Players or the Dallas Cowboy Cheer leaders than from one of the
Senators, who wants to be the President of the United States. I just don't
understand how anyone would want him to be our Commander-and-Chief. It was
almost that he was scared to be around
those that provide the freedom for him and
our great country.

If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry
but I wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is.
What you see in the news is all fake.

In service,
CPT Jeffrey S. Porter
Battle Captain
TF Wasatch
American Soldier

American by birth
MARINE
by the grace of God

Semper Fi

[MnFats]

1. Porter is thoroughly discredited and may face courtmarshall

go to
www.snopes.com


real story is there

he DID NOT see the events he describes; he took a rumor and made it global/viral.
Even Porter is asking people to take it down and stop forwarding but by now it's out of his hands and likely bounce around the internet for months

[Hamlette]

13. Porter also has said it was false, the things he described did not happen

and remember, when they set up these congressional war zone meetings, they invite troops from the states the members of congress represent. If they need more, they let others go but here it was RI, IL and Nebraska (Hagel, Obama, and Reid's states.)

You would also think the troops know this. Which means its a smear, they know it is a lie and intend it only to discredit the other side.

Good on us for getting the truth out quickly.

[writes3000]

2. FALSE - Proof at the link. Pass it along.

And ask your email buddies why Republicans are relying on blatant LIES.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/afghanistan.asp

[annabanana]

3. snopes

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/afghanistan.asp

[Ian David]

4. When you refute this, reply to EVERYONE on the distribution list AND...

... all the way down to the bottom of the email full of people who refuse to use "Bcc" and forward your response to EVERYONE on the list, ALL the way to the very BOTTOM of the chain.

[d_b]

5. arrr

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/07/24/2008-07-24_army_officials_refute_claim_of_barack_ob.html

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/afghanistan.asp

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3705483

[PA Democrat]

6. Make sure you "reply all" and supply the link

along with a little note that they might want to save themselves the embarrassment of being proven wrong in the future by checking snopes.com first before forwarding such garbage.

[garthranzz]

7. THAKS ALL! I KNEW DU WOULD COME THROUGH!

As usual!!!!

:)

:applause:

[Faygo Kid]

8. It's a complete fraud. Debunked everywhere.

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/print_did_obama_snub_us_troops_in_afghanistan.html

This is another viral e-mail falsehood. The author now says it's not true; the Army says it's not true; and video and photos show Obama shaking hands with troops and eating breakfast with them as well.

We received nearly 30 requests from readers within 48 hours asking us to either corroborate or debunk this e-mail. The claims it makes aren't true. As reported by New York's Daily News reporter James Gordon Meek, an Army spokeswoman at Bagram said the claims are "factually incorrect" and that Obama "took time to shake hands, speak to troops and pose for photographs" during his July 20 visit. Meek also reported that the author of the e-mail, an Army National Guard captain at Bagram, later messaged the newspaper to say: "After checking my sources, information that was put out in my email was wrong."

No news organizations were allowed to accompany Obama on his visit to Afghanistan, which he took as part of an official congressional delegation. However, video released by the Department of Defense, included in this Associated Press report (below), show Obama eating breakfast with U.S. troops at Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan, just before his visit to Bagram.

[texastoast]

9. Be SURE to Reply to All with the snopes link

Facts really piss off the repuke sheeple.

I love reading their uninformed, deep-in-denial rants when they respond to facts.

[mloutre]

10. As usual, by the time this was posted here this time...

...it had already been thoroughly debunked and discredited both by bloggers and by the MSM itself.

The thing about these recirculated rumor-mill emails is that if the recipients would just go ahead and use the googles for themselves, they'd know they were bogus a whole lot faster.


(Edited to note: alas, most of the low-information people to whom these already-debunked emails get recirculated to probably think "the googles" were a mid-60's pop band...)

[Doctor_J]

11. Jeff is a hyper-partisan liar who should be court martialed for

using his .mil account to spread partisan lies.

[Hamlette]

12. Wasn't it established someplace that Jeff Porter was from Utah? This changes him to VA

what's up with that? Did the email originate in VA and they are trying to make it look more authentic?

[grantcart]

14. The author has already recanted the email

and the basic facts of time and place were proven to be completely ficticious

[garthranzz]

15. FYI, here's what I sent - and thanks again!!!

It is a vile smear, thoroughly debunked and repudiated by the original sender. I hope and "[e-mail]" will pass it on up the forward list, so that everyone who received it from you will now receive the correction.

When I see something like "national liberal TV," I'm already suspicious, since, aside from Keith Olbermann, you'd be hard-pressed to prove that the national TV media is liberal, even discounting Hannity, O'Reilly, ad nauseum.

Drivel like this email concerns me because it's so obvious a smear and a distraction. (I won't bore you with the technical names.) Are the people who write - or take seriously - this stuff not interested in issues? There are substantive issues and substantive differences. Let me put it this way: If Obama didn't shake that soldier's hand before becoming President, but after becoming President Obama's policies got him out of Iraq before he lost that hand, or Obama's focus on health care gave that soldier a chance to regain use of that hand if it had been injured in the line of duty - what do you think that soldier would say? Perhaps, "Obama didn't shake my hand; he saved it."

Here are the links. Please check them out.

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/print_did_obama_snub_us_troops_in_afghanistan.html



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/07/24/2008-07-24_army_officials_refute_claim_of_barack_ob.html




http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/afghanistan.asp



Three very different sources, and the author himself, say "it ain't so."

Please recirculate this.

[rasputin1952]

16. Just for the sake of argument...I was Army, and I NEVER knew

a Marine that called himself a "soldier", especially a senior NCO or an Officer, that is literally blasphemy in the eyes of a Marine. Another thing, virtually anyone who is in the service would not "sign" like that, it would be "Jeffery Porter CPT USMC", and then some description of his unit/job.

One other thing, and this is pretty serious, what he wrote, (if he wrote it), could be a serious nightmare for him, he could face court martial for something like that. Men and women who have written blatant political pieces, while on active duty, and of higher rank, have had their careers destroyed by such things. This guy, (if this anything near true), should take a lesson from General Smedley Butler, and keep his mouth closed about political aspects, until he is retired, or just plain rifted out of the service for being too stupid to be there.

BTW...we used to rib the Marines about USMC...we told them it was actually "Uncle Sam's Misguided Children". They loved it...:D