Fasten your seatbelts for this one. WaPo has published a detailed and hard-hitting article about the origin of those Obama rumors
An Attack That Came Out of the Ether
Scholar Looks for First Link in E-Mail Chain About Obama
By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 28, 2008; Page C01
The e-mail landed in Danielle Allen's queue one winter morning as she was studying in her office at the Institute for Advanced Study, the renowned haven for some of the nation's most brilliant minds. The missive began: "THIS DEFINITELY WARRANTS LOOKING INTO."
...
The use of "their equivalency" and the spelling of "Kuran" instead of "Koran" made the sentence her point of departure.
That search showed that the first mention of the e-mail on the Internet had come more than a year earlier. A participant on the conservative Web site FreeRepublic.com posted a copy of the e-mail on Jan. 8, 2007, and added this line at the end: "Don't know who the original author is, but this email should be sent out to family and friends."
Allen discovered that theories about Obama's religious background had circulated for many years on the Internet. And that the man who takes credit for posting the first article to assert that the Illinois senator was a Muslim is Andy Martin.
Pouring over these early articles on the topic, Allen noticed what she thought was an important pattern. In each instance, someone had posted the articles on the Free Republic Web site, prompting a discussion involving the same handful of people, with several expressing a desire to spread the word about Obama's supposed faith.
<table class="post-subject" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td>The WHOIS on FreeRepublic<!-- google_ad_section_end --></td><td align="right"></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="post-message" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" width="100%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td width="1%">
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John Robinson
P.O. Box 1745
Fresno, CA 93721
US
+1.5592130991
10576@whois.gkg.net
Technical Contact:
Robinson-DeFehr Consulting
John Robinson
P.O. Box 1745
Fresno, CA 93721
US
+1.5592130991
10576@whois.gkg.net
Billing Contact
Robinson-DeFehr Consulting
John Robinson
P.O. Box 1745
Fresno, CA 93721
US
+1.5592130991
10576@whois.gkg.net
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>>> Last update of whois database: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:01:06 EDT <<<
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An Attack That Came Out of the Ether
Scholar Looks for First Link in E-Mail Chain About Obama
By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 28, 2008; Page C01
The e-mail landed in Danielle Allen's queue one winter morning as she was studying in her office at the Institute for Advanced Study, the renowned haven for some of the nation's most brilliant minds. The missive began: "THIS DEFINITELY WARRANTS LOOKING INTO."
...
The use of "their equivalency" and the spelling of "Kuran" instead of "Koran" made the sentence her point of departure.
That search showed that the first mention of the e-mail on the Internet had come more than a year earlier. A participant on the conservative Web site FreeRepublic.com posted a copy of the e-mail on Jan. 8, 2007, and added this line at the end: "Don't know who the original author is, but this email should be sent out to family and friends."
Allen discovered that theories about Obama's religious background had circulated for many years on the Internet. And that the man who takes credit for posting the first article to assert that the Illinois senator was a Muslim is Andy Martin.
Pouring over these early articles on the topic, Allen noticed what she thought was an important pattern. In each instance, someone had posted the articles on the Free Republic Web site, prompting a discussion involving the same handful of people, with several expressing a desire to spread the word about Obama's supposed faith.
<table class="post-subject" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td>The WHOIS on FreeRepublic<!-- google_ad_section_end --></td><td align="right"></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="post-message" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" width="100%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td width="1%">
FreeRepublic.LLC
Jim Robinson
P.O. Box 9771
Fresno, CA 93794
US
+1.5592731400
41241@whois.gkg.net
Administrative Contact:
Robinson-DeFehr Consulting
John Robinson
P.O. Box 1745
Fresno, CA 93721
US
+1.5592130991
10576@whois.gkg.net
Technical Contact:
Robinson-DeFehr Consulting
John Robinson
P.O. Box 1745
Fresno, CA 93721
US
+1.5592130991
10576@whois.gkg.net
Billing Contact
Robinson-DeFehr Consulting
John Robinson
P.O. Box 1745
Fresno, CA 93721
US
+1.5592130991
10576@whois.gkg.net
Registrar..: gkg.net (http://register.gkg.net /)
Domain Name: FREEREPUBLIC.COM
Created on..............: 23-SEP-1996
Expires on..............: 22-SEP-2011
Record last updated on..: 09-JUL-2006
Status..................: ACTIVE
Domain servers in listed order:
NS.ROBINSON-DEFEHR.COM
NS2.ROBINSON-DEFEHR.COM
Whois Server Version 2.0
Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
Domain Name: FREEREPUBLIC.COM
Registrar: GKG.NET, INC.
Whois Server: whois.gkg.net
Referral URL: http://www.gkg.net
Name Server: NS.ROBINSON-DEFEHR.COM
Name Server: NS2.ROBINSON-DEFEHR.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 10-sep-2006
Creation Date: 23-sep-1996
Expiration Date: 22-sep-2011
>>> Last update of whois database: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:01:06 EDT <<<
</td></tr></tbody></table>
