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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Buzzfeed's Ben Smith Continues to Campaing for Obama

Buzzfeed's Ben Smith now concedes that Barack Obama sought the socialist New Party's endorsement in 1996--but continues to give Obama, and the New Party, the benefit of the doubt on whether Obama was in fact a member. While admitting the Obama campaign misled the press and the public about the New Party, Smith continues to let the campaign get away without comment--when, in fact, David Axelrod responded yesterday.
Check out his column yourself, where Smith says
Kurtz's theory, which doesn't really match my recollection of the politics, is that this would have been the straw to break the camel's back
It’s obvious that he wants Obama’s narrative to be true, and gives ground grudgingly, step by step, as each new revelation shows that Team Obama was lying about Obama’s membership and support of the radical leftist, ACORN controlled, New Party.

A founder of the New Party, Joel Rogers claims that the party did not have members, so Obama could not have been a member. That turns out to be a lie.
UPDATE: Kurtz has quite a bit more detail on what sure sounds like a membership program, though it's not entirely clear what membership required or entailed.
Note that Smith continues to make excuses with questions about what membership really entailed. He gets and answer.
UPDATE: Richmond sends over a New Party page from 1997 that makes pretty clear that they saw themselves at the time as having members: The New Party is run by dues-paying members, who are organized into chapters. The national organization provides support for chapter growth and coordination. Every member gets one vote.
There he lets it lie. People like Smith, who want Obama to win will not admit to being lied to; will not admit to being duped. That much introspection would destroy their self image.

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