# Did Murdoch walk into Obamatrap? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 19, 2011, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553 "2011-07-19T06:50:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/1 "2011-07-19T06:50:26Z")
Maybe Obama is just about the smartest politician in the world. Can’t argue with the fact that he’s come a long way in a short time. The Murdoch scandal has been brewing for about 3 years. Yet, during the summer (down news time when the media is looking for a single easy story) this trap springs. This is almost like the O.J. Simpson highway chase. As we get closer to the election cycle and we are in a down news cycle this thing breaks like a rabbit stepping into a bear trap. As we get closer to the election there is the potential for more indictments and more depth to the scandal. Maybe Americans cant get excited about hacking of a teenage Brit but hacking of 9-11 victims is a different thing. I’m not making any excuses for Murdoch. He should have been in jail a long time ago. He’s the definition of sleaze. I’m just wondering if the Obama guys let him set himself up and sprung the trap. Right now the FBI has a ton of evidence that News Corp. was in violation of Federal laws. There’s no reason for Obama to call off the dogs. Maybe Obama is a lot smarter than most people wanted to give him credit for. Maybe his biggest adversary just got hooked and is being landed. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/2 "2011-07-19T06:57:05Z")
Do you have any evidence at all Obama made any decision concerning Murdoch’s current predicament? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/3 "2011-07-19T07:00:07Z")
What an ethnocentric\* conspiracy theory. The whole thing is primarily a British scandal, and the 9/11 hacking allegation is so far unproven and peripheral. Obama didn’t trigger this crisis, The Guardian did, with some help from Hugh Grant. \*Lest this spark the hackneyed debate on the semantics of this word, I am referring to the original definition of [ethnocentricity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnocentrism): “the technical name for [the] view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/4 "2011-07-19T07:05:36Z")
Actually fighting and f’ing someone up isn’t Obama’s style, even as a distraction. Murdoch just finally went too far and messed with too many people. Let’s see how many witnesses conveniently die. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/5 "2011-07-19T07:06:53Z")
I’ve never seen Hugh Grant and Obama in the same room together. Just saying. But yea, the OP is silly. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/6 "2011-07-19T07:07:27Z")
Exactly what Obama connection are you positing? Are you suggesting that, 3 years before he became President, Obama manipulated senior News Limited figures, on the other side of the planet, into tapping the phones of high profile celebrities, politicians and crime victims, that he then continued to instigate this crime throughout his candidature and Presidency, all the while conspiring to conceal the evidence of the instigated crimes until it was beneficial to himself? Seriously, is that your theory? Because I can’t see any connection whatsoever to Obama in anything that News Limited has done. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/7 "2011-07-19T07:10:14Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Actually fighting and f’ing someone up isn’t Obama’s style, even as a distraction. Murdoch just finally went too far and messed with too many people. Let’s see how many witnesses conveniently die. My faith in the dark underworld ‘righting the ship’ has really fallen off a cliff since Madoff appears to have jilted mob kingpins and lives to tell the tale. Shit, I expected even Kevin Bacon to hire a hitman. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/8 "2011-07-19T07:12:00Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Let’s see how many witnesses conveniently die. [Funny you should say that.](http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/18/news-of-the-world-sean-hoare) :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/9 "2011-07-19T07:35:21Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Exactly what Obama connection are you positing? > > Are you suggesting that, 3 years before he became President, Obama manipulated senior News Limited figures, on the other side of the planet, into tapping the phones of high profile celebrities, politicians and crime victims, that he then continued to instigate this crime throughout his candidature and Presidency, all the while conspiring to conceal the evidence of the instigated crimes until it was beneficial to himself? > > Seriously, is that your theory? Because I can’t see any connection whatsoever to Obama in anything that News Limited has done. > > 😕 Don’t underestimate Obama. He managed to get a false newspaper entry into two Hawaiian newspapers about his birth when he was still only hours old. Nothing is beyond his scheming abiliites… …aside from successfully pushing his political agenda. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/10 "2011-07-19T07:54:39Z")
I like this idea of using “Obama” as a generic prefix for whatever you don’t like. “So I was driving my car and I was trying to pass this Obamagranny and I got an Obamaticket! I had to go to Obamacourt and pay an Obamafine. The Obamajudge put an Obamapoint on my Obamarecord. Now I have to go to Traffic Obamaschool.” ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/11 "2011-07-19T08:42:51Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > The whole thing is primarily a British scandal, and the 9/11 hacking allegation is so far unproven and peripheral. > > Obama didn’t trigger this crisis, The Guardian did, with some help from Hugh Grant. Yes, this. It is very pleasing to see the US catching up, but this is in no way a US American story first. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/12 "2011-07-19T09:14:22Z")
Yawn. What is it with American politics? Every damned story has to be related to political subdivisions in America, no matter how tenuous the connection. It’s fucking boring. Yes, Obama clearly sprang his Machiavellian “Obamatrap” by manipulating the British Press and swaying British public opinion :rolleyes:. No doubt he also used the same powers to adjust the Australian stock market, too. [Look at the current Pit thread on Murdoch for instance](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=616662). You managed to take a story that’s virtually united the whole of the UK, irrespective of political factions, and it turns into a freaking partisan shouting match within literally five posts. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/13 "2011-07-19T09:19:13Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > What an ethnocentric\* conspiracy theory. > > The whole thing is primarily a British scandal, and the 9/11 hacking allegation is so far unproven and peripheral. > > Obama didn’t trigger this crisis, The Guardian did, with some help from Hugh Grant. Hugh Grant?? The actor? Wow, just checked Hugh Grant(the actor)‘s wiki page and he seems to be a major character in this story (sorry for the ignorance, just followed the RuperMurdochGate distantly, and now I have to read the whole wiki page on the News International scandal, I’ll have to take a day off). Wtf is happening with the world when it is actors (and second rate actors at that) that are bringing in scoops about medias’ criminal activities? ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/14 "2011-07-19T09:31:01Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Hugh Grant?? The actor? > > Wow, just checked Hugh Grant(the actor)‘s wiki page and he seems to be a major character in this story (sorry for the ignorance, just followed the RuperMurdochGate distantly, and now I have to read the whole wiki page on the News International scandal, I’ll have to take a day off). > Wtf is happening with the world when it is actors (and second rate actors at that) that are bringing in scoops about medias’ criminal activities? This has been part of the problem. When the story originally broke only The Guardian, with occasionally backup from The Independent, gave a crap. All the others pretty much pretended it didn’t exist and some politicians, including the current Mayor of London, publicly stated that it was just a left wing conspiracy. Thank fuck The Guardian held out, continually pushing it. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/15 "2011-07-19T09:53:21Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Hugh Grant?? The actor? I, too, was surprised to learn of Hugh Grant’s involvement in this story. But that paled beside the stunning revelation I received when I visited his wiki page, and learned that his middle name is “Mungo.” ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/16 "2011-07-19T10:36:10Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Wtf is happening with the world when it is actors (and second rate actors at that) that are bringing in scoops about medias’ criminal activities? Well, to be fair, High Grant gets the headlines because he’s famous. The actual star is the Guardian journalist [Nick Davies](http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/nickdavies), who has been relentlessly pursuing this for years, backed by his editors at the Guardian who kept running stories when everyone else was doing a little spring cleaning under their collective carpets. Still has nothing to do with Obama. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/17 "2011-07-19T10:49:58Z")
It’s always worth linking [Hugh Grant’s entertaining and revealing April article for the New Statesman](http://www.newstatesman.com/newspapers/2011/04/phone-yeah-cameron-murdoch), where he writes about wearing a wire while NOTW reporter Paul McMullan cheerfully admits the culture of tapping and hacking every phone in sight. ETA: and, yes, agreed about Davies. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/18 "2011-07-19T11:06:14Z")
I’m surprised no one has asked Glenn Beck to establish his whereabouts the day Millie Dowler was killed yet. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/19 "2011-07-19T12:29:02Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > But that paled beside the stunning revelation I received when I visited his wiki page, and learned that his middle name is “Mungo.” Hugh Grant only pawn in game of life. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553/20 "2011-07-19T12:47:04Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I, too, was surprised to learn of Hugh Grant’s involvement in this story. But that paled beside the stunning revelation I received when I visited his wiki page, and learned that his middle name is “Mungo.” Should have been “Mungous” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-murdoch-walk-into-obamatrap/589553.md?page=2)