# Obama "facts" circulating via e-mail **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 27, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040 "2010-11-27T02:51:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/41 "2010-12-02T21:14:37Z")
> [@Cagey\_Drifter](#): > > Just curious, has anyone ever seen a liberal email forward filled with obvious lies? Or a liberal email forward, period? During the Bush years, I’d get an occasional 9/11 truther e-mail written with a left wing slant. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/42 "2010-12-02T21:29:45Z")
> [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > The iPod had pictures and video from the Queen’s visit to Virginia, not Obama’s speeches. > > [http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/9355453/Barack\_Obamas\_gift\_for\_the\_Queen\_an\_iPod\_your\_Majesty/](http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/9355453/Barack_Obamas_gift_for_the_Queen_an_iPod_your_Majesty/) The iPod had the videos and showtunes, but it did in fact include two of President Obama’s speeches. I don’t find anything terribly wrong with that - but people who state that the iPod did not include any of Obama’s speeches are probably in error. [Link.](http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/04/what-does-one-g.html) ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/43 "2010-12-02T21:54:50Z")
> [@Cagey\_Drifter](#): > > Just curious, has anyone ever seen a liberal email forward filled with obvious lies? Or a liberal email forward, period? I’ve wondered this myself. I presume there’d almost have to be, but I’ve never received or even heard of one. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/44 "2010-12-02T22:24:25Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > During the Bush years, I’d get an occasional 9/11 truther e-mail written with a left wing slant. Not only that, but [this mess of an argument](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=281756) cropped up from time to time on the boards, often pasted from some list somewhere. It was about as inaccurate and cherrypicked as this Obama email above. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/45 "2010-12-02T22:40:40Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Not only that, but [this mess of an argument](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=281756) cropped up from time to time on the boards, often pasted from some list somewhere. It was about as inaccurate and cherrypicked as this Obama email above. I can only seem to find it once on this board-what are the other times it appeared? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/46 "2010-12-02T22:44:42Z")
> [@Cagey\_Drifter](#): > > Just curious, has anyone ever seen a liberal email forward filled with obvious lies? Or a liberal email forward, period? Yes. If you think liberals are too smart for this, you’re kidding yourself. [Here’s the Snopes page for Bush-related emails.](http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/bush.asp) [Here is their much, much shorter page for John McCain.](http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/mccain.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/47 "2010-12-03T12:37:28Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > I’ve wondered this myself. I presume there’d almost have to be, but I’ve never received or even heard of one. I have, usually with fauxtography showing what an idiot Bush was. [This one](http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/bushbook.asp) was given to us by a fellow teacher at a school meeting to demonstrate how stupid the President was. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/48 "2010-12-03T12:52:44Z")
I personally have never received a liberal chain email. Certainly some may have existed in the Bush years. However, in terms of the volume and tone of the emails, it isn’t even close. I receive probably on average 1-2 of these per week, accusing Obama of things that only the most gullible and/or dull witted people would believe. Don’t fall into the trap of false equivalency, “both sides do it” or “MSNBC is just like FOX” because it isn’t remotely true. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/49 "2010-12-03T16:03:50Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Certainly some may have existed in the Bush years. It’s ridiculous that people are treating this as a conditional statement. It is unquestionably true that liberals sent chain emails during the Bush years. I linked to a whole bunch of them. > [@](#): > > However, in terms of the volume and tone of the emails, it isn’t even close. I receive probably on average 1-2 of these per week, accusing Obama of things that only the most gullible and/or dull witted people would believe. Now this _might_ be true, but we can’t judge it based on one person’s email list. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/50 "2010-12-03T16:11:46Z")
The 9/11 Truther stuff was always fringe and never part of th liberal mainstream. The Obama birther/secret Muslim/ Antichrist/socialist stuff is part of the right wing mainstream and goes all the way up to elected officials. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/51 "2010-12-03T16:12:52Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Now this _might_ be true, but we can’t judge it based on one person’s email list. How about two, two people’s email? [lighning crack] Hahahahaha! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/52 "2010-12-03T16:20:25Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The 9/11 Truther stuff was always fringe and never part of th liberal mainstream. A lot of the Bush emails had nothing to do with Truthers. The claims about Obama are probably crazier, but there were some totally erroneous emails about Bush that circulated very widely, including the one that alleged he had the lowest IQ of any president, that Nostradamus predicted his election, and the Photoshopped image of him holding a book upside down. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/53 "2010-12-03T16:33:14Z")
Yes, the Bush = dumb stuff got a little over the top, but the insane conspiracy stuff was never anything close to what it is with Obama (or Clinton, for that matter), and did not involve actual elected officials and 24/7 media campaigns like what’s going on now. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/54 "2010-12-03T17:07:13Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Yes. If you think liberals are too smart for this, you’re kidding yourself. [Here’s the Snopes page for Bush-related emails.](http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/bush.asp) [Here is their much, much shorter page for John McCain.](http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/mccain.asp) And, there’s a Palin page too. Which amazes me- as stupid and blabbermouthed as she is, some dudes still had to make shit up about her. (In fact, some of the half-truths and lies were posted here during the election, including her “book banning”). I mean- why make up lies attacking her when the truth is far worse? However, the amount of Obama Urban Legends and “Big Lies” go far beyond what has been told about anyone. The Tea-partiers and Truthers are going to new levels of making shit up. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/55 "2010-12-03T21:36:43Z")
I’ll take an easy one, because I heard this one a lot and checked the video myself. > [@Fantome](#): > > ``` > If George W. Bush had stated that there were 57 states in the United States, would you have said that he is clueless. > > ``` > > … Every statement in this email is factual and directly attributable to Barrack Hussein Obama. Every bumble is a matter of record and completely verifiable. > > LET’S SEE HOW MANY OF YOU FORWARD THIS… Obama said that they had campaigned in 57 states, and had 1 more to go because his campaign manager said they weren’t going to Hawaii or Alaska. Most people apparently just repeated what they heard. But the originators of this claim knew the actual context but apparently decided that being off by 7 sounded dumber than being off by 10. Either way, he said 57 when he meant to say 47. Simple mistake that got turned into “Obama said that there are 57 states!” which he did not. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/56 "2010-12-03T21:52:37Z")
I did not know that. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/57 "2010-12-03T22:00:33Z")
> [@Fantome](#): > > No, I wouldn’t send it to anyone, but I would forward back intelligent responses from my fellow Dopers and I know some of the people I know that received this may be swayed by them and some of my friends that are Obama supporters would like to know the real facts. The response from 9/10 of true believers, whether they sent it to you or not, would be “He’s lying,” or “Ah, he’s another one of Obama’s sheep.” Repeat drivel like this enough times, and people inclined to believe it will do so. ---
**Author:** ![godix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/278dde/32.png) [@godix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godix)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/58 "2010-12-04T02:22:05Z")
> [@Rucksinator](#): > > I’ll take an easy one, because I heard this one a lot and checked the video myself. > Obama said that they had campaigned in 57 states, and had 1 more to go because his campaign manager said they weren’t going to Hawaii or Alaska. > > Most people apparently just repeated what they heard. But the originators of this claim knew the actual context but apparently decided that being off by 7 sounded dumber than being off by 10. > Either way, he said 57 when he meant to say 47. Simple mistake that got turned into “Obama said that there are 57 states!” which he did not. It may have been obviously a mistake. It may have been a slip of a tounge by a tired man who was bouncing around the nation and probably sleep deprived, exhausted, and suffering from so much time lag he was in middle of last week. But he did actually say it. In fighting ignorance please don’t distort the truth. In context, is was just a minor blunder rather than a sign of stupidity, but the truth is that, to quote yourself, Obama said that they had campaigned in 57 states. That being said, the proper reply to anyone who sends a political spam email like this (against any politician regardless of party) is to inform them that voting has now been moved to November 6th. If it’s dressed up enough, they should buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/59 "2010-12-04T02:45:55Z")
> [@Rucksinator](#): > > I’ll take an easy one, because I heard this one a lot and checked the video myself. > Obama said that they had campaigned in 57 states, and had 1 more to go because his campaign manager said they weren’t going to Hawaii or Alaska. > > Most people apparently just repeated what they heard. But the originators of this claim knew the actual context but apparently decided that being off by 7 sounded dumber than being off by 10. > Either way, he said 57 when he meant to say 47. Simple mistake that got turned into “Obama said that there are 57 states!” which he did not. And it probably would have passed if Bush-bashers didn’t promulgate the meme misspeaking=idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040/60 "2010-12-04T06:24:38Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > And it probably would have passed if Bush-bashers didn’t promulgate the meme misspeaking=idiot. People have always made fun of politicians who misspeak and say dumb things. You can’t blame everything on Bush bashers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-facts-circulating-via-e-mail/562040.md?page=4)