Digg Lies!

[digg-reddit-me]The #2 Digg link at the moment is a lie worthy of Karl Rove: “Obama to eliminate Iran.”

Given the gap between what the article itself and the Digg description of it, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Karl Rove or some Republican agent trying to sow dissatisfaction with Obama now that he has the nomination in the bag.

But what is worse is that so many people are accepting the premise of the link as true without even following the link. Isn’t that just as bad as those idiots who read that Obama is a secret Muslim in an email and that:

We checked this out on ‘snopes.com‘. It is factual. Check for yourself.

Any intelligent person who follows the link finds that Snopes has declared the story “False.”

Now, from the other side of the political spectrum, someone – whether a cynic who saw no difference between Gore and Bush and sees no difference between Obama and McCain – or a Republican operative posts an extremely misleading headline for a link that – if you follow it, leads you to a very different conclusion. And the link becomes popular and lies are spread.

Some people even had time to post comments but not to follow the link!

As for the facts of what Obama said: He certainly is more pro-Israel than many would like. But he is also for talking with Iran. I have only seen excerpts of Obama’s speech – and I’m not sure the full text is posted anywhere yet – but given that Obama’s critique of McCain is that McCain is vowing to continue the Bush policy of refusing to engage in diplomacy with Iran, I’d have to imagine Obama’s remark was part of a message that went something like this – extrapolated from his previous statements:

I won’t stand here and pretend that there are many good options left in Iraq, but what’s not an option is leaving our troops in that country for the next hundred years – especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every other threat to America is being ignored.

One of those threats is the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the country that has gained the most influence and strength from the McCain-Bush foreign policy of waging war first and trying to pick up the pieces later. Iran is stronger now than it was eight years ago.

On September 11, 2001 there were vigils in Tehran as thousands of men and women crowded the streets in solidarity with the citizens of New York City and Washington, D.C. As our nation prepared to invade Afghanistan to go after the terrorists who attacked us, Iran offered us substantial assistance. As a result of these positive encounters, the Iranian leadership sent President Bush a letter offering to resolve all of the outstanding issues between our countries. The letter went unanswered.

After seven years of McCain-Bush aggression, Iran has moved away from the United States, but it’s people still maintain an affection for this country if not for our recent actions towards them. I have committed myself to engage in diplomatic relations with Iran without preconditions. I believe it is a sign of strength to sit down with our enemies rather than ignoring them. I do not pretend that this will be easy. But it is essential that we try.

We must eliminate the threat from Iran and protect the state of Israel. We must stop Iran from gaining nuclear weapons. The McCain-Bush policy of war and aggression is not the answer. But I must warn anyone who would test my resolve on this issue: I am not opposed to all wars; just to dumb wars, and I will not hesitate to respond forcefully if Israel’s or America’s existence is threatened.

But it’s easier just to post some sensationalist headline.