I find it amusing, if somewhat troubling, to see otherwise reasonable people jump on something published in Rupert Murdoch’s Times of London and push it as though it’s coming from a legitimate source on American politics. The Clinton White House even prepared a memorandum on the particular method of pushing false information and conspiracy theories into the American mainstream media that the Times of London is often a crucial player in.

”The Communication Stream of Conspiracy Commerce refers to the mode of communication employed by the right wing to convey their fringe stories into legitimate subjects of coverage by the mainstream media,” the counsel’s office memorandum said. The articles, it said, move from ”well-funded right wing think tanks,” newsletters and newspapers to the internet. From there, the articles are picked up by ”British tabloids” or the ”American right-of-center mainstream media,” the counsel’s office wrote. Then they get looked into by Congressional committees, and that creates a ”legitimacy to be covered by the remainder of the American mainstream.”

So when you’re reading the comments section your local newspaper and see some semi-literate degenerate’s comments about Hillary Clinton murdering Vince Foster, or Barack Obama being a Muslim Manchurian candidate who consorts with terrorists, or something about Obama’s relationship with Rezko, don’t be surprise if it shows up in the Times of London a few days later masquerading as legitimate news. From there it can be picked up by right wing radio, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, it can be used as talking points by Republican politicians and really the sky is the limit, because now a bogus charge against a Democrat has the legitimacy it needs to be covered in by a lazy corporate media who can simply quote the charge without ever investigating its veracity. Fun!

I’m not surprised to see somebody like Captain Ed run with this stuff because his job is to regurgitate right wing talking points. It’s a little peculiar, however, to see otherwise respectable pro-Clinton bloggers jump on the bandwagon. Surely, there’s a better way to support a candidate.

For a good example of the sort of comments I’m referring to, have a look at Will Bunch’s comment section. Hours of fun to be had. NYT article via Oliver.