Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Glenn Beck: Praying to Obama

Once again, Beck jumps on board, without doing even minimal fact checking.


Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, and prominent conservative bloggers followed the lead of conservative website Breitbart.tv after the site falsely claimed that an online video showed community organizers from the Gamaliel Foundation "pray[ing]" to President Obama. Breitbart.tv subsequently updated the original post with an editor's note acknowledging that "there is a debate over what is actually being said" and that the crowd may, in fact, be saying "oh God" rather than "Obama"; the Gamaliel Foundation subsequently stated that "at no time have we prayed to President Obama" and that in the video, the organizers "can be heard saying, 'Hear our cry oh God,' 'Deliver us oh God,' etc."

Breitbart.tv claims Gamaliel organizers "Pray TO" Obama, later to walk back claim

Breitbart.tv claims "Community Organizers Pray TO President-Elect Obama." As Media Matters for America noted, on September 29, Breitbart.tv -- published by Matt Drudge protégé Andrew Breitbart -- embedded a video with the headline "Shock Discovery: Community Organizers Pray TO President-Elect Obama." The video included captions such as "Deliver Us Obama" and "Hear Our Cry Obama," suggesting that the crowd was "pray[ing]" to Obama.

Post states organizers are members of Gamaliel Foundation, which "helped sponsor Barack Obama's initial work in Chicago." The Breitbart.tv post stated:

The Gamaliel National Clergy Caucus held "a New Orleans style funeral procession as they deliver a casket symbolizing the death of old ways of providing health care and pray for a new day for health care in America."

The Gamaliel Foundation is the community organizing group that helped sponsor Barack Obama's initial work in Chicago.

Editor's note: "Does the crowd say, 'Hear our cry, Obama' and 'Deliver us Obama?' Or are they saying 'Oh God?' " Breitbart.tv later "updated" the post with "the longer version of the original event" -- a video that did not include the captions -- and added an editor's note acknowledging that "there is a debate over what is actually being said" and that the crowd may, in fact, be saying, "Oh God," rather than "Obama":

Editor's note: We've updated this post with the longer version of the original event. As you'll see in the comments and related links there is a debate over what is actually being said. Does the crowd say, "Hear our cry, Obama" and "Deliver us Obama?" Or are they saying "Oh God?" In the longer version the first two repetitions seem to have a distinct "uh" sound at the end that resonates as "Obama." The later repetitions are a little fuzzier. Did some of the religious leaders present become uneasy? Or was there a mix of what was being said? Read some of the blogger analysis below. What do you think?

Beck jumped on Breitbart story, suggested organizers "just mocking God by faking a prayer to Obama"

Breitbart.tv's Baker: "I think you could only characterize it as a prayer to Obama" During the September 29 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Glenn Beck hosted Breitbart staffer Scott Baker, who stated that the video "[j]ust went up seconds ago" on Breitbart.tv and asserted: "I think you could only characterize it as a prayer to Obama. Not for Obama. They're literally chanting and saying, 'Deliver us, Obama.' 'Hear us, Obama.' "

Beck: "Link to the front-page top story on the front page of GlennBeck.com." Beck then asked executive producer Steve "Stu" Burguiere to tell the show's webmaster, Chris Brady, to post the video "on the front page of GlennBeck.com" and to "make sure that it is also included in our email newsletter."

Beck: [T]hey're mocking God" At one point during the segment, Beck suggested that the participants were "just mocking God by faking a prayer to Obama."

Baker highlights Gamaliel ties to Obama. Baker stated:

Gamaliel is -- here's why Gamaliel is important. They were a community organizing group based in Chicago. They now have a national reach. But when Barack Obama got out of Columbia, right -- so this goes back to some of the earliest days for him -- it was the Gamaliel Foundation that essentially brought him to Chicago. It was -- you know, they interviewed him. They, in fact, on their website, say he was an organizer and trainer for us. They used Woods Fund money to sponsor the subsidiary group that Obama worked on.

Baker later added of the organization that a "very important person there was Celia [sic] Muñoz, who is now in the White House. She's the director of intergovernmental affairs." Beck replied: "So, wait a minute. The lady who used to run this group, that was praying to Obama, is now in the White House?"

Video posted on Beck's blog. At 10:39 a.m. ET, video of the participants was posted on Beck's blog with the text: "Is this group saying a prayer to Barack Obama? Glenn is skeptical. Are they saying 'Obama' or 'Oh God?' Are they praising the president or just mocking religion? Turn up the volume and see what you hear. (Unless you're at work, where you would look a little nuts.)"

Gamaliel Foundation responds: "At no time, however, have we prayed to President Barack Obama." Beck's blog post was later updated with the Gamaliel Foundation's response, in which they stated:

As a faith-based organization, it is customary for Gamaliel Foundation affiliates to begin and end every action with prayer. At no time, however, have we prayed to President Barack Obama. In the form of call and response, those who took part in the UnitedHealthcare action can be heard saying, "Hear our cry oh God," "Deliver us oh God," etc.

It is obvious that those who took the time to distort our sincere action for healthcare reform, by posting their own edited version on the Internet, are against what we believe is a fundamental right. It is also obvious that those who are against healthcare reform will stoop to any level to stop what Dr. Martin Luther King called, one of the greatest forms of inequality.

Beck relies heavily on Breitbart in attacks. In recent weeks, Beck has been credited with precipitating the resignation of White House "green jobs" adviser Van Jones, the reassignment of National Endowment for the Arts communications director Yosi Sergant, and the amplification of an anti-ACORN video produced by a conservative filmmaker. In all three instances, Beck has credited the "instrumental" work of conservative columnist and Web publisher Andrew Breitbart, who has a history of smearing progressives and making inflammatory statements.

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