Obsession DVD Distributors: Would We Try To Influence Election? Never!
We've finally gotten to speak with the people behind the mass distribution of Obsession, a DVD warning viewers of the threats of radical Islam. And they're actually claiming that their mailing of the DVD to millions of households in swing states, and paying to have it inserted in local papers in places like Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, is not an attempt to sway voters in swing states.
And get this: They're saying the swing-state focus is simply an effort to get the attention of reporters in swing states, because the media is heavily focused on swing states and if they distributed the DVD in non-swing states it wouldn't get any attention.
The movie is being distributed by Clarion Fund, a right-wing group founded by filmmaker Raphael Shore, in partnership with the Endowment for Middle East Truth. Since these organizations are 501(c)(3) non-profits, it would be illegal for them to use the DVD as an express effort to win people's votes -- but they can embark on educational campaigns.
Nonetheless, this "educational campaign" -- which would seem to be helpful to John McCain -- is heavily focused on swing states. Why?
"If we were to distribute only in Hawaii and Maine, the press would be like, 'Look we're in Pennsylvania, we're in Florida, we're not covering something in Hawaii now,'" said Gregory Ross, Clarion Fund spokesman, in an interview with Election Central.
Ross explained. "So to capture the press and get interviews just like you're calling me, that why we're sending it to the swing states."
"We do not consider this electioneering," Ross added, "because we're not telling anyone how to vote."
Still, Ross appeared to accidentally concede that politics might be behind the campaign.
In a reference to the Endowment for Middle East Truth, which is helping push the DVD, Ross said: "They use our movie Obsession as a vehicle to help foster political -- well I should say, discussion in general."
Ari Morgenstern, spokesman for EMET, concurred that this is not about influencing the election: "Well, this is in no way an effort to influence the election. The goal is to help educate the American public about radical Islam's war with the West."
Neither Ross or Morgenstern would disclose the identities of any of their donors who are helping with this effort, but Ross did say they "span the political spectrum." He declined, however, to say if one or more were backing Barack Obama or John McCain.
Ross said that Clarion Fund has another movie coming out, The Third Jihad, about the threat of radical Islamists right here in America, set to premiere in October. There are not currently any plans to distribute it in swing states in the same way as they are doing for Obsession -- but he's not ruling anything out.
Exactly, from paleoconservative to neoconservative. That's a wide swing, right?
September 25, 2008 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lying liars!
Remember, this effort may well be in effect government subsidized through the tax break for charitable donations to 501(c)(3) non-profits (as opposed to political donations and donations to 527 groups, which are NOT eligible for tax deductions).
September 25, 2008 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Fucking liars.
And we may subsidizing this? Goddamn Commander CooCoo Bananas and the Repugs! Goddamn them.
September 25, 2008 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
a cardboard cutout of mccain at the debate would make my day.
a slight breeze blows mccain over.
Obama: This was the one debate format i thought mccain would get thru gaffe free.
September 25, 2008 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
That name couldn't be further from the truth. Saying Radical Islam is the truth about the Middle East is like someone in the Middle East saying that Fundamentalists living in compounds in Texas and Arizona (BTW not McCain or Bush, maybe...) is the truth about North America.
These people are way out there and are, in essence, douchebags.
September 25, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bigotry. Pure and Simple! We went to the largest Mosque in town to express our distress.
September 25, 2008 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good for you!
September 25, 2008 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Has anybody reviewed this thing for it supposed "educational" credentials? We need experst to look at this thing and tell us how accurate or how propogandized this thing is, since it is being used for "education purposes."
Also it would be helpful to find regualr Americans who have gotten their hands on this thing to hear what they think. After that we need a parody of the Obsession of severe right-wing groups who do nothing but educate people on hating Islam with false information or what not.
September 25, 2008 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow when you look at how hard the neocons are trying to win... and the fact that Obama is doing as well as he is ...it says something for the power of 'we people'.
Hey, as an aside, please promote the 'co-signor' idea presented on the bail out plan. It was presented at the house finance committee meeting yesterday and I like the idea of an appointed democratic senator and an appointed republican senator signing off on all of Paulson's purchases and sales of assets.
September 25, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
These guys are attention whores. The problem is, they're attention whores with someone with fat pockets backing them. I highly doubt the distribution of this dvd will move a single vote that wasn't already McPanic's. The real danger is the media attention that they could potentially garner. Think Swiftboat '04. I'd rather not help them gain any more visibility than they deserve.
September 25, 2008 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Got my Obsession DVD in the mail today. I'm an Indy from Castle Rock, Colorado, a bedroom community just outside Denver.
September 25, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
So why are they sending it to Joe and Jane Average, non-reporters??
Their explanation is like their ciew of Islam, all BS.
September 25, 2008 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Has anyone considered buying in bulk, ,"Jesus Camp" and sending it out to millions of people?
Trust me, only 1/3 of Americans would appreciate what they are doing to those children's minds - the rest would be petrified of the brainwashing going on.
September 25, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just went and watched "Brain Washing ( Jesus Camp ''Highlights'' )" on youtube...assuming those were the "best" highlights I don't see the comparison...these kids didn't see any rifles, kids wanting to be suicide bombers...no mass chanting of death to their enemies (one lady did say Harry Potter would be put to death in the old testiment but that's the closest thing to a death threat there).
September 25, 2008 3:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree that Jesus Camp is an eye opener and raises a definite concern. But I think the people we want to affect, the ones who hold these beliefs would find it just as offensive in intrusive as some do to Obsession.
These stunts, even in the name of education, usually just isolate and bunker the camps instead of creating effective dialogue. Diplomacy wins out in achieving real progress; compassion and understanding before pointing the finger.
September 27, 2008 12:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
What would Jesus Bomb?
September 25, 2008 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
From antiwar.com:
Neocons, Ex-Israeli Diplomats Push Islamophobic Video
by Ali Gharib
with Eli Clifton and Jim Lobe
A group of hard-line US neoconservatives and former Israeli diplomats, among others, are behind the mass distribution, ahead of the November US presidential election, of a controversial DVD that critics have denounced as Islamophobic.
The group, the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), is working with another organization called the Clarion Fund, which produced the 60-minute video and is itself tied closely to an Israeli organization called Aish Hatorah.......
.....But CAIR has filed a complaint asking the Federal Election Commission to review the actions of the Clarion Fund both as a foreign entity and as a nonprofit....
ENTIRE ARTICLE- http://www.antiwar.com/ips/gharib.php?articleid=13503
September 25, 2008 2:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I came home to find this in my mailbox here in Ann Arbor. Makes me wonder how many more copies of this tripe are still to be delivered and what kind of list they're working from. I try to stay off mailing lists as much as possible so it's more than a little creepy.
September 25, 2008 6:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does anyone know if a donor to 501's can demand the full donor list?
If the Clarion Fund was only interested in education by reaching the ears of the press, mailings to NYC, DC or other widespread media outlets would be much more effective. Better yet, mail a copy to every reporter or editor to assure contact. Smarmy behavior. I can only see the face of Martin Short's Nathan Thurm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOLBQxk72NY
or more recently, the unrepentant, smiling face of Ahmadinejad during Larry King's interview.
September 25, 2008 10:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hahaha.
Who here can name what happened in 1953 which created the Islamic militant movement?
I live in a nation of idiots.
September 26, 2008 12:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
... if you have all the information living among a nation of idiots and don't share your wisdom without condemnation, what does that make you?
September 26, 2008 4:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
For DICKERSON3870; I agree whole-heartedly that the Clarion Fund should be investigated for their ties to foreign influence groups and for their sources of funding. However, I would submit that CAIR should also be subjected to the same scrutiny, given their employment of and association with questionable individuals and groups. Several of CAIR's former (and present) employees have been tied to terrorist groups, and the organization has repeated failed to condemn terrorist acts. I will admit that this link, from Pajamas Media, a blog interview with Muslim Brotherhood number 2, Mohamed Habib, isn't really a great source of citation, but it bears questioning.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/an-interview-with-the-muslim-brotherhoods-2/2/
I also would point out that the hate-filled statements presented in the DVD (yes, I have seen it, and not in this distribution but 2 years ago when the election wasn't yet an issue) are gleaned from Middle Eastern media and not simply "made up" by the Clarion group. CAIR is incensed by the distribution of this DVD; where is their outrage over the misrepresentation of Islam by these Islamist "leaders" spouting hatred against Jews, women, Israel and the West? The real problem is that the core texts of Islam, the Koran, Hadith and Sura, are repleat with statements that are used by radicals to justify violence in the name of Islam. Until "moderate" Muslims loudly and strongly reject these verses and the mullahs and imams that use them, and undergo a reformation of religion, Muslims will be the subject of suspicion and nothing CAIR does will be believed.
September 26, 2008 8:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
For fuzzywzhe, Just a guess: the return of Sayid Qutb to Egypt after living in (and hating) the U.S.?
September 26, 2008 9:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I watched this DVD today. What is the big deal? I think it is facscinating that there are a whole bunch of people up in arms about this. And why are they? Because of an election? Do you think this video will sway voters? Are you admitting that one candidate will benefit from this. And if you are...why? The DVD mentions nothing (not even a hint) about the current choices for this years presidential election. It talks about a small minority of radical zealots who are bent in destroying America. Are you admitting that there is one candidate who would be able to handle this terrorist group better than another? I am one who has not made up my mind on who could best lead our country. Frankly, I don't like my choices. Yet, I still have to choose. Is this blog insinuating that one candidate is better at handling terrorism than the other? Please educate me. It will be a struggle for me to vote for a person whose followers are not confindent in his stance or abilities to lead us in these rough times. Don't you have confidence in your candidate of choice to handle these problems that we will face? Shouldn't you be supporting his stance on how he will handle the problems this DVD puts out there? Even if you thing it is bogus propaganda, how will he deal with that? Stop playing defence. It sends an interesting message to us undecided voters.
September 28, 2008 2:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
i agree.
I recvd it in the mail and found it interesting. I doesn't advocate for any candidate. I still can't figure out why Eric writes "seems to help McCain."
And the point of the documentary is to make us aware of global jihad. So if they want to spread the word, I can see why they would send it to swing states as that is where all the media is focused. And sure enough, they're getting pub by making it look like a political mailing. Which it clearly is not.
I think anyone criticizing should be sure to watch it first. It's factually accurate and, for many Americans unfortunately, presents an alarming world view.
I also found the analogy to the rise of Nazism through propaganda. It may sensationalistic, but if you're trying to get people's attention, and warn of what you perceive to be a worldwide threat - then that's the filmmaker's perogative.
The video makes no political statements for the GOP at all.
just my .02
September 28, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
A few here have said that the DVD is factually accurate, and yes, it is, HOWEVER there is no news here. We all know that there are terror cells around the globe, we all know about past bombings and attacks, we all know that there are clerics out there preaching hatred to their congregation, and we all know that young children are trained to be bombers and fighters.
Those they interviewed in the film flat out said that the West should in no way think that our political policies have ever contributed to this climate in any way. THAT is debatable and debunkable by anyone who has studied the history of the last few centuries.
Sure, there were no political endorsements of a specific candidate, but people need to see this in the larger context of what is going on now. Concentrate on the swing states to get the attention of the media? That's bogus, who needs the media if the DVD is sent directly to people's homes. Also, the views expressed in the DVD are obviously in closer alignment with many in the McCain campaign.
The tone of the DVD is fear-mongering. It was clear that they used every trick in the book - the soundtrack, cutting to slow-mo scenes, and the rest - it made me think I was watching a preview to a war movie. Besides a few very-brief token statements admitting that not all Muslims are like this, the DVD was aimed at getting people stirred-up (not AWARE, as people are plenty AWARE, what with the events of the last 8 years or so) into a position where they feel they need a warrior-leader to protect them.
October 2, 2008 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hail from [rather conservative] Greeley, CO (north of Denver) - received my very own "Obsession" weeks ago and tossed it in the trash without even opening it. I could tell it was something I did not want to waste my time on. Glad I was right (since I trashed it without further ado ...) It's always good to learn one's rash actions were justified, but it's frightening to see just how crammed full of wild-eyed panic-maniacs America has become. Too bad more level headed folk find ourselves living in the same nation and have to put up with such bunk (passports, anyone?) I despise being targeted due to the fact that I have a mind of my own and I choose to use it.
October 3, 2008 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink