Rumor That Palin Called Obama 'Sambo' Spreading Across Internet

A new whisper campaign is forming in the blogosphere and creeping into web search engines across the internet as a self proclaimed e-zine called "LA Progressive" is spreading a false rumor that Sarah Palin called Barack Obama 'Sambo' while dining in an Alaska restaurant. Charley James, the author of the article that is unlikely to have his blogspot site shut down for Obama bias, also claims through 'anonymous sources' that Palin called Hillary Clinton a "b#^@h" in the same breath. It is getting pretty desperate out there.

Here are the opening paragraphs from Alaskans Speak (In A Frightened Whisper): Palin Is “Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, And Mean” (emphasis mine, src. Michelle Malkin):

“So Sambo beat the b*$#h!”

This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat’s primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.

“It was kind of disgusting,” Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the “lower 48” about life near the North Pole.

Then, almost with a sigh, she added, “But that’s just Alaska.”

Racial and ethnic slurs may be “just Alaska” and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.

Some may point out that LA Progressive is just a small time internet site and that may be true; but this junket of a story is actually getting exposure. It has appeared on Memeorandum, Google and Yahoo Buzz. It appears that some readers have been successful in getting some sites to remove the actual story from their news sections. The story has already been removed from multiple Craigslist boards and the Newsvine community has followed suit.

Of course that hasn't stopped the Daily Kos from feeding into the 'smear Palin' frenzy. Before you write off The Daily Kos as a potential vehicle for spreading lies and rumors I shall remind you that a couple of Congressmen have active diaries there and it has been host to many politicians over time. A site that prominently boasts top leaders in the Democratic Party as guests, writers and diarists is often lent a certain amount of credibility by association. Noel Shepherd reported earlier today that netroots are often the source for lies that make their way into the mainstream media consciousness.  

This particular smear campaign against Governor Palin also characterizes all Alaskan residents as racist, the GOP as organized crime and Evangelicals as an extreme fringe group. 

Racial and ethnic slurs may be “just Alaska” and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.

Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N’-Fetch-It, “darkie musical” swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska’s Aboriginal people as “Arctic Arabs” – how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description – as well as the more colourful “mukluks” along with the totally unimaginative “f**king Eskimo’s,” according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.

I am not too worried that this story will make it much further into the mainstream media. Perhaps someone will pick it up to report it as the despicable attempt to fan the flames of racism and discourage Hillary crossovers that it is. But even that has some effect. How much do you want to bet that the 'Sambo' line gets repeated often? It doesn't have to be true, it just has to be repeated enough for people to hear Palin and the disparaging remark together in a sentence.

I can't say it any better than Noel, how disgraceful.

Terry Trippany is the publisher of Webloggin and holds the post as The Watcher at Watcher of Weasels.