Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave

My father always told me that I'd get in less trouble for telling the truth than I would for lying. I didn't believe him at first, but after a few unfortunate incidents involving missing bottles from his liquor cabinet I was soon convinced.

Politicians from Nixon through Clinton and now obama would have benefited from listening to Dad.

It all started last night, with Harper sounding the alarm about the mysterious vanishing news stories regarding the president's daughter, Malia Obama, visiting Mexico.

Then today the stuff really hit the fan. In spite of the White House's best efforts, the story rapidly spiraled beyond their control.

First there was the issue of obama allowing his daughter to travel to a country despite his own State Departments travel advisory against it.

"...crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country and can occur anywhere."

It's a classic example of 'do as I say, not as I do,' and Rick Santorum has called b.s. on obama for it.

"What I would say is that the president's actions should reflect what his administration is saying."

Then we had the administration's ham-handed attempts to strong-arm various news outlets into sanitizing their sites and removing any mention of Malia's trip.

The AFP, the Huffington Post and other websites have scrubbed a report about first daughter Malia Obama's school trip.

On Monday, the AFP reported that Obama's daughter was on a school trip along with a number of friends and 25 Secret Service agents. The story was picked up by Yahoo, the Huffington Post, and the International Business Times, as well as UK publications like the Daily Mail and the Telegraph and other overseas publications like The Australian.

But on Monday night, the story had been removed from those sites. The AFP page for the story now links to a story titled "Senegal music star Youssou Ndour hits campaign trail," as does the Yahoo page. The Huffington Post page now links directly back to the Huffington Post homepage. The Daily Mail, Telegraph, and Australian stories now lead to 404 error pages, reading "page not found."

It got so bad that sites were scrubbing stories about their scrubbing stories.

Story About White House Scrubbing Obama Daughter Travel Story Has Now Been Scrubbed

The White House's campaign to scrub a story from the internet yesterday about Malia Obama's trip to Mexico has gone meta: a media reporter's blog post about the administration's efforts to scrub the story has now been scrubbed of certain details, Politico confirmed.

And finally, in a bit of cosmic irony, the part of Mexico that Malia is touring was hit with a large earthquake. That prompted concerns for her safety, forcing the White House to address the issue head-on.

The White House said Tuesday afternoon that President Obama’s older daughter Malia was unharmed by a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that shook Mexico, where she was traveling on a school trip.

“In light of today’s earthquake, we can confirm that Malia Obama is safe and was never in danger,” said Kristina Schake, communications director for First Lady Michelle Obama.

Multiple news outlets reported on Monday that Malia Obama was in Oaxaca with classmates and about 25 Secret Service agents. The White House has a standing request that media not report on the Obama children’s whereabouts, and Schake told Politico late Monday night that it had asked news agencies to remove the reports from their websites.

The outlets largely complied, but the White House confirmed Malia Obama’s safety on Tuesday because reports of her presence in Mexico had circulated on the Internet.

One final note:

The administration has gone to great lengths to crack down on this story, possibly sending a signal to media outlets that, as the general election nears, the president's children will be off limits.

Oh really? Then why does the parent-in-chief trot them out as props at every opportunity?

He has cited Sasha and Malia, now 10 and 13, in discussing everything from the rescue of an American aid worker from Somalian pirates to the touchy subject of public access to emergency contraception. His daughters also are prominent in a family photo being used by his reelection campaign.

Most recently, Obama brought up his daughters when asked about conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh's reference to college student Sandra Fluke as a "slut" after she testified that birth control should be covered by insurance.

And it's not just Barry. Michelle is guilty of it as well.

Michelle Obama frequently brings up her daughters while talking about her campaign against childhood obesity.

The kids are in their early teens. I get that they shouldn't be dragged into the nasty mess that now passes for this country's political discourse. And I can sympathize with the desire of parents to protect their children. But it's a two-way street. If BHO and his missus want the kids to be off limits, then they shouldn't use them to further their political objectives.

And they damn sure shouldn't try to stifle what used to be a free press in the process...