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Limbaugh repeated false Judicial Watch attacks linking Obama to FARC
Summary: On his radio program, Rush Limbaugh quoted from a Judicial Watch blog entry that falsely claimed an "electronic mail[]" allegedly from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said that "associates of FARC were scheduling a sit down with" Sen. Barack Obama "to lobby him." Limbaugh also read aloud a portion of the blog entry that misattributed a quote from right-wing news website WorldNetDaily to "evidence seized" from FARC, thereby falsely suggesting that a FARC spokesman said the group "see 'more help coming next year if Barack Obama becomes president.' "


On the March 12 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh quoted from a March 6 entry on Corruption Chronicles, "A Judicial Watch Blog," that falsely claimed an "electronic mail[]" allegedly from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said that "associates of FARC were scheduling a sit down with" Sen. Barack Obama "to lobby him." Limbaugh also read aloud a portion of the blog entry that misattributed a quote from right-wing news website WorldNetDaily to "evidence seized" from FARC, thereby falsely suggesting that a FARC spokesman said the group "see 'more help coming next year if Barack Obama becomes president.' " Limbaugh claimed that the Corruption Chronicles entry "back up Iowa Congressman Steve King, his comments that Al Qaeda and Islamofascists will be dancing in the streets if Obama wins," adding: "I'm just telling you what's on these blogs out here."

Reading from the March 6 Corruption Chronicles entry, Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: Here's a little excerpt from the Corruption Chronicles Judicial Watch blog. "Evidence seized during a Colombian military raid on the Marxist terrorist group known as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia" -- its Spanish acronym is FARC -- "reveals that the group's top commandos are receiving aid from President Hugo Chavez and that they see," quote, "more help coming next year if Barack Obama becomes president."

As Limbaugh indicated in his reading, the Corruption Chronicles entry directly attributed the quote -- "more help coming next year if Barack Obama becomes president" -- to the "vidence seized" from FARC:

Evidence seized during a Colombian military raid on the Marxist terrorist group known as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or its Spanish acronym FARC) reveals that the group's top commandos are receiving aid from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and that they see "more help coming next year if Barack Obama becomes president."

The "more help" quote, however, is actually from a March 5 WorldNetDaily article, which reads: "A laptop computer captured in the possession of a slain Colombian revolutionary provides tangible evidence Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is aiding the narco-rebels and that they see more help coming next year if Barack Obama becomes president." The line that FARC sees "more help coming next year if Barack Obama becomes president" is not from the "evidence seized" from FARC.

Limbaugh continued, still reading from the Corruption Chronicles entry:

LIMBAUGH: "One of the electronic emails says that gringo associates of FARC were scheduling a sit-down with Obama to lobby him since the associates believe Obama will be the next president. The Illinois senator is quite popular among Latin American communists who view him as a spokesman for millions of Central Americans and Mexicans who migrate to the U.S. Last month, Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega, the head of the Marxist Sandinista Liberation Front, said Obama's presidential bid is a revolutionary phenomenon in the U.S. because he'll bring great change that will offer justice and equality toward all."

In fact, the document in question -- a letter allegedly written by recently killed FARC spokesman "Raúl Reyes" -- does not make the claim, or anything like it, "that gringo associates of FARC were scheduling a sit-down with Obama." As Media Matters noted, when translated into English, the letter says that unidentified "gringos" will "ask for an appointment with the minister" -- apparently Ecuadorean Minister for Internal and External Security Gustavo Larrea, the only "minister" specifically mentioned in the letter -- "to request that he communicate to us his interest in discussing these topics." As the Associated Press reported, the "gringos" Reyes referred to in the letter allegedly claimed that Obama will be the next president of the United States and will reject "both the Bush administration's free trade agreement with Colombia and the current military aid program." The letter offers no indication whatsoever that Reyes or FARC has had any contact with Obama and does not identify the "gringos" in any way.

From the March 12 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: Couple things here. The editrix of The Limbaugh Letter, Diana Allocco, has sent me some interesting things here, that sort of back up Iowa Congressman Steve King, his comments that Al Qaeda and Islamofascists will be dancing in the streets if Obama wins. And they demand that he apologize, said, "I'm not gonna apologize for it," and he went on offense even more.

Let's see. So much stuff here and I had to -- well, let's just -- a couple of new stories first from Corruption -- the Corruption Chronicles, which is a Judicial Watch blog. March the 8th , 2008, let's see. Here's a little excerpt from the Corruption Chronicles Judicial Watch blog. "Evidence seized during a Colombian military raid on the Marxist terrorist group known as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia" -- its Spanish acronym is FARC -- "reveals that the group's top commandos are receiving aid from President Hugo Chavez and that they see," quote, "more help coming next year if Barack Obama becomes president." I'm just telling you what's on these blogs out here.

"One of the electronic emails says that gringo associates of FARC were scheduling a sit-down with Obama to lobby him since the associates believe Obama will be the next president. The Illinois senator is quite popular among Latin American communists who view him as a spokesman for millions of Central Americans and Mexicans who migrate to the U.S. Last month, Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega, the head of the Marxist Sandinista Liberation Front, said Obama's presidential bid is a revolutionary phenomenon in the U.S. because he'll bring great change that will offer justice and equality toward all."

And then there's this little passage: "Ramadan Adassi, leader of the Al Aqsa Brigades terror group in the West Bank's Anskar refugee camp, pointed to Obama's rise to stardom as," quote, "an important success. He won popularity in spite of the Zionists and the conservatives." So the Al Aqsa Brigades terror group happens to dig Obama, too.

Now, I'm -- look it. All I'm -- I'm just reading this stuff to you to point out that what Steve King said is true. There are people around the world who are hoping for Obama to win, and they are Marxists and they are communists and they are terrorists. Well, I know that's 'cause he's gonna talk to them. But they think that they're gonna get something from him after they talk to him. We don't know that he's gonna give them anything, but they think so. All Steve King said was, "there's gonna be dancing in the" -- this is why he's not apologizing. You know, pure and simple. You know, freedom of speech is freedom of speech. It's a crucial thing. Too many people give it up too willingly. I have not disobeyed the talking points, Snerdley. I'm not subject to McCain's campaign talking. If you're just joining us, you've gotta hear this.

From the March 6 entry on Corruption Chronicles:

Already endorsed by two of Latin America's communist leaders, Barrack Obama is a favorite among the region's radical Marxist terrorists who believe the Illinois senator will help them if he becomes U.S. president.

Evidence seized during a Colombian military raid on the Marxist terrorist group known as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or its Spanish acronym FARC) reveals that the group's top commandos are receiving aid from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and that they see "more help coming next year if Barack Obama becomes president."

Renowned for bombings, murder, drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion, FARC is Latin America's oldest, most powerful and best-equipped insurgency of Marxist origin. The U.S. government refers to the group as a narco-terrorist organization and several of its members have been tried in American courts on serious drug charges.

Information on the guerilla group's Obama ties, which the mainstream media is sure to ignore, came from the laptop computers of various high-ranking FARC leaders. The equipment was confiscated by Colombian government forces during a recent raid on a camp in the Ecuadorian jungle that killed 23 rebels and their commander.

A strong U.S. ally, Colombia has made the correspondence between the Marxist group's most prominent members and leaders public by posting it on a government website. Written in Spanish, the exchanges mention Obama on several occasions.

One of the electronic mails says that "gringo" associates of FARC were scheduling a sit down with Obama to lobby him since the associates believe Obama will be the next president and he rejects the Bush Administration's free trade agreement with Colombia as well as the current military aid program.