SALON

Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 2:01 PM UTC

Best worst reactions to that Obama presidential library story

The White House disputes a report that Reagan's home could become a parking lot for Obama's presidential library

By

Topics: Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Jay Carney, Chicago, presidential library,

Best worst reactions to that Obama presidential library story(Credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

The Daily Mail reported Wednesday that “Former President Ronald Reagan’s childhood Chicago home to be demolished and turned into parking lot – but could it be for Obama’s Presidential Library?” The right, predictably, was outraged, but White House Press Secretary Jay Carney threw cold water on story:

The story initially gained traction about a month ago, when a conservative journalist, Mary Claire Kendall, wrote about it for the Washington Examiner. At the time, the story was picked up by a few bloggers, like Judi McLeod of the Canada Free Press.”To the beat of Joni Mitchell’s song, Big Yellow Taxi running in the background, we’re calling on Michael Reagan and NewsMax.com to come to the rescue of an American tragedy in the making,” McLeod wrote.

The story gained more steam after Bill Kelley, a contributor to the American Spectator and Breitbart.com, picked up the Mail story and wrote about it on the Washington Times communities page, asking if the move was “politically motivated”:

This is still Chicago. Barack Obama’s Chicago. Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago.

It is safe to say that Democrats don’t want any reminders of a Republican president named Reagan and his glory days a stone’s throw from a future Obama Presidential Library.

Better to raze the building now, than later. But do they have the right to erase Ronald Reagan from Chicago history?

The story was reposted by Drudge Report, Newsmax, Fox Nation, and a number of conservative bloggers, who were not pleased. Blogger Pat Dollard wondered if it is an “act of spite.”

And conservatives on Twitter slammed the idea, and used the opportunity to bring up Obama’s birth certificate again:

But Kendall, who runs a blog called “Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home,” also echoed Carney on Wednesday and wrote that the claim is “utterly inaccurate,” citing “informed sources in Hyde Park.”

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 28 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Anyone Regret Slashing National Weather Service Budget Now?: With GOP-backed cuts to forecasting agency, experts warn future storms will go undetected and more lives lost
786 points787 points | 344 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
1624 points1625 points | 576 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator wants to offset tornado aid with other cuts
114 points115 points | 36 comments
vote
Watchdogs: ABC “in danger of losing a lot of credibility” on Benghazi saga
41 points42 points | 8 comments
vote
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook " In Chicago this weekend, prosecutors announced three teenaged boys will tried as adults for aggravated criminal sexual assault after allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl — and posting a video of the attack on Facebook."
20 points21 points | 11 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations