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 Jillian RayfieldTopics: Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Jay Carney, Chicago, presidential library, Politics News
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:
To those chasing the @mailonline "scoop" about alleged Obama library parking lot - stand down. The report is false. Shocking, I know.
— Jay Carney (EOP) (@PressSec) January 30, 2013
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:
Only Obama would tear down Reagan's boyhood home to put up a parking lot for his library. @barackobama have you no shame?
— Sherry Samples (@sherrysamples) January 31, 2013
Not sure why Obama would build a Presidential Library. All of his stuff is sealed?
— Dave Schwickerath (@DaveSchwick) January 31, 2013
@sherrysamplesWhat's going to go in the library? The President has sealed everything.Birth certificate? College Records? Hmmmm.....
— Steve Wightman (@SteveWightman1) January 31, 2013
@dfwthebold @sherrysamples @barackobama it would only contain sealed files, put before the people and the courts to prove an illegitimate
— John Wesley (@fingrzheatr) January 31, 2013
Reagan's home could become a parking lot for Obama's library. SICKENING! communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/b…
— PolitixGal (@PolitixGal) January 30, 2013
@preciousliberty Not surprising. This is the type of dirty scumbag the illegal Kenyan crack-head is.
— Martin (@Politix_Junkie) January 31, 2013
@preciousliberty words like, "bastard" come to mind.
— Randy Sheets (@vietrandy) January 31, 2013
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.
Related Stories
More Related Stories
-
Developers evict historic women's shelter to build luxury hotel
-
Guantánamo prisoner on hunger strike cries for help on Twitter
-
3 possible solutions to international tax avoidance
-
“I just want the U.S. to send my father home”
-
Army weapons engineer tied to white nationalist organizations
-
Ted Cruz against the world
-
David Vitter's hypocritical, punitive, horrible new amendment
-
Louie Gohmert: Women should be forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term
-
Could hackers destroy the U.S. power grid?
-
Democrats may be even worse than Republicans at regulating Wall Street
-
Eric Holder versus journalism
-
A progressive defense of drones
-
There's no substitute for government disaster relief
-
Holder signed off on search warrant for reporter
-
Mississippi could begin prosecuting women for miscarriages
-
Mike Judge: "Bowling for Columbine" made me pro-gun
-
Closing Gitmo is not enough
-
Murkowski: Palin too disengaged to run for Senate
-
In IRS scandal, new GOP tactic is ignorance
-
Code Pink activist berates Obama at national security speech
-
Cuomo: "Shame on us" if New York City elects Weiner
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
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
- Previous
- Next
Related Videos
Most Read
-
Tornado survivor to Wolf Blitzer: Sorry, I'm an atheist. I don't have to thank the Lord
Mary Elizabeth Williams
-
9-year-old slams Rahm over Chicago schools
Natasha Lennard
-
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid "totally different" from Sandy aid
Jillian Rayfield
-
Judge tells lesbian couple to separate -- or lose kids
Irin Carmon
-
Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer
Natasha Lennard
-
Greek yogurt, toxic waste hazard?
Kristen Gwynne, AlterNet
-
Inhofe and Coburn: Red state hypocrites
Joan Walsh
-
Facebook's hate speech problem
Mary Elizabeth Williams
-
Brad Pitt keeps breaking his silence on how boring marriage to Jennifer Aniston was
Daniel D'Addario
-
Graphic video reportedly shows possible London machete attack suspect
Jillian Rayfield
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com

54 points55 points56 points | 1 comment

34 points35 points36 points | 9 comments

25 points26 points27 points | 1 comment
From Around the Web
Presented by Scribol
-
No Evidence FBI Is Targeting Chechen Separatists In Boston Bombing Case, Advocates Say - Welcome Back Weiner Puns
-
Bill De Blasio Won't Be Distracted By Anthony Weiner -
State Roadblocks Could Complicate Marriage Momentum - Obama Calls On Naval Academy Graduates To Help Put An End To Sexual Assault In The Military



Comments
28 Comments