Urban legends, rumors and Internet hoaxes pertaining to government, politics and politicians.
Circulating via email, an image purporting to show the front page of the May 10, 1943 edition of the New York Times with a headline declaring that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against Nazi oppression was an "over-reaction."
Forwarded email claims ABC News issued orders forbidding reporters to wear American flag lapel pins or other patriotic insignia.
Has the ACLU raised objections to U.S. service personnel praying based on a photo showing a group of Marines with bowed heads?
Is the American Civil Liberties Union against displaying crosses on federal property?
Forwarded email accuses global warming crusader Al Gore of hypocrisy because his personal energy consumption far exceeds that of the average American household
Alleged quotation from a book written by Al Gore derides Christians as "a blight on the environment."
From the Starr Report: Clinton nixed mint-enhanced pleasuring and failed to confirm a curiously strong urban legend.
Emailed images show Hispanic high school students in California demonstrating against proposed immigration legislation by hoisting a Mexican flag above an upside-down American flag.
Amnesty International disavows inaccurate 2003 email campaign on behalf of Amina Lawal, a Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning for allegedly committing adultery.
Translated into English, the French portion of an American product label reads: 'We are sorry that our president is an idiot. We did not vote for him.'
Email rumor claims charismatic U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama is the Antichrist prophesied in the New Testament
A refutation of rumors alleging that Barack Obama's birth certificate is either a forgery or an invalid "short-form" computer print-out which fails to establish his status as a natural-born U.S. citizen.
Email flier says Barack Obama used a podium featuring an altered version of the Presidential Seal during a June 2008 campaign appearance.
Email rumor labels presidential candidate Barack Obama a racist for attending a church that describes itself as "unashamedly black" with a "non-negotiable commitment to Africa."
Forwarded email alleges that three former Fannie Mae executives accused of improprieties -- Franklin Raines, Tim Howard, and Jim Johnson -- are all now serving as top economic advisers to Barack Obama.
Circulating via email, an alleged quote from Barack Obama explains why he doesn't wear a flag pin or salute the flag during the national anthem.
Phony op-ed column attributed to
New York Times writer Maureen Dowd claims Barack Obama has accepted campaign donations from foreign countries including Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Forwarded email quotes a campaign-weary Barack Obama saying he has campaigned (or plans to campaign) in 'all 57 states.' Lo and behold, allegedly, it turns out there are 57 Islamic states.
Email rumor alleges that U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama is actually a loyal Muslim who has lied about his religious background, including his claim to being a devoted Christian.
Emailed 'news item' dated Feb. 7, 2008 claims the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan has endorsed Barack Obama for the presidency
Email flier compares tax changes purportedly advocated by 2008 presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.
Emailed photo shows presidential candidate Barack Obama speaking on the phone while apparently holding the receiver upside-down.
Supposedly uttered by Barack Obama: "My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it."
Forwarded email relates a story published in a Norwegian newspaper about Mary Andersen, who was stranded without money in the Miami airport one day in 1988 and unable to pay a $103 luggage surcharge. A tall, well-dressed stranger came to her rescue and paid the fee. His name: Barack Obama.
Email rumor with accompanying photo alleges that Barack Obama did not salute the American flag, either during the playing of the national anthem or while saying the Pledge of Allegiance.
Email flier chastises presidential candidate Barack Obama for removing an image of the American flag from the tail of his campaign jet.
Forwarded email criticizes Barack Obama for being the first newly inaugurated president in 56 years to skip the Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball honoring recipients of the Medal of Honor.
Email purportedly written by a U.S. Army captain claims Barack Obama shunned rank-and-file soldiers during his July 2008 visit to military installations in Afghanistan.
Emailed photo shows Barack Obama carrying a copy of the book <i>The Post-American World</i> by Fareed Zakaria, described in the caption as "the Muslim/Islamic view to destroy America."
Emailed essay by Christian pianist Huntley Brown states his reasons for not supporting Barack Obama's candidacy for president.
A widely circulated email criticizing President Bush's stance on gay marriage is falsely attributed to singer Bette Midler.
Circulating online, a "presidential platform" attributed to "write-in candidate" Bill Cosby. He did not write it.
Email alert circulated by a conservative Christian group claims a new bill in Congress will make it a crime for pastors and churches to speak out against homosexuality.
Forwarded email asserts a conspiratorial connection between the worldwide alarm over a possible avian flu pandemic and Donald Rumsfeld's financial interest in the company that patented the antiviral drug Tamiflu.
This email alert, bouncing around the Internet since January 1997, has just about all of the facts wrong.
Email flier claims that a new California law effective January 1, 2005 requires that drivers turn headlights on any time their windshield wipers are in use during daylight hours.
Email flier accuses anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan of "not bothering" to place a tombstone over the grave of her son, Casey Sheehan, who was killed in the Iraq war in 2004.
Forwarded email combines two op-ed pieces written by country singer Charlie Daniels on the hot topic of illegal immigration and what should be done about it.
Email flier says Christmas cards can be sent to wounded servicemen and women at Walter Reed Army Medical Center by addressing them 'A Recovering American Soldier.'
Email flier claims that Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier who died in the Iraq war, never really cared about her son while he was growing up and in fact abandoned him to be raised by her "ex-husband" so she could pursue her "liberal, feminist agenda."
Email flier urges Americans to boycott Venezuela-owned Citgo gas stations in response to anti-U.S. statements made by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Email rumor claims structural engineers have declared the I-90 Innerbelt Bridge in Cleveland on the verge of collapse and recommends detouring around it.
Forwarded email dating from the mid-1990s contains a list of dozens of people connected with Bill and Hillary Clinton who -- we are to believe -- died under mysterious circumstances.
The tale is that Bill and Hillary are charging their Secret Service guards in their new Chappaqua, NY house an amount of rent equal to their mortgage.
Email flier claims Congress is actively pursuing plans to increase funding of the Selective Service System and reinstate the military draft in the U.S. by 2005.
Is it true that members of Congress don't pay into Social Security, receiving lavish pensions at taxpayer expense instead?
Emailed photos purportedly show the stylish and comfortable new digs of prison inmates in Chicago's Cook County Correctional Center.
The real story behind George Washington's "wooden" teeth and other presidential errata.
Circulating via email: embellished version of a politically-charged TV interview hosted by Katie Couric and featuring 'Manchurian Candidate' stars Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep.
The office of Vice President Dick Cheney denies rumors stemming from overseas press reports that one of his daughters will go to Baghdad for the purpose of becoming a "human shield" in the Iraq war.
Latest version of familiar email chain letter urges Internet users in the U.S. to boycott gas stations on May 15, 2007 to 'put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry'
Email rumor warns Barack Obama supporters not to wear Obama shirts, pins, or hats to polling places because it is considered campaigning under the law and grounds for officials to turn voters away.
Authenticated: A quote attributed to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in which he says that any political party attempting to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, labor laws and farm programs would never be heard of again in our political history.
Fraudulent fliers and emails tell Democrats or Republicans to vote on Wednesday instead of Tuesday.
Forwarded email describes a personal encounter with President G.W. Bush at St. John's Church, Washington, D.C. True story!
Email flier claims the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is launching "an outrageous new study in which participating low income families will have their children exposed to toxic pesticides."
In which we attempt to draw a distinction between presidential folklore and boldfaced lies.
According to this forwarded email, President G.W. Bush was recently (dis)honored by tribal elders at a Native American gathering with the Indian name "Walking Eagle."
According to this forwarded email, President G.W. Bush declared his favorite Bible verse to be John 16:3 ("And they will do this because they have not known the Father nor Me").
Authentic photo circulating via email shows President G.W. Bush hugging 15-year-old Ashley Faulkner, the daughter of 9/11 terrorism victim Wendy Faulkner.
You'd think Americans would have grown weary of "Bush is an idiot" jokes by now, but the popularity of this forwarded email suggests otherwise.
"I [G.W. Bush] am writing you in absolute confidence primarily to seek your assistance in acquiring oil funds that are presently trapped in the republic of Iraq...."
Attributed to G.W. Bush: "As people do better, they start voting like Republicans, unless they have too much education. Then they vote Democratic, which proves that there can be too much of a good thing. After all, it is easier to govern sheep because they don't have to think."
Did President Bush really say in a speech to a right-to-life group that "all human beings begin life as a feces"?
TRUE. Emailed photo shows President Bush running beside U.S. Army Sgt. Mike McNaughton, who lost his leg in a land mine explosion in Afghanistan.
October 2, 2003 obituary for Gertrude M. Jones, dead at 81, requests that memorial gifts be made to any organization that seeks the removal of President George Bush from office.
Did Senator Hillary Clinton refuse to meet with the Gold Star Mothers during their February 2001 lobbying junket in Washington, D.C.?
Email rumors allege that Fonda purposely betrayed U.S. POWs in Vietnam to their captors.
Forwarded email urges California residents to call Governor Schwarzenegger and voice their objection to AB 2567, a bill designating May 22 as Harvey Milk Day in commemoration of the gay politician slain in San Francisco in 1978.
Email rumor claims that a young Hillary Clinton defended murders committed by members of the Black Panther Party in 1969
Circulating via email, a set of quotes attributed to Senator Hillary Clinton purportedly demonstrates her Marxist leanings.
Did Hillary Clinton and Arnold Schwarzenegger exchange insulting witticisms during a chance encounter at a party?
Email chain letter urges remembrance of the Holocaust and claims the U.K. has removed all mention of the event from its school curriculum for fear of offending Muslims
Email flier accuses Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean of backing away from U.S. support for Israel by calling for an 'even-handed' approach to the Middle East conflict and labeling Hamas terrorists "soldiers."
Forwarded email trumpets an online petition favoring a House resolution urging all members of Congress to enroll in any new "government-run" or "public option" health care plan created by Congress.
Circulating online, an op-ed piece falsely attributed to Hugh Downs predicts Barack Obama will lose the 2008 presidential election because he is a "flake."
In which the results of the 2004 U.S. presidential election are correlated with purported average IQ of voters in each state.
Did Janet Reno suggest on national TV that virtually all practicing Christians are cultists?
Was John F. Kennedy's 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner" comment at the Berlin Wall a linguistic flub?
A widely-forwarded email written by Maryland accountant Bruce D. Riddle calls vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden a "liar and a cheat" and a "man of bad character" for failing to pay for services rendered to his political campaigns.
Internet rumor predicts an Obama campaign "October surprise" -- Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden will "excuse himself" from the ticket for health reasons and be replaced by Hillary Clinton.
This letter, circulating in the form of an email chain letter since May 2002, excoriates France for being soft on anti-Semitism. Did Senator Joe Lieberman really write it?
Email flier blames 2004 shortage of flu vaccine in the U.S. on "frivolous litigation" by vice-presidential candidate and former trial lawyer John Edwards.
Responding to a remark allegedly made by opponent Howard Metzenbaum to the effect that he had 'never held a job,' Ohio Senatorial candidate John Glenn lashes back by citing 23 years service to his country in the Marine Corps.
Did presidential candidate John Kerry, speaking at Ronald Reagan's funeral, call for Democrats to 'confirm the demise of the man who is solely responsible for turning the American people away from liberal philosophy'?
Circulating via email: critical comments about Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry by former military personnel.
Email rumor claims presidential candidate John Kerry told interviewer Larry King he "hasn't had time" to be briefed by the Bush administration on possible al Qaeda attacks.
Like President G.W. Bush and Vice-President Al Gore before him, John Kerry stands falsely accused of declaring his favorite Bible verse to be John 16:3 ("And they will do this because they have not known the Father nor Me").
Email flier claims presidential candidate John Kerry, who has decried the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to foreign countries, owns overseas factories by virtue of his marriage to heiress Teresa Heinz Kerry.
Email flier purports to expose the 'truth' behind presidential candidate John Kerry's 'front porch meeting' in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on September 6, 2004.
Image making the email rounds purports to be an Associated Press photo showing John Kerry standing at a podium beside Jane Fonda as she delivers a speech at a 1970s peace rally.
Email flier (with photos) purports to enumerate the personal property holdings of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
'Newspaper clipping' circulating on the Internet purports to show a youthful John Kerry shaking hands with Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey.
Forwarded email criticizes Senator John Kerry's record as a Vietnam War hero/dissident.
Forwarded email contains purported firsthand account of rude, boorish behavior on the part of Republican presidential candidate John McCain during a holiday excursion on Turtle Island in Fiji in 1999.
Circulating via email: A text attributed to Senator John McCain on the meaning and importance of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Forwarded email states that three of Republican presidential candidate John McCain's sons are in the military, and one, Jimmy McCain, served as a Marine infantryman in Iraq.
Emailed "news item" claims a U.S. federal judge has ruled that due to the proliferation of "ridiculous names," poverty-stricken black women no longer have the right to christen their own children.
Email flier urges women to sign an online petition in favor of the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, which would require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy
Purported exchange of open letters between Michael Moore and Aladdin Casino and Hotel president Bill Timmins regarding the expulsion of singer Linda Ronstadt from the Las Vegas showplace.
Emailed campaign flier purports to show the receipt for a $447.39 lobster "snack" ordered by Michelle Obama at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in October 2008.
Emailed article castigates First Lady Michelle Obama for requiring a paid staff of more than 20 people, claiming she has an "unprecedented" number of "attendants."
Email flier purports to demonstrate that there were more U.S. military casualties under the Bill Clinton administration than there have been during the Iraq War under George W. Bush.
Emailed "news story" claims the Obama administration is quietly planning to replace the military oath of loyalty to the Constitution with a pledge of loyalty to Obama himself.
Here's what the former White House intern purportedly said on Larry King Live... and evidence that she didn't.
Emailed photos show Muslims brandishing signs advocating violence against anyone who insults Islam at a purported 'Religion of Peace demonstration' in London.
Message purportedly written by a neighbor of Democratic vice-presidential candidate John Edwards says the politician is aloof, pretentious and disliked by fellow residents of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Email rumor claims Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi uses a gas-guzzling, 200-seat jet to commute nonstop between Washington, D.C. and California three days a week at an annual cost to taxpayers of $5,760,000.
Email rumor claims Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has arranged special legislative favors for StarKist Tuna's parent company Del Monte Foods because the latter allegedly contributed to her political campaigns and her husband allegedly owns StarKist stock.
Circulating via email, purported statements by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi condemning stock market profit-taking and advocating redistribution of wealth via a 100% windfall tax.
'Not One Damn Dime Day' email flier urges citizens to protest the war in Iraq by refusing to spend money on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2005.
In an emailed photo of Air Force One, the military plane used by President Barack Obama, the tail number has been changed to a racist epithet.
Memo attributed to a U.S. business owner announces pre-emptive layoffs of employees with cars sporting Obama bumper stickers in anticipation of higher taxes and government fees.
Forwarded email compares the alleged cost of Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration to that of G.W. Bush's second inaugural festivities in 2005 and the disparate media reactions to same.
Forwarded email criticizes Barack Obama's handling of the Somali pirate hostage crisis in April 2009, alleging that the President hindered the on-scene commander's ability to effect a rescue by withholding authorization to use deadly force.
Forwarded email claims the Obama administration has started a program whereby taxpayer money is being "redistributed" to provide free cell phones and service to welfare recipients.
Email hoax claims Michigan State Police are conducting a 31-day "speeding ticket frenzy" during which troopers will pose as DOT workers to enable them to catch traffic violators unawares. The scheme is called "Operation Yellow Jacket."
Did Pat Boone call CBS and 60 Minutes II "modern Benedict Arnolds" for their role in revealing the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq?
"Legislative brief" circulating via forwarded email claims the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a bill on September 11, 2007 banning cell phone use in moving vehicles.
Outdated email petition opposes President Bush's appointment of anti-abortion physician Dr. W. David Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drug Advisory Committee.
Email petition expresses opposition to a Barrick Gold Corporation mining project in the Andean region of Pascua-Lama calling for the removal of glaciers that supply water to local farmers.
Email petition addressed to President Bush advocates a citizenship requirement for immigrants receiving Social Security benefits and other government services.
Email petition addressed to President Bush and others claims the U.S. is in danger of being 'conquered' by Spanish-speaking immigrants and urges the adoption of English as the primary language.
Was portly President William Howard Taft the originator of this baseball tradition?
Emailed article attributed to American entertainer Pat Boone chastises President Obama for saying the United States is "no longer a Christian nation."
Forwarded email names several prominent Democrats supposedly born 9 months after the 'Roswell incident' in 1947.
During a state visit to England, President G.W. Bush goes on a fateful coach ride to Buckingham Palace with the Queen of England and a farting horse.
Circulating via email, a photo taken of a window of the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Coral Gables, Florida featuring a display of Barack Obama books into which a book named 'Monkeys' has been inserted.
Emailed letter written by Army National Guard SFC Ray Reynolds while on leave from duty in Iraq notes positive developments in that country since the start of the war.
According to the infamous 'Redskins Rule," whether or not the Washington Redskins win their last home game prior to a presidential election predicts which party will win the presidency.
Forwarded email claims the Obamas will have "holiday trees" instead of Christmas trees in the White House this year, and no ornaments with religious themes will be allowed.
Net satire poking fun at the 2000 U.S. presidential election grew in the online telling...
Sarah Hartwell outlines the genesis of 'The Revocation of Independence,' a satirical response to the 2000 U.S. election propagated via the Internet
2003 email flier urges recipients who object to a U.S. war with Iraq to send small bags of rice marked "If your enemies are hungry, feed them" to President Bush.
"I hope you're all Republicans," said the president to the surgeons. Or did he?
Satire mistaken for news: Donald Rumsfeld allegedly calls Senator Ted Kennedy "all wet" over accusations that the Bush administration misled the public about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction.
Short text attributed to Rush Limbaugh points out the unfairness of 9/11 victims' families being paid greater benefits than family members of American military personnel killed in action.
Forwarded email purports to list books Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin attempted to have banned from the public library when she was Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.
Emailed image purports to show Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin posing for a photo wearing an American-flag bikini and carrying a rifle.
Widely-forwarded email written by Wasilla, Alaska resident Anne Kilkenny questions Sarah Palin's fitness to be Vice-President.
Obama supporters claim that someone in the crowd at a Sarah Palin campaign stop hollered the "N-word "during a portion of the speech addressing Obama's alleged "redistribution of wealth" economic policies.
Email by Wasilla, Alaska resident Deb Frost hails Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin as the "U.S.'s answer to Margaret Thatcher."
Online rumor claims Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin pretended to be pregnant and give birth to cover for her unwed teenage daughter.
Circulating via email, a series of preposterous quotes attributed to Repubican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the subjects of evolution, oil drilling in ANWR, and Alaskans serving in the military in Iraq.
AUTHENTIC: 2005 email flier from the political action group MoveOn.org urges recipients to sign an online petition to save NPR and PBS from defunding by Congress.
U.S. Court of Appeals declares the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional. Online petition drives promise to deliver "millions" of names to elected officials in protest.
Forwarded email purports to analyze the results of the 2000 (or 2008) U.S. presidential elections in terms of the population density and murder rates of parts of the country that voted Democratic vs. Republican.
Forwarded email alleges that the urban legend debunking site Snopes.com is "owned by a flaming liberal" who is "in the tank for Obama" and cannot be trusted to provide reliable information.
Emailed "news story" claims U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor delivered a speech in 2004 in which she advocated the "castration of all white males," and that her comments have been defended by President Obama as "taken out of context" by political opponents.
Email flier compares the eco-friendliness of Al Gore's Nashville, Tennessee mansion to that of President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Emailed quotation in which Theodore Roosevelt insists that every immigrant must become 'an American, and nothing but an American,' forsaking their native language for English and all other flags for the American flag.
Bigoted, poorly written email rant attributed to conservative black columnist Thomas Sowell trashes Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Email flier quotes golfer Tiger Woods' speech during a pre-inaugural ceremony for President Obama on January 18, 2009 and praises him for saluting the nation's military instead of the President-elect himself.
"Brooks Brothers suit: $680. Political career to become Senate Majority Leader: $15 million. Using the wrong hand while repeating the Pledge of Allegiance: PRICELESS."
Email flier purports to describe the lifelong duties of the Honor Guard of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Forwarded email casts doubt on the wisdom of taxpayer-funded industry bailouts by pointing out that in 1990 the U.S. government seized Nevada's Mustang Ranch brothel, tried to run the business, and failed.
"Dear American, I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude."
Does an upswing in pizza deliveries to the White House and Pentagon indicate a major military operation is about to take place?
