Internet whisper campaigns

Ben Smith's blog has the following:

So was it even acceptable to ask the question? [about something Michelle Obama may, or may not, have said, according to postings on the internet]

Before Obama could answer, communications director Robert Gibbs interjected: “You just did.”

“That is my point,” Obama said. “I just think people have to think about it before they ask.”

NOTE: Obama's clearly right that this is how stories for which there's no evidence at all make it into the public eye. So I'm not linking or detailing the rumor, since there's just zero credible evidence for it. This is probably a silly old media vestige, of course; Google has no such standards. And Obama's discussion of it is, more broadly, news: As he acknowledged yesterday, beating back whisper campaigns is perhaps the central challenge his campaign faces.

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Separately, of course, is the matter of Michelle Obama's undergrad thesis at Princeton University, which has been pulled from public access. And, of course, Obama's patent advisor, Mark Lemley, did say Gary Boone invented the integrated circuit, but no one really cares.