Cook column: Deceit is a many-forwarded thing

A local business person forwarded me a supposed excerpt from Lee Iacocca's 2007 book, "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" I read it and my radar went off. This was too caustic, even for Lee Iacocca.

The subject line was "Iacocca Speaks Out on Obama." Here are the first three paragraphs:

"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening?

"Where the hell is our outrage with this so called president? We should be screaming bloody murder! We've got a gang of tax cheating clueless leftists trying to steer our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even run a ridiculous cash-for-clunkers program without losing $26 billion of the taxpayers' money, much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'trust me the economy is getting better..'

"Better? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned 'Titanic.' I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the Democrats out along with Obama!'

The date Iacocca's book was published — 2007 — was the first clue this was bogus.

A quick check with Snopes.com verified my suspicions. Much of this is reminiscent of Iacocca's book, but he was referring to the Bush administration, not Obama's. Someone has creatively replaced key phrases. Instead of of referring to "tax cheating, clueless leftists," Iacocca just said "clueless bozos" without reference to left or right, and his suggested soundbite was "Throw the bums out" — not the Democrats and Obama.

The right-leaning revisionist who originated this e-mail also took out Iacocca's reference to the botched Hurricane Katrina cleanup and put cash for clunkers in its place.

Be wary of forwards, even if you love what they say.

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There are plenty of public figures willing to bash Obama openly. Why fabricate one? The only reason to lie and attribute the words to Iacocca is to deceive and manipulate people.

And too many people fall for it.

Iacocca may be no fan of Obama's. For that matter, some of the luster has worn off Iacocca's image, too.

Here's what the Wall Street Journal quotes Iacocca as saying after President Obama's inauguration:

"Lee Iacocca, philanthropist and former CEO of Chrysler, on Obama's speech.

"President Obama got it right in his inauguration speech.

"He did the one thing I believe is the most important: He asked everyone to join the team in service to the country. He is smart enough to know that the presidency is not a one-man show. It's a team effort, and in this case, the team is millions strong.

"A true leader has the humility to understand that when he's at the top, he's standing on the shoulders of the people. We all have our work cut out for us."

The quote is also on Iacocca's blog.

Conservatives deride the "mainstream media" for ignoring issues important to them. OK, I think we all should be held accountable. But good luck finding the shyster behind forwarded e-mails like the Iacocca rip-off. Deceit is a many-forwarded thing. Don't trust until you verify.

The mainstream media won't creatively rewrite the words of someone like Iacocca and present them as truth. We couldn't stay in business if we peddled stuff like that.

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The mainstream media is accustomed to taking flak — usually from the people they're trying to hold accountable.

After Toyota recalled nearly 4 million cars in September, the Los Angeles Times began a series of stories looking more deeply into safety concerns. The Times revealed there had been nine separate federal investigations into claims of unintended acceleration of Toyotas.

On its Web site, the company went on the offensive against the Times, saying the newspaper had published an article "that wrongly and unfairly attacks Toyota's integrity and reputation."

But the stories continued, and other media jumped in. Toyota has changed its tune.

You won't have to read about that in an anonymous e-mail.

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Elizabeth Cook is editor of the Salisbury Post.