Pat Dollard | Young Americans

“The woman’s Web post prompts charges of elitism against Obama, and exposes her to waves of vitriol. Fowler said Monday she had received about 200 e-mail messages that ranged from “creepy to threatening,” including a few death threats from purported Obama supporters. She said about 25 e-mails praised her.” Now why would the Obama Cult Of The Age Of Aquarius pursue it’s critics with the tactics of intolerant assasssins. Is it because Hussein is just another power-mad snake-oil salesman whose mantra of “Change” is nothing but a Jedi Mind Trick to fool good people into voting for him? Is he ironically the embodiment of all that is wrong with traditional corrupt politics than any harbinger of positive “Change” whatsoever? Except for changing the direction of the country from democracy and capitalism to as much of a Leftis police state as he can?

Related: Blogger Is Surprised by Uproar Over Obama Story, but Not Bitter

Related WSJ Story, Sample First: “The Whistle Blower and the Wind Surfer”

L.A. Times:

Mayhill Fowler grew up with a mother who didn’t like her talking politics in the home. As an adult, she faced publishers who wouldn’t put her writing in print.

She found an outlet for her twin passions of writing and politics last year in the Huffington Post, the left-leaning website. But Fowler conceded that her early reports from the Democratic campaign trail didn’t produce anything particularly newsworthy.

That all changed last Friday, when her report on Barack Obama’s statements about the “bitter” feelings of small-town Americans thrust the 61-year-old Oakland woman into a political storm that continued to rage Monday.

The story prompted charges of elitism against Obama by his presidential election opponents, and exposed the neophyte “citizen journalist” to waves of vitriol.

The furor is the latest reminder of how untraditional reporters and news outlets have changed the nature of journalism and politics. Fowler, a supporter and contributor to Obama’s campaign, gained access to an event deemed “closed” to mainstream journalists and the resulting story forced big news outlets to take notice.

“We have entered new territory and the rules are not all clear,” said Larry Pryor, a USC journalism professor. “You have to assume that everything is on-the-record. There’s no getting around that anymore.”

Fowler said Monday she had received about 200 e-mail messages that ranged from “creepy to threatening,” including a few death threats from purported Obama supporters. She said about 25 e-mails praised her.

Writers on the liberal website Daily Kos took up the complaints, accusing Fowler of intentionally undermining Obama and feigning support for the candidate to gain access to the San Francisco fundraiser where he made the controversial remarks April 6.

“It’s like the liberal blogosphere has issued a fatwa against me,” Fowler said in a telephone interview.

She said she was concerned enough about the angry response to her story that she did not want to reveal exactly where she would be reporting in Pennsylvania in advance of next week’s critical primary. Fowler does, however, intend to continue covering the Democratic race. “But with some caution,” she said.

Fowler, who is married to a lawyer and has two daughters in graduate school, said she began writing at 50. She has written a thriller, a mystery novel and a nonfiction account of caring for her ailing mother-in-law — all unpublished.

Then last year, the huffingtonpost.com put out a call to its readers to become citizen journalists, covering the campaign for its new “Off the Bus” feature. Fowler became one of the project’s more prolific contributors.

She attended the Pacific Heights fundraiser after asking an Obama official she knew for an invitation. Although the event had been designated “closed press” by the campaign, she said she openly recorded the candidate’s remarks. Others videotaped the session, as evidenced by clips that later appeared on YouTube.

Fowler said she initially didn’t expect to file a report, as Obama did not diverge from his typical remarks. She got more interested as the candidate talked about the qualities he would look for in a vice president and about the mind-set of Midwesterners who have suffered years of economic losses.

Fowler posted Obama’s vice presidential musings on April 7. She also talked to “Off the Bus” project director Amanda Michel about Obama’s provocative response when a supporter asked him what to expect in Pennsylvania.

Obama attempted to account for the many disappointments Midwesterners have experienced from the government. “You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them,” he said, in just part of his lengthy response.

“And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Fowler said she thought the comment was condescending, even elitist.

“I was thinking to myself, ‘Oh my God, he is confirming to my fellow Californians the worst stereotypes they have of small-town America.’ I was just dismayed.”

But Fowler was not sure she would report the statements because she said she was not sure she could capture their proper context. Then she said Michel told her: “If you are going to be a journalist, you can’t favor one candidate over another.”

“I thought about that for awhile,” said Fowler. “But it took awhile for me to apply it to myself and . . . to find a way to do [the story] the right way.”

Editors at huffingtonpost.com said they confirmed that Fowler had reported Obama’s statements precisely and that their citizen reporter had conducted herself properly.

Marc Cooper, editorial director of “Off the Bus,” said he and others who reviewed the story were convinced that it was “ethically sound.” Obama staffers had given Fowler interviews before and recognized her as a Web reporter, Cooper said.

Obama campaign officials have not publicly criticized the story or complained about Fowler, who had supported the candidate and given nearly the $2,300 maximum to his campaign for the Democratic nomination. They declined to comment Monday.

The story was reviewed up the website’s editorial ladder all the way to founder Ariana Huffington. Vacationing on a yacht in Tahiti, Huffington gave her assent.

Critics doubted that Fowler really wanted Obama to be president, noting that she called Obama “vain” in one posting and, in another, accused him of “cockiness.”

Fowler said she thought the candidate had made occasional missteps but she continued to admire him.

“I remember the day last June I said, ‘My god, this man is the next president of the United States,’ ” Fowler said. “And I still believe that.”