All Bill and Hillary's misrepresentations aside...

[Labors of Hercules]

Obama was not smart to talk about Reagan being "transformative" and the Republicans as the "party of ideas". It was a politically stupid move on his part.

I'm glad Hillary is grilling Barack on this, even if I think she's misrepresenting what he said, because if he overcomes it, he will have learned a valuable lesson...

Hillary is teaching him to NEVER hand a political opponent this kind of ammunition, especially not a Republican.

[xultar]

1. Can't you just see the GOP GE commercials using that quote.

[Labors of Hercules]

5. yep. And they will too... over and over ad nauseum.

:puke:

[lapfog_1]

8. You know they can't do that...

might use it in a debate, but not in a commercial, think about it.

Even in a debate, what would they be saying?

[Labors of Hercules]

11. That even their opponent agrees their ideas are the best,

And McCain would spin it that way in a heartbeat.

[pampango]

19. Not so sure about that. Repubs like to characterize Democrats as

liberal/socialists who will raise your taxes and on and on and on. I don't see them running ads demonizing Obama as someone who even had something positive to say about the beloved Reagan.

[xultar]

21. They wouldn't be demonising. They'd say hey even this democrat thinks we have great ideas.

So why vote for the pretender when you can vote for the real thing.

That is what they would say.

[pampango]

23. They might, but I think their history is to run ads portraying our candidates at

their most liberal, not at their most moderate or respectful of repubs. Just as if Hillary is our candidate, I doubt that their ads will focus on her support on IWR or other "moderate" positions, they will focus on her liberal stances and votes. That's just who they are.

[lapfog_1]

25. No... that won't happen

it's not their nature to say that.

It IS their nature to say Obama is a far left loonie (moon bat ring a bell?) and likely commie pinko, pro union, etc, etc.

And that won't square with the message "He maybe said something nice about King Ronnie the Great".

So they won't say anything about the Reagan thing.

[lapfog_1]

24. Yup, can't have it both ways

Can't demonize Obama as a 'libral and very likely a communist sympathizer if you ALSO say "Well, Obama even admits that we are the party with good ideas!"... Rings hollow after the whole commie pinko smear.

They aren't going to get their base all angry because the opponent might have sort of said something nice about your party's now long gone King. Be like McCain saying that JFK really had a vision for America. Yeah, that would definitely get me to call 10 other people on election day so we can vote for someone who is running against McCain. :sarcasm:

Be real people.

[xultar]

22. Exactly, can you believe that they can't see that is how they would spin it.

I swear they are so into Obama they can't see a thing.

[OHdem10]

2. Good points.

[HeraldSquare212]

3. So you're saying this is a lesson Hillary has learned?

Because I'm not sure I've seen that yet, even putting her own remarks praising Reagan aside. It's easy to hit someone else for their remarks, harder to avoid making missteps yourself.

[jasmine621]

4. Campaigning is about hitting your opponents missteps, not your own. nt

[HeraldSquare212]

6. But the OP was about not making missteps. nt

[ccpup]

7. exactly!

the fact that Obama was in no way prepared for Meredith Vierra's playing Hillary's Health Care issue ad against him this morning shows that his campaign has to get on the ball. It was shocking and troubling how unprepared he was with even the most basic defensive response to that!

They can either whine that the Clintons are being tough, or they can suck it up and start being a bit more prepared and focused with the job at hand.

[Avalux]

9. So the end justifies the means? That's the GOP's territory.

I guess it will prepare him on how to deal with the Republicans when he wins the nomination. Her tactics are the same.

[Cant trust em]

10. It's part of Obama's strategy

His Reagan remarks weren't a slip of the tongue. It is part of his strategy to pick up independents and center-right republicans. He's banking that this will pick up more votes from those two groups than he will lose from the Democratic base.

[Labors of Hercules]

13. either way it was not well timed or well received.

and either way, it was not smart.

[Cant trust em]

14. Time will tell

[DURHAM D]

12. Obama didn't make his comments in the heat of a campaign.

Its in his book.

He has been trying to demonize Bill Clinton's presidency from the beginning of his ambitions for the W.H. This was his long term political strategy.

It again raises the question - is this guy a Democrat?

Don't take my word for it - go read the Daily Howler.

[robbedvoter]

15. Hillary is NOT misrepresenting him. He praised Reagan in his book too.

said liberals were wrong, Reagan was right.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4087189&mesg_id=4087491
And I am glad Reagan lost in Nevada. Can't wait for the Reagan vs Clinton BS historical narrative to finally get corrected - as Krugman said. It's about fucking time!

and thanks for the Daily Howler link:
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh012308.shtml
"Clinton had been truthful—and Obama played dumb. But by the time Matthews and Harwood got done, it was Clinton who had been dishonest; who was compared to a high schooler; who was involved in “the definition of is;” who was looking for bricks in the street with which she could hit poor Obama. Hillary Clinton had been dishonest—and Hillary Clinton was playing too rough. And by the way: It’s fairly clear, from this exchange, that Harwood understood the actual facts. (Harwood is perfectly bright.) But he also seemed to know what his loathsome host wanted. And he delivered it to him.

[goodgd_yall]

20. Good essay in the Daily Howler

Recommended.

[goodgd_yall]

16. And remember: "sound bytes"

If I were to give Obama credit for complete sincerity in intention, I would say this: Obama seemed to be having an intellectual analysis with himself about the successful election of Ronald Reagan. He left himself open to various interpretations on his statements. He needs to understand how his words can be misconstrued in the setting of a campaign. Stripped down, his statements sound like a favorable appraisal of Reagan. How he could in any way make a statement about Reagan, the nemesis of Democratic values, that could be understood as giving him credit for anything and think that's a smart thing to do in a campaign, shows, to me, his inexperience in campaigning in the big arena of national politics.

[Perry Logan]

17. Besides, the accusations of misrepresentation have all proven to be bullshit.

I think the Obama people have a lot of DUers on ignore, so they miss the fact that everything they've said about the Clinton campaign has been disproven.

But the debunkers are all on the Obamites' ignore list, you see? So they just go on repeating their crap. It's part sad, partly funny.

[robbedvoter]

18. Cheerleading MSM enhanced BS - why are they so pro-Obama?