Listening to Bill Bradley speaking about campaign tactics in primaries

[dsc]

is rather like listening to anti drug lectures from Rush Limbaugh. Bill Bradley ran a nasty campaign in 2000 all the while he cried crocadile tears about Gore's.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh110102.shtml

Here is the best example.

On January 12, 2000, Bradley conducted a remarkable interview with the Boston Herald. (New Hampshire voting was three weeks away. Bradley was behind in the polls.) Bradley “launch a laser-sharp new line of attack against Al Gore,” the paper’s Andrew Miga reported the next day. In his interview with the Herald, Bradley “ripped the vice president for injecting racism into the 1988 campaign by raising the Willie Horton case against Michael Dukakis.” Now Bradley was playing the Horton Card too. And Bradley—alas!—knew much better.

Bardley’s attack was especially striking because of something he’d written a few years before. Bradley’s 1996 best-seller, Time Present, Time Past, included a chapter on race in politics. And in the book, Bradley specifically said that Gore had not mistreated race in discussing the furlough matter. Here was the passage in question:

BRADLEY (Time Present, Time Past): In 1988, the race card was played more subtly. The Bush presidential campaign skillfully linked the Democratic candidate, Michael Dukakis, with a black man named Willie Horton, who had raped a woman and stabbed a man while on furlough from a Massachusetts prison, where he had been serving time for murder. Oddly, the first politician to mention Horton (but without racializing it) was not Bush but Senator Al Gore. In the New York Democratic primary that spring, he attacked Dukakis for his prison-furlough program. The Republicans, though, emphasized Horton’s blackness.

In 1996, Bradley said that Gore had attacked the furlough program “without racializing it.” Now—trailing in the polls—he decided to say just the opposite.

How did Bradley explain his reversal? Predictably, the press never asked. Though Bradley’s charge received a good deal of attention, especially in the Boston/New Hampshire press, the press corps engaged in a Code of Silence about what Bradley had said in his book. Incredibly, only Kondracke ever mentioned Bradley’s prior, contradictory statement. Though many voters heard Bradley’s new charge, almost no one ever heard that he’d said just the opposite in his best-selling book. (Double standard, anyone? This went on at a time when the press corps was combing through letters Gore had written before he even entered the Congress, hoping to dredge up vile flip-flops. Your “press corps’” clownishness knows no bounds, as this ugly episode helps make clear.)

end of quote

He told a gigatic divisive lie to our faces in January 2000, all the while telling us what a big liar Gore was. Now he is telling us what big liars the Clintons are and how divisive they are. He was lying then, is he lying now?

[saltpoint]

1. Huge Bill Bradley fan here.

He's top-drawer.

Love the guy.

[Bluzmann57]

2. I remember seeing Bradley at a campaign stop here

one time. He gave a small speech outlining his plans for America and then took questions. Pretty standard stuff. Well, just because I'm sort of, um, well, different, I just felt an overwhelming need to ask him who was better, Walt Frazier or Earl Monroe? He laughed and said "Clyde by far". He also came up to me personally after the event and thanked me for helping to relieve some tension. To be honest, I really don't know why I asked that question, it had absolutely nothing to do with politics. But, as stated, he got a kick out of it. I suppose it is nice for guys like him to be remembered for other accomplishments outside of politics. He was a decent NBA player after all.

[saltpoint]

3. I'd support Bradley for any office he wished to pursue in a heartbeat.

A great, great soul.

[zonkers]

4. What did he think of Nate Bowman and Bill Hoskett?

[Rageneau]

9. I never saw much about him to admire except his rebounding.

I know he's supposed to be a Princeton genius and all and I rooted for him when he was with the Knicks, but I've observed him in his post NBA career for -- gosh -- nearly 20 years now, and I don't recall him ever saying or doing a single remarkable thing.

I can't even think of a decent quote attributed to him. Are there any?

[saltpoint]

10. Well god knows he could rebound with the best of 'em.

I love Bradley.

I wish he could be the president, in fact, and absent that, I'd settle for veep.

[zonkers]

11. He had a quick release, textbook jumpshot. Disciplined team player, heres video....

him from his college days...btw, he averaged 30 pts a game in college.

http://www.findinternettv.com/Video,item,1308022846.aspx

[JerseygirlCT]

36. Me too. Have forever and ever. nt

[Lerkfish]

5. so, ANY dem that doesn't like Clinton is fair game for swiftboating?

Bradley is about the most decent, straightfoward dem we've ever had. If you find yourself swiftboating him to prop up your candidate, you need to take a long hard look in the mirror.


my estimation of you just dropped 50 big points.

[dsc]

6. when they have a history of lying

and then calling other people liars, then yes, it is fair game. He lied, flat out lied, about Gore in regards to Willie Horton. He didn't exaggerate, he didn't gild the lillie. He lied, pure and simple. Now he presents himself as the pure arbitor of truth.

[Lerkfish]

13. your partisanship has blinded you.

and perverted your logic, IMHO.

[Metric System]

7. Some of the responses here are interesting. You provide a legimate example of Bradley's campaign

tactics and not only do they choose not to discuss it, they want to know HOW DARE YOU criticize a "good" person like Bradley. You see, they refuse to believe or discuss anything negative about Obama or his devout followers like Bradley, but anything negative about the Clintons (and their supporters) is fair-game, very likely true and a completely legitimate topic. Unbelievable!

[dsc]

8. sadly not unbelievable at all

[hulka38]

12. A former Senator that is advocating and supporting Obama is now a "devout follower"?

"Anything negative about the Clintons is fair game..." - Do you see a thread bashing Rep. Nita Lowey, Hillary's supporter on MTP this morning, and calling her a liar or digging up old garbage about her from twenty years ago?

Now on the substance, as much as I like Al, he brought up Willie Horton to begin with. You apparently believe that Horton being a scary looking black man had nothing to do with Gore's decision to run that particular attack against Dukakis. Of course it did. That's politics. As Bradley said, the race card in 1988 was being played more subtly. Bush was obviously much less subtle and it was even more effective for him. As for what Bill wrote in 1996, Bush clearly and overtly "racialized" the issue. Again, relative to Bush's attacks which all of America saw time after time, Gore's attack was much more subtle. As a prominent Democrat, knowing that Gore was supremely positioned for a run at the Presidency in 2000, Bradley was drawing a distinction between Bush's shameful tactics and what Gore had said on the subject. That distinction is an important one. Bradley clearly did that out of support for Gore and for the good of the party. That is what good Democrats do. But now, because he is a supporter of Barack Obama, BILL BRADLEY IS A LIAR!!!!!

I watched MTP this morning and I saw two longtime, stalwart Democrats respectfully debating points and advocating for their candidates. They brought a level of civility and rationality to an already crazy primary.
I as an Obama Supporter was pleased to see this. Hillary supporters evidently were not.

[dsc]

15. totally false

He never used the words Willie Horton, he never mentioned the crime that Horton committed. He did bring up the furlough program and two WHITE, not BLACK but WHITE, prisoners who had murdered people and were let out. Willie Horton wasn't mentioned. Black people weren't mentioned. It is a total, complete, and utter lie that Gore brought up Horton.

Bradley is a liar because he said one thing in his book and then a totally different thing in an interview. That is called lying. And yes, I do have problem with his lying to our faces.

[QC]

17. This place is like Lord of the Flies lately.

Question one of the favored object of worship, even mildly, and they turn on you.

[annie1]

14. did he really call gore a liar? link? Gore is pretty much on my sacred cow list. :D.

[dsc]

16. he didn't call Gore a liar in that link

he merely implied he was a racist who invented Willie Horton. He called Gore a liar at other times in the campaign. I will try to find one of those links.

[annie1]

20. then f that mother.

[Tellurian]

18. I dunno.. but his half assed comments were innacurate

and his monotone voice was more conducive to sleep, than a single Ambien..

[annie1]

19. ok. thanks. :D. anyone who says shit about gore gets thrown RIGHT under the bus. :D

[sandnsea]

22. Gore founded the DLC

There were points in time that he deserved criticism. In addition, he is the one that first threw the Willie Horton crap, that isn't a lie. Finally, that primary was tame and very short. Bradley was running because he saw the damage the Clintons had caused, both in policy and ethics. I don't know that Gore would be who he is today if he'd won the Presidency.

[dsc]

25. Yes it is a lie

He never, not one single solitary time, mentioned Horton or any black prisoner in regards to that program. It is a total, complete, and utter lie to say Gore mentioned Horton at all.

[sandnsea]

21. Bradley's campaign was fluff

compared to the crap coming from the Clinton's. This is just so typical of the Clinton campaign. Sit in a pile of shit and maggots and pretend the stink is coming from somewhere else.

Your post is exactly like the ones criticizing Obama for supporting the Presidential candidate in 2004, exactly like Bradley did in 1996. Shame on you.

[dsc]

26. get your facts straight before you lecture others

[sandnsea]

28. The FACTS

"Gore questioned Dukakis about "weekend passes for convicted criminals" and cited two specific convicted criminals who committed murder while on a weekend furlough.."

He DID inject the Dukakis program into the election. That has ALWAYS been the claim, always.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200802140008

[dsc]

30. that hasn't been the claim and you full well know it

He never showed a face, never mentioned race, and in point of fact, the people he sighted weren't black. Or is it now out of bounds to suggest it is stupid to release murderers on day passes?

[hulka38]

27. Exactly sandnsea. Obama softened his spot on warning not to attack Iraq

during the 2004 GE so as not to show up Kerry and Edwards, who like Hillary were wrong, but were man enough to admit it. He hedged somewhat in order to strengthen the nominees even though it could be used later to undermine his spot-on original analysis. It was a selfless act to do right by the party. Of course, by saying one thing and then later saying another makes Barack Obama A LIAR!!!!

[burythehatchet]

23. That is a horribly misleading and distorded rendering of what took place

that election. Al Gore was a mere mortal then. As you know he was DLC back then. As you know Donna Brazile and her cadre of pollsters was running his campaign. Bill Bradley ran an honest campaign, which is why I worked for him. His campaign was rather inept in handling attacks. Gore atacked and knocked Bradley back. Whatever Bradly did was a vain attempt to fight back, which is something we all knew he was not going to do if it meant sacrificing his principles.

Hey, you know what Bill Bradley used to do in the off-season when he was a basketball players in NYC? He used to go to Hell's Kitchen and tutor kids.

[dsc]

24. I wasn't born yesterday

I was alive and aware as this stuff was going on. Gore wasn't a total saint but Bradley lied in our faces on this issue and health care too. I don't care how many kids he tutored he still lied about those things. And for him to now lecture anyone else about divisive lies is the height of hypocrisy.

[hulka38]

29. Demonize everyone while you're at it dsc. I voted for Bill Clinton twice

and overall I think he was a good President. The witch-hunt by Starr and the impeachment were an American travesty. But you know what, he lied. He lied to you, to me, to Hillary and to America. Bill Clinton is A LIAR!!!!
I can't think of a specific example right now but I know that I've lied in my lifetime, certainly more than once. I am A LIAR TOO!!!
I hope you don't live in a glass house.

[dsc]

31. I don't see Bill Clinton

you, or for that matter me, decrying others for lying and holding ourselves to be pure. Bradley has repeatedly, without siting even one case, accused Senator Clinton of lying, this is after he directly lied to our faces about Gore. Incidently this isn't even the only example, it is simply the worst.

[hulka38]

35. Like I said, I voted for Bill twice. But the irony here as you hold truth and virtue above all,

is that you're defending the Clintons of all people by calling a man like Bill Bradley a liar. That administration which Hillary likes to remind us she was a big part of will not be remembered for it's honesty, integrity and openess.

[dsc]

37. actually for a modern administration

facing the special coucil law they did pretty damn well. In eight years in office there were 0, count them 0, convictions for any act done while in the administration. This is despite over 100 million dollars being spent on various investigations. Cisneros was convicted of lying about a mistress prior to joining the cabinet and Espy's conviction was tossed out on appeal. By comparison, Reagan had several of his cabinet members indicted and facing conviction but for Bush's pardons. Bush also had to pardon one of his people. Bush 2 has had two convictions already and he isn't even done yet and didn't face independent prosecutors. I'll take Clinton's record over every adminstration in my lifetime save Carter's. (I go back to Johnson).

[burythehatchet]

33. the "height" of hypocricy. Hyperbolic inanity. You weren't born yesterday, but

remember that one can be aged and still not bright.

[dsc]

34. He is going around and denouncing the dirty campaign of Clinton

after running a dirty one of his own. Using, it should be noted, the very same attacks that were used against Gore in the general (truthfulness, and ruthlessness)

[Cha]

32. Bill Bradley is a great American and

hilary is a detriment to the Democratic Party who sings the praises of mccain..all bow down to mccain with all his experience.

hilary has you twisting in the wind.