Great Article in the New Statesman Exposes BHO's Slimeball Tactics

[NashVegas]

http://www.newstatesman.com/200804030028

Presumably goaded by Obama's taunts that she was merely "taking tea" in visits to more than 90 countries, she started to overdramatise her roles in Bosnia and Northern Ireland, for example, in her stump speeches. Saying that she flew into Tuzla US air force base in Bosnia in 1996 "under sniper fire" proved disastrous for her when television footage appeared of her smilingly talking to a little girl in a peaceful greeting ceremony on the tarmac. The truth, according to a reporter on the trip, is that her C-17 plane was accompanied by jet fighters from the Ramstein air base in Germany, that the Secret Service insisted she wear a flak jacket, and that her plane made a steep descent of the kind routinely used when landing in a war zone. But the mud that she was a liar had stuck, and her poll ratings - as Obama's had done a few days before - plunged.

The genius of the Axelrod strategy thus far is that it has been directly centred on race while maintaining the appearance of the opposite, appropriating the race card as well as that of moral rectitude for Obama himself. Very early in the campaign, Obama's South Carolina press office put out a memo pronouncing routine political sniping from the Clinton camp to be racist. The memo came from a local "low-level staffer", Axelrod reassured us. In fact, it was written by Amaya Smith, a seasoned Democratic Party spokesperson and former congressional press secretary based in Washington - and the labelling of the Clintons as racists had stuck.

Geraldine Ferraro, the Democrats' vice-presidential candidate in 1984 and a former congresswoman, was similarly targeted. In an interview last month with a tiny Californian newspaper called the Daily Breeze, that would have passed unnoticed by at least 99.99 per cent of Americans, Ferraro casually observed that if Obama was a white man or "a woman of any colour," he would not be a presidential candidate today. Her remarks led to a national furore, but nobody pointed out that it was Obama's campaign that alerted the national media to Ferraro's words.

..

On 30 March the Washington Post reported that key details in Obama's version of how JFK and the "Kennedy Foundation" had funded his Kenyan father's study in the US "are either untrue or grossly oversimplified". It quoted an Obama spokesman acknowledging that Obama had "erred" in crediting the Kennedy family with a role in what he called his "very existence" in the US. Obama's evasions and silences about his close relationship with Antoin "Tony" Rezko, currently on trial for extortion and fraud, also come close to lying; he used the furore over his pastor to release, virtually unnoticed, details of even closer links with Rezko (a $250,000 donation from him rather than $150,000, for example) that he had failed to disclose before.

[rurallib]

1. Got anything on McCain? He is the opposition here

John Sydney McCain III if you need to look it up.

[ruggerson]

9. In a forum that is 24/7 bash Hillary all the time

your response is hilarious.

[rurallib]

20. Uh - I read an awful lot of Obama bashing also

I see no need to give McCain any more fuel. Let he RW media do their own work. McCain is a total fucking jerk and this needs to broadcast.
All the bashing in the world will probably not change one mind here. Best to use that venom where it will do some good.

[BlooInBloo]

30. And so far out of proportion to the number of Clinton supporters too. Go figure.

[JayFredMuggs]

43. Just shows you that Hillary's message is not one of truth that Dems

can believe in anymore!

[mountainvue]

26. Sydney? You learn something

new every day here at DU.

[bunnies]

2. Everything Hillary does wrong is Obamas fault.

Got it.

[Liberal Veteran]

3. Speaking of "slimeball tactics"......

:eyes:

[DJ13]

4. Obama didnt make Hillary LIE

That was her own doing.

:eyes:

[NashVegas]

13. That Exaggeration? Obama Has His Own Share of Fibs

Selma. Rezko. Wright.

[DJ13]

15. Exaggeration?

And you people call Obama supporters a cult.........

:eyes:

[Liberal Veteran]

21. Apparently some people can't distinguish between fabrication and exaggeration.

Reality: My car momentarily fishtailed when I hit an ice patch and for about 2 seconds I had a worst case scenario of ending up in a ditch.

Exaggeration: My car slid out of control on the ice and I almost ended up in the ditch.

Fabrication: My car slid out of control, I almost hit 5 cars as I careened towards the ditch at 80 miles an hour and I landed upside down in the ditch, but I was able to stick my foot out the door and give the car a push back to an upright position and continue my journey despite my close brush with death.

[dchill]

23. AND....

you had no insurance!

[dchill]

22. No, Obama DIDN'T make Hillary lie...

It was obviously David Axelrod. But Obama is responsible for it - he employs Axelrod. It is scandalous when people make Hillary lie, misspeak, misrepresent, or completely reverse her opinion. Obama is the one who needs to GO DOWN for being a better, smoother politician than Hillary Clinton. THAT is the issue here! So don't EVEN try to get away with blaming Hillary's actions on HILLARY. It is NEVER her fault! If she loses this nomination, it will be ALL OBAMA'S FAULT! And you know it...

[futureliveshere]

5. Isn't it a bit early in the day to be hitting the bottle??

[mrreowwr_kittty]

6. Handwringing about Clinton being "slimed", followed by sliming Obama.

Real fucking credible there, bud.

[Cooley Hurd]

7. Weak...

If that's all Clinton's supporters have at this point, I guess the good Senator is all but out of the race.

[babylonsister]

8. Love this comment-I also wonder:

Every article this guy writes is slamming Obama.

Is Andrew Stephen just masquerading as New Statesman US editor instead of the Clintons' PR guru, that he is? Mr Stephen has never seen anything good in Obama.

So he went to a posh school and wasn't a grade A student. Well, suprise, suprise, neither was Tony Blair, Churchill or Mr Sarkozy.

I was told at journalism school to always strive for some balance no matter what. This is not a balanced piece at all and it make a mockery of the New Statesman's brand of journalism. I''m certainly not renewing my subscription.

[Prophet 451]

29. No-one had anything nice to say about Churchill

Churchill was one of those guys who probably would have gone down in history as a waste if he hadn't found himself in a position that was exactly right for him at exactly the right time. He had an opium habit in college and as a minister,slept until noon and was horribly rude to virtually everyone before planning the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

Hey, there's an idea. To redeem himself for Gallipoli, Churchill resigned from the government and took a posting as a front-line officer on the Western Front. I wonder if we could get Bush to do the same.

There you go, Smirky, a way to somewhat redeem your legacy: resign from office and request a service posting in Iraq. That way, history will remember you as still an awful president but at least a man with a little personal honour.

[Faygo Kid]

10. A British Taylor Marsh. Who woulda thunk it.

Love this sentence. Sounds exactly like the Hillary supporters around here who just can't believe that we could possibly support someone besides her:

"I am all too aware that some NS readers are horrified that I'm not an Obama cheerleader like practically every other journalist; I understand that people hate to see their new god blasphemed."

Nice.

[merh]

11. ermmm

Elisabeth Edwards comments are really good >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzRQxxldBvk

[bobthedrummer]

12. "Know Your DLC: Current DLC Leadership Team and other Democratic Leadership Council links"

HRC is DLC, Obama is not. HRC is a proven liar that will say or do anything to "win"-she is part of the RW political machine in the Democratic Party.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5396391

[NashVegas]

14. Yeah, Like Obama's Financial Advisor Austan Goolsbee - The Guy Who Told Canada Not To Worry About

Obama's NAFTA rhetoric. Goolsbee is a fellow at the DLC's think tank, the Progressive Policy Institute.

[AtomicKitten]

18. "Clinton was first on NAFTA wink-wink to Canada"

CLINTON was first on NAFTA ‘wink, wink’ to Canada

That’s what Canada’s top paper, the Globe and Mail, says.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20080305.wharpleak0305%2FBNStory%2FNational%2Fhome&ord=22227716&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true

Ian Brodie, chief of staff to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, supposedly talked about Clinton staff back-dooring on NAFTA to a CTV informal press backgrounder:

”He said someone from (Hillary) Clinton’s campaign is telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt. . . That someone called us and told us not to worry.”

And, CTV was looking at the Clinton angle first:

CTV News President Robert Hurst said he would not discuss his journalists’ sources.

But others said the content of Mr. Brodie’s remarks was passed on to CTV’s Washington bureau and their White House correspondent set out the next day to pursue the story on Ms. Clinton's apparent hypocrisy on the North American Free Trade Agreement.

However, CTV coverage focused on Obama, for whatever reason. Anyway, Clinton and Obama are both missing the boat in several ways.

First, the focus should be on the WTO, not NAFTA. Second, within NAFTA, put more money in the federal jobs retraining fund.

http://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2008/03/clinton-was-first-on-nafta-wink-wink-to.html

[NashVegas]

25. Except That, Too, Is Made Up Bullshit

The known FACT is Goolsbee met with Georges Rioux and downplayed the Obama campaign rhetoric to the Canadians.

The Canadian Press cited an anonymous source which claimed that Brodie made that statement on Feb. 26, 2008, and Clinton campaign spokesman, Phil Singer, says the Clinton campaign "did not sanction nor would we ever sanction anyone to say such a thing," and goes on to add that the "Canadian government was free to reveal the name of anyone they think they've heard from.''

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/03/06/nafta-dance-harpers-chief-of-staff-outed-as-one-source/

[AtomicKitten]

40. In Clintonspeak, inconvenient truths are "made-up bullshit."

Gotcha.

[bobthedrummer]

19. "Inconvenient truths about the New Democrats, the Third Way, Democratic Leadership Council, etc."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2973191

Hillary et al. are DLC leaders, Obama is not, and the DLC's operatives are everywhere-their tactics are just like the neocons, that is what the PPI is about.

[JoFerret]

16. New Statesman is a great rag. Always has been.

Thanks for posting.
We need to know this perspective. (Even as some may disagree with it.)

[hfojvt]

17. "presumably goaded by Obama's taunts"

Is there a source for the taunts? And didn't she first tell the Bosnia story in Iowa in December? Was she being taunted way back then and did she doubt her status as "nearly inevitable front-runner"?

[mckeown1128]

24. So to sumerize you are saying that..

1. Obama tricked Hillary into making up a story about sniper fire...

2. You think the low level SC staffer releaseing the letter caused the critisism of Bill and Hillary's race baiting...even though the critisism started BEFORE that memo went out....

3. Ferraro's words were only offensive BECAUSE Obama's campaign pointed it out to the media....

4. And that somehow he lied by telling the press about a closer link to Rezko while being beaten up by the press on another issue...

And half your conlusions have no facts behind them at all just opinion, watering down details, and spin.

[TTUBatfan2008]

27. Speaking of slimeball tactics...

BHO eh?

[MADem]

28. The illustration for that article is incredible. It's shit like that that will give us President

Popeye.

In the 21st Century, the "youth of America" think that crap is funny, and "cool?"

No wonder the older voters are ready to move to the right.

[Berry Cool]

36. That T-shirt is just an example of the many "fine" offerings of T-shirt Hell.

They appear to be politically nondenominational, with their goal simply to offend everyone possible.

To give you an idea, their Web site features a picture of a woman's face with something big and long aimed at her pouty lips.

Very sad example of what passes for "youthful irreverence" these days.

[stillcool]

31. First...

Back to Africa Again

The airlift which brought my father--Philip Ochieng--and Barack Obama, Sr. to America is back in the news again. Originally discussed this time last year after Obama, Jr.'s Selma speech--which saw the senator curiously attribute some of the events surrounding his 1961 birth to the 1964 Selma march—Obama asserted that the airlift in question was due to the efforts of John F. Kennedy. Observers threw the BS flag on that as well since Obama had already been conceived by the time JFK was sworn in as POTUS.

However, when I found out that my father had been on the same plane as Obama Senior, I did some digging and discovered that JFK had indeed been responsible for an airlift of students from Kenya before he became president. An op-ed written by my father in 2004 seemed to confirm this.

Like Obama Senior, I too went to the US on the famous Tom Mboya Airlift of 1959 . I first met Obama Senior in Tom Mboya's Nairobi office . Obama and I met up again on returning to Nairobi and remained drinking buddies for many years.
----------------------------------
A more accurate version of the story would begin not with the Kennedys but with a Kenyan nationalist leader named Tom Mboya, who traveled to the United States in 1959 and 1960 to persuade thousands of Americans to support his efforts to educate a new African elite. Mboya did not approach the Kennedys for financial support until Obama Sr. was already studying in Hawaii.

So the problem is that there was more than one sortie in the airlift and Obama--and Hot Air's Allahpundit and myself--got one of the Kennedy-funded trips confused with earlier ones which had different funding--an easy thing to do since none of us were born yet when the events in question occurred. Personally I didn't even know about the airlifts until Obama mentioned it last year and I asked my father about it afterward.

Compounding the confusion, my father innocently bunches all of the sorties together when telling of the endeavor in his 2004 column. He speaks of hundreds of students being the beneficiaries of Mboya’s idea rather than the eighty-one students in the singular year of 1959, among them himself and Obama Sr.
http://www.luoamerican.com/baldilocks/2008/03/the-airlift-whi.html

Now about routine racist political sniping from the Clinton camp?

December 10, 2007
Third Clinton Volunteer Knew Of Smear E-Mail
A third volunteer for Hillary Clinton's campaign was aware of a propaganda e-mail alleging that Barack Obama is a Muslim who plans on "destroying the U.S. from the inside out. "Let us all remain alert concerning Obama's expected presidential Candidacy," the email reads. "Please forward to everyone you know. The Muslims have said they Plan on destroying the U.S. from the inside out, what better way to start than at The highest level."

Two Clinton volunteers, Linda Olson and Judy Rose, have already been asked to resign from the campaign for their roles in forwarding the e-mail. The AP reported yesterday that Olson, a volunteer coordinator in Iowa County, sent a version of the e-mail to 11 people, including Ben Young, a regional field director for Chris Dodd's campaign. Young passed it on to the AP.
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2007/12/third_clinton_v.html

Kerrey Apologizes to Obama Over Remark
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4031436
Kerrey's mention of Obama's middle name and his Muslim roots raised eyebrows because they are also used as part of a smear campaign on the Internet that falsely suggests Obama is a Muslim who wants to bring jihad to the United States.
Obama is a Christian.
The Clinton campaign has already fired two volunteer county coordinators in Iowa for forwarding hoax e-mails with the debunked claim. Last week, a national Clinton campaign co-chairman resigned for raising questions about whether Obama's teenage drug use could be used against him, so Kerrey's comments raised questions about whether the Clinton campaign might be using another high-profile surrogate to smear Obama.

Hillary: Sorry for Any Offense Campaign (Bill) Has Caused
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB65wJ6Rcfs

Bill Clinton Asks for a Second Chance
By Liz Halloran
Posted February 11, 2008
The morning after his wife, Hillary, was routed in three state contests by Sen. Barack Obama in their dead-heat battle for the Democratic nomination, former President Bill Clinton made his case for her before a packed Sunday service at one of the largest black churches in Washington, D.C.
But first he offered an apology of sorts for racially tinged comments he made about Obama and his candidacy that have triggered a backlash in the black community and among many other Democrats.

Clinton invoked his "worship of a God of second chances" in pronouncing himself glad to be at the Temple of Praise, which claims nearly 15,000 members. His invocation of second chances echoed comments he made early last week at black churches in California, where he campaigned for his wife before that state's
Super Tuesday primary, which she won.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-

2008/2008/02/11/bill-clinton-asks-for-a-second-chance.html

Source: Newsday
Posted on Sunday, December 16, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Barack Obama Accepts Apology From Hillary Clinton
Washington D.C. 12/15/2007 09:17 AM GMT (FINDITT)

Hillary Clinton went straight to Barack Obama with an apology following a staffer's remarks about any skeletons that may be lurking in Obama's closet, pointing out that she had accepted the staffer's resignation over the disparaging remarks. Obama accepted her at her word, according to his campaign staff, and is moving on without letting it interrupt his campaign plans.


Obama is currently leading the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the two early primary states often considered key to the process, according to numbers at usaelectionpolls.com, but on a national level Clinton still holds a huge lead. The most recently posted poll results show Obama with 31 percent of the
probable voters in New Hampshire backing him with 29 percent showing support for Clinton.
http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=30629&cat=5

Clinton Camp Pushes O-Bomber Links: Ignores
Her Own Radical Ties
By: Justin Rood

ABC News - The Hillary Clinton campaign pushed to reporters today stories about Barack Obama and his ties to former members of a radical domestic terrorist group -- but did not note that as president, Clinton's husband pardoned more than a dozen convicted violent radicals, including a member of the same group
mentioned in the Obama stories."Wonder what the Republicans will do with this issue," mused Clinton spokesman Phil Singer in one e-mail to the media, containing a New York Sun article reporting a $200 contribution from William Ayers, a founding member of the 1970s group Weather Underground, to Obama in 2001.
In a separate e-mail, Singer forwarded an article from the Politico newspaper reporting on a 1995 event at a private home that brought Obama together with Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, another member of the radical group.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4330128&page=1

Bill Clinton To Apologize At LA Black Churches
Once again, Bill Clinton is ready to repent.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/02/bill-clinton-to-apologize_n_84573.html
On Sunday the former president is scheduled to visit black churches in South Central Los Angeles, where he's expected to offer a mea culpa to those who "dearly loved him" when he was their president, Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) says. Watson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who has endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), tells us she'll usher the former president to more than half a dozen churches in
her district where she says he needs to "renew his relationship" with congregants who were turned off by his racially tinged comments in the days leading up to and following the South Carolina primary. (Such as when Clinton compared Sen. Barack Obama's landslide victory to Jesse Jackson's wins in 1984 and 1988.)

Clinton adviser steps down after drug use comments
Earlier Thursday, Clinton personally apologized to rival Obama for Shaheen's remarks.
Obama accepted her apology, according to David Axelrod, the top political strategist for the Obama campaign.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/13/clinton.obama/index.html

January 6, 2008, 5:18 pm
Edwards: No Conscience in Clinton Campaign
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/edwards-no-conscience-in-clinton-campaign/
By Julie Bosman
KEENE, N.H. – John Edwards angrily took on Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton at two news conferences in a row on Sunday, saying that her campaign “doesn’t seem to have a conscience.”

COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton and her campaign tried to mend ties to black voters Thursday when a key supporter apologized to her chief rival, Barack Obama, for comments that hinted at Obama's drug use as a teenager. The candidate herself, meanwhile, praised the Rev. Martin Luther King and promised to assist with the rebirth of this troubled, largely black city.

Bob Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, apologized for comments he made at a Clinton campaign rally in South Carolina on Sunday that hinted at Obama's use of drugs as a teenager.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-01-17-

johnson-apology_N.htm?csp=34

About Rezko:
http://illinoisreason.wordpress.com/2008/01/23/illinois-blogs-recap-rezko-obama-not-much-there-there/

[Garbo 2004]

32. According to pilot who flew Hillary into Bosnia, steep descent due to base surrounded by hills, not

an evasive maneuver. Pilot radio interview: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4uph2

Ferraro didn't just give an interview to obscure newspaper, she previously had appeared on John Gibson's nationally syndicated radio show (Ferraro's a Faux News politcal analyst) making the same points as were in the later newspaper article. Those comments are toward the end of the audio tape: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqL_sm0J8jc

Rezko was a bundler, all campaigns have them. So when the bundler gets into trouble, campaigns have to figure what funds can be directly attributed to the guy. Relatives and immediate business associates, friends, friends of friends, cousins of friends and business associates, the janitor in the building, etc. Identifying all those folks and deciding whether the money they gave was really "tied" to the bundler or not is not always as clear as it might seem. Hillary and even Edwards have had the same issue when a bundler gets tainted due to legal issues, whether directly related to contibutions or not. Some related info:

http://www.examiner.com/a-1289702~Democratic_rivals_mum_on_firm_s_dirty_cash.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/19/AR2007091902508.html?wpisrc=newsletter
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/Story?id=3633824&page=1
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=076fd56f-4aca-4683-a9d1-3c55d748946e

[anonymous171]

33. Why is this Obama's fault? And is the mention of Rezko and Wright relevant?

[Warren Stupidity]

34. So,when Clinton said she misspoke about her Bosnian Delusion

she was lying?

This is all very confusing, but as she is on the record as both claiming she was under sniper fire and claiming that she misspoke about claiming that she was landing under sniper fire, it is certain that either way, she lied.

"Clinton says she 'misspoke' about sniper fire"
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/25/campaign.wrap/

[sandnsea]

35. People are going to need serious medication

They are just going right out of their minds over Hillary. It's going to be a tough road back from the brink.

[UALRBSofL]

37. K/R

[powergirl]

38. The responsibility lies with the Clinton campaign not to say and do these things

This is a Bush strategy. Make a mistake and blame somebody else for pointing it out to the press. If her campaign doesn't want to appear racist, DON'T SAY RACIST SHIT! If they don't want to seem like liars, DON'T LIE ABOUT SNIPER FIRE! The source of the lie is the person in the best position to NOT LIE.

:rant:

[anonymous171]

39. tl;dr OBAMA MADE HILLAWY LIE! Oh, almost forgot- REZKO WRIGHT REZKO WRIGHT

[intaglio]

41. Very interesting article

and very misleading.

1) It does seem as if the Clinton claim of having to run into airport buildings because of snipers has been ignored by Mr Stephen.

2) His choice of illustrative picture accompanying the article is more than a little suspect - if not downright insulting.

3) The Google search he conducted did not seem to identify who was using the Messianic imagery and the time taken for the search is irrelevant - poor journalism or a very bad understanding of the internet

4) The claim that the original allegations of racism that came from the Obama camp were triggered by "routine political sniping" ignores the foolishness of a campaign that allows such an opening to appear. Perhaps Mr Stephen believes that racial sniping is routine in politics - well if it is routine then it should not be - any more than anti-feminist sniping should be allowed

5) Mr Stephen does not argue that Ferraro's comments were not racist and abhorrent but instead says that her remarks would have gone unnoticed if the Obama campaign had not "targeted" her and "alerted the national media". Well which part of that is a dirty trick? The original break-in at the Watergate building would have been similarly ingnored bt 99.99% of Americans (if not for those darn kids!) Similarly the "targeting" of Wright by the Clinton campaign seems to have been ignored

At this point it seems to me that Mr Stephen might be a tad biased, though I do not think he has been bought and paid for.

6) Rezko - Well there is a court case in process any defense that can be offered by Obama will be subject to contempt of court rulings. I am certain that if any solid evidence appears regarding Barack Obama Mr Stephen will be the first to report it.

[Vinca]

42. Unfortunately, another reporter on the trip brought along a camera person. nt