Wow Geffen goes after Bill and Hillary

[Perky]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CLINTON_OBAMA?SITE=CATOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-02-22-03-30-09

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The rival presidential campaigns of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama traded accusations of nasty politics Wednesday over Hollywood donor David Geffen, who once backed Bill Clinton but now supports his wife's top rival.

The Clinton campaign demanded that Obama denounce comments made by the DreamWorks movie studio founder, who told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd in Wednesday's editions that while "everybody in politics lies," the former president and his wife "do it with such ease, it's troubling."

The Clinton camp also called on Obama to give back Geffen's $2,300 contribution.

Campaigning in Iowa, Obama refused. "It's not clear to me why I'd be apologizing for someone else's remark," the Illinois senator said.

For her part, New York Sen. Clinton sidestepped questions, leaving the issue to her aides to discuss. "I'm just going to stay focused on my campaign and I'm going to run a positive campaign about the issues that affect the people in our country," she told The Associated Press in an interview in Nevada. She was participating a candidate forum in Carson City.

The Clinton team seemed eager to continue the attack. With Obama in Iowa, aides arranged for former Iowa attorney general Bonnie Campbell to criticize him in a conference call with reporters.

In the newspaper interview, Geffen also said Bill Clinton is "a reckless guy" and he does not think Hillary Clinton can bring the country together during a time of war, no matter how smart or ambitious she is.

Is the Hillary camp full of whiners?

[HereSince1628]

1. The campaign moves on to the battle of the aides de camp.

All this fun and just like Grandma used to say, keep this up and sooner or later someone is gonna get hurt. Then what are we gonna do?

[Perky]

4. This is the second dust-up in a week

2 S.C. Black Leaders Back Sen. Clinton

By JIM DAVENPORT
Associated Press Writer


COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Two key black political leaders in South Carolina who backed John Edwards in 2004 said Tuesday they are supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

State Sens. Robert Ford and Darrell Jackson told The Associated Press they believe Clinton is the only Democrat who can win the presidency. Both said they had been courted by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama; Ford said Obama winning the primary would drag down the rest of the party.

"It's a slim possibility for him to get the nomination, but then everybody else is doomed," Ford said. "Every Democrat running on that ticket next year would lose - because he's black and he's top of the ticket. We'd lose the House and the Senate and the governors and everything."

"I'm a gambling man. I love Obama," Ford said. "But I'm not going to kill myself."

Ford said he was swayed by calls from former President Clinton and Hillary Clinton. The Charleston lawmaker said she has solid support in his district, one of the key regions in the state with a major black Democratic voting population.

One Obama ally rejected Ford's assessment. "I think that Senator Ford's comments were reprehensible," said Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. "I believe Democratic prospects would soar, not slump."

Later in the day, Ford said he had been besieged by criticism and apologized for his characterization of Obama's chances. If Clinton doesn't win the nomination, any of the other candidates are well suited to take the White House, Ford said. "If I caused anybody - including myself - any pain about the comments I made earlier, then I want to apologize to myself and to Senator Obama and any of his supporters," Ford said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CLINTON_SOUTH_CA...

[LuckyTheDog]

2. I agree

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x265356

[Sherman A1]

3. Interesting

Seems to be getting a bit nasty out there this week. Or at least somewhat so. What was the saying of Harry Truman... "If you can't stand the heat.....". I haven't really picked a candidate yet. I like a little bit of all of them, but I sure would like to see them keep the discussion on the high road so to speak. I don't think Obama needs to apologize for what someone else said, nor should Hillary take is too seriously. Jeepers, seems like she might have be too thin skinned to go the distance without a meltdown, if these comments are on the mark. I actually did sort of like her response on the Iraq War Question... "If that is your test... there are other choices". I don't like that she voted for the war and doesn't seem to want to discuss the vote, but whatever...

[n2doc]

5. Geffen can take care of himself.

What will be interesting is to see how Obama handles this. So far so good. If he caves and hands back the money he is finished, no one will be giving him funds after that because they will be afraid of facing the same treatment. Everybody, and I mean everybody, has said something "controversial" at some point. And if Clinton can prove that she can intimidate the other major candidates in this way, she has in effect won the nomination.

[cali]

6. LOL. Not a chance in hell that he'll return 1.3 million bucks.

Not a chance.

[Burma Jones]

7. Geffen also said, in Dowd's interview, that pardoning Marc Rich while

not pardoning Leonard Peltier was one of the things that made him turn on the Clintons...This statement didn't seem to make it into the second tier reports which are concentrating on the horse race aspect.

[papau]

8. when does Obama surrogate sliming others get treated as swiftboating? n/t

n/t

[CTyankee]

9. The question is: does Geffen have verifiable information about Bill that would be

damning to Hillary if she gets the nomination? The swiftboating of John Kerry was based on nothing but total lies. Does Geffen in effect have "the goods" on Bill's sex life that would lose us the White HOuse in 08? Is he warning us that if Hillary is our nominee the repubs will let loose with all of their oppo research on Bill that is true (unlike with Kerry)?

Geffen might be trying to save the party from such a debacle. Or he might just have a personal axe to grind against the Clintons and such a humongous ego he thinks he can play kingmaker.

[n2doc]

10. Geffen ain't a "surrogate"

And frankly calling his comments "swiftboating" (if I read your post correctly) dimminishes the term. What Kerry went through was reprehensable outright lying to diminish or eliminate his proud record as a soldier. Saying that the Clintons "lie with ease" is an opinion, and frankly since all pols lie with ease (if you don't, you won't get to that level) I refuse to buy into the idea that it is such a horrible, terrible thing. We all have seen many examples of the republics lying "with ease" (i.e. Cheney every time he opens his mouth). Are we foolish enough to think that the Democrats don't do the same? The key is what kind of lie is told, and what are the repercussions?

(editid to clarify statement)

[Leopolds Ghost]

12. Since Hillary passively abetted the swiftboating of Kerry, especially in 06, this is indeed rich.

[papau]

13. The Obama spokesperson under Obama control using the GOP Lincoln bedroom line is sliming n/t

n/t

[Leopolds Ghost]

11. Imagine if a Republican candidate got publically furious about a "disloyal billionaire donor"

How we would accuse them of corruption and demeaning themselves
groveling for the support of a few key people in a certain industry
that traditionally gives all its money to Republicans,

and going so far as to wage all out warfare on disloyal donors,
as Hillary is doing...'

She will need all those HMO millions from the Masscare proposal
she invented... the Clinton version of gutting Social Security.

(Instead of turning trillions of dollars of public tax money
over to Wall Street, we'd be turning it over to HMOs instead.
Taxing poor people to force them into a for-profit HMO = the
moral equivalent of calling donors public citizens and expecting
them to be loyal to ones campaign and liable for their remarks.)

For Clinton and possibly Obama, donors obviously = prime constituents
and public servants, hence this food fight.

[rucky]

14. Hillary camp full of whiners?

Sounds like they're full of bullies to me. I'm all for the Clintons defending themselves, but then dragging Obama into this, it almost underlines Geffen's comments.

[Perky]

15. Yep turning a single statement into 7 news cycles is not too bright