I expect dog whistle politics from the repukes: I'm distressed as all hell

[cali]

when I see dems doing it.

First of all, I'm not accusing Hillary of anything regarding this or the Shaheen comments or the email thing.

Andrew Cuomo is the freakin' Attny General of NY. He's lived in NYC. He knows enough not to make such a comment. Or at the very least, he should know. Same thing goes for Shaheen, a dem activist and spouse of a dem Governor.

This is just shocking as hell to me. And after Cuomo's comments I think the Clinton campaign should do something about it. They need to give marching orders to the troops, absolutely laying down the law about these kinds of tactics. This stuff does not help Hillary, but even more importantly, it hurts the party.

It's not good to tolerate even a whiff of bigotry. It's not what the democratic party should stand for.

[JeffR]

1. Damn right!

:kick:

[TwilightGardener]

2. Agreed--hard to believe he could say something so obviously

racial against a black man without pre-meditating it, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt.

[cali]

5. I wish I could believe that it was simply a goof, but the more I think about it

the harder I find it to buy. Cuomo had to be aware of the tension caused by Shaheen's comments. He knows enough not to go there- and he did. I think the rationale is that the potential payoff is worth the cost.

[wndycty]

7. Here is a simple test. . .could you imagine him using those words to describe Edwards?

:kick:

[cali]

8. That is a good test. n/t

[OneGrassRoot]

3. Agreed. I just now read what Cuomo said and am sitting here....

:wow:

[goldcanyonaz]

4. "Furthermore, I don't blame Hillary for something Cuomo said. I'm tired of this shit." post by Cali

More double talk from you.

[cali]

6. what the fuck are you talking about?

What double talk. have enough guts to explain what about my OP was double talk, or demonstrate that you're full of it.

[Hello_Kitty]

11. Uh, cali's OP here is perfectly consistent with that. I don't see double talk.

Try reading the whole thing, for one, and then answer to the content. If you can.

[H2O Man]

9. I like Andrew Cuomo.

I think that he said an unfortunate thing. There could be a couple reasons why he did. I think it is most likely it was because he wasn't thinking clearly. He should step up to the plate and address the issue -- because these types of things have the potential to create divisions that can harm the party in the fall.

[cali]

12. I neither like or dislike him as I'm not familiar enough with him to

form that kind of opinion, but I suppose it could just be a mistake, but after Shaheen, it's hard to imagine that prominent Clinton supporters aren't aware of the tension and the pitfalls of making remarks that can be interpreted as bigoted.

[H2O Man]

14. It is really bad timing.

I think that we could be witnessing bitter fractures in the democratic party that we can ill afford. If Mr. Cuomo steps up to the plate and corrects his error in judgement, it would benefit the entire party. We need to move in a positive direction, rather than the ugly finger-pointing and insults that are becoming too common.

[cali]

16. I agree. That's the best possible scenario. He is the one who

can make amends, and he should do it.

[H2O Man]

21. He needs to take

full responsibility for the error in judgement. That doesn't mean saying he was taken out of context, or trying to pad it with other nice things he has said about Senator Obama. It's being reported that he is only going half way on another thread. Sometimes we have to take ownership of our errors.

[robbedvoter]

37. He has a knack for saying unfortunate things:

in 2001 when running for governor he was asked: will your father name be a problem in winning it? "How can it be - look who's in the White house now" Andrew has been in Gore's campaign and saw the theft up close, yet chose to legitimize Bush - right after the coup.
I would NEVER vote for him since.

[BootinUp]

10. I just don't agree

the Cuomo's comments will be perceived as so offensive they require Hillary to comment on them. Poor choice of words on his part, nothing more. Some are trying to make a mountain out of fly speck for political reasons.

[cali]

15. I'm not saying that HIllary should comment on them.

I am saying that the campaign should bend the ear of people speaking for her. It's up to her to decide whether to address this publically. If this was one incident, in isolation, I'd agree that it wasn't of enormous consequence, but it's not. The campaign had to sever ties with Billy Shaheen over a similar incident. They had to get rid of two volunteers over the email thing. It's becoming a problem.

[BootinUp]

20. I agree that she should advise

public speakers to be more sensitive to avoid saying stupid things.

[redqueen]

13. I have to hope it wasn't done intentionally...

but you're right that he *should* know better.

It's unbelievable...



I missed whatever Shaheen said though.

[wndycty]

17. Would he have said the same thing about Edwards?

:kick:

[redqueen]

19. I really doubt it...

but that said, I don't blame the campaign for this. Every campaign has loose cannons just as they have attack dogs... and I'm trying to do that whole "never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity" thing. It's HARD.

[wndycty]

23. There has been series of incidents. . .

. . .if this was a onetime thing I would give them the benefit of the doubt.

[redqueen]

24. More than the two?

Is there more than Shaheen and now Cuomo?

[cali]

18. Shaheen hinted that Obama might

have sold drugs in the guise of concern about what the repukes would say about Obama's youthful drug experimentation.

[redqueen]

22. Oh!

I remember that ... didn't know who said it. Thanks.

[Cameron27]

25. Shaheen actually did frame

'selling drugs' as something that the RWers would hit him with. Do you think Shaheen is a racist or that he was deliberately trying to associate that term in a racist way?

[H2O Man]

26. It was a low blow.

And there is really no excuse for it. Trying to justify it with the bit about "republicans may do this" does not make it okay.

[Cameron27]

28. I agree, and I'm glad he stepped down,

I just want to be clear about what we're accusing him of.

[cali]

27. no. i don't think that Shaheen is a racist

but it does appear he was willing to use unfortunate language for political advantage. Same with Cuomo. And I think the Clinton campaign reacted appropriately by disassociating themselves from him.

[Cameron27]

30. I don't think he used the unfortunate language

to purposely make a racial connection to the issue at all.

[wndycty]

29. How come no one has ever framed that issue on other Democrats who . . .

. . .have admitted to drug use and why do Democrats need to do the GOP's work for them?

[Cameron27]

31. I don't know,

what do you think?

[dionysus]

32. K&R

[0007]

33. Marching orders to the troops? Holy Cow!!

Subject
Back in the Race
Question
Do you think Hillary's emotional outburst contributed to her victory in N.H.?

January 10, 2008
Read More: Hillary Clinton

A prominent New York Clinton supporter, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, on Iowa and New Hampshire:

”It’s not a TV-crazed race. Frankly you can’t buy your way into it,” Cuomo said. “You can’t shuck and jive at a press conference,” he added. “All those moves you can make with the press don’t work when you’re in someone’s living room.”

(Cassell's attributes the phrase to a specifically African-American -- though not racist -- origin.)

UPDATE: Though the report I link refers specifically to New Hampshire, Cuomo called to play the tape of the interview, in which he says nice things about Obama, and in which the quote above is describing both Iowa and New Hampshire -- meaning it's not a direct reference to Clinton's primary victory, or attempt to explain it.

"Barrack Obama is a beautiful symbol. He's a powerful speaker. He's a charismatic figure. And what he has to say is important for the Democrats," Cuomo says in the interview, with the New York Post's Fred Dicker.

"It was never about Obama in the first place," Cuomo told me of the use of the phrase, which he said he was using "as a synonym for 'bob and weave.'"

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0108/Dept_of_word_choice.html

Who knows? This did come from a strong Hillary supporter and probably before the last ballet was counted Tuesday.

[Cameron27]

34. So you're attempting to

link Cuomo's statements directly to Hillary Clinton now. Superbly done.

[0007]

38. No more than what's in the link.

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

35. "It hurts the party"-- exactly

alienating African-Americans like this, first with Hillary's ridiculous comments on MLK vs. LBJ and now this shuck-and-jive comment, is a guaranteed formula for disaster for us.

[robbedvoter]

36. Agreed. I was always embarrased by him (didn't vote for him - I voted the Green

candidate and in the primaries Mark Green.