The Clinton goes ON RECORD re: PHOTO SMEAR and DOES NOT DENY, just change subject

[wndycty]

They are GUILTY!!! This can no longer be spun as a Drudge story. The Clinton camp spoke on the record about the controversy, had the opportunity to deny and did not! They just tried to change the subject.

-snip-
Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams tried to turn the tables on Obama's campaign Monday, releasing a blistering statement that did little to disabuse the notion Clinton's staffers were behind the photo's distribution.

“If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely," Williams wrote in an e-mail to reporters. "This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry. We will not be distracted.”

Regardless of whether the latest photo was an organized assault on Clinton's behalf, her campaign already is under fire for trying to link Obama with anti-war radicals from the Vietnam era. Earlier in the campaign members of Clinton's campaign staff in Iowa had to resign after forwarding an e-mail that falsely claimed Obama was a Muslim.
-snip-

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_campaign_blasts_Clinton_over_photo_0225.html

[Tatiana]

1. Vile. We all know they emailed the photo to reporters. Just like in Iowa.

Only this time no one will get fired and there will be no apologies forthcoming.

[Zueda]

2. Still no denial.

hmmmm

[papau]

10. there is no denial they handed out a photo that was a valid photo of Obama - deal with it

Pathetic are the Obama folks that deny his smear/play the race card/lie campaign - or that those "left" ideas are per Obama "on the table" to trade for GOP love and changing the atmosphere in DC.

The best part was Obama stopping discussion of his lack of political ability to get left type victories of any size - by play the race card and getting 24/7 discussion of the "race card" - all by using his folks to say they saw racial undertones in comments by Clinton supporters - while he let it boil for a few weeks until he finally said the Clintons were not racists (not noting anything they had accomplished for blacks - like better jobs/income) but then claiming Hillary should be faulted for lack of control of all who support her - only 4 weeks later when he unleashed a few slurs/smears via supporters he claimed it was silly to assume anyone could control their supporters.

The walk on water sale via a GOP organizations/corporate media that has had its emails explaining its support of Obama as an attempt to get the weaker candidate printed on DU many times seems to work well with the men that are afraid of a women in authority.

Now with this photo Hillary starts to play with Obama in the same way he has spent the last 4 months playing with her -

[wndycty]

13. What do you think their motivation was?

:kick:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

look at ties between Clinton and McCain campaign if you wonder

http://www.obamaiswinning.com/2008/02/mark-penns-lobb.html

[bvar22]

75. I wish Hillary would attack Bush & Republicans....

with 1/2 the Venom that she uses to attack Democrats.

Hillary cozy and cooperative with Bush and the Republicans,
frequently joining them with votes FOR the Iraq War and Patriot Act.






Hillary attacking Democrats

[JackORoses]

35. 'a valid photo'? Hillary has stuffed you so full of shit, you're not even disgusted by it anymore.

[Occam Bandage]

3. They did not deny it. They only bashed him for complaining about it.

[cali]

14. you gotta love how stupid this campaign is. it's a pleasure

to watch it self-destruct.

[polichick]

4. Rolling in the gutter to scare voters just won't work this time around. nt

[yourguide]

5. Also avail on politico

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/Clintons_response_the_days_Drudge.html#comments


lower than low.

[Zueda]

6. As a commenter said over at TPM...

"Translation: We sent it out, sorry we got caught."

[NDambi]

7. Wow..no denial at all..just deflection

[Squatch]

8. That seals it for me.

I will not be voting for Clinton this fall.

[arewenotdemo]

29. I wouldn't either. Fortunately, we won't even have that option.

[jgraz]

72. No one will be voting for Clinton this fall

Save a few of our hard-core DU dead-enders, most of us will be voting for the Democratic nominee.

[NDambi]

76. okay..good for you!

[maddiejoan]

9. Pffft

it could very well have come from some idiot staffer somewhere amongst the 'staffers' (define staffer)

If she flat out denies something that she has no way in knowing is true, than that would really bite her.

Why not give her a chance to find out before issuing an irresponsible statement? (as Ploufe has already done --based on zero facts)

[Squatch]

11. If she cannot set the level of professionalism required of her staffers *now*

what on earth makes anybody think she'll be able to do it when it really counts?

[maddiejoan]

15. meh

So let me get this straight.

You're condemning a Democratic candidate based only on a DRUDGE report?

oooookay.

[Squatch]

18. "pfft" & "meh"...the mating calls of

the ostrich

[maddiejoan]

21. you would know.

:shrug:

[Kittycat]

43. No. For their refusal to deny it. Which only shows their guilt.

I'm really ashamed at you Maddie. I expected more from you. Just wait until your platforms become politically inconvenient for her.

[maddiejoan]

45. Imagine

That you send me a pic of Hillary Clinton in her pajamas. She's wearing curlers in her hair and looks like hell, she's even kicking the cat out of her way!

I respond to your e-mail --"Wow. The Times would love to get a hold of THAT picture!"

I have now circulated a bad pic of Hillary Clinton.

[Kittycat]

58. I feel sorry for you for supporting Reich Wing tactics.

As democrats, we should all rally against these types of negative attempts at campaigning. I'm sorry your soul is so blackened that you prefer gutter politics to rising above. I'll keep you in my thoughts, but you're going to have to go on Ignore.

[maddiejoan]

59. I feel sorry for YOU

falling for RW tactics.

But I am happy you wish to ignore me. I'll join "Truth" which you also seem to ignore.

[Occam Bandage]

20. MJ, that's weak. It would take about 30 seconds to do a database search of their email records.

[maddiejoan]

22. search for what?

What would the search criteria be?

[Occam Bandage]

26. ...

"@drudgereport.com."

And if that doesn't work, just search "Wouldn't we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were HRC," look through the two dozen or so that have been sent, and find the one that was sent out of the network.

[maddiejoan]

37. Let's imagine

That you send me a pic of Hillary Clinton in her pajamas. She's wearing curlers in her hair and looks like hell, she's even kicking the cat out of her way!

I respond to your e-mail --"Wow. The Times would love to get a hold of THAT picture!"

I have now circulated a bad pic of Hillary Clinton.

[Occam Bandage]

39. It's fun to watch y'all leap from defense to defense.

[maddiejoan]

42. It's even more fun to watch

Obama supporters foam at the mouth while doing Drudge's own dirty work for him.

[Occam Bandage]

47. And we're back to "IT'S THE EVIL DRUDGE BEHIND MY CANDIDATE'S FAILURES," completing the circle.

[maddiejoan]

49. Your candidate

bought into Drudge's framing of it.

:shrug:

[4themind]

48. Here's what I don't get

So if the report is true, members of her campaign are providing a photo saying 'Wouldn't we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were HRC'
and then when Obama complains , THEY complain about him being divisive? That begs the question, why would HER wearing THAT be any more cover worthy than HER wearing a blue dress or a kimono? (aybe there is an apparent disunity among the staff when it comes to public relations, who knows, and perhaps because of that reason, they haven't denied simply because they don't know if NO one in the organization is reponsible for sending it. (Still a lawyerly, "we're not aware of that being sent from our campaign", might suffice)

[Elidor]

71. That search would yield results regardless

Perhaps the ultimate example of hard-won experience is the relationship that developed last year, brokered by an outside ally, between the Clinton campaign and a man who was once a sworn enemy: Matt Drudge, the Internet pioneer. (News of the Monica Lewinsky scandal first broke on the Drudge Report.) In a Democratic primary, news that the Clinton campaign is funneling information to Drudge is potentially explosive—few figures inspire more liberal wrath than Drudge. (When I confronted the mole, she confirmed the connection to Drudge, but first asked for anonymity.) Still, Drudge has proved a useful tool for the campaign in framing media coverage. When it became clear that Obama had raised more first-quarter money for the primary race than Clinton had, the Clinton campaign minimized the damage by preemptively leaking its own numbers to Drudge. “Clinton Blows the Field Away” was the headline on an exclusive Drudge story claiming she had raised $36 million. Only later, with much less fanfare, did it become clear that only $19 million would count toward the Democratic primary.

The Clinton campaign has also used Drudge to go on offense. In one example, an aide confirmed that the campaign sent Drudge a link to a story in which Michelle Obama seemed to take a swipe at Hillary Clinton over Bill’s infidelity. The story was presented—from Clinton to Drudge to the public—in a manner that was badly out of context, with a link to an exclusive videotape of Michelle Obama’s comment. But it nevertheless dominated the news cycle for 24 hours.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/clinton-obama/2

The Clinton campaign is increasingly comfortable with Drudge. Just like Clinton herself is increasingly comfortable with Rupert Murdoch.

[Tatiana]

27. Staffer: Someone paid as an employee of the Clinton for President campaign.

The emailing was not the work of some renegade, vigilante staffer.

*Somebody* approved the dissemination of the photo (even thought it had already been reported previously) to reporters again.

What was the motivation?

Are you really saying that Hillary's camp did not email the reporters? If she did, what does that say about her campaign?

If she didn't, I'll eat my words and publicly apologize.

[maddiejoan]

38. Let's Imagine this

That you send me a pic of Hillary Clinton in her pajamas. She's wearing curlers in her hair and looks like hell, she's even kicking the cat out of her way!

I respond to your e-mail --"Wow. The Times would love to get a hold of THAT picture!"

I have now circulated a bad pic of Hillary Clinton.

[Tatiana]

53. OK... I'll raise you one. What if I take that pic of Hillary Clinton in her pajamas...

and I say "WOW, RawStory, TPM, Daily Kos, Atrios, Skinner, Elad, Andrew Sullivan, Frank Rich, Keith Olbermann, and Chris Matthews would love to get a hold of THAT picture... and I'm going to send it to them ALL!"

I have now truly circulated a bad pic of Hillary Clinton.

[maddiejoan]

56. Except that the pic

comes from DRUDGE.

The only evidence of 'circulation' we seem to have is on the say-so of a DRUDGE reporter.

Everyone else has picked up the story from DRUDGE.

[Tatiana]

62. Except that this sort of thing has been done before.

Hillary Campaign Acknowledges That County Chair Backing Hillary Passed Along Obama Muslim Smear Email
By Greg Sargent - December 5, 2007, 1:31PM
A day after the Hillary campaign hit the Obama camp for bullying voters in nasty phone calls, the Hillary crew has just acknowledged that an Iowa county chair volunteering for the campaign passed along the now-notorious email that smears Obama as a Muslim by repeating the false claim that he attended a madrassa as a child.

The Hillary campaign confirms that they are asking the county chair to step down from the campaign.

The charge was made by a Daily Kos diarist who identified himself as planning to "caucus" for Chris Dodd, suggesting that this happened in Iowa. In his diary he http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2007/12/4/95938/1959/821#c821">reported receiving the email:

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2007/12/hillary_campaign_acknowledges_that_hillary_backer_passed_along_obama_madrassa_email.php

I have no doubt whoever spread this will be tracked down like in the case noted above.

[maddiejoan]

64. Apparently it's the

National Examiner (The Inquirer's Sister Paper from AMI) on Feb 4.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4759365&mesg_id=4759365

[Tatiana]

65. Yes, which spread to FR. I read that. n/t

[1awake]

32. agreed.

"If she flat out denies something that she has no way in knowing is true, than that would really bite her."


This is very true.. let's wait and see what she has to say later in the day.

[CitizenRob]

12. I wasn't anti-Clinton before. I am now.

Smearing one of our for her own good? That's disgusting.

While in the past I thought Clinton wasn't the right candidate to carry the election for the Democrats I am now completely disgusted by this classless piece of trash. I wouldn't vote for her if she were running against Bush for an illegal third term.

[arewenotdemo]

16. "they should be ashamed"

There's that "shame on you" thing again.

Can it be that after the most public humiliation (of sorts) at the hands of a right-wing conspiracy, Bill and Hillary now feel the need to divest themselves of it by projecting shame upon their current Democratic political adversary?

That's the only explanation that I can come up with for this phenomenon.

[ProSense]

17. Obama's campaign would not connect Hillary to the story without validation

It has happened before and Axelrod denounced it:

The article further reported that Obama strategist David Axelrod said he did not "believe ... for a second" the allegation that Clinton's camp was behind the story.

This latest incident is different in that it comes on the heels of Hillary's campaign and her surrogates promoting Obama's ties to "former members of a radical domestic terrorist group."

[wndycty]

24. Exactly!

I don't think there is any need for the Obama camp to play this up if there was not independent proof.

[Colobo]

50. It's official: Hillary Clinton and her staff are shit. I would expect this from Republicans.

Maybe she is still one.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

19. Their Response Was Brilliant, And It Was FAR Smarter Than A Denial.

With that sort of response, a denial is COMPLETELY not necessary. They are saying "there's nothing wrong with the picture. Why would he or anyone be offended by his wearing such clothes?", and they are absolutely right. Why should they deny it as if there IS something wrong being represented in the picture?

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

I'll say it again: This round, Hillary 1, Obama 0.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

25. So you agree that her campaign sent it then.

They could have done that whole faux outrage thing, prefaced with "We didn't send the photo". But they didn't.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

28. Nope.

I have no idea the facts behind its release, nor do you.

What I do know, is that her response was brilliant, and that Obama's reaction wasn't.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

31. But the "brilliant response" didn't deny it.

It's really quite simple to say "yes, we sent it" or "no, we did not send it". Isn't it? :shrug:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

40. You Don't Get It, Do You. Because Of The Brilliant Response, Denial Becomes Irrelevant.

To deny it is to give justification and validity to the concept that there was something 'wrong' with the picture to begin with. What's so brilliant about their response, is that there IS nothing wrong with the picture, it's completely benign, nothing that can 'smear' somebody, and it makes Obama's campaign look like the ones trying to smear by acting like there's something to be taken offense in a picture of him wearing traditional garb while in somalia.

Face it. Hillary totally won this round, regardless of the backstory of the photo.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

46. Yeah, I guess I don't get how adding a simple denial would detract from the "brilliance"

Not that hard to say "no we didn't send it".

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

52. Because That Would Give Validity To There Being Something Necessary To Defend.

It's a harmless photo. If they deny it etc then they're falling into Obama's hands by giving some sort of credibility to the perception that there's something WRONG with the photo, and that they'd want to separate themselves from it.

What makes her response brilliant is that they put the incident SQUARELY in Obama's lap, for acting like there's something in that photo that REQUIRES defense or that IS offensive. As long as her campaign continues to dismiss it as a perfectly fine picture, while his side tries to make it out to be something offensive, her side wins.

This was a brilliant response on her part. It really was.

[NDambi]

34. This will not save her campaign. She will lose anyway...

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

41. ...

[NDambi]

60. Comfort food..for the soul...and to go with your cracker!!

Because it's over now!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

68. ...

[OHdem10]

23. I am not defending anyone here but I am saying this type

mailer appears to be mor a Right Wing Group Activity than a
Democratic Campaign move.

Anyone who listens to C-Span call ins should have realized there
is an anti Muslim bias in the south. Only 2 weeks ago a call
from a woman in Ala to C-SPan spewed this diatribe about Muslims
and Americans should fear Obama. This bias has been there for
years. Remember Goode, R (WVA?) ranted in Congress about
the American Muslim who was elected to the House(Ellison??) In
Fla, a couple of years back there was a whole seminar attended
by people from all Southern States---the seminar was anti-Muslim
in nature. I read an article on this at Common Dreams at the time.
THE MSM has never and do not report on this for whatever reason.

If the truth be known these mailers are coming from RW Groups.
The calls to C-Span are always out of the South. This is not
a broadstroke condemnation of Southerners. Just know where
the biases are.

I am not trying to create Regional Problems here. This is a situation
I liken to Mitt Romney and Mormonism.

[Tennessee Gal]

30. If it is divisive, why is he wearing it?

"It is unfortunate ... that her campaign would be involved in putting out a photograph that is in its very nature designed to be divisive," said Susan Rice, an Obama adviser and fellow at the Brookings Institution.

[4themind]

55. Perhaps because he realizes that

it's impossible to please everyone, but it doesn't mean he can't point out and fight against others prejudices, among other essential reasons. It does invite stereotypes, but that doesn't mean he can't point it out if that's what he believes in(which isn't to say that everyone has to agree with him, but that's another thing). Why did rosa parks refuse to get up out of her seat? Didn't she know it would be divisive? (This is just an extreme example to show the consequences of using that rationale alone, in a specific situation not equating obama to rosa parks in totality)

[HeraldSquare212]

33. The media's going to fixate on the non-denial

and track down the source.

[rug]

36. I'm still waiting for someone - anyone - to explain this.

[fenriswolf]

57. LOL

:applause:

[Greyskye]

78. that took all of 20 seconds

most of it waiting for page loads. :eyes:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattwright/400394507/

"Presidential candidate Barack Obama tips a cowboy hat given to him by a volunteer after a rally in Austin, TX, on Feb. 23, 2007. Between 15-20,000 people gathered at a concert venue and waited through drizzly weather to hear Obama speak."

[rug]

79. But did Hillary put him up to it?

[Greyskye]

80. Here's your sign

[rug]

81. Lol. I'm stealing that. It has uses here.

[Botany]

44. They did it ... end of story.

Just like "they" have brought up drugs, race, religion, and charged Obama w/
plagiarizim in one of his speeches ..... the Clinton Campaign has nothing after
it became obvious that Obama wasn't going to roll over for "Quee Hillary."


Hillary is going to lose by double digits in both Ohio & Texas.

[wndycty]

51. Shame on you Hillary! Shame on You!

:kick:

[BlackVelvet04]

54. Campaigns don't deny every crackpot accusation...

just as obama never denied Larry Sinclair's accusations. If there had been no lie detector tests, would that lack of denial make Obama guilty? of course not. You guys need to get a grip.

[yellowcanine]

61. But they usually don't defend non-actions either - as Maggie Williams did.

Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams tried to turn the tables on Obama's campaign Monday, releasing a blistering statement that did little to disabuse the notion Clinton's staffers were behind the photo's distribution.

“If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely," Williams wrote in an e-mail to reporters. "This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry. We will not be distracted.”


Why defend something that you did not do?

[Cameron27]

63. Why dress up and have a pic taken

if you thought it was something shameful?

[yellowcanine]

73. That is missing the point. Why circulate a picture of your opponent is the question you should be

asking. It is a question of taking something out of context and using it to further your own agenda. If HRC staffers were circulating this picture it is hard to see how they were doing it to help Obama somehow. I don't think this is defensible. If this did happen HRC would be wise to just own up to it and have her campaign manager apologise rather than try to defend it as Maggie Williams did.

'Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams tried to turn the tables on Obama's campaign Monday, releasing a blistering statement that did little to disabuse the notion Clinton's staffers were behind the photo's distribution.

“If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely," Williams wrote in an e-mail to reporters. "This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry. We will not be distracted.”'

[AtomicKitten]

66. Clinton M.O.: Smear, deny and smear, smear some more, apologize and smear, and keep smearing.

Rinse and repeat.

[Adelante]

67. Mo Elleithee responds, in a convoluted way

A Clinton spokesman, Mo Elleithee, denied knowledge of whether someone on the campaign circulated that image of Obama in Somali garb -- and defended the email, arguing that the text Drudge quotes suggests the context image was a (very familiar-sounding!) matter of complaining about press coverage, not pushing a negative story to the press.

Per my colleague Beth Frerking, with the campaign.

“We have over 700 people on staff. I don’t know if someone on our staff sent it out or not," Elleithee said. “If someone on our staff makes the point that we are treated differently by the press than Sen. Obama, we agree with that sentiment. We don’t think there’s anything wrong with this photo. Sen. Clinton has herself, while traveling abroad, dressed in traditional, local dress. And there’s nothing divisive about that."

He also tried to push back at Obama: "We think it is wrong for the Obama campaign to say that this is divisive photo. It’s not a divisive photo."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/More_on_the_photo.html

[apocalypsehow]

69. They have not a scintilla of shame left - or basic decency.

n/t

[HeraldSquare212]

70. Media picking up on non-denial, reading it as confirmation of Drudge

from TPM:

-snip-

Put it all together and the Clinton camp would appear to be unwilling to make even the most perfunctory denial that they are or were circulating this photo around.

We held up on this because we never want to take Drudge as a fact witness for anything. But I think the Clinton camp's statement speaks for itself.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

[maximusveritas]

74. This definitely confirms it, along with a terrible defense

As I wrote in another thread:
It reminds me of the people who call Obama "Barack Hussein Obama" and then act all innoncent when they get called on it. "It's just his name. Why are you Obama supporters ashamed of his name?" The photo is simply a continuation of the attempts to smear Obama with the Muslim label. First came the emails (which were also spread by campaign staffers), then the comments about him going to a madrassa, and now this.

[Scurrilous]

77. BTTT

:kick: