Guardian: Remember when Clinton Campaign staffers ciruculated photo of Obama in Muslim Gear?

[amborin]

Clinton aides claim Obama photo wasn't intended as a smear

Clinton aides claim Obama photo wasn't intended as a smear

Barack Obama's campaign team today accused Hillary Clinton's beleaguered staff of mounting a desperate dirty tricks operation by circulating a picture of him in African dress, feeding into false claims on US websites that he is a Muslim.

Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, described it as "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election". Obama has had to spend much of the campaign stressing he is a Christian not a Muslim and did not study at a madrassa.

Aides for Mrs Clinton, who is fighting a last-ditch battle to keep her hopes of the White House alive, initially tried to brush off the furore, but later denied having anything to do with the distribution of the picture. "I just want to make it very clear that we were not aware of it, the campaign didn't sanction it and don't know anything about it," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson told reporters. "None of us have seen the email in question."

Obama and Clinton go to the polls in the Texas and Ohio primaries next week. If Clinton loses either, her bid for the Democratic nomination could be over.

The picture showing Obama in a turban during a visit to Kenya in 2006 first appeared on the Drudge Report website today.

The site said it was circulated by Clinton's staffers and quoted one saying: "Wouldn't we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were [Clinton]?"

The picture was taken when Obama went on a visit to Africa as a senator. Obama, whose father was Kenyan, visited Wajir in the Kenyan north-east, close to the Somali and Ethiopian borders, and was dressed by locals as a Somali elder.

The Clinton team hit back at the criticism today, saying Obama's team had turned the picture into a row to distract attention from a foreign policy speech she gave today.

The Obama campaign has repeatedly claimed it has been the target of dirty tricks by the Clinton team. A senior member of her staff, Bill Shaheen, had to resign last year after raising Obama's admitted use of marijuana and cocaine as a youth.

A junior staffer resigned in December after forwarding an email suggesting Obama is a Muslim. In the South Carolina primary last month, Bill Clinton made race an issue.

However, the tactics are widely believed to have contributed to a backlash against the Clintons among Democrat voters.

Plouffe described circulation of the picture as part of "a disturbing pattern". "It's exactly the kind of divisive politics that turns away Americans of all parties," he said.

snip

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/25/barackobama.hillaryclinton

[redstateblues]

1. Remember when Bernie said Obama should be primaried?

[NWCorona]

3. Yes I do and it's not as bad as you believe

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/10/martin-omalley/fact-checking-martin-omalleys-claim-bernie-sanders/

[arcane1]

8. I don't know why that's considered such a heresy.

I certainly agree with this statement, and you can replace Obama's name with ANY politician and I'd still agree:

"I think one of the reasons that the president has been able to move so far to the right is that there is no primary opposition to him, and I think it would do this country a good deal of service if people started thinking about candidates out there to begin contrasting what is a progressive agenda as opposed to what Obama is doing. "

[roguevalley]

9. given the TPP and endorsement of DWS, he should have been.

[frylock]

15. The way Hillary Supporter frames it, you'd think Bernie pulled a Ted Kennedy on Obama.

[m-lekktor]

34. I find it bizarre as well. nt

[rhett o rick]

11. Do you have questions or can you actually make a point all by yourself?

It's important to have lively debates among Democrats, and Obama certainly needed a pull to the left. I am disappointed when people calling themselves Democrats expect lock step, right wing behavior from us.

[Gwhittey]

17. Remember when you became a

[riversedge]

28. Reliving the 2008 campaign is all the Sanders fan at this point. It is past time to

move forward--focus on today's problems.

[m-lekktor]

35. I would have gladly voted for a leftist challenger to Obama in that primary. nt

[delrem]

38. I still agree with what Bernie said, in the whole context of his statement,

including what he said in the upcoming Hartman shows.

Sanders wanted to push Obama to the left. To push US politics to the left.

Nevertheless, IMO Sanders is much closer to Obama than to Clinton. Much much closer.

It isn't Sanders who has already worked out a first month in office rapprochement with Netanyahu, to work with the Republicans to totally repudiate Obama's entire foreign policy, post-Clinton.

It is Hillary Rodham Clinton who has already promised that, several times including in her recent hard-line AIPAC speech.

Hillary Clinton isn't Barack Obama.

Clinton is a quantum leap to the right of Obama.

[DanTex]

2. Obama made her Secretary of State. And she and Bill supported Obama while

Bernie was trying to get him primaried.

[think]

4. Quit lying. Bernie did no such thing.

[Cali_Democrat]

6. Bernie Sanders Says It Would Be A ‘Good Idea’ To Primary President Obama

SANDERS: Brian, believe me, I wish I had the answer to your question. Let me just suggest this. I think there are millions of Americans who are deeply disappointed in the president; who believe that, with regard to Social Security and a number of other issues, he said one thing as a candidate and is doing something very much else as a president; who cannot believe how weak he has been, for whatever reason, in negotiating with Republicans and there’s deep disappointment. So my suggestion is, I think one of the reasons the president has been able to move so far to the right is that there is no primary opposition to him and I think it would do this country a good deal of service if people started thinking about candidates out there to begin contrasting what is a progressive agenda as opposed to what Obama is doing. […] So I would say to Ryan [sic] discouragement is not an option. I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition.

http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/07/22/277124/bernie-sanders-primary-obama/

[think]

7. That's not what Dan said and you know it.

[dogman]

10. A great idea.

Maybe you have forgotten the "Grand Bargain". If it weren't for GOP intransigence we might have seen the Pete Peterson agenda.

[rhett o rick]

12. You guys will sink to any level won't you. I guess you get it from Clinton. It's a flat out

lie to say that "It Would Be A ‘Good Idea’ To Primary President Obama". Never said that. Your quote is clear, " I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition." And I agree. It's a good idea to challenge your leaders especially if they are not representing the people. Funny that he spoke like a true Democrat not a lock step, worship the leader, right winger.

Clinton's new motto, "The Ends Justify The Means."

[longship]

14. That is a blinkered lie! nt

[DanTex]

16. It's the truth.

[longship]

22. Read the quote in post #6.

And put it all in context, not just the Hillarian poster's bolded part.

It's a fucking hypothetical!

Subtlety is lost on some people. Either that or they rip things out of context and paraphrase the words to say something unintended by the original speaker. Then, they post it on INet boards like it is the truth.

I know only two types of people who do this recently.

* GOP and their followers.
* Hillary Clinton's staff and her dutiful curtsying followers. "Yes, your Majesty! I guess Bernie is a misogynist and Jane is an abused spouse."

I find it disgusting that the same day her campaign puts out that latter disgusting narrative that she has the utterly blinkered temerity to state that she won't debate Bernie in NY because of the tone of his campaign.

It truly boggles the mind.

[DanTex]

24. Yes, that's the one where he advocated for a primary challenge.

Because, in his opinion, people are disappointed with Obama because he's not progressive enough.

The people pulling things out of context on GDP are almost entirely Hillary-bashers. Have you seen all those youtube videos? And the links to right-wing press?

[longship]

25. Again, it was a hypothetical.

Maybe people bash Hillary because she's a lying hypocrite. She's so bashable.

Her policies positions suck, even the so many of them new to her in the past 2-3 years, or since Bernie has been on the scene.

We all know why she won't debate Bernie in NYC. She's afraid she'll lose NY if she does. That's my narrative and I am going to stick to it.

Because certainly the reason she gave was utter poppycock. "Wah! Bernie's being mean to me!!!! His tone! His TONE!!!!!!"

This on the same day her campaign implied that Bernie is a misogynist and a wife abuser.

[DanTex]

26. He said it would be a good idea. It's only hypothetical in the same sense that Single Payer

is also hypothetical: it's not going to happen.

His policy positions are close to Bernie's and have been for a long time: they voted the same over 90% of the time. The debate back-and-forth happens in every campaign, you're acting like this is the first time the person losing wants more debates and the person winning wants less. In reality, that's the story of every election.

And her campaign never implied that Bernie is a wife abuser or misogynist or anything.

[longship]

29. Yes, it was David Brock, as a matter of fact.

Re Bernie misogynist, wife abuser.

So very much her campaign. At its heart.

[DanTex]

30. Brock is not part of her campaign, and he didn't say anything about "abuse."

He just floated a video of an open mic gaffe, and then Bernie fans went berserk. It was kind of funny.

[longship]

31. You did not read his post then.

And saying Brock is not a part of the Clinton campaign is utter delusion. He runs one of her SuperPACs. Given that's about all she has and that she never talks directly to voters in any numbers, except cozy photo ops, I don't know any other way to interpret it.

Oh! And her campaign stops seem to be pay to play private affairs, something Bernie Sanders never does. Dinner with Hillary!! $30,000!!! Goes to UW-Madison, no students invited, just her big cat donors. PAY TO PLAY. It's her way. Just like the bankers, private prison industry, and Gawd only knows how many other corporate interests.

Meanwhile Bernie flies coach, charges nothing to hear him, and brings them in by the thousands. People is Bernie's focus; corporate USA is Hillary's. That is one thing this campaign has made utterly clear.

Hillary won't talk to the people because that's not where all the goodies come from.

I wish it weren't so.

[DanTex]

33. I did. And running a SuperPAC is not part of the campaign.

As for the rest of the Hillary-bashing, meh. The electorate isn't buying it, because it's not true. That's why she's so far ahead.

[longship]

36. She's ahead -- not so far now -- because of the MSM narrative and coverage.

And that she takes the big bucks from her corporate overlords. PAY TO PLAY. That is Hillary Clinton's game.

I don't see her filling any stadiums. She had a chance at UW in Madison, WI. She chose a private affair with donors and big wigs. PAY TO PLAY.

BTW, the students were pissed. Not only was the campus screwed up by all sorts of security people blocking off access, but the students weren't even invited. PAY TO PLAY.

When Bernie went there the other day the students were invited and attended in droves. Free access.

[DanTex]

37. She's ahead because more Dems want her to be president than Bernie.

And your baseless accusations aren't going to change that.

[longship]

39. We'll see, said the Zen Master.

Here's something fun for you to close this discussion off. (I mean no ill will toward you.)

The Zen Master and the little boy. There's a lesson here of course. But hey! It's Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman (who chews the scenery here). From Mike Nichols' last film, Charlie Wilson's War.

Enjoy:

As Charlie said, "That ball, it keeps on bouncing!" Too few consider the consequences of their actions. That is why the Zen Master story is so damned cool.

BTW, it's a true story. Hanks is Congressman Charlie Wilson; Hoffman is CIA operative Gust Avrogatos. The two of them, with some help, and a rather large US funded covert war, defeated the Soviets in Afghanistan. This scene is one of the best in the movie because it is prescient of events to come that have had significant repercussions.

"That ball keeps on bouncing," said Charlie Wilson.

My best to you.

[amborin]

20. Her SOS was an agreement; she would support O in exchange; it's documented;

[longship]

41. That is part of being a cabinet member. POTUS is the boss! nt

[DanTex]

42. LOL. You forgot the quotes around "documented."

[delrem]

44. It was Obama's mistake. He didn't need her.

He would have done incalculably better without her. So could the world.

She was net negative to an extraordinary degree. It took Kerry's entire service to correct just some of her "errors", and she's promising to undo Kerry's work first, before going into overdrive.

Amoral to the max.

[delrem]

40. Obama making HRC secretary of state was a big mistake.

I don't care how you parse it, to make it somehow better.

In '08 the whole world was excited by Obama. That's a fact. Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize for accomplishments that he'd only promised. He was feted world-wide for his speeches, for what he was saying.
Then when he won he appointed HRC as SoS.
Then came the private server.
Then came Robert Kagan, Victoria Nuland, and regime change in Libya, and a war intending regime change in Syria. Then came hell.

I say it was a mistake for Obama to have appointed HRC because she brought into his office everything that people who had hope in him, hated. Wanted done with.

[DanTex]

43. I don't think so and neither does Obama.

[delrem]

46. How do you speak for Obama?

Obama isn't going to dis her.

But neither she nor Sanders owns Obama.

My impression of Obama's two administrations is that in his second he is better by far, stronger, than the first, and a lot of that has to do with a redirection w.r.t. foreign policy. Better management. Kerry is far better than Clinton. No doubt about it. Kerry's accomplishments are very heavily weighted toward peace and conciliation, on uniting and coming to agreement, whereas Clinton's accomplishments are very heavily weighted toward war and regime change.

[DanTex]

47. I don't, he does. He's made clear that he thinks she was a good SoS.

[delrem]

49. He hasn't said otherwise.

I'll tell ya something, tho'. I think Hillary's term as SoS was a fucking disaster.

I'm not with you in wanting for more pointless (aside from war profiteering) destruction and slaughter.

A million dead, and counting. For what?

I'm as opposed to you and to Hillary Clinton as a person could possibly be.

[DanTex]

50. Yeah, I kinda figured that you didn't think she was so good as SoS.

I don't want war profiteering or destruction or slaughter, don't know where you get that idea. Neither do Obama or Hillary.

[delrem]

51. So, you're unaware of the PNAC wars? How cute. /nt

[DanTex]

53. And this has what to do with Hillary's term as SoS?

[delrem]

55. You have to get a clue about the PNAC wars, first, before I can answer.

After reading a lot of your posts I've got to say to you "good luck with that".

[DanTex]

57. Well, if you can't answer, that's fine. I get that a lot from Hillary bashers that can't

back up their conspiracy theories with facts.

[Scuba]

5. Camp Weathervane's relentless pursuit of the bottom.

[Hydra]

13. We don't even have to hand them shovels n/t

[pdsimdars]

18. This is what they freak out about. . . . (thanks arcane1)

"I think one of the reasons that the president has been able to move so far to the right is that there is no primary opposition to him, and I think it would do this country a good deal of service if people started thinking about candidates out there to begin contrasting what is a progressive agenda as opposed to what Obama is doing. "


That is the quote they talk about when saying Bernie called for Obama to be primaried.
READ IT.

Please, save your fake outrage.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

19. The only sentance that matters:

"However, the tactics are widely believed to have contributed to a backlash against the Clintons among Democrat voters."

They did NOT learn their lesson.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

21. Some of us remember her going full Rove on Obama

We haven't forgotten and we haven't forgiven.

[Jitter65]

23. Yes, and i remember this:

Aides for Mrs Clinton, who is fighting a last-ditch battle to keep her hopes of the White House alive, initially tried to brush off the furore, but later denied having anything to do with the distribution of the picture. "I just want to make it very clear that we were not aware of it, the campaign didn't sanction it and don't know anything about it," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson told reporters. "None of us have seen the email in question."

Now Bernie can deny knowing about the data breach and the FEC issues, apologize and walk away unforgiven and not one blinks an eye.

[Trenzalore]

27. I was on Team Obama in 2008

Sanders supporters are really whining when they say Clinton is playing dirty. She hasn't even take the velvet gloves off for Bernie.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

32. Wait for it. "The Guardian is a right wing rag paid by Karl Rove."

[StevieM]

45. I remember this inaccurate story. It never really happened, but I remember it being made up

at the time.

[delrem]

48. It was happening at the time, in the Dem primaries. OK?

The "facts" are there to to be studied.

Whether the photo originally came from some branch of HRC's campaign or not?
Who is to know?

What is known is that Hillary and her husband did in fact "play the race card", and her surrogates did as well, and all with little indication of awareness of how badly that kind of politics was perceived. So they lost. Too bad. I cried for them. So sad.

[StevieM]

52. I completely disagree. I watched the whole primary and I reject that assertion that

Hillary played the race card.

The accusation was so ridiculous. It was essentially that Hillary decided to throw away the black vote, which at a point she was doing OK with, even if she was losing it. Supposedly, Hillary thought there were more votes from racist whites then she would be giving up in black votes. So Hillary was both a complete idiot and pure evil.

It was a disgusting smear against her which only reflected on the people making the accusation.

I swear, the 2008 Primaries was the only election I ever saw where every single so-called "attack that backfired" started out as a negative on the person it was "backfiring" on from the first second the story broke.

Remember when Obama made those "bitter" comments during the Pennsylvania Primary? Hillary hit him hard over it. Let's suppose the voters had said "We don't care about this. Now we're mad at you, Hillary!" And then Obama won Pennsylvania. That would have been an example of an attack that backfired, if it had happened.

In the end, Hillary won Pennsylvania decisively. But if she had lost then that would have been what it looks like when an attack backfires.

The accusations of wrongdoing against Hillary in 2008 were absurd. And no, delrem, it is not "known" that Hillary played the race card. That is simply your accusation.

Based on the results of the 2016 Primary, it seems that black voters disagree with you.

[delrem]

54. ooooo..... kay. Well, you're a person for whom evidence doesn't matter. /nt

[AzDar]

59. Right? Jesus... that made my head hurt.

[delrem]

60. It happened twice to me, the other with "DanTex" in another thread.

DanTex didn't know what "PNAC" meant.
Therefore couldn't understand anything.

It's like they're getting zotted by the borg.

[Tommy2Tone]

56. Yes and Obama was so outraged he named her Secretary of State.

[StevieM]

58. More importantly, he had her on the campaign trail for him in 2008.

If she was really so evil in her behavior during that election, then why was she allowed to be an advocate for him?

[Tommy2Tone]

61. Easier for Bernie to think about supporting Hillary

Since he is not and never will be a Democrat.

[pdsimdars]

63. True people judge others by their deeds not their talk

Hillary is a neo con. . . .Bernie is a progressive. .

Neo cons are REPUBLICAN
Progressives are DEMOCRATIC

Very simple, even the mentally challenged should be able to sort that one out.

[Tommy2Tone]

64. You sorting it out proved that. n/t

[pdsimdars]

62. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Her campaign is just as low road as ever.