I’m Officially Astounded
Mar 3rd, 2008 at 4:34 pm by Susie
I didn’t think it was possible for the reactions of the “Extreme Obama” supporters (as opposed to the sane ones) to surprise me anymore, but damn, they did it. They see this as an attempt by Clinton to “smear” Obama as a Muslim.
And this is the clip of the terrible, awful, no-good Hillary Clinton remark that the rest of the blogosphere is going crazy over?
Gee. Know what it looks like to me? Looks to me like a very cautious candidate who’s used to being the target of “gotcha” questioning and threw in a “as far as I know” to hedge her bets, just the way a good communications team teaches a candidate to do.
Here’s the whole segment in context:
(CBS) It happened again last week, when a photo of Obama in ceremonial African tribal dress during a visit to Kenya was featured prominently on the Internet and attributed to people in the Clinton campaign.
Senator Clinton disavowed any knowledge of it.
“You don’t believe that Senator Obama’s a Muslim?” Kroft asked Sen. Clinton.
“Of course not. I mean, that, you know, there is no basis for that. I take him on the basis of what he says. And, you know, there isn’t any reason to doubt that,” she replied.
“You said you’d take Senator Obama at his word that he’s not…a Muslim. You don’t believe that he’s…,” Kroft said.
“No. No, there is nothing to base that on. As far as I know,” she said.
“It’s just scurrilous…?” Kroft inquired.
“Look, I have been the target of so many ridiculous rumors, that I have a great deal of sympathy for anybody who gets, you know, smeared with the kind of rumors that go on all the time,” Clinton said.
And everyone’s mad at Clinton? How about being angry at Steve Kroft, this sorry excuse for a journalist? I mean, what the hell kind of question was that? He didn’t sound like he was trying to create more controversy?
This is exactly the same kind of crap I was writing about this morning.
UPDATED: You know you’re right when both Tweety and Tucker are trying to fan the flames.
I agree. That’s just fucking ridiculous.
And someone needs to buy that dude some acne medication, before his whole head pops.
And why is everybody acting like being a Muslim is a *bad* thing? Don’t they believe in the same God as the Christians and the Jews? Just different prophets. Has the whole coporate media bought into that old Crusades thing?
That’s the trouble with organized religion these days: not enough gods. Give me Thor, and Odin, and Freya any day over all these fucking hypocrites.
Thor the Thunder God was my favorite Marvel comic.
by James Oliphant
A lawyer in a predominantly Democratic suburb of Cleveland relates this tale to The Swamp on the day before the all-important Ohio primary:
So last night around dinner time, the phone rings. It’s the Hillary campaign–official number, per the caller ID. The woman on the other end asks me if Hillary can count on my support Tuesday. I say I have not decided.
She asks what would help me decide. I say, “Well . . . maybe she can make Bill her vice president.” She does not know how to take me, of course, but has to assume I am serious. “I don’t think she can do that.” “Bill will have a significant role in major decisions, though, won’t he?” I ask. “Oh, certainly he will be very involved. Do you like Bill?” “Very much.” I reply.
She then launches into a two-minute spiel on all the very specific initiatives and proposals Hillary has put forth on health care, the war in Iraq, etc., etc. At the end of her spiel, she says, “And we haven’t heard anything that specific from Osama bin Laden.”
I say, “You did not just say that.” She replies, “I’m sorry . . . just a slip of the tongue.” She then thanks me for my time and encourages me to vote for Hillary on Tuesday.
The lawyer says he was “stunned” and tells The Swamp the call originated from the Clinton campaign in Columbus.
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/did_i_say_osama_i_meant_obama.html
put the shoe on the other foot…
say hrc was being subjected to a whisper campaign of being a secret jew or a militant atheist…and OB gets asked this question and he says no then sputters around and says “as far as I know and I’ll take her at her word”…hrc supporters would be going insane!!!
The secret-muslim whisper campaign is an insanely dirty GOP trick and hrc is smart enough (esp after her uniquely qualifying years as first lady) to see it for what it is and cut if off at the knees. But no she insteads to “do as instructed” by the always ambiguous clinton-machine and never really answer a question…
Can you honestly say that if OB had lost 11 straight contests and more than 100 delegates behind (with practically no realistic {and legal} way to catch up) - would he still allowed to pass hiself off as a viable candidate? Of course not - he would be seen as arrogant and destroying the Dems chances in Nov (providing GOP talking points and sound bites).
But still we are expected to believe hrc, at this time, is a viable candidate with a realistic chance.
I’m sorry but I’m not buying this…
So an unpaid volunteer reading from a script who slips and says “Osama bin Laden” is proof of a vast conspiracy? Geeze, I hear people do that all the time when they’re talking about Obama. It’s difficult for people to retain unusual names. Their brains file it under something that sounds similar, and behold - Osama! Why, even Ted Kennedy’s done it!
Occam’s Razor, remember?
“I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002,” Clinton says.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou4JnWQsxKw
Rachel Maddow:
“This is what you say if you want to be McCain’s choice for Vice President. It is not what you say if you are running for the Democratic nomination.”
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a81/kos102/2007/05
Hmm - I can’t paste the url without it wrapping … copy and past both lines as one:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a81/kos102/2007/05 Other/Obama/?action=view¤t=maddow.flv
“I simply can not believe that with the Republican party completely bereft of ideas, McCain willingly taking on the luggage of the Bush years and the Iraq war, and Team Hillary has decided to make this primary about “experience” and is launching ads that look like they have the RNC seal of approval.”
John Cole
http://www.balloon-juice.com/
Good to know that the whole Canada - NAFTA thing being pushed by right wingers in Canada is off the table because only a low level campaign person spoke (and he says he was grossly misquoted) when he had no official capacity in the Obama campaign
Occam’s Razor and all that …
“slips and says “Osama bin Laden” is proof of a vast conspiracy? Geeze, I hear people do that all the time when they’re talking about Obama.”
Wow, you talk with some seriously deranged people. I have heard hundreds of Independents Republicans and Democrats talk about Obama and have NEVER heard even one call him Osama bin Laden. I have never spoken of my own political leanings with or around any of these folks so they are not being sensitive to my feelings.
The closest anyone has come is to start his name as Osam… then stop and quickly correct themselves.
OTOH I have heard right wing radio nut cases do this frequently.
Oh, you mean Austan Goolsbee, Obama’s top economic adviser? When did he morph into a “low level campaign person”? I really must update my timeline:
2/26/08 – CTV reported that a senior member of Obama’s campaign called the Canadian embassy within the last month — saying that when Senator Obama talks about opting out of the free trade deal, the Canadian government shouldn’t worry. The operative said it was just campaign rhetoric not to be taken seriously. [CTV, 2/27/08]
2/26/08 – “Late Wednesday, Obama campaign said the staff member’s warning to Wilson sounded implausible, but did not deny that contact had been made. ‘Senator Obama does not make promises he doesn’t intend to keep,’ the spokesperson said.” [CTV, 2/27/08]
2/27/08 – “Earlier Thursday, the Obama campaign insisted that no conversations have taken place with any of its senior ranks and representatives of the Canadian government on the NAFTA issue.” [CTV, 2/29/08]
2/27/08 – Goolsbee: Canada’s consul general in Chicago contacted him ‘at one point to say ‘hello’ because their office is around the corner.’ [ABC, 2/29/08]
2/27/08 – Goolsbee: “I am not confirming or denying any meetings with anyone,’ Goolsbee told ABC News, directing queries to Bill Burton, Obama’s campaign spokesperson.” [ABC News, 2/29/08]
2/27/08 – “ABC News spoke to Goolsbee, Thursday, and who denied calling the Canadian embassy in Washington, or calling Rioux, but would “neither confirm nor deny” whether he had spoke to Rioux about Obama’s NAFTA rhetoric.” [ABC News, 2/29/08]
2/27/08 – CTV: “On Thursday night, CTV spoke with Goolsbee, but he refused to say whether he had such a conversation with the Canadian government office in Chicago. He also said he has been told to direct any questions to the campaign headquarters.” [CTV, 2/29/08]
2/27/08 – CTV: “The Obama campaign told CTV late Thursday night that no message was passed to the Canadian government that suggests that Obama does not mean what he says about opting out of NAFTA if it is not renegotiated.” [CTV, 2/29/08]
2/28/08 – Burton: ‘The news reports on Obama’s position on NAFTA are inaccurate and in no way represent Senator Obama’s consistent position on trade. When Senator Obama says that he will forcefully act to make NAFTA a better deal for American workers, he means it. Both Canada and Mexico should know that, as president, Barack Obama will do what it takes to create and protect American jobs and strengthen the American economy — that includes amending NAFTA to include labor and environmental standards. We are currently reaching out to the Canadian embassy to correct this inaccuracy.” [TPM, 2/28/08]
2/28/08 – Burton: “It’s telling that the Clinton campaign’s closing argument is based on a story run on a Canadian television station that’s already been debunked by the Canadian Embassy.” [ABC, 2/29/08]
2/28/08 – Burton: “Again, this story is not true. There was no one at any level of our campaign, at any point, anywhere, who said or otherwise implied Obama was backing away from his consistent position on trade. The only flip-flopping on NAFTA has come from Sen. Clinton, who talked about how good it was for America until she started running for President,” [ABC, 2/29/08]
2/28/08 – Sen. Obama: “The Canadian government put out a statement saying that this was just not true, so I don’t know who the sources were.” [CTV news, 2/29/08]
2/28/08 - Rice: “The Canadian ambassador issued a statement that was absolutely false. There had been no contact. There had been no discussions on NAFTA. So we take the Canadians at their word…period.” [MSNBC, 2/28/08]
2/29/08: Sen. Obama: “Our office has said the story is not true. It’s important for viewers to understand that it was not true.” Anchor: “So, completely inaccurate, did not happen, end of discussion.” Sen. Obama: “It did not happen.” [WKYC TV, 2/29/08]
2/29/08 - Goolsbee: “It is a totally inaccurate story…I did not call these people and I direct you to the press office.” [New York Observer, 2/29/08]
2/29/08 – Burton: ‘This story is not true. There was no one at any level of our campaign, at any point, anywhere, who said or otherwise implied Obama was backing away from his consistent position on trade.’ [Greg Sargent, 2/29/08]
2/29/08 – Plouffe: “The story’s just not true…. No one in our campaign has said or otherwise implied that he would back away from his position on NAFTA.” [The Page, 2/29/08]
2/29/08 – Burton: “There was no one at any level of our campaign, at any point, anywhere, who said or otherwise implied Obama was backing away from his consistent position on trade.” [Politico, 2/29/08]
And of course Hillary’s gonna undo hubby Bill’s NAFTA deals … NOT. Face it, the candidates are very, very similar on policy.
I’m not so easily astounded as to find the reaction to Hllary’s “Muslim” answer jolting. Mostly, her answer has been lifted from its full context (gee, MSM quoting out of context - shocking!), and when presented that way does raise ones’ eyebrows. When the full quote is read, it seems relatively bland and uncontroversial, though with a very slight wiggle at the end “… as far as I know …” ok, Hill, whatever. Mountain out of molehill, once again. Unimportant.
“Hundreds.” Really, you’ve heard that many people talk about Obama and yet none of them know your political leanings?
In my experience, most people don’t talk about politics unless someone else brings it up. And of the people who do, well, I could probably count on one hand. (Unless you count bloggers, which I don’t. We’re not representative of the real world - in that our degree of interest is unusually high.)