The Clinton campaign may be going over the line. If there’s any official sanction for this, they can expect major league blowback.
Billy Shaheen, the co-chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign in New Hampshire, raised the issue of Sen. Barack Obama’s past admissions of drug use in discussing the relative electability of the Democrats seeking the presidential nomination today.
UPDATE: Clearly the Clinton campaign has seen how freaking idiotic this move was and had Shaheen pull back his attack.
“I deeply regret the comments I made today and they were not authorized by the campaign in any way.”
That said, the idea that someone at that level in the Clinton organization thought it was even remotely a smart idea to accuse a leading black candidate of being a drug dealer is a breathtakingly insulting thing to even consider for half a second. Fight, fight tough, but fight with a brain people.
Well we must remember, Bill did not inhale. What a joke Hillary is becoming.
This is a surprise to you? Only those with their heads in the sand would believe that a Clinton wouldn’t start slinging mud at some point.
It’s only going to get worse.
Going too far? Official sanction?!?!
What on earth are you talking about? Obama freely admits his past drug use. Why shouldn’t Billy Shaheen mention it in the course of a wider Q and A?
Tie this in with Hillary having to sack TWO prominent volunteers for spreading the “Obama is a Muslim” bull, and you have a pretty clear picture of the campaign strategy of the woman who boasted at the last Yearly Kos of helping found Media Matters For America…
J.
Tie this in with Hillary having to sack TWO prominent volunteers for spreading the “Obama is a Muslim” bull, and you have a pretty clear picture of the campaign strategy of the woman who boasted at the last Yearly Kos of helping found Media Matters For America…
Is it possible to be that stupid?
You’re actually trying to suggest that passing along email rumors sent to them by someone else gives us “a pretty clear picture of the campaign strategy” of a presidential candidate?
And what the hell does Media Matters have to do with anything?
Do you just type this stuff reflexively or do you actually think about it?
Do you just type this stuff reflexively or do you actually think about it?
Don’t accuse him of thinking.
Quaker in a Basement said: “Do you just type this stuff reflexively or do you actually think about it?”
Oliver Willis said: “Don’t accuse him of thinking.”
And this is the guy who complained about how he was being treated here.
Gee, maybe if he tried harder and actually managed to contribute something worthwhile he wouldn’t be insulted all the time.
Oliver says Hillary’s campaign is going too far in throwing mud on Obama. I agree with him, cite a couple of other examples of members of the Clinton campaign who thought it was appropriate to forward those thoroughly-discredited rumors that he’s some sort of “secret Muslim,” and that sets folks off?
Here was a wonderful chance to show that Hillary is a uniter, not a divider — we were combined in our dislike of her. Can’t we just agree on that?
J.
You’re actually trying to suggest that passing along email rumors sent to them by someone else
Oh this is rich….
It’s no big deal because the emails originated somewhere else. I mean, is that a valid excuse at this point for a Presidential campaign?
Like I said, it will get far worse than Muslim emails and constantly bringing up Obama’s experimentation with drugs.
Hmm…if Obama has such a drug-heavy past, and he’s secretly a Muslim, then he’s pretty bad at being a Muslim. Is being a poor Muslim a plus or minus?
She’s right. If Obama wins the nomination he’s going to have to deal with those kind of questions which will suddenly grab about 6 hours of air time per day on every cable news network.
I don’t think “official sanctioning” is the dividing line here. We won’t know that until after this is all over, if ever (I think the White House experience had to have taught Sen. Clinton about “plausible denial.” What is important is that this contributes to an emerging impression of Clinton’s campaign as calculating and willing to anything, and justified or unjustified, as we’ve learned about John Edwards’s haircut, it’s the popular impression that matters. But seriously, could Shaheen have not realized what a live wire he was exposing with this? If not, it calls into question the judgment of Clinton and her campaign for having people like him get up before the press.
The political judgment that suggested the “drug issue” as helpful versus the cost involved with raising it is badly flawed. Who does she think she’ll be taking Democratic votes from with this approach? I doubt an Obama or an Edwards supporter would be swayed with again, what is a question about “electability.”
And talk about attacking from both ends of a silly spectrum – kindergarten ambitions and adolescent rebellion. Why doesn’t Obama attack Hillary for being a former Goldwater girl? That is at least a marginally more substantive assault on youthful judgment!
midderpidge, if you wanna lower the standard of attacking a candidate to “the other side would do it eventually, so we better do it first,” you’re opening on big honking can of worms.
More entertainingly, it gives Hillary’s Democratic rivals to go digging through the vast fields of mud in her own background, utterly unencumbered by any sort of ethical restraints. I can hear John Edwards now: “Senator Clinton, you’re going to get asked about how your Rose Law Firm billing records were hidden, undiscovered, in your residence for years after they were subpoenaed. Or about your willingness to tolerate your husband’s infidelities. Or your truly astonishing single adventure in the cattle futures market. Or any of a host of other issues. Don’t you think you should either come clean on all these things, right now, and put them all to rest, or get out of the race before they can be used to bring down not only you, but our party?”
On second thought, that could be kind of fun to watch…
J.
Hasn’t Hillary Clinton been cleared of every one of those things by Republican Ken Starr? Except, of course, by those suffering from HDS?
Or about your willingness to tolerate your husband’s infidelities.
Everything else, sure, but this is just as petty as going after Kindergarten Obama. The woman made a choice within her own marriage to keep it together despite Bill’s infidelity. That takes effort, patience, and strength; all of which can be viewed as a positive.
If a person can still work and cohabitate with somebody who betrayed their heart, then they show they have a genuine sense of diplomacy. After years of bluster and cowboy posturing, I’d say this is a welcome change.
I agree with him, cite a couple of other examples of members of the Clinton campaign who thought it was appropriate to forward those thoroughly-discredited rumors that he’s some sort of “secret Muslim,” and that sets folks off?
Oh this is rich….
It’s no big deal because the emails originated somewhere else. I mean, is that a valid excuse at this point for a Presidential campaign?
Uh, that would be “no,” and “no.” Once again, you two are being deliberately dumb.
Jay Tea, you did a bit more than “cite a couple of examples,” you stated plainly that the actions of the two campaign volunteers gives us “a pretty clear picture of the campaign strategy of the woman who boasted at the last Yearly Kos of helping found Media Matters For America…”
That may be true, but certainly not in this universe. Whatever the actions of the volunteers, you have to be insane to think those actions tell us anything at all about Ms. Clinton’s campaign strategy.
Go ahead. Try to explain it. While you’re at it, explain what your gratuitous reference to Media Matters has to do with anything at all.
As for you, Mr. Advanced Reading Skills, try to keep up. Nothing excuses the actions of the volunteers. I’m not saying the fact that someone else initiated the email excuses anything. I’m saying that Mr. Tea is being a deliberate dumbass to pretend that the incident reveals anything about the campaign strategy.
Q: Do you just type this stuff reflexively or do you actually think about it?
A: Senator Clinton, you’re going to get asked about how your Rose Law Firm billing records were hidden, undiscovered, in your residence for years after they were subpoenaed. Or about your willingness to tolerate your husband’s infidelities. Or your truly astonishing single adventure in the cattle futures market.
No further questions. Your witness.