Washington Post Rejects Clinton Oppo on Obama

[obamian]

But the behind-the-scenes skirmishing between the campaigns continued. Asked to respond to the Obama speech on Friday, a Clinton campaign spokesman offered to provide opposition research anonymously and not-for-attribution to the campaign. When those terms were rejected, the Clinton spokesman declined to comment.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062201019.html?hpid=topnews

Good for the Washington Post.

Some other newspaper will accept the opposition research. Don't be surprised if there is a story questioning Obama's ethics soon, maybe in the NY Times.

[TeamJordan23]

1. I wonder what the Team Hillary on DU has to say about this? nt.

[MannyGoldstein]

8. Easy.

Resistance is futile, and WaPo obviously is run by Republicans who are afraid of powerful women.

[SaveElmer]

10. How about this...but for the bumbling of the Obama campaign...

There would be anti-Hillary writings in the New York Times on this issue...

After all, this whole thing started because the Obama campaign tried to get unattributed oppo research to the media...correct?

What ticks off the Obamians is that they got their clock cleaned by a better run campaign...

[Ethelk2044]

28. This is a bunch of Bull Shit - The media needs to grab a hold of this

and call her out on it.

[SaveElmer]

29. You have no idea what you are talking about...

And when called on it you just ignore it...

[Ethelk2044]

32. Yes, I do. The press needs to call her out on it. I ignore you because I get tired of cleaning the

Shit you are peddling off my boots.

[SaveElmer]

33. You're boats?

Man how old are you?

[Laurab]

30. The Clinton campaign provided it to the media

according to the article - is there any evidence that the Obama campaign was going to send the memo to the media? It could have been an Obama insider memo, not meant for the media.

[Tellurian]

53. Sorry, I'm not seeing that quote in the article..

where is that quote noted, I'm not seeing it in the OP.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Part of me wonders whether the Hillary Camp is "leaking" this negative

information for the "benefit" of the republicans in order to show them that she is a player and can play on their terms if not better. Obama is a convenient vehicle, but it's for the republicans.

[sandnsea]

3. It's how they operate

If you want 8 more years of this shit, make excuses for her. But this is pure Clinton smear machine politics. It's what the Republicans do, but it's also what they do.

[jefferson_dem]

7. It stinks to high heaven too. The Clinton Machine is a mirror image of the slimy Rove Operation.

Smear, denial, equivocation...

Ack...

[SaveElmer]

11. Answer this...

Is it true or false that this whole thing started when the Obama campaign tried to get unattributed oppo research to the media on Hillary Clinton...?

I'll save you the trouble...the answer is yes....


What ticks off Obama supporters is not that oppo research is getting planted with the MSM, just that Obama's campaign bungled it in the first place, and a more well run campaign cut them off at at the pass..

[jefferson_dem]

14. LOL! Nice try. The Clinton Machine was asked to respond to Obama' speech on Ethics Reform and

Clean Government. They wanted to dish off some sleazy smear about Obama in the form of an un-attributed memo. And the WaPo calls them out on it.

Now, isn't that a tasty piece of irony that reflects the dramatic differences between these two candidates and their respective campaigns....?!

By the way, anyone interested can read and watch Obama's speech here -- http://www.barackobama.com/issues/corruption/

[SaveElmer]

16. So?...

The memo was drafted as unattributed oppo research by the Obama campaign to trash Hillary in the media...that is a fact even the Obama campaign admits...it is their own bungling that got it public ally attribute to them. It's a pretty good example of the Obama campaign talking out of both sides of their mouths... They are just lucky this didn't happen during the general election campaign...Republicans would do alot more than just give it to a newspaper...I hope they get their keystone kop act straightened out soon...

Obama is bad enough blaming his staff for stuff like this everytime...but his supporters won't even acknowledge what the Obama campaign admits!!!

[jefferson_dem]

17. This isn't about that memo, which we've discussed ad nauseum. This was about Obama's speech today..

and the Clinton camp's manner of responding to his message condemning "old politics."

Here -- Asked to respond to the Obama speech on Friday, a Clinton campaign spokesman offered to provide opposition research anonymously and not-for-attribution to the campaign. When those terms were rejected, the Clinton spokesman declined to comment.

[SaveElmer]

22. I see..

So contrary to some of your other postings, then, you do condemn the Obama campaign for trying to do the exact same thing with the "Punjab" memo ..correct?

If not, your pious rantings about this incident ring quite hollow!

[jefferson_dem]

24. Don't be silly. I reject your claim that this instance and the "punjab" one are exactly the same...

Hell, they are not even comparable.

That "punjab" instance involved a substantive policy critique of Hillary's position on outsourcing. The OP memo mocked the "punjab" remark that she herself concocted. Not that i agree but Obama apologized and backtracked.

In this instance, the Hillary camp couldn't even conjure up an honest, on-the-record response to Obama's call for ethics reform and his rejection of the old, politics of cronyism. To me, it's illustrative. That's all.

[SaveElmer]

25. Spin City....

Not a surprise...

Makes any future condemnation from you of campaign tactics quite hollow....

Obama himself admitted the memo his keystone kops put out did not reflect his views of outsourcing...and if it was a "substantive policy critique of the Clinton position on outsourcing" as you say why try to put it out anonymously, why not just publish it on his website....a question Obama's campaign manager would not answer...fact is, it was oppo research done to put negative stuff out about another candidate...done by every campaign in both parties...the only difference is that the Obama campaign proved to be incompetent at it...

And you have no idea whatsoever what was in the stuff the Clinton campaign offered the Post...

[jefferson_dem]

26. So i'll assume you think it was a good idea - politically and principally -

for the Clinton campaign to try to respond to Obama's message today by slamming him on background. Ok.

[draft_mario_cuomo]

27. Good post

==Obama himself admitted the memo his keystone kops put out did not reflect his views of outsourcing...and if it was a "substantive policy critique of the Clinton position on outsourcing" as you say why try to put it out anonymously, why not just publish it on his website....a question Obama's campaign manager would not answer..==

I don't expect any defenders of the race-baiting memo to respond to that...

[mckeown1128]

36. Are you saying that Obama researched and...

typed up the memo all by himself? His staff did it. That is why he blamed his staff and HE apologized for it. Hey, when is Hillary going to show courage(Like Edwards) and apologize for enabling Bush to go to WAR.

[SaveElmer]

37. She has nothing to apologize for...

And certainly isn't gonna to make a "non-apology, apology" like Edwards, who takes responsibility out of one side of his mouth, and blames Bush and Bill Clinton out the other...

And yeah, either Obama saw the memo and let it go, or doesn't have enough control over his campaign operation to make sure stuff like that is vetted properly...either way it is his fault and he should stop blaming others...

[mckeown1128]

38. So voting to send our troops to die for oil is nothing...

to apologize for. Edwards showed some courage to apologize. Hillary on the other hand is as you say she doesn't apologize AND blame B*sh... she just blames b*sh (He didn't make her vote for the war.


Ohh and about this Obama let it go thing... Once again it is funny how the Newspapers in the media all got their copy from Hillary's campaign...hmm...

Regardless Obama apologized for it. He also explained(not blamed) how it happened.

[SaveElmer]

39. As usual...

You have your fact wrong...not going to even bother to try and correct you ...again...as you never respond...

However, the fact is, Obama's campaign came up with a memo designed to plant negative stories about Hillary in the media...because of their keystone kops act, Hillary's campaign got it first and forwarded it on...

Obama supporters are just ticked that they got their clock cleaned by a superior campaign...if Hillary's campaign and produced a similar memo, and Obama's people got it, you know quite well they would have done the same thing...as they should...hopefully they learned their lesson, as the Republicans wouldn't be as restrained about it as Hillary has...

Now on an earlier post, you said you would not support a centrist for President (in that case Hillary), because you would only support a progressive, liberal Democrat...

I asked why then you were supporting Obama, but curiously you didn't answer...

[mckeown1128]

41. Obama is progressive...check it out for yourself...

http://origin.barackobama.com/issues/


Ohh criticizing my candidate for almost sending out an attack memo about Clinton in a thread talking about Clinton actually sending out an attack memo about Obama is just stupid.

[SaveElmer]

42. Obama and Hillary have nearly identical voting records...

And position on the issues...

[draft_mario_cuomo]

43. No one ever responds when you ask them to point to any actual differences on the issues between them

[mckeown1128]

44. Learn to use logic buddy...

Argument from silence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_silence


half the time the Obama bashers here aren't worth the trouble.

[mckeown1128]

45. you are correct except for where it counts...

for example...

Hillary voted for war... Obama was against it

Obama voted for a BAN on daisy cutters being used on civilian populations... Hillary voted against it

Hillary thinks B*sh has made us safer since 911... Obama thinks Bush has made us less safe



Need I go on??

[SaveElmer]

46. Yeah...

Hillary did not say Bush has made us safer, she said in some ways we are safer, but not safe enough...something John Kerry actually agreed with...

As to the war, of course it was easy for Obama to say he would have voted against it since he wasn't there and didn't have to actually make that decision...but since his tenure in the Senate began, his voting record on the war has been exactly the same as Hillary's...

Pretty slender reed on which to say one is a progressive and one is not...

[mckeown1128]

If we are safer then....

did we magically become safer or did someone during the last 6 years of rethug rule make us safer....I would like to know who does your candidate think has made us safer.

[mckeown1128]

51. If we are safer then....

did we magically become safer or did someone during the last 6 years of rethug rule make us safer....I would like to know who does your candidate think has made us safer.

[mckeown1128]

40. everytime...I would like to see a list of this "everytime" you

speak of....

[draft_mario_cuomo]

18. Exactly. Good post nt

[TeamJordan23]

21. So are you saying that Hillary never does Oppo Research? nt.

[SaveElmer]

23. Not at all...

But I think it is pretty hypocritical for Obama supporters to be condemning the CLinton campaign for oppo research one week after the "Punjab" incident...

[mckeown1128]

52. On the other hand....

Clinton supporters are brushing this off less than a week after declaring the "Punjab" incident as a career ending move for Obama...


By the way... who knows if Punjab was even in the original memo from Obama's camp... It was probably added in for effect when Clinton sent Obama's memo to the media...

[Major Hogwash]

47. But, on which side of the mirror, Alice?

Have they both stepped through the looking glass and are now looking back at us?

[flpoljunkie]

5. The Republicans' nightly prayer...

http://content.cartoonbox.slate.com/?feature=8b6ece931b4e08cea1a8784d7d9b2ecc

[martymar64]

13. It's funny because it's true

:rofl:

[draft_mario_cuomo]

19. HRC is not the one who loses California (55), New York (31), and even Massachusetts to Giuliani nt

[Ethelk2044]

48. Yes, that is exactly what they want

[BeyondGeography]

4. From the Department of "Where Would She be Without It?"

<Clinton offered her own government reform package recently, in which she promised to end the "culture of cronyism.">

[jefferson_dem]

6. Way to go, WaPo. They actually stand up to "The Machine" and expose their

slithery oppo research leak without attribution efforts.

Way to go WaPo! :applause:

[draft_mario_cuomo]

20. "slithery"

It is only "slithery" when HRC does it; when Obama does it he is applauded, by the same people who attack HRC, for doing something that it routine for a campaign (even one that preaches a "new kind of politics").

[Tellurian]

54. There is noting in the OP that slightly represents the quote posted in the OP

so, just what are you operatives trying to pull here?

more sleight of hand?

[ProgressiveAmPatriot]

9. DailyKos Journal had a fairly good take on this

One of my pet peeves is the practice of journalists getting information on deep background used solely to attack political opponents without people putting their name on it (see: Valerie Plame). The examples are too numberous to mention, so I won't go into that amount of detail. Certainly using anonymous sources is vital in journalism, but the practice is used entirely too much in cases where it is not justified.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/22/1670/82211

[Hart2008]

15. Amen. n/t

[MADem]

It doesn't matter who does it, it's just wrong. You should spend your time touting your candidate,

not trashing someone else's, IMO.

[MADem]

12. Pardon my doubleclick. NT

[rufus dog]

31. Save Elmer Help me understand your position

Is it - when Obama's staff does it then it is slimy because he said he was going to rise above the slime. When Hillary's staff does it is O.K. because she didn't ever say she would rise above the slime?

Please clarify because that is what you seem to be saying.

If so you are saying slime tactics are acceptable, and if you try to rise above it and fall into then you are worse for the effort.

A good many posters have said the sliming of candidates doesn't help. Up until your latest few posts I didn't agree, but if someone was to read some of your posts just before an election it is quite possible that they would take the day off rather than voting for your candidate.

By the way, your excuses, in my book, are right up there with the Bush/Cheney/Snow bullshit that is currently put out on a daily basis.

[GeorgeGist]

34. That's not what WaPo says now ...

"Asked to respond to the Obama speech on Friday, a Clinton campaign spokesman offered information anonymously but declined to comment on the record. Several outside experts reacted positively to Obama's proposals for revamping government activity, though some of them resemble legislation passed by the Senate earlier this year."

[Tellurian]

55. The Wapo article says nothing at all..

I can't find anything resembling the quote, whatever was there either in error or misprint, is non-existant now.

[illinoisprogressive]

35. You must read this link up on the same subject, Obamian

http://www.observer.com/2007/parsing-obama-s-punjab-flub

[Tellurian]

56. Nothing here either...So, where did the OP quote come from?

[Blue_In_AK]

49. Ack!

No Obama, no Clinton. I WANT SOMEBODY ELSE!!

[Bitwit1234]

50. Why is it when something negative is suggested about Hillary

everybody jumps on it as the gospel truth...she did it .....she did it..if you don't like her, you don't like her. But I can't understand why more thorough research is being done.

Oh and by the way I suppose all the crap leaked from other campaigns against Hillary are ok...your candidate can do no wrong. I am so glad Edwards is above all this...

[Tellurian]

57. The best one is: Well, that does it! I'll never vote for Hillary now.

OR, She just lost MY vote! OR, All this fighting, I can't take it any more. OR, everybody's got to just stop the fighting; can't we all just get along? :loveya:

Well, the Obama Team is loaded with hyperbolic operatives here to agitate an instigate disruption...DUH! :evilgrin: