Clintons' Phony Plagiarism Attack - Distraction From Defecting Delegates

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Michael Crowley opines over at The Nation:

18.02.2008

Then Again....

Maybe there is no complex subliminal message to the Clintonites' weirdly trumped-up "plagiarism" attack.

Maybe they just wanted to distract everyone from narratives about defecting superdelegates, Bill's disposition, a looming Wisconsin defeat, and so on.

And in that sense they appear to be succeeding.

I think he hit the nail on the head!

:spank:

[babylonsister]

1. Yep: Dem Pollster Gives Obama Double-Digit Lead In Wisconsin Primary

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02...

Dem Pollster Gives Obama Double-Digit Lead In Wisconsin Primary
By Eric Kleefeld - February 18, 2008, 12:39PM

A new poll from Public Policy Polling (D) gives Barack Obama a big lead for tomorrow's Wisconsin primary, a somewhat bigger lead than most other polls have shown.

Here are the numbers, compared to last week's poll

Obama 53% (+3)
Clinton 40% (+1)

Obama leads 49%-45% among core Democrats, and does better than 2-1 against Hillary Clinton among independents and Republicans likely to vote in the Dem primary.

[dempartisan23]

21. clinton will take us down

GOBAMA

[catgirl]

2. Hillary loses badly to McCain in WI...Obama beats him by 10

Lots of bad news out there for the Clintons. It's a shame they are
resorting to this kind of petty behavior.

[JimGinPA]

3. Exactly nt

[bicentennial_baby]

4. Judging from the latest CNN Texas poll...

Her internals were probably screaming for her to go on the attack. Sad...

[snappyturtle]

16. Her internals might have been better off having given her better

advice on TX situation. If you look at the Regional Chart on the link below....rather than going to El Paso a few days ago with that area having 22 delegates she might have been better off going to Houston/Galvaston and/or Dallas/Ft. Worth....more delegates in either place. Although if she was going after the Hispanic vote, the area she visited has one of the highest percentage of voting age Hispanics.

http://www.lonestarproject.net/Primary/TXMAP.html

I think the Clinton campaign has bungled a lot simply because they thought the primary process would be over on Feb. 5th. They really under-estimated the Obama campaign. Now they have resorted to these horrid tactics....I say horrid because they are so divisive. It's not all about one candidate, which ever one, it's about the party. I wonder how many more 'distractions' we're going to have to put up with?

[Tatiana]

18. Absolutely.

If she had stayed in Wisconsin, she could have, if not outright won the state, at least kept the delegate count very close.

Instead, she goes to El Paso, ignoring what was a very strongly Clinton-leaning Houston. While she was in El Paso, Obama's team was organizing on the ground and setting up 5 offices (3 initially volunteer) in Houston and beginning to make inroads in Dallas.

Hillary will lose Texas because Obama will take Houston and Dallas. Though her numbers in the RGV are still strong, it will not be enough to win her Texas.

[lurky]

5. It's the day before a big primary.

A pattern is emerging.
(See snub-gate, and so many others.)

[stahbrett]

11. Where are the tears then? I demand some tears!!!

:)

(n/t)

[lurky]

17. Tears or outrage.

They seem to alternate between the two strategies. Expect tears before Ohio and Texas. :)

[AtomicKitten]

6. Subterfuge and bullshit: The lifeblood of the Clinton Campaign.

It's all they've got left.

K&R! :)

[Capn Sunshine]

7. well, it's not as if we have't anticipated this phase

The problem withthe Clinton campaign is that there are SO many disaffected people working there now that it's leaking like a sieve. I can get any info I want about their next move with three phone calls.

But you know what? It's not important. We are just going ahead with staying on-message, because we anticipated months ago there would be feces flinging if Hillary was trailing. And we know there's no way she'll quit before the convention.

We took the time many months ago to set up a rapid response unit, and it's paying off.

[AtomicKitten]

10. Obama needs to put her down ASAP and put her out of her misery.

I think he can do it and all will be well in the universe. ;)

[John Q. Citizen]

13. The party has to stop the public bleeding. Maybe a mass movement of supers, and some

switch overs from her super supporters.

I can't believe anybody wants this going to the convention, and the math just isn't there for Hill. She can't do it. So why not clean up our mess as a party?

[Renew Deal]

8. There'll be a different story by tomorrow night.

[Arugula Latte]

9. Desperada, why don't you come to your senses?

The Clintons are at the Frantic Stage where they're flinging any desperate mud at the wall to see what sticks. It's a little sad to see.

[CorpGovActivist]

22. !

[NJmaverick]

12. Quite possible

Still this could simply just be a classic Swift Boating

[Drunken Irishman]

14. Her ship is sinking and she's now doing everything she can to save it.

Which includes smearing Obama with petty, pointless attacks.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

15. Hillary plagiarizes Rovian-race-baiting attack

Cambio5 at Kos remembers the "plagiarism" attack being used against other African Americans to try to take them down:

Posted at Daily Kos by cambio5

Hillary plagiarizes Rovian-race-baiting attack

Rovian? Race baiting? Am I crazy? Yeah, well, maybe, but OMG am I also pissed!
Hillary's plagiarism attack is a new low, even for her. I apologize if this is repetitive,
but I think it adds new info. It at least hasn't been on the recommended diaries and I, for one,
think it should be. First off, the plagiarism attack is 100% Rovian on it's face:
take something that is a strenfth of your opponent, and wail on it.

Second It's also disingenuous: If the sentiment that Obama expressed was plagiarism, then, so too,
must be David Letterman's series "Great Moments in presidential speeches" more or less. The idea is the same.

Follow me for why this is race baiting below:

cambio5's diary :: ::
I read this and, following my initial shock at the baseness of it, I thought, who else has been attacked as a plagiarist.
Well, of course, there was Joe Biden, hardly anything racist about attacks on someone so clean.
Besides, he actually did plagiarize. But then I remembered the attacks on Martin Luther King Jr.for plagiarism in his doctoral thesis.
Why is it race baiting? Well, you've got a person who didn't cheat to get his house, is not an adulterer,
is inspirational, and who deflects overtly racial attacks by raising more money and solidifying his lead.
You need to attack him, but his record is pretty rock solid and personal attacks don't work. So what can you do?
Attack his intellectual authenticity. Insinuate that he's a puppet, that he's an empty suit, that he's dishonest.
Try to evoke stereotypes of African Americans, but point to the video and say, "It's not us, the tape is right there.
We HAD to point it out, before someone else did." This is not to say that Hillary's attacks are meant to be racist,
they are just from the racist play book.

[npincus]

19. kick

[sandnsea]

20. I think so

What a stupid controversy.