There is right-wing crookedness afoot regarding the Michelle Obama "proud" comment

[Tarc]

Multiple copies of the speech are being uploaded to youtube, some of which are original and unedited;

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ufb46_WvSkQ


but others have been altered, editing out the "really" to make it appear even worse;

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nu9Zei11uEc

This is what I worry about with an Obama general election campaign; would they be able to withstand this sort of Rovian manipulation?

[MethuenProgressive]

1. With the "really" it's still pretty freaking bad.

The sad part is, I think she told the truth.

[joeybee12]

4. Yeah, the really makes it sound worse, I think...but come on, this

is to be expected...someone needs to tell her that she needs to be careful...both of them think that since the media has given them a free pass so far that it's gonna continue...

[Labors of Hercules]

49. What the MFing HELL is wrong with not being proud of this MFing country?

I sure as hell haven't been REALLY PROUD of this country a day in my life. This country hasn't cared about it's own citizens, or it's own lands, far less about the rest of the world which we are supposed to be the "superpower" leaders of... Patriotism is a bullshit way for nationalists (IE: REPUBLICANS) to manipulate us into being "proud" of crap.

[Political Heretic]

60. hear, hear!

But that don't win elections.

[Labors of Hercules]

74. It does when most of the nation agrees with you.

And you give them something to really be patriotic about.

[NOLALady]

5. How can it not be the truth?

I'm really proud of this country also. :patriot:

[MethuenProgressive]

19. Me too NOLA, but certainly not for the first time in my life.

If my spouse was a leading contender to be the next President, I'd be proud of her, not the country, and certainly not for the first time.

[tyne]

6. Oh stop it.

She said it was because of all the people coming out and getting involved...it's true, nothing like this has ever happened.

For the first time in my adult life, the election situation makes me proud of my country too.

This fake outrage crap is getting really ridiculous.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

58. Oh, it has happened before

33 years ago, I worked my ass off for the Carter campaign and I was only 21. A man who said he was going to forgive the draft dodgers and allow them to come home. Can you imagine?

Can you imagine where we'd be right now, if we'd only have listened to him and gotten away from dependence on oil almost 30 years ago?

It's happened before.

[in_cog_ni_to]

52. I agree and if Hillary or Bill had said such a thing, they would be hanging by their

fingernails by now. They'd never hear the end of it.

With or without the "really" in the statement, IT'S BAAAAAD for a Presidential Candidates wife to say. Shame on her.

[SoFlaJet]

Is that really your concern

or is it that you are most concerned with Your Girl losing to her husband-if Clinton supporters were really worried about attacks on democrats then they wouldn't be doing it themselves and sticking up for John McCain-I call bullshit

[Tarc]

8. This is about what to expect from the right-wing come election time

I realize that you've developed some sort of stalker-like fascination with several Clinton supporters here lately, but if you cannot maturely discuss the subject at hand and can only focus on the DU user who is doing the posting, then please do us all a favor and put a cork in it, k?

Thanks.

[SoFlaJet]

10. you can stuff that cork somewhere

k?

[anigbrowl]

17. Doesn't bother me

I post most often on mixed boards rather than places like DU, as well as knowing plenty of right-wingers personally; so dealing with right-wing attacks like edited videos and suchlike doesn't stress me out too much.

[leftynyc]

11. Most democrats

You know, real democrats, the ones that will vote for whoever the candidate is and wont pick up their toys and go home if their candidate doesn't win, are very concerned about a mostly unvetted candidate. But I'm speaking of real democrats
If you think the pukes are going to play fair with Obama, you're crazy. But I'm speaking of real democrats.


This is in the wrong place, supposed to be response to #8.

[gmudem]

15. So I guess most voters this primary season

are not "real democrats." Seeing as how Obama has won more states and more votes, none of his voters are "real democrats."

Do you realize how much you sound like an asshole?

A lot of "real democrats" also don't want our senators voting in favor cluster bombs that kill civilians and supporting the neo-cons Iran policy.

[leftynyc]

21. You misunderstood me

I have no patience for those ON EITHER SIDE that claim they will not vote for the dem if it's not their candidate. Those are the people that are not real dems. So you know what you can do with your "asshole" insult.

[RaleighNCDUer]

32. I'm a real dem, and have voted dem since 1972

but I will not vote for Clinton, because she is DLC, and I don't think the DLC is Democratic. I contend they are not 'real dems'.

I will vote for dems down ticket, but leave that spot blank, if she's the nominee. If my one vote costs us the presidency, well, the party should have known better than to put a DLCer at the top of the ticket.

[leftynyc]

36. If you honestly think that McCain

would do better for those things you care most about, do what you gotta do. Everyone has their own definition of real dems - you already know mine.

[nonconformist]

40. Geez, I thought the whole POINT was to get a Democrat in the White House

Apparently, I was mistaken.

[elixir]

56. You can try to turn the tables, she made a mistake and she has to deal w. it.

[sam sarrha]

2. the Dean Scream was totally altered digitally .out of a room of screaming people, then made the most

annoying sound imaginable.. and then hammered into the news till we didnt want to hear anything related to him..

it was a fake noise

[anigbrowl]

20. No it wasn't.

The den scream wasn't digitally altered; it was his microphone that failed to pick up the crowd noise. You'd have heard digital mung on the videos and audio too, but that was because 4 years ago there were poorer compression and streaming algorithms to produce (relatively) low bandwidth files suitable for the internet.

I do video and audio for indie films for a living, so when I record I usually choose microphones that separate the speaker's voice from the background noise to avoid distortion. Look up 'cardioid microphone' on Google or read about them in Wikipedia.

It was bad luck for Dean and I agree the media blew it out of all proportion, but it wasn't digitally altered to sound that way. Dean was just the victim of a poor recording setup. Since it's how I make my living, I've noticed several times during this election cycle where one or other candidate didn't sound good because the event or TV mix wasn't set up correctly. As I know to my cost, it's damn near impossible to remove background voices from a recording without making the speaker unintelligible.

[MethuenProgressive]

27. anigbrowl, at the time it was noted that the sound was very different depending on the news outlet.

The FOX version sounded like a mountain lion eating a red tailed hawk, while the CNN version was quite mild.
Welcome to DU, btw.

[tekisui]

3. Worse, is that it was on the front page of Google News

linking to a disgusting RW site.

Thankfully, it's not anymore.

[scheming daemons]

7. Considering that....

He's withstood all the Rovian manipulation by you Hillary supporters, and yet leads in

delegates
popular voters
states
all national polls
all head-to-head polls against McCain

I'd say he'd handle it just fine.


He already has. You guys keep doing the work of the Freepers, and he's not only still standing... he's thriving.

[Tarc]

18. Your naivety is charming

If you think what Obama has seen in the primary is rough, then y'all are simply not ready for prime time.

[NashVegas]

29. Bullshit

He's endured nothing.

Two whole days of negative publicity after 6 months?

Wake up. We need you.

[calico1]

31. Oh dear. Do you not have any idea of what

he will go through during the GE campaign season? Trust me, it will make him and his supporters miss Hillary. He and his supporters had better grow some thick skin because it will be needed.

[creeksneakers2]

64. They need to understand something about the right wing too

The right wing caused many people to hate Hillary. It very wrong for Democrats to think the best way to deal with this problem the right wing gave us is to get rid of the candidate they damaged and replace her with a new undamaged candidate. The right wing will just do the same thing over again.

The real ticket to winning is to stick behind the candidate they smeared and fight back. Do not let the right wing get away with anything.

They've only started focusing on Obama in the last week. The right wing stage masters still have to overcome some warm feelings right wing Hillary haters have for Obama because of his dragon slaying job.

The stage masters' smears follow a pattern. First they will launch dozens of smears, perhaps a dozen a day. A few will catch on and gain interest. A smear must achieve enough attention from the right wing to become an uproar. Then the mainstream media covers it. Then the mainstream media declares the smear a major problem for the victim of it.

If the righties can, they'll keep people talking about what Michelle said forever. Obama has to guess if this is going to get worse and if he guesses it will he has to respond quickly and forcefully. Its his turn at bat now.

I just hope Obama isn't written off if the right wing hates him. We'd just be making the same mistake again.

[griffi94]

33. this is the thing that i find most disturbing

obama hasn't had to tough it out thru a real smear campaign yet.....hillary has hardly taken any shots at team obama and the press has largely given him a pass.....after he wins the nomination....say hello to a new situation....he'll be going against the rw slime machine and the media will be solidly in mccains corner.... as soon as the media is done helping obama dispatch hillary....he's about find out that hope and change doesn't hold up to business as usual.......

[jillan]

9. I heard that Cindy McCain gave her first speech to a crowd today

saying that she has always been proud of America . . .

[Tarc]

12. Yes, it was a pointed jab By Cindy, aimed at Obama

This is only a taste of how it will be.

[scheming daemons]

23. And they are aiming at OBAMA, because even they know that Hillary is toast....

...notice how McCain isn't going after Hillary any more? It's a waste of his time. Why go after someone he won't be facing.


The McCain campaign sees the writing on the wall.

[griffi94]

35. that's not even all that nasty

michelle let herself get nailed on that by not choosing her words more carefully.....if the obamabots think it's been hard on him so far they're about to be really unhappy.....i think the powers that be...both repub and democrat not to mention the media will turn on him if no other reason than to send a message to his supporters about who really calls the shots in american politics....i'm not sayin it's fair or that it's right....but they destroyed al gore who was a way more substantial candidate than obama....and they weren't in any way hindered by the fact that their attacks were not true.....if the obamabots don't grow thicker skin....imo they're DOA

[my2sense]

It Speaks

Yeah, I saw that as well. Something about her is just weird and stepfordish. While I feel Michelle on what she said, that was definitely a misstep.

[tekisui]

14. And you know she's been around at times when she shouldn't have been proud.

[lyonn]

26. Well ain't Cindy special, being real white and rich.........

Was she ever humiliated by signs telling her where she could or couldn't go? Was she pulled over for being in the wrong part of town when you are the wrong color? It has never happen to me and I am sure it is something that is damned hard to reconcile when you are black. Get real folks, being ethnically different does have its disadvantages. Michelle has no doubt always been proud to be an American, but, she is apparently especially proud to know that America is getting it in all sectors of our society. It has even been an eyeopener for this old white lady. We have all been worn down by the likes of the Bush bunch and the disastrous mistakes that have been made since bush took office. Human decency and respect for others has been lost and it is sad. Hillary needs to pick up this banner too. You can be a brilliant leader and have a soul to go with it, right?

[durrrty libby]

13. She is frequently rude and obnoxious. This nastiness was no surprise

[tyne]

16. She was talking

in reference to elections people. The turnout...the desire and working hard for change.

If you want to turn it into a Michelle isn't proud of her country...so be it.

I'm Michelle's age and I can definitely say that, in regards to elections...with what is going on.....for the first time IN MY ADULT LIFE...I'm really proud of my country too.

[leftynyc]

24. You seem to think it matters what

she MEANT. It wont to those who have always believed that the democrats don't love their country and make no mistake, that's how it's going to be portrayed. We know what she meant but just take a gander at some of the right wing sites discussing this. It was a gift to them.

[calico1]

28. You are right. Of course the context doesn't matter.

What matters is that she said something the RW can get a lot of mileage out of. She should have put more thought into her statement. Every syllable they say will now be scrutinized especially since it appears Obama will be the nominee.

[NOLALady]

50. Yeah. Uppity!

Can't have that.:D

[Renew Deal]

22. Because they wouldn't edit a Hillary/Bill/Democratic speech?

OK :eyes:

[global1]

25. So It Almost Means That We'll Have To Fight Fire With Fire And Scrutinize.....

every word coming out of Hillary and Bill's and John and Cindy's mouth. Any time there is the slightest misspeak on any of their parts - shove it back down their throat. It seems that this is the only way to deal with this nonsense.

I'm proud of the fact that Obama's campaign has been run pretty near perfectly and clean. This is one of the reasons that Obama is resonating with the voters in this country.

He is trying hard to change the way things happen in Washington and create a politic of the future. It's the old time establishment - like the Clinton's and McCain's and Bush's - that really don't want change and want to maintain the status quo and keep trying to drag us back into the politics of the past.

Tweety will say that 'negative campaigning is used because it works'. Well it's time to change that. This weighing on every word and claiming plagiarism is really disingenuous coming from the Clinton's that - used this line: "It depends what your definition of is - is."

And really Mr.McCain - how did you feel when the Bush's smeared you with slurs that included illegitimate children, homosexuality and a drug-addict wife. Well we know how you felt. You bent over and hugged the one that did that to you and look where you are now.

I'm really sick of all this and I believe that most American's are. That's why we embrace 'hope'. That's why we embrace 'change'. That's why we support Obama.

[griffi94]

37. good luck with that

do you own a major network or a cable channel ....if not yer dreamin.......the media will screw obama like a tied up hound....remember how gore said he invented the internet.....of course he didn't really say that.....but almost everybody still believes he did......how many people still think saddam was responsible for 9-11.......oh yeah we'll shove their lies back down their throat...:rofl:

[RaleighNCDUer]

43. IMO, that is why Obama is getting this 'free ride'.

He's simply not screwing up - giving them nothing to hang on him. He's not making unfounded attacks on his opponants, he's not going negative, and he doesn't have the baggage that most politicians have that make him vulnerable.

If there was really anything of substance out there to use against him, Clinton would surely have used it before now.

Instead, we get "plagarism", which ALL parties concerned DENY is plagarism.

[creeksneakers2]

67. Obama might have no negatives or he might just have coverage

that ignores his mistakes. It doesn't matter really. The right wing and Obama supporters are in the habit of taking totally innocent statements and twisting them to mean something else. This can be done as easily to Obama as it was done for him.

And even if the right wing has nothing they will say:

"We know plenty of damning secrets about him but we can't say anything because he's black." You can count on it.

[Hoof Hearted]

30. "proud" or "really proud" just won't matter. It was a dumb thing to say.

Maybe she was tired, God knows it's been rough on everyone but that was a world class gaffe and it WILL be used.

[NOLALady]

44. It wasn't the first "gaffe"

It will not be the last gaffe. If he wins the nomination, there will be a "gaffe" a day highlighted by the MSM. You can bank on it.

Hopefully, the public will tune out the gaffes and concern themselves with, O I don't know, little things like an illegal war, health car, outsourced jobs, a tanking economy. Stuff that will affect their lives.

[Skidmore]

34. RW Clinton camp crookedness.

Right now, if the Clintons told me that the sun came up in the east and set in the west, I would not believe them and require at least 3 independent sources to confirm it.

[ShortnFiery]

38. Yeah, the Right Wingers (and some D) wrap themselves up in the flag and spew HATRED.

It's a "distortion" and EVERYONE here knows that, don't we?

Does anyone truly believe that Michelle Obama is NOT Patriotic?

Hey, I served in the Active Duty Army and I'm not insulted in the least. She is PROUD of her husband and used hyperbole. But, of course, most RWers and HRC "self-righteous" Democrats *would never!* Bullshit, yes you would.

These attacks are petty to the nth degree and show how FILTHY and DISTORTED the right wing is willing to be in order to PROMOTE their Candidate. It will backfire on the right wingers like Wolfsons dumb-a** smear is coming back to haunt HRC's campaign because Obama will keep IT REAL and hopefully about REAL ISSUES.

Enjoy now but there will be hell to pay later. :evilgrin:

[Blue State Bandit]

39. Just sent explicit report to you tube's report e-mail server.

THIS POST IS AN ATTEMPT AT SLANDER! THE POSTER EDITED OUT WORDS TO DISTORT THE SPEAKER'S INTENT!

VIEW UNEDITED VERSION HERE AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ufb46_WvSkQ

The post has started a comment threat that is extremely sexist and borderline racist.

I suggest going to page in question and flagging as inappropriate

[ElsewheresDaughter]

41. it's all over talk radio ALL fucking day! and behind my man Cindy McCain has step in front today

claiming loudly "I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN ...I HAVE ALWAYS BEN PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN....I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THAT OTHER CANDIDATES WIFE BUT i'M PROUD......!"

[Thrill]

42. They are going to do this with any candidate

Its weak. I was disappointed in Hillary trying to use the comment against her. Its pathetic. And the kind of stuff that turns people off of politics

[robbedvoter]

45. I fail to grasp the significance of "really". Altering videos stinks - but on this one

the substance is really the same. There's hardly any need for dishonesty.

[Tarc]

48. Personally I think what she said was dumb and politically naive

But at least "really proud" can imply that at some point in the past she was proud, but is now moreso. Omitting the "really" makes it appear that she's saying that she never was proud of her country beforehand, but now is due to her husband's political fortunes.

This is what the Rovian spin cycle is doing to appeal to their base's warped sense of patriotism.

[Blue State Bandit]

46. Sent E-mail to K.O. as well.

[BigDDem]

47. This is what worries me about Team BO if he gets the nod

they are so quick to dismiss this as no biggie.
Guess what? Think the republicans will? No way

[Blue State Bandit]

51. The wingers listening to this on Rush Limpdick

won't be voting for a Democrat anyway. It's all about calling them on their crap with speed and agility.

[elixir]

53. Hey, look at the bright side. It's good training.

[NJmaverick]

54. How do you know this isn't some of Clinton's dirty work??

It just as easily could come from her people.

[redqueen]

55. No shit! Really?

:sarcasm:

I used to worry about Obama's preparedness to deal with the slime machine... but the way I see it, it slides right off him, and makes his detractors look petty / hateful if not outright stupid.

[maximusveritas]

57. The edited version is now getting played on the news stations

I've seen it on MSNBC and Foxnews. They both have the version with the "really" edited out.

[durrrty libby]

61. It's not edited. She made the same speech twice, So it is 2

different versions. That tinfoil is on too tight and choking off your O2

[BeatleBoot]

63. The "really" is rubbed out in the doctored version - its unmistakable

Personally, I thought the Obama camp did it.

Doctored Version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYY73RO_egw

Undoctored Version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffGpYcTu5GI

[maximusveritas]

65. Did you watch it?

I did and it was clearly edited out. And the edited videos have been posted on YouTube.

[K Gardner]

70. I saw it too.. clearly and unmistakably edited. Strangley enough, I heard the UNEDITED version on

Fox just now.

[creeksneakers2]

68. Its not two different speeches

The backgrounds match perfectly. She's wearing the same thing. She uses the exact same words with the exact same inflections and makes identical facial expressions.

The right wing doctors tapes all the time and the mainstream media runs the doctored tapes. Just look how they cut off the few words of Al Gore's "inventing the Internet" quote.

[Straight Shooter]

59. Welcome to our world, Obama supporters. n/t

[mtnsnake]

62. You took the words right out of my mouth, SS

One little gaffe by Mrs Obama and already the Right Wing has the Obamanabites all in a frigging tizzy, not knowing what to do about it or who to blame, except I'm sure they'll blame Hillary for Michelle's stupid "proud" gaffe before much longer. lol

[Straight Shooter]

66. She said it, but they both own it.

Hey, you, one more time, those were awesome pics! I went hiking up the trail this morning. Fortunately there were no cougar tracks in sight, as the trail I chose usually has tracks of either a cougar or a cougar and cub. The bridge with 4-foot high railings has effectively become merely a catwalk due to the depth of snow and the railings are but ankle-high. Some snowshoers had already been on the trail and packed everything down pretty nicely so it was an easy trek. Drove back home and stopped by the bank and heard there was an avalanche further up that same trail. That's three avalanches in the past week, we've had so much snow and now things are warming up, rocks are tumbling onto the highway, slush and ice. It's still gorgeous on the trails, though.

:hi:

[mtnsnake]

71. Yikes, I never thought of cougars out there

Be careful! Do you ever get any glimpses of them? They are such beautiful creatures.

I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. Sometime I'll drop some more by, especially ones from higher mountains.

Some snowshoers had already been on the trail and packed everything down pretty nicely so it was an easy trek.

I know how that is. It's so much easier and nicer when some previous snowshoers have already broken trail on any fresh snow and packed it down a bit. There's nothing nicer than tromping up a billowy trail of fairly packed snow. On some of the more popular trails, the trail gets to look like a bobsled run the way it's packed down from previous hikers. I'm sure you're familiar with that scene. BTW, one of my favorite times to hike is when there's been an unusual thaw in winter followed by a quick re-freeze, turning the trail into "concrete", at least until the next snow comes. Then it's fun to put on the crampons and walk like magic up the icy slopes.

I'm glad you hiked up the trail this morning....I'm sure it must've been gorgeous! Be careful of any avalanche areas, though, SS.

:hi:

[Straight Shooter]

72. LOL, I think about them every time I hit the mountain trails in the early morn.

Nothing quite like coming across a bloody half-eaten carcass of a felled deer. I do avoid going out during feeding time, ever since the sheriff informed me that I must look pretty tasty to the big cats, when I told him I liked to jog at dawn. Heh. He suggested I pack a pistol. Yeah, right, I'd probably end up shooting a tree.

I've never seen a cougar, although I'm sure they've seen me. Everyone here is pretty wary of them. Not to worry, I take my fierce little wuss of a dog with me.

[K Gardner]

69. The version I heard on MSNBC tonight had the "really" edited out, although

you could actually HEAR half the "really".. it was a bad edit job. I was shocked, I don't know why.

[LoZoccolo]

73. I just added my piece to the comments of the edited one.

Thanks for pointing this out.

[paperbag_ princess]

75. Oh boy...here we go

You are not going to escape the campaign trail without some missteps. It is how you deal with the attack that is important.

edit: spelling