Here's the very next line of Hillary's 60 minutes interview

[ruggerson]

A line which is oh so conveniently cut from the youtube video that has been posted.

“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.


That's right. She called it a smear. And a ridiculous rumor.

And as someone else has noted, Obama said "I take her at her word" when asked about the Drudge/Obama photo that Drudge/Obama tried to blame on her and then never provided one shred of evidence for.

The only muslim baiting I see here is on the part of the press and those who would distort and edit her remarks.

[blogslut]

1. She sure said a lot

Why did she not reject/denounce the implication in the question - that there's something wrong with being Muslim?

[ruggerson]

5. Why didn't Obama denounce the Drudge tactic

of blaming it on Hillary without any proof whatsoever?

[blogslut]

19. There is evidence that implicates her campaign

There is this from the Politico:

"Before the autumn, back when she was still the conservative pundits' favorite Democrat, and when News Corp. seemed like an unlikely ally, Clinton worked on a third front: Drudge.

The online pioneer became the recipient of choice campaign leaks. Last April 1, her much-anticipated quarterly numbers went first to Drudge, setting a pattern of such leaks for the year. And he reported prominently on her campaign's successes, leading Obama aides to complain that he was channeling her campaign's message and that he was an ally.

The impression intensified when New York magazine quoted Drudge saying, on his radio show:

"I need Hillary Clinton. You don't get it. I need to be part of her world. That's my bank. Like Leo DiCaprio has the environment and Al Gore has the environment and Jimmy Carter has anti-Americanism. I have Hillary."

link: http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=1F12BEC6-3048-5C12-0025CD00D13BFCB6

In addition, there was her non-denial denial:

Clinton on photo: 'Why is anybody concerned about this?"

February 25, 2008 6:02 PM

ABC News' Teddy Davis and Jacqueline Klingebiel Report: During a Monday interview with ABC's Dallas affiliate, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., did not flatly deny the DrudgeReport's charge that her campaign forwarded a photo of rival Barack Obama in traditional African dress.

She then turned the tables on her Democratic rival and accused him of using the controversy to distract the public's attention from deficiencies in his platform and experience.

"I know nothing about it," Clinton told ABC affiliate WFAA. "This is in the public domain. But let's just stop and ask yourself: 'Why are you -- why is anybody concerned about this?'"

link: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/02/clinton-on-phot.html

[ruggerson]

21. there's no evidence at all

you guys can regurgitate that one lame story from last year saying that someone from her campaign was trying to cultivate a relationship with drudge all you want.

The reality is that Drudge has been rabidly pushing Obama for months, every single day, and attempting to destroy her with rumour, innuendo, mocking, unflattering photos and outright lies.

Go to his site right this second and look at the picture of her with the fabricated Breitbart story and then look at the picture of Obama.

Then try and tell me with a straight face that Drudge is linked to the Clinton campaign.

He is a shill for Obama.

[blogslut]

24. You lost me at "he is a shill for Obama"

Can you also explain why Clinton has never actually denied that her campaign sent the photo to Drudge?

[ruggerson]

26. Of course he's a shill for Obama

he loathes the CLintons. His entire career has been spent loathing the Clintons. He only has a website because of the industry of Clinton hatred he helped create.

Whether his shilling continues once he has helped assassinate her is anyone's guess. He is, after all, a rightwing nutjob.

[MadBadger]

2. All I will say is that it seemed strange. Her response just seemed strange.

Facial expressions and all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHFREDHB-nQ

[anamandujano]

6. It must be hard seeing everything in terms of hope and inspiration,

and then sounding like a paranoid schizophrenic.

[WCGreen]

10. OMG, that is simply hilarious...

[WillyT]

16. Can You Say, "Calculated" ???

It was done for effect, and that effect will be blowback!

:shrug:

[Maddy McCall]

3. The uproar over this has been laughable.

I saw nothing wrong with what she said.

[ruggerson]

13. It would be laughable

if it wasn't so twisted.

[zabet]

14. It was laughable.

Talk about manufactured
faux outrage.
She said she believed him,
sympathized with having to
be the brunt of a smear.
What more do they want?
Hillary to lay prostate and
beg America to believe her that
she believes him about his choice
of religion? When did it become
so wrong to be a Muslim? Isn't
America about freedom of religion.
:shrug:
Have we come this far only to forget
what started us on this path to begin
with?

[ruggerson]

18. It's like an alternate reality to some of these people

and here you and I did all the drugs where we were kids and we turned out sane. :)

relatively.

[slinkerwink]

4. then why did she add, "....as far as I know?"

this equivocating line made her response on this seem "hedging" and that's how it came off to reporters at Talking Points Memo and at Politico.com.

[ruggerson]

7. Why did Obama say "I take her at her word"

implying that she really DID have something to do with the Drudge photo?

[slinkerwink]

12. that wasn't my impression because it wasn't equivocating

as it would've been with the additional line, "....as far as I know." That line is what's being picked up as "hedging" in the media now. A simple, "No, I don't believe those rumors about him, and they are false. I know since I've faced those rumors as well," would have sufficed if not for the hedging.

[ruggerson]

15. Of course it's hedging

He could have said "I don't for one second believe Senator Clinton had anything to do with a photo on a rightwing smear site."

Instead he said: "I take her at her word."

[anamandujano]

8. Sounds like they're running out of ideas for stories.

[Lucinda]

33. Because many politicians, especially those whose words are often distorted

say that phrase, or some varition of it, almost automatically when giving an opinion.
They learn CYA on day one.

I also use it, along with "IMO" and a few others.

Editing to say I'm not alone in using the phrase :)
Yahoo search results - "as far as I know" - 26,100,000
Google search results - "as far as I know" - 1,040,000

[Skip Intro]

9. All they have are baseless attacks. And empty slogans.

They'll damn Hillary for anything she says or does, anything.


And then cry "no fair" whenever you say one word that is non-priase is directed toward Obama.



Very apparent to many now.

[thevoiceofreason]

11. Actually, she turned it into a "I'm the biggest victim" moment

That was her least impressive statement in an entirely unimpressive session.

[JimGinPA]

17. Her Next Line To Me Was "Enough About Him, I'm Always The Victim"

She's a horrible person. Too bad so many here are blind to it.

[loveangelc]

20. As an obama supporter, I have to say I don't see what she said as being terrible.

[AtomicKitten]

22. "The only muslim baiting I see here is on the part of the press ... "

Clinton Campaign Iowa Chair Pushes Obama "Muslim" Smear:
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13820.html

Second Clinton Volunteer Resigns Over Obama "Muslim" Email:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/10/second-clinton-volunteer-_n_76047.html

Here's The Obama "Muslim" Email Smear Sent Out by the County Chair:
http://politicalnighttrain.wordpress.com/2007/12/05/hillary-clintons-obama-muslim-smear-email-full-text/

Clinton Ally Repeats "Muslim" Smear:
http://www.americablog.com/2007/12/clinton-ally-repeats-muslims-slur-about.html

Obama "Muslim" Smear Email Confirmed to Come From Hillary Clinton Camp:
http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/barack-obama/16374/obama-muslim-smear-email-confirmed-to-have-come-from-hillary-clinton-camp/

Clinton Says "Muslim" Email Smear Not True "As Far As She Knows"
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/clinton-says-ob.html

[ruggerson]

25. Yes, I'm very aware that the Obama campaign

and Obama leaning blogs have played the Muslim-victim-smear thing very efficiently.

I'm glad that his campaign is able to respond to Matt Drudge photos so very quickly with enormous indignance.

[AtomicKitten]

27. yes, pay no attention to actual evidence ... ya know, people being caught & admitting same

You should be ashamed of turning a blind eye to this bullshit. One wonders how you could find anything about this crap anywhere in the ballpark of democratic. Some of you have truly lost your way.

[ruggerson]

29. Believe me I haven't turned a blind eye

I've been watching in fascination as the Obama campaign has done this from the start.

Race Man

[AtomicKitten]

30. Riiiight!! Keep up that race-baiting, guys. It's worked out so nicely for you so far.

[ruggerson]

32. Right back atcha!

Your guy's been far more successful at it. Won't suprise me if Drudge has this up in the AM with links to youtube and replete with a David Plouffe faux victim press release. It's smooth, I will give it that.

[ruggerson]

34. whoops I was wrong. He didn't even wait until the morning.

[Blue_In_AK]

23. I wish MUSLIM wasn't considered a dirty word.

I have a Muslim son-in-law. I wonder what he thinks about all of this.

[BenDavid]

28. "The only muslim baiting I see here" ...." and you are so right, as

the only race baiting and playing the race card came from the obama camp and his surrogates out there feeding the msm and they reported it over and over again and all went so far as to say Bill and Hillary Clinton were bigots and racists.What did Obama do? He sat on his ass and knowing full well that neither Bill or Hillary were bigots, let along racists. Obama claims he wants to heal the hole in everyones soul but obama did not practice his christianity when he did not open his mouth and say the Clintons were falsely accused.....This makes obama in my eyes, a reprobate.....

[Metric System]

31. Reading this thread I'm reminded of what Obama recently had to say about the attacks on Hillary:

"Her natural inclination is to draw a picture of Republicans as people who need to be crushed and defeated," Obama said during a telephone interview from Texas with the Cincinnati Enquirer editorial board. "It's not entirely her fault. She's been the target of some unfair attacks in the past."