Clintons Using Wright Controversy Behind The Scenes, The Media Starts Noticing She's Losing

[KittyWampus]

Clinton Facing Narrower Path to Nomination

By ADAM NAGOURNEY
WASHINGTON — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton needs three breaks to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination from Senator Barack Obama in the view of her advisers.

**She has to defeat Mr. Obama soundly in Pennsylvania next month to buttress her argument that she holds an advantage in big general election states.
**She needs to lead in the total popular vote after the primaries end in June.
**Clinton is looking for some development to shake superdelegate confidence in Mr. Obama

snip

Mrs. Clinton’s advisers had hoped that the uproar over inflammatory remarks made by Mr. Obama’s longtime pastor that has rocked his campaign for a week might lead voters and superdelegates to question whether they really know enough about Mr. Obama to back him. Although it is still early to judge his success, the speech Mr. Obama delivered on race in Philadelphia to address the controversy was well received and praised even by some Clinton supporters.

snip

It is in the interest of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign to portray the contest as being highly competitive. Her campaign is intent on combating Mr. Obama’s efforts to pick off superdelegates. And it is increasingly concerned that any sign that the window is closing could lead a Democrat like Al Gore or Speaker Nancy Pelosi to step in and urge Democrats to back Mr. Obama in the interest of unity.

In truth, in interviews, Mrs. Clinton’s advisers said that task was tough and growing tougher and that the critical questions were what would happen with Florida and Michigan and the possibility of developments involving Mr. Obama’s relationship with his spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.

snip

Finally, Mrs. Clinton’s aides hope that disclosures about Mr. Obama’s past like the one involving Mr. Wright could give superdelegates’ pause. Mr. Devine said he thought that at least in terms of Democratic primary voters Mr. Obama had turned the furor to his advantage with his speech on race.

“Obama, confronted by an issue that was boiling, seemed to wade into it with a speech that was in many ways profound,” Mr. Devine said. “As a result, now these people who were so interested and awakened by his candidacy are back with him again. Instead of this being a setback, it becomes an opportunity.”

But the audience now is as much the Democratic superdelegates, who are especially attuned to politics and questions of electability in the fall, as it is rank-and-file voters.

Mrs. Clinton’s advisers said they had spent recent days making the case to wavering superdelegates that Mr. Obama’s association with Mr. Wright would doom their party in the general election.

That argument could be Mrs. Clinton’s last hope for winning this contest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/us/politics/20memo.html?_r=2&hp=&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1205978784-DYODfocUf%20PREVvCwoyFsg&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

[slinkerwink]

1. her surrogate, Lanny Davis, was pushing Wright issue on HuffingtonPost

[KittyWampus]

2. Wonder if there'll be any more leaks about conference calls or some such where Team Clinton

was pushing this.

[slinkerwink]

4. I was expecting them to push the wright issue to make their case to superdelegates

but to have lanny davis on huffpo? That's a clear campaign signal to move it to the front.

[KittyWampus]

6. isn't that sort of sloppy?

[slinkerwink]

10. no, it's coordinated

[KittyWampus]

14. what I mean dear Slinkerwink, if the Media does start noting Clinton's pushing this

it will do damage to her campaign and prospects.

[FrenchieCat]

35. DeeDee Myers was pushing it on CNN today....during 360.....

It's called the, "He didn't really get it behind him, they will hit him in the GE with it" strategy.

How low can one go?

Than she passed out a memo saying "lay off the Wright issue". Yeah. Right!
Here's the Hillary supporter post on that:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5154644

[KittyWampus]

84. kick

[TeamJordan23]

5. Lanny Davis also used to work for Leiberman. nm

[slinkerwink]

12. and lieberman supports mccain

[Stephanie]

26. and mccain's media consultants are hillary's media consultants

go figure

[scheming daemons]

3. Her surrogates here on DU are working the issue hard as well.....

Don't tell me that some of these people aren't paid staffers.... the text of their posts is almost identical.....

[KittyWampus]

8. it was seriously shocking to see "Obama threw his granny under the bus" repeated here.

I am a pretty realistic, thick-skinned woman.

But that was utterly beyond imagining.

[Mz Pip]

20. I saw that post

and was appalled.

So much for honest discourse about race. Admitting to having seen racism in your own family becomes "throwing granny under the bus."

Clinton is throwing the entire Democratic Party under the bus for her own political agenda. THing is, it's too late. She's lost and if she somehow manages to grab the nomination she will have turned of a huge chunk of voters who will stay home rather than even hold their nose to vote for her. She'll lose the GE because people don't like to be used.

[Forkboy]

28. I saw BOTH of those posts.

You must have missed the second. :)

[stillcool]

33. There has been a lot of ugly crap...

being posted about Obama's "White" Grandmother for at least a year. Really disgusting...for instance this one from March 2007...

http://mediamatters.org/items/200703290011
Anti-Semite Andy Martin in NewsMax: "Free Obama's White Grandmother"
Thu, Mar 29, 2007 5:39pm ET
In a March 28 column for NewsMax.com titled "Free Obama's White Grandmother," "Internet journalist" Andy Martin wrote that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), whom he called "one of the most racist politicians in America today," has "locked the grandmother who actually raised him away in a closet," adding: "he 'segregation' of Madelyn Dunham, Obama's white grandmother, and only real grandmother, has to be one of the cruelest and most mendacious political kidnappings this nation has ever seen." Martin wrote that Dunham "is the 'Prisoner of Obama,' and of Obama's racist myth that he is 'Black' and not 'Black and White.' "

Martin offered no evidence for any of his allegations, other than quoting from a March 27 Chicago Tribune article, which reported that "the Obama campaign declined to make Madelyn Dunham, 84, available" for an interview and referring to a New York Times article in which, according to Martin, "Dunham told the New York Times she was not well enough to speak." That Times article, published on March 17, reported that "Obama still visits his maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who lives in the same high-rise apartment where Mr. Obama spent much of his childhood. 'I'm not well,' she said on the telephone, explaining her refusal to meet for an interview."

[TML]

9. I've noticed that

And I even called them out on their bullshit, too.

[Bigleaf]

13. Yes, and good luck to them. They can all go fuck off.

There will be no theft.

[Frank Booth]

27. I agree that it's definitely coordinated.

There are a select few who always post around the same time, and always kick each other's threads, so that the "Obama hates white people" story or whatever negative shit they want to spew for the day dominates the board. I think it's planned, probably by IM.

There's obviously something going on when most posters on here are pro-Obama but the pro-Hillary negative attacks predominate anyway.

Unfortunately, many Obama supporters can't resist wading into the shitfest and the anti-Obama inflammatory posts stay stuck at the top. If you pay attention to the worst pro-Hillary perpetrators (JD, HM, RD, JL, IM), they will hardly ever post in an anti-Hillary thread, which is partly why these threads sink so much more quickly.

[Stephanie]

30. I signed up to blog for Hillary

Still waiting for my instructions though. Think they noticed I haven't donated any money?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

82. Of course they are, but it's not going to work. Not this time!

[EFerrari]

7. Of course they have. It's like their fourth or fifth time with the race baiting already.

[slinkerwink]

11. that's why they must be stopped

[EFerrari]

23. That was the deal breaker for me, for sure. n/t

[Cha]

15. There was a thread on here today that

said clintons weren't pushing the Wright smear and I wrote .."Not today?" ..so what smear is she pushing today.

They're throwing the dirty kichen sink around and there's so much misinformation..Obama's gonna need more money to keep getting the facts out there.

[Forkboy]

16. So much for the Penn memo

Clinton campaign: Yes on Rezko, no on Wright
by James Oliphant

The memo has apparently gone around the Hillary Clinton camp this morning: Lay off the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.

“That’s really for Senator Obama to address,” said chief strategist Mark Penn.


Typical two-faced shit.

[Stephanie]

34. "Lay off" means they were doing it up until yesterday - admittedly

Now they'll just do it on background.

[Forkboy]

36. Yep...but we knew that.

Slimiest Dem campaign I've ever seen.

[Stephanie]

39. Despicable

I'm going to run her out of New York on a rail, mark my words.

[Mz Pip]

17. WHERE THE F***K IS

the Democratic leadership on this?? Clinton is ripping the party apart, trashing Obama behind the scenes and the Democratic leadership is nowhere to be seen. To use Wright against Obama just shows me that Clinton is clueless about race and has only used it when it has been politically expedient to do so.

THe Democratic leadership needs to step in and put a stop to this. WHere is Howard Dean?

[Zodiak]

78. Dean is busy

...coming under attack from DLC surrogates in MI and FL. It seems to be a multi-pronged attack to take out the progressives/grassroots to favor DLC/business as usual.

[BenDavid]

18. Until yesterday, Obama said the only thing controversial

he knew about Rev. Wright was his stand on issues relating to Africa, abortion and gay marriage. …

His initial reaction to the initial ABC News broadcast of Rev. Wright’s sermons denouncing the U.S. was that he had never heard his pastor of 20 years make any comments that were anti-U.S. until the tape was played on air.

But yesterday, he told a different story. “Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes,” he said in his speech yesterday in Philadelphia.

What does this make obama? uh huh A LAIR!

ABC NEWS
ABC News took a closer look at the Barack Obama speech on race yesterday and found curious discrepancies from past positions. Brian Ross and Avni Patel also note similar contradictions in Obama’s positions on Tony Rezko. It looks like some of the media has finally begun vetting the Democratic front-runner for the nomination:

Buried in his eloquent, highly praised speech on America’s racial divide, Sen. Barack Obama contradicted more than a year of denials and spin from him and his staff about his knowledge of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s controversial sermons.

Similarly, Obama also has only recently given a much fuller accounting of his relationship with indicted political fixer Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a longtime friend, who his campaign once described as just one of “thousands of donors.”

[Mz Pip]

22. That's not what he said

and you know it.

Controversial does not equal anti-American. NIce try though.

[scheming daemons]

25. Why don't you complete your journey already and support McCain.....

...that's where you're headed.

You have a deep-seated hatred of Obama.... based on what, I'm not sure... I imagine some of it is racial for you, some of it is your fear that he's an anti-semite, some of it is your fear that he is anti-gay.


But you are beyond reasoned discussion on the matter. You have made up your mind that Obama is the embodiment of evil in the world today, and you'll obviously be voting for McCain in the GE.


You're smart enough to realize that Clinton can't and won't get the nomination now, so just complete your personal journey and go support the old man already.


If yesterday's speech by Obama didn't reach you, you are a hopeless case.

[Adams Wulff]

63. What are you talking about? There's no post #18! Who are... oh, wait

You're talking to Ignored.

My bad.

[jgraz]

19. Once again, Hillary is COUNTING ON virulent racism to hand her the nomination

Isn't there a single Hillary supporter who is sickened by this?

[EFerrari]

21. They are too busy being wounded.

:puke:

[SoCalDem]

66. yup.. ever the victim

[EFerrari]

69. There are posters here who genuinely support Clinton and who

are understandably disappointed right now.

And then there is the crowd of those other people.

[annie1]

29. what did she do? stood by and watched, so what? should she have...

saved him in some way? if i were in a race like this one i'd be thinking, alright, his turn to deal with a problem. ? what's to be sickened about? it's HIS black power preacher. i like black power but a lot of people really aren't into it. is it ok that many white people have a problem with what wright said? should hil have stopped people from being offended by 'white america' being blamed for aids and 9/11? it's not racist to not like a lot of the ideas that wright has or has put forth.

[jgraz]

41. Her only way to win is to hope for a racist backlash against a fellow Democrat

She's not just sitting back, she's pushing this story -- just like she pushed the "Obama is a Muslim" story. A true patriot, or at least a candidate who was confident in her own merits, would have taken the opportunity to show some class and come to her fellow Democrat's defense.

[annie1]

45. there's nothing to defend. the only thing out is the truth...

that's his pastor, his pastor is into what we all call the 'black power' sort of sentiment, i don't think there's anything wrong with that, all he has to do is explain it to those who don't get it, he did. and then it's for them to decide how they feel about that. not everyone is ok with it. maybe i'm just from a really liberal upbringing where i don't think it's that big of a deal, but it's his issue to talk about, she can't speak for him. she's been picked on, he didn't come to her defense, now he's being picked on that's how it goes. it's not a big deal and people aren't racist to dislike what wright has to say, it's very uncomfortable for a lot of people to hear a preacher say 9/11 is an inside job, or whatever the heck it was. and obama talked about it to the public. i think it would be pretty lame if hil has to come to his defense. who wouldn't sit back. hil's been picked on 1,000 times, she got through it, people stood back and watched, she didn't need anyone racing against her to come to her defense and neither did obama.

[jgraz]

You have a funny definition of "truth" and "racism"

Yeah, it's technically "true" that Wright said all those things (most of which I heartily agree with), but no sensible person can say that those few short video segments tell the "truth" of his tenure at Trinity Church, let alone the "truth" of what Barack Obama believes.

The racism part comes in where this preacher is held up, not as a nutty religious leader, but as the quintessential Angry Militant Black Dude^tm. There are so many nuttier, more offensive, more divisive leaders in white churches, many of them much more closely tied to Repug candidates, yet none of them have their videos playing 24/7 on Faux Snooze and the like.

Rev. Wright plays, not because he is a controversial preacher, but because he is a controversial black preacher -- a black preacher who is pastor to a black politician. That's where the racism comes in.

[Stephanie]

70. I honestly think it's the oratory style that freaked people out.

I want to see transcriptions from those endless loops we've been viewing. My bet is it was not the words but the tone of voice that frightened people.

[jgraz]

71. Especially given that choir that sang at the Repug debate

They sang "Why Should God Bless America?", which is exactly the same sentiment as Wright's "God Damn America", just sung nicely by a bunch of fresh-faced white Repugs.

[Stephanie]

24. NEVER let it be said again that the Clinton camp didn't push this Wright smear

They have no scruples and they admit it.

[annie1]

32. what is the smear? that he went to the church? the vids that showed what the guy said?...

a lot of people don't like the type of stuff that wright said, and what's wrong with being offended by it?

[Stephanie]

37. Sniff Sniff, I am so OFFENDED.

It was race-baiting pure and simple - attempting to make Obama responsible for Wright's rhetoric was outlandish. Should Hillary be responsible for everything Rupert Murdoch prints? He held a big fundraiser for her! She accepted his money!

This is a SMEAR because it was an attempt to create a racial divide and make it seem as if Obama endorsed every word Rev. Wright ever said. And it worked. It's shameful. Hillary Clinton will never live this down.

[annie1]

40. don't be so histrionic. where is the 'attempt to make it seems as if obama...

endorsed every word'.

[Stephanie]

46. turn on cable news

I don't work for you

[annie1]

47. what, and watch Chris Matthews cream himself over obama? lol. no way...

i've been through that and it's not for me. and if pols and their aids are not allowed to say anything anymore b/c it is about obama then that's just crazy. the preacher thing is no big deal. and people aren't racist to not be ok with what wright said. c'mon.

[Stephanie]

49. No big deal?

I hope you enjoy the McCain White House and the 100 Year War in the ME.

[annie1]

51. well it's obama's deal, no one but his. he chose the pastor.

[Stephanie]

54. Yes darling. And every word the man ever uttered his Barack's responsiblity.

Do you take responsibility for the statements of everyone in your life?

[annie1]

56. no one is saying that he speaks what obama believes...

they are saying it was his pastor. the people who vote are free to decide whether they think that's important or not. personally, i don't PARTICULARLY like the 9/11 comment by the pastor, but i also don't care that obama goes to a pastor who preaches like that. i have other issues that concern me. but we are not everyone. not everyone is as we are and they may not like that he chose to hear that and stand by it. it's fine for voters to reject that judgement. and the media is going to talk about it b/c it's exciting. it doesn't make the story hillary's fault. voters are free to know that that is what obama's spiritual advisor believes and they can make their own judgement. no one thinks obama thinks the way his preacher does. honestly, it kind of endears me to barack a little more - before he was just a blank slate. i think it's kind of edgy that that is how his preacher feels. so it can go both ways. it's just knowing more about that person. what DON'T we know about hillary, geez, i know too damn much. and if she had an out there pastor, we'd all be talking about that. i wouldn't blame barack for it.

[Stephanie]

59. She DOES have an "out there" pastor, but the Obama campaign is not pushing this >

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5071798

[Sinistrous]

42. Because being "offended" by what Wright said requires denial that

black Americans have any legitimate grievances resulting from their treatment by white americans over the last 220+ years. What's wrong with being offended is that being offended is the product of intellectual dishonesty or invincible ignorance.

Sinistrous

[annie1]

48. and you are talking from a viewpoint that in uncommon. which is why...

Bo had to explain it. i remember at my old job i said to my boss who was going on vacation "don't come back burned. i don't understand white people getting burned EVERY year and saying 'i don't know how i got burned' it happens every year, you know how you got burned".

you'da thought i told all white people to go to hell. :D. he told me that was racist. :D. So it's uncommon for people to understand wright's views. they are out there. it doesn't mean they're racist, it's a tough subject. the mere mention of race alone freaks people out. obama needed to address why his pastor is way out there compared to MOST of us. it's not hillary's fault. people want her schedule, they want to know where she was every single solitary minute of every day, don't you think it's ok that people hear that his 20 year pastor preached that white america created aids? is that fair enough that the news media might be very into that?

[Sinistrous]

62. Well, annie1, I just finished reading your reply for the fifth time, and

even after all those trips to your salad bar of disjointed phrases, I haven't got the foggiest idea what you were trying to say. And, I am tending to believe that you don't either.

Please feel free to clarify, however this will be my last response in this series.

Sinistrous

[annie1]

64. just saying not everything is hillary's fault. but i know you don't believe that...

so i guess nevermind. i was typing as i thought, stream of consciousness. the pastor is out there, media picks it up, it's a story, doesn't mean it's hillary's fault. voters are interested.

[alcibiades_mystery]

31. Here's the memo

:evilgrin:

[Cha]

38. How'd you do that?!

"Confidential Grain of Salt"! :D

[stillcool]

52. Damn. I missed that!

When did that come out?

[Tom Rinaldo]

55. Note the evil grin at the bottom of the page

Unless someone provides some evidence this is real I don't assume it is. Anyone can make a fake memo nowadays.

[Tom Rinaldo]

57. Nice parody, lol

Sincerely. Well done.

[DerekJ]

58. I wonder what in the “24 hour rapid demographic” poll that made them drop or distance

themselves from the JW story?
hmmmmm...

[Tom Rinaldo]

60. I wonder why you don't realize alcibiades_mystery "wrote" that "memo".

Go back and look at it again above. Note the "evil grin" at the bottom of the page.

Or look at this thread where alcibiades_mystery points out who authored it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5154644&mesg_id=5168080

It is nice work. It is political parody. It is not real.

[DerekJ]

65. Too late to think clearly :)

Thanks for the clarification :blush:

[loveangelc]

43. of course they are. and of course her path is. everyone knows that...

I'm not sure that I believe they are actually PUSHING the story, but I think theyre making the case to superdelegates...

the bottom line is: she doesnt have a good chance of getting the nomination right now.

[dkf]

83. Yeah, but you can't discount that they are behind the story either.

And you know how good they are at using the media.

My antenna are going crazy...

[Stephanie]

44. Error: You've already recommended that thread.

HINT HINT

[americanstranger]

50. Hint taken.

Hey, S! How you doin'?

- as

[Stephanie]

53. Hey! Very well thanks!

Just appalled by our Senator, but otherwise fine. You? What's up? We need to have a NYC meet-up.

[americanstranger]

61. That'd be fun. Let's wait till it's warm....

We went to Roseland on Saturday to see The Pogues. If I hadn't drunk a lot I woulda frozen my hrbls off, pardon the expression.

Yeah, I'm pretty fed up with Senator Scorched Earth myself, in case you hadn't noticed.

- as

[Oilwellian]

67. Big Daily Kos discussion about this

As for what could happen when someone like Lanny Davis and the NYT's, in the same night, confirm that the Clinton's are slinging the Wright story to the Superdelegates for an edge, try this on for size...

For those supporters of Hillary Clinton who see the story as a way of selling superdelegates on Obama's unelectability, the downside is far more dangerous. If the Clinton campaign is caught using the race card, particularly after Bill Clinton's 'cracker tour' of South Carolina, it will assure a Clinton defeat in November. Not only will blacks boycott the polls, so will many of the millions of young voters Obama has brought into the political process.

(Many liberals like myself, who would be happy to support Hillary Clinton if she earned the nomination, would abandon her if her campaign seeks to exploit the Wright controversy either in the remaining contests or with superdelegates.)

That's a quote from Former Mondale campaign manager Bob Beckel...

Time to Jump Ship Bob... I hold you to your word. The NYT has spilled the beans and Lanny Davis proves it...

The Clintons are now using Wright, as their LAST ARGUEMENT...

Michigan: Closed
Florida: Closed
Wright: Last Window of Hope

pathetic...

A Humble Theory Afterthought... Judging by the Embargo Levied by Maggie Williams and the clear breakage of said Embargo by the NYT's piece revealers and Lanny Davis directly, is it possible that the Wright Phenomenon is now rapidly coming to a close? Are they trying to blow oxygen on the dying flame of their last hope? as Noam Scheiber wrote

This is why you basically never see the Clinton campaign touch the Wright story. (I was on a Clinton conference call this weekend; I thought I heard tumbleweeds blowing when a reporter brought up Wright.) There's almost no way they can actively exploit it, particularly after Obama's speech. They just have to hope it does the job on its own--or, to put it in less cynical terms, that Democratic voters think Wright is as big a problem for Obama as the Clintonites presumably think he is.

All in all, this is still clearly pathetic, I just hope it's the Pathetic Last Gasp... one that was forced against their better initial tactical judgements on the situation.. The risk has always been there that they overplay their hand by even stepping into the debate, and after tonight, I think we can safely say that has now happened.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/20/11015/8963/538/480513

[Oilwellian]

68. C'mon people this is huge...RECOMMEND!

[Tom Rinaldo]

72. This is NOT huge at all

Even if this story is accepted on face value, it is a private lobbying effort behind closed doors aimed at a few hundred people. It is an insider version of a political argument that parallels the debates we have here at DU over whether Obama's association with Wright will make it harder for Obama to get elected, except that we have that debate in public along with most of the nation's media pundits. It is not swiftboating Obama to talk with a couple of hundred undecided Super Delegates about the possible political repercussions of a matter that they are already fully aware of and closely tracking.

Does anyone think for an instant that whichever Super Delegates who still remain uncommitted at this point in the race are not having their own discussions with political people in their own circles independent of the two campaigns about how the Wright controversy may play out in November if Obama is our nominee? Of course they are talking about it. Of course they are weighing whatever political implications it may bring. That is their job. We are doing the same without even having to cast a delegate vote at the Convention.

The discussion is a valid one. Opinions on it of course will differ but Super Delegates are supposed to weigh the political ramifications of possible political controversies. They also are supposed to weight whatever implications come out of Hillary Clinton's tax returns when they are released in a few weeks, and I have no doubt that the Obama campaign will be all over those Super Delegates explaining how this or that in those returns could damage the chances for a Democratic victory in November. Not only is that politics as usual, it is arguably politics the way it should be played. We are not talking about national attack ads, we are talking about private discussions.

[FrenchieCat]

73. I go to a similar church.....and the pastor's clips remind me of when

they had Wes Clark up there talking about supporting Bush and Condi and them in that tiny piece of a long speech....remember?

This is the same thing, but worse, because the words that they are citing didn't even come out of the mouth of the candidate....which makes it three times as disgusting.

Wright's Bio shows that he received 3 commendations from LBJ. This man was a Marine....fought for this country, and isn't allowed any freedom of speech, only unkind judgment of others, and demonization as though he was nothing more than a common criminal....all without context!

But worse, is the fact that there are Democrats who are relishing in it, and hoping that it does more harm regardless of the damage it does to entire communities by widening the chism that already exist (throwing them under the bus, in essence). That is not what the Democratic Party is supposed to be about, last I checked.

Thank God I'm supporting Obama who was able to lead by giving us the context required and was able to repair the damage, and possibly turn this tragedy (cause that's all it is) into something useful for this society!

I don't think that I could ever rationalize wanting to hope that this type of "gotcha out of context lynching by associate via 15 second soundbyte" was successful if I were a Hillary supporter. I wouldn't even be able to sleep with myself!

[slinkerwink]

74. they want Hillary to win at all costs

[EFerrari]

75. That would be the spin. In fact, the Clinton campaign

is LOBBYING super delegates using this disgusting distorted story. That's not simply a private conversation among delegates by any stretch.

[Strelnikov_]

76. "especially attuned to politics and questions of electability in the fall"

If thats the case, why are any even considering Mrs. 53% disapproval.

[KittyWampus]

79. strange, isn't it?

[Perry Logan]

77. Time for the Obamites to leave the party. We'll show you the door.

[bagimin]

87. If we leave McCain Wins...supreme court turns..

get serial.
Besides Senator Obama has an insurmountable delegate lead.

[ruggerson]

80. And Obama's advisors wouldn't be doing the same thing with a story about Clinton?

They'd be on the phones to the superdelegates before you can say "God damn America."

Clinton didn't create this story. Obama chose the church and made the decision to stay there. Putting aside the arguments over what Wright said and whether it was right or wrong, this is totally and completely Obama's story to own. It was his church, his decision to attend there, his life.

Hillary Clinton did not magically make him a member of this church.

She has not publicly said one word about this.

If her advisors are privately telling superdelegates that this controversy may hurt Obama in the general - oh well, that's politics. Obama would be making the exact same argument if the situation was reversed.

That's not pushing a story or creating a story.

That's privately arguing that a story you didn't create or have any part of could possibly damage your opponent.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

81. Race-baiter Hillary, at it again. Her desperation is showing.

[thevoiceofreason]

85. K&R

[ElsewheresDaughter]

86. 1

[cooolandrew]

88. Keep this kicked. Always good to see pro obama articles.