Breaking former Clinton labour secretary endorses ...

[livingmadness]

Obama of course!!

This is a BIG endorsement for Obama, because this is a fine gentleman who has up until now pledged his support to Clinton unwaveringly. No more apparently - he's had enough of 'gotcha' politics.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/04/heilemann_robert_reich_to_endo.html

[livingmadness]

1. He's not a super delegate

but this will not be viewed kindly by the Clinton campaign. It pays to read the whole article, but I liked this part best ...

"I saw the ads" — the negative man-on-street commercials that the Clinton campaign put up in Pennsylvania in the wake of Obama's bitter/cling comments a week ago — "and I was appalled, frankly. I thought it represented the nadir of mean-spirited, negative politics. And also of the politics of distraction, of gotcha politics. It's the worst of all worlds. We have three terrible traditions that we've developed in American campaigns. One is outright meanness and negativity. The second is taking out of context something your opponent said, maybe inartfully, and blowing it up into something your opponent doesn't possibly believe and doesn't possibly represent. And third is a kind of tradition of distraction, of getting off the big subject with sideshows that have nothing to do with what matters. And these three aspects of the old politics I've seen growing in Hillary's campaign. And I've come to the point, after seeing those ads, where I can't in good conscience not say out loud what I believe about who should be president. Those ads are nothing but Republicanism. They're lending legitimacy to a Republican message that's wrong to begin with, and they harken back to the past 20 years of demagoguery on guns and religion. It's old politics at its worst — and old Republican politics, not even old Democratic politics. It's just so deeply cynical."

[FrenchieCat]

5. Cool, He had been saying that he was neutral for some time.....

I last saw him on Bill Mahers a fews back.

I liked what he said. It is so true!

"Those ads are nothing but Republicanism. They're lending legitimacy to a Republican message that's wrong to begin with, and they harken back to the past 20 years of demagoguery on guns and religion. It's old politics at its worst — and old Republican politics, not even old Democratic politics. It's just so deeply cynical."

[ShortnFiery]

2. Wow! Someone hide this good man from James "Yo U Judas" Carville.

:rofl:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. So Reich will now join Richardson and Kerry and Ted Kennedy

under the bus.

[cboy4]

18. He definitely not the huge backstabber Richardson is.

He doesn't owe his career to the Clintons like Richardson does.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. Richardson doesn't owe Hillary anything.

He was hired by her husband, not by her; he worked for *the government*, not Bill; and he did his job well. Thinking somebody owes you something because you once got him a job is the very definition of cronyism, and we've already had more than enough of that.

[DJ13]

4. Whoa, I didnt expect that

He was on Ed Schultz just this morning and Ed asked about an endorsement.

Mr. Reich said no, he was good friends with the Clintons and he wasnt going to endorse anyone in the primaries.

Yikes, he must really have hated Hillary's negative ads!

K&R!

:thumbsup:

[PassingFair]

23. If you read his blog, it's clear that he would never back Clinton....

if he had a NON-DLC choice.


He is a progressive all the way.

And one of the best!

http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2008/01/politics-of-economic-nightmare.html

[goclark]

6. I always respected his leadership

[anonymous171]

7. lol I hope someone asks Carville about this.

:rofl:

[StevieM]

8. Oh please...Obama has been quoting Reich for months on health care

Obama has always been his candidate. The only news is that instead of bragging about why he likes Obama, Reich has decided to lie and pretend that he was disgusted by the negative attacks. Obama has decided to smear Hillary in the most brilliant of ways--make it look like she is smearing him. That is how he got where he is (think the "kindergarten attack").

It also may cost him my vote in November.

Steve

[Beacool]

11. I always assumed he had endorsed him already.

The way he kept on and on about Obama for months now.

[StevieM]

16. I know, I did to. This is a recurring theme with Obama. He acts like his supporters are neutral

figures. Like William Clay who lied about Hillary and Family and Medical Leave.

Hillary missed two big opportunities in the debate the other night. The first was to fire back, when BO mentioned the Whether Underground and the pardons, that Barack IS NOT running against Bill Clinton. The second was to reply to his comments about negative campaigning by pointing out all of his negative personal attacks against her. I think that was her one chance to win big in PA and she may have blown it.

I'm struggling to bring myself to vote for Obama if he is the nominee. I think he is such a bad person, who has run a truly hateful and vicious campaign against her.

Steve

[Beacool]

17. Well, that's up to you.

I've already decided that if he's the nominee I'm not voting for him (nor McCain either). I won't vote for someone who I don't think is prepared to be president. I'll either write-in her name or not vote for president.

:shrug:

[StevieM]

20. I've agonized over the decision. Let me explain:

I was dead set against voting for him a few weeks ago. And I even planned on voting for John McCain. But the Supreme Court is a big issue. So I temporarily decided to hold my nose and vote for this person who I consider to be a genuinely bad human being. (Which is basically what he's called Hillary, so that means it must also be OK to say it about him).

Now I'm thinking that it does no good to let him replace Stevens, Souter and Ginsberg if President Romney just comes along and replaces Kennedy. And just as there could never have been a Reagan without a Carter, there could only be a Romney because of an Obama disaster. Better to hope that those three can hold on for four more years. McCain will probably only seek to serve for one term. Then Hillary or O'Malley can run in 2012.

Steve

[hfojvt]

14. you think Obama told Reich what to say?

That the comment in post 1 is not spot on?

[StevieM]

15. Yes, I do think Obama told him what to say. Word for word, that's what I'm saying (eom)

[RichardRay]

25. Which shows just how much you DON'T know about this man.

Learn a bit about him before you start making that sort of ridiculous assertion.

[Up2Late]

9. WHERE? This is great, a Post about a Blog Post about a future Blog Post!

This is Alice in Wonderland alright. <http://robertreich.blogspot.com/>
:banghead::argh:

[FrenchieCat]

19. That's how Springsteen endorsed too.

Most folks who are actually somebody can blog stuff, and the the media will pick it up. Doh.

You think if Michael Moore posts on his blog something like he's endorsing Hillary, it might end up on ABC used to be news?

[housewolf]

10. Oh, this is very good news!

It shows that even loyal Clinton friends and supporters are paying attention to what she's doing and the havoc she's wrecking in the party.

[dkf]

12. Wow, its not who he is...its what he is saying.

He called Hillary's attacks Republicanism and cited three aspects to the right wing attack that she is using.

"We have three terrible traditions that we've developed in American campaigns. One is outright meanness and negativity. The second is taking out of context something your opponent said, maybe inartfully, and blowing it up into something your opponent doesn't possibly believe and doesn't possibly represent. And third is a kind of tradition of distraction, of getting off the big subject with sideshows that have nothing to do with what matters. And these three aspects of the old politics I've seen growing in Hillary's campaign. And I've come to the point, after seeing those ads, where I can't in good conscience not say out loud what I believe about who should be president. Those ads are nothing but Republicanism. They're lending legitimacy to a Republican message that's wrong to begin with, and they harken back to the past 20 years of demagoguery on guns and religion. It's old politics at its worst — and old Republican politics, not even old Democratic politics. It's just so deeply cynical."

Now THAT is an indictment.

[TragedyandHope]

13. Thanks for the good news!

[Raine]

21. TERRIFIC

GREAT news for Obama! :bounce:

[crispini]

22. Wow! Good man. I like his take on things.

:kick:

[invictus]

24. K & R. GOBAMA!

[saltpoint]

26. He and Gov. Richardson, both Clinton Cabinet folks, have endorsed Obama.

Hey, you undecideds in PA, NC, and IN -- there's a message in there somewhere.

[mucifer]

27. I thought Reich endorsed Obama months ago