Where desperation leads, Hillary will follow: chasing McCain

[ProSense]

Clinton Spin Call: "We Have Momentum"

03 Mar 2008 11:23 am

An upbeat, no-pausing Mark Penn and Howard Wolfson claimed momentum for the Clinton campaign in Ohio and Texas.

"I have avoided making Namath-esque predictions throughout this campaign," said Wolfson, the Clinton campaign's New York-bred communications chief. "But I believe it will be very clear which campaign will have the better of the day and which campaign will have had the worst of it. I am supposititious about making declarative positions, but I believe we will be the successful campaign on Tuesday."

Penn and Wolfson listed three reasons why they said Obama was on the defensive: their chief economics adviser, Austan Goolsbee, was caught back-channeling with the Canadian government on NAFTA; the trial of former Obama pal Tony Rezko; and the Clinton gambit to raise questions about Obama's fitness to be commander in chief.

Reporters came back to the delegate gap between the two. Even if Clinton wins Ohio and Texas, she'll have to win a lot more states by a huge margin to regain the delegate lead. Wolfson and Penn laid out the following scenario: Losing Texas and Ohio means that a "serious case of buyer's remorse" is setting in for Democrats," Wolfson said. "Florida and Michigan are back on the table again," Penn said. Wolfson ticked off a list of states that Clinton had won, including Tennessee, California, New York, California and Massachusetts. "Every week, the Obama campaign holds a conference call to declare her" meaning Clinton "dead." "There's a lot left here before picking the right nominee," Penn said, chiming in.

Yup, Hillary's campaign winning strategy is relying on distortion to take down Obama.

The Rezko distortion:

Hillary's campaign raises Rezko as Bill leaves campaign trail for fund raiser with Frank Giustra

Just how much a part of the Rezko trial will Obama be? Notes the Washington Post: "Obama is expected to be no more than a footnote to the three-month trial -- Rezko allegedly contributed $10,000 in extorted funds to Obama's campaign -- yet Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has bombarded reporters with Web links and word that the proceedings are beginning. Searching for an advantage after 11 straight primary losses, Clinton strategists said Obama should be questioned more closely about his relationship with Rezko, who faces a separate trial on charges of swindling $10 million from a financial institution."

more

Barack Obama doesn’t have the Democratic presidential nomination sewn up, but barring some very unexpected results tonight the odds seem to be moving in his favor. Obama has proved to be a formidable campaigner, as former frontrunner Hillary Clinton can testify. He’s smart, charismatic, inspiring and other than his ties to Antoin Rezko almost entirely untainted by scandal. So how does the GOP run against Obama if he does in fact secure the nomination? I asked that question of John Brabender, Chief Creative Officer and managing partner of BrabenderCox, a leading GOP media firm. His past and present clients include Senators Tom Coburn, David Vitter and Rick Santorum, as well as the Rudy Giuliani for President campaign.

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Note to Hillary: Rezko is a non-story.

The CTV NAFTA distortion and chasing McCain:

By Todd Gitlin - March 4, 2008, 10:15AM

At OpenLeft, Chris Bowers notes this fascinating coincidence:

So, the Canadian conservative prime minister is calling Barack Obama two-faced on NAFTA at the exact same moment that John McCain is indicating that Canada might pull out its troops on Afghanistan if we make too much a stink about NAFTA? That strikes me as more than a little suspicious. In fact, it strikes me as a directly coordinated attack by McCain and Harper to neutralize McCain on trade during the general election. It wouldn't be the first time Harper and Republican leaders have coordinated, given that Harper uses Republican pollsters and the conservative movements in both countries are deeply intertwined.

There's another coincidence. While McCain is ingratiating himself with his right-wing Canadian friends, who returned the favor by accusing Obama advisor Austan Goolsbee of making a side deal with them over Nafta, Hillary Clinton is declaring that like her, "Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."

This is revolting. Is the idea to do such damage to Obama that a remorseful Democratic Party will decide he's damaged goods after all, and she, by default, is McCain's only true adversary. Then her strategy would be better known as scorched earth than kitchen sink. And it's revolting. One way or the other, it's revolting.

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The MSM allowing Hillary to use her "wink-wink" smoke screen to hide her own NAFTA lie

Endorsing McCain:

There were points in the fall when Obama was accused — in some instances, fairly — of using conservative frames to make his case, which led some to suggest Obama was running against the party while seeking its nomination.

But as far as I can tell, he never argued publicly that a leading Republican candidate brought a better background to the table than a leading Democratic candidate.

Clinton’s comments were, to put it mildly, disappointing. At a certain point, which I believe we’re at right now, the Democratic Party’s general-election interests have to be taken into consideration by the candidates.

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Hillary's goal is to take down Obama by any means:

But I'm not going to be discussing the details of those stories today because I don't want to make our candidate damaged goods in the fall. You will notice that neither Obama's campaign nor Obama's official, or unofficial, surrogates are talking about the Clintons' past or present scandals, the Clintons' negatives, what a Clinton run for the presidency will to Democratic congressional races and governor races across the country. The Clintons are counting on the fact that none of us will write about their negatives, because we're too nice. So they can get as dirty as they want, with impunity.

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By contrast, Hillary's site looks like it's run by the GOP, listing every known distortion as fact.

[SoFlaJet]

1. don't despair prosense

this is almost over-Obama will sweep all 4 today and 50 super delegates are ready to throw their support to Obama for Hillary saying McCain has more experience than the democratic frontrunner-she crossed a line and fucked up big time and it's going to cost her

[ProSense]

5. Hillary is just trying to do the party a favor...

the Republican Party!

[Skip Intro]

2. Wow, lotta bloggers there. Thing is, just saying Rezko is a nonstory does not make it so, and just

saying Hillary is praising or endorsing or chasing mccain does not make it so - mabye in the Obamasphere, but not in reality.

mccain does have a lot more experience than Obama, and that will be a card that will be played should he be the nom. Hillary pointing that out does not equal endorsement or praise or chasing. Saying something, no matter how many times, does not make it so.

And there were back channel communications from the Obama camp to the Canadian government, that much now known, even though the Obama team acted like the whole idea was just too far-fetched to be reality. Coming up with conspiracy theories and pretending that is true rather than looking at the facts and drawing logical conclusions might be fun, but it does not make it so.

And there evidently is more to the Rezko thing than we have been led to believe. We shall see. I think it telling that Obama would cut short a press conference and walk off in the midst of questioning when these questions come up.

[ProSense]

3. WaPo and Harper's are not blogs, and saying "wow" about bloggers still doesn't make it a story. n/t

[KittyWampus]

13. Just saying the Swiftboat Liars is a nonstory does not make it so. So Hillary supporters

happily join in an effort to swiftboat Obama.

McCain has more experience than Hillary. And she was touting McCain over a fellow Democrat.

And the CTV story also involved Hillary, lest you forget. BOTH camps supposedly spoke to someone in Canada although CTV has changed their story several times and provided unnamed sources.

Whatever, Hillary will concede soon.

[ProSense]

4. Wow, Hillary's campaign is in complete take-down Obama mode:

The Clinton campaign is currently holding a Rezko conference call. We'll let you know what gets said.

Hillary Spokesperson: Obama-Rezko Story Should "Set Off Alarm Bells In Newsrooms Across America"

By Greg Sargent - March 4, 2008, 10:51AM
Hillary advisers continued pushing the press to get tougher on Obama on a conference call with reporters just a few moments ago, urging the media to take a much closer look at the Obama-Rezko story than it has thus far.

To make his case, Hillary spokesperson Phil Singer pointed to this little detail in the Chicago Sun Times today:

Tony Rezko's wife, family members and friends crowded behind him onto a courtroom bench. Spectators spilled into an overflow courtroom. Among them was a staffer from U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, taking detailed notes.

Singer noted that Obama has a staffer on hand at Rezko's trial, accused Obama of failing to answer questions about his relationship with Rezko, and concluded that the story "should set off alarm bells in newsrooms across America."

It seems clear that Hillary's bash-the-press strategy -- and it is a strategy -- is working by various measures, but it's unclear as yet whether it will have proven too little, too late. We'll find out soon enough.

With the distortion vultures swarming around the story and trial, Obama is smart to have someone there to counter any fabricated details.

[thoughtcrime1984]

8. !

[SteppingRazor]

6. ProSense, you a Gilmore Girls fan or something?

Just based on the title of your post.

[ProSense]

11. Nah! n/t

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

7. GO MAMA!!!!!!!!!!!

[RememberWellstone]

9. Nonsense!

Nice work though...even if half your rant is opinion not fact.

[ProSense]

10. What's nonsense? n/t

[ProSense]

12. Latest Clinton tactic: Fake news reports

Latest Clinton tactic: Fake news reports

The Clinton campaign's latest tactic in Ohio is, apparently, a radio ad that tries to make listeners think it's a news report until the very end.

Stuff like this, if it succeeds in fooling voters, fairly seriously pollutes the information environment by trying to steal the credibility of the news media and use it to present a biased, exagerrated set of facts. Why can't we rely on people who want to be president to not engage in the kind of creepy behavior that you teach your kids not to do?

<...>

Script of Clinton Radio Ad Provided by Obama Campaign

This is an election news update with a major news story reported by the AP. While Senator Obama has crisscrossed Ohio giving speeches attacking NAFTA, his top economic advisor was telling the Canadians that was all just political maneuvering. A newly released document from the Canadian government shows that Obama’s senior economic advisor met with the Canadian Consul General and made clear that Obama’s attack on NAFTA were just, quote, “political maneuvering,” not policy. Political maneuvering, not policy. In fact, the document shows that Obama’s advisor also assured the Canadians that these attacks against NAFTA would not continue. Obama would not want to be, quote, “fundamentally changing the agreement.” As Senator Obama was telling one story to Ohio, his campaign was telling a very different story to Canada. How will Ohioans decide whether they can believe Senator Obama’s words? We’ll find that out on election day. Paid for by Hillary Clinton for President.

Hillary has gone completely Rovian