Clinton adviser out after Obama comment

[O-Factor]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071214/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_obama_s_drugs




By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer
21 minutes ago



CONCORD, N.H. - A top campaign adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton resigned Thursday, a day after suggesting Democrats should be wary of nominating Barack Obama because his teenage drug use could make it hard for him to win the presidency.

Clinton herself apologized to Obama as they waited to fly to Iowa for a debate.

Obama's campaign sent out a fundraising letter contending that "this kind of attack is becoming a pattern as Clinton's support declines."

Bill Shaheen, a national co-chairman for Clinton and a prominent New Hampshire political figure, had raised the issue of Obama's youthful drug use during a Wednesday interview, published on washingtonpost.com.

"I made a mistake and in light of what happened, I have made the personal decision that I will step down as the co-chair of the Hillary for President campaign," Shaheen said in a statement released by the campaign Thursday. "This election is too important, and we must all get back to electing the best qualified candidate who has the record of making change happen in this country. That candidate is Hillary Clinton."

Shaheen, an attorney and veteran organizer, had said much of Obama's background is unknown and could be a problem in November 2008 if he is the Democratic nominee. He said Republicans would work hard to discover new aspects of Obama's admittedly spotty youth.

"It'll be, 'When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?'" said Shaheen, whose wife, Jeanne, is a former New Hampshire governor and is running for the U.S. Senate next year.

"There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It's hard to overcome," Shaheen said.

Clinton personally apologized to Obama when they were on the tarmac at Washington's Reagan National Airport Thursday morning, preparing to fly to Des Moines for a debate, according to aides to both candidates.

"Having been on the receiving end of unfair attacks for years, she doesn't think this is what the campaign should be about," said Clinton spokesman Jay Carson. "She told him she wanted to win the presidency, but not through tactics like that."

Clinton's campaign said it had nothing to do with Shaheen's earlier comments.

However, Ned Helms, an Obama co-chairman in New Hampshire, said he saw a pattern after the recent resignations of two Clinton volunteer coordinators in Iowa who had forwarded e-mails raising questions about Obama's religion.

"When you see a pattern of people making statements and the follow-up statement, 'Oh, that wasn't authorized,' it doesn't take a genius to see that there's a thread going on here," Helms said.

And the Obama campaign sent a fundraising e-mail to supporters asking for donations to help fight such tactics.

"The only way to stop these kinds of tired, desperate attacks is to demonstrate very clearly that they have a real cost to Senator Clinton's campaign," campaign manager David Plouffe wrote. "Make no mistake — this kind of attack is becoming a pattern as Clinton's support declines."

Obama wrote about his teenage drug use in his memoir, "Dreams from My Father." His rivals have largely remained silent on the subject.

"Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final fatal role of the young would-be black man," Obama wrote. Mostly he smoked marijuana and drank alcohol, he wrote, but occasionally he would snort cocaine when he could afford it.

New polling shows Clinton and Obama basically tied in New Hampshire. A CNN-WMUR-TV poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire shows Clinton at 31 percent support, Obama at 30. The same poll had Obama trailing by 20 points in September.

Hillarys tactics are tiresome......

[Nbadan]

JOHNSTON, IA -- In the spin room after today's debate, Obama adviser David Axelrod said that Obama had told Clinton today that "leadership came from the top" in regards to negative attacks and campaigning.

Axelrod said that the two senators spoke for about 10 minutes today, during which Clinton apologized for the comments made by her New Hampshire co-chair Billy Shaheen, who told the Washington Post that Obama's past cocaine use would make him vulnerable to GOP attacks. "Senator Obama expressed to Senator Clinton it's important for campaigns to send a signal from the top as to what type of campaign they want to run. If you send a signal that negative campaigning is the fun part of campaigns and treat it as a sport, then you are sending a signal down the line that it's all okay. They have to decide if they want to send a different signal and certainly by asking Mr. Shaheen to leave that would be a different signal," Axelrod said.

Axelrod went on to say that leadership in campaigns "flowed from the top down," and Clinton's previous comments that the "fun starts" when candidates begin to attack each other set a tone that allowing negative attacks were okay.

The announcement of Shaheen's resignation came just fifteen to twenty minutes after Axelrod's comments in the spin room. The Obama campaign has benefited from Shaheen's comments in more ways than one -- by 1) showing the Clinton campaign as anxious to tear down their opponents and 2) as a money making tool among their own supporters. David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, sent out an email requesting supporters to donate to demonstrate their disapproval at Shaheen.

Link (http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/13/515318.aspx)

Shaheen obviously didn't learn anything from the Dubya administration...you don't attack your opponents with your own people in the campaign, you get your shills in the media to do that for you....

[ChumpDumper]

His plane is gonna explode after he gets shot in the back of the head.

[Nbadan]

Damage is already done, he's gonna get Susan McDougall-ed....

[BonnerDynasty]

Obama needs to grow a pair and go after Hillary during the debates. He's got so much ammo but doesn't use it. When you are attacking the bully, it doesn't look near as bad as when the she-devil does it.

[Nbadan]

Nah, Obama is playing it right and staying out of the fray for the most part, after Karl Rove, people are tired of dirty politics...and the Clinton campaign is paying dearly in Iowa and New Hampshire for these dirty tricks...

[jochhejaam]

That's the Hillary version of a suicide bomber.

If she gets elected Nbadan and bouton are moving to Canada.

[JoeChalupa]

Barack is doing just fine and I don't see the need to go negative. He should stay above that and keep his momentum going.

[xrayzebra]

^^No need to now Joe, but when the race really gets close let's
see what happens. Negative works, I don't care what anyone
says.

[Mr. Peabody]

^^No need to now Joe, but when the race really gets close let's
see what happens. Negative works, I don't care what anyone
says.

I agree. There's a reason the term "swiftboated" has entered the lexicon of American politics.

[JoeChalupa]

^^No need to now Joe, but when the race really gets close let's
see what happens. Negative works, I don't care what anyone
says.

But that is out of character, IMO, for Barack and it may backfire on him. Those like Rove whom have the negative character in them make it look easy. Kerry's problem is that he didn't fight back against the swiftboaters.
But yes, it can be effective but I also feel it can turn some voters off. But some will go to any lengths to win.

[Mr. Peabody]

But that is out of character, IMO, for Barack and it may backfire on him. Those like Rove whom have the negative character in them make it look easy. Kerry's problem is that he didn't fight back against the swiftboaters.
But yes, it can be effective but I also feel it can turn some voters off. But some will go to any lengths to win.


It wasn't just the swiftboaters that did him in. It was the label of "flip-flopper." It was a negative tactic used by the Bush campaign, but it was very effective and IMO it was that label that won Bush the election.

[Extra Stout]

It wasn't just the swiftboaters that did him in. It was the label of "flip-flopper." It was a negative tactic used by the Bush campaign, but it was very effective and IMO it was that label that won Bush the election.
Well, Obama isn't a flip-flopper, but he is the al-Qaeda Manchurian candidate, and may well be the prophecied anti-Christ.

[xrayzebra]

But that is out of character, IMO, for Barack and it may backfire on him. Those like Rove whom have the negative character in them make it look easy. Kerry's problem is that he didn't fight back against the swiftboaters.
But yes, it can be effective but I also feel it can turn some voters off. But some will go to any lengths to win.

You say he didn't fight back. But he did and the
money man behind the swiftboat ads has challenged
Kerry to prove any part of the ad was wrong and he
would pay him one mil. He hasnt taken him up on
the challenge yet.

Obama has taken the high road, which has worked and
fit the image he wants to create. But he is a
politician. All of them will do what it takes to get
elected.

[Mr. Peabody]

Well, Obama isn't a flip-flopper, but he is the al-Qaeda Manchurian candidate, and may well be the prophecied anti-Christ.

That's only when he's not selling drugs and lying about his kindergarten record.

What else are you hiding Mr. Obama, if that's your real name...?

[JoeChalupa]

It wasn't just the swiftboaters that did him in. It was the label of "flip-flopper." It was a negative tactic used by the Bush campaign, but it was very effective and IMO it was that label that won Bush the election.

I concur. But even the "flip-flopper" issue could have been responded to much more effectively. Hillary, as much as many dislike her, will attack back and that will make a huge difference.
So yeah, Barack will need to fight back if he expects to win.

[xrayzebra]

Well, Obama isn't a flip-flopper, but he is the al-Qaeda Manchurian candidate, and may well be the prophecied anti-Christ.


Do you really think so ES. I don't think he is really
electable. I may be wrong, but he is espousing so many
socialist ideas and dumb foreign policy ideas.

[Mr. Peabody]

Do you really think so ES. I don't think he is really
electable. I may be wrong, but he is espousing so many
socialist ideas and dumb foreign policy ideas.

What are his "dumb" (lot of quotes being thrown around today) foreign policy ideas?

[JoeChalupa]

I think he is very electable. If you are honest with yourself xray, there probably isn't anything he can say that will change your mind.
For me I like Romney and McCain and could see me voting for them.....but I probably won't. I've never voted straight ticket

[Extra Stout]

Do you really think so ES. I don't think he is really
electable. I may be wrong, but he is espousing so many
socialist ideas and dumb foreign policy ideas.
Barack Hussein Obama
Iraq Hussein Osama

Coincidence?

[xrayzebra]

Granted Joe, I wouldn't vote for him. I wont lie about that. You
know me, I am dyed in the wool conservative and Obama
doesn't reflect any of my ideas of what government should or should
not do.


Mr. P. I am referring mostly to his stance against the war
and our pressure on Iran. He wants to talk to the Terrorist,
what a great idea. Which group is the true leader and what
country represents them.

[violentkitten]

when her husband hit j's back in the day it was just a youthful indiscretion. when her opponent did so then it's a major cause for concern.

can we have someone other than a clinton or a bush running the executive branch? at this point i'll take al sharpton.

[Mr. Peabody]

Mr. P. I am referring mostly to his stance against the war
and our pressure on Iran. He wants to talk to the Terrorist,
what a great idea. Which group is the true leader and what
country represents them.

Nice straw man. Where did he ever say he wanted to talk to the terrorists? I've heard him say that he would talk to the leaders of the countries we don't agree with (North Korea, Iran, Syria, etc.), but I've never heard him say that he would talk with terrorists.


My philosophy has been consistent, which is that we don't take military options off the table. We must have a much more effective set of sanctions and measured sticks that we should apply to get Iran to change its behavior.

But I have also said -- in a way that no other candidate has emphasized -- that I would talk directly to Iran, and that I would initiate the kind of bold diplomatic initiatives that have been entirely absent from this administration. I have outlined very specifically how I would approach that diplomacy. And I have the credibility of someone who got Iraq right. So if you're looking for someone who is not going to be rushed into war, it strikes me that I'm that candidate.

[JoeChalupa]

Barack Hussein Obama
Iraq Hussein Osama

Coincidence?

Yes it is and a very dumb play on names. :rolleyes

[Yonivore]

Line of the day:



Schoolmarm asks Obama: How are you going to provide change when you have so many former Clinton advisors advising you?

Laughter. Hillary cackles: “I want to hear this.” Schoolmarm giggles.

OBAMA: “Hillary, I’m looking forward to you advising me as well.”

Video at the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhPxSm9Es0w

[01Snake]

That was pretty good. :spin

[xrayzebra]

But her other advisors keep bringing it up..........

[Nbadan]

Mark Penn Is Killing Hillary Clinton Campaign...Political strategists face-off off on bed-wetters show....


Astujv_WAy8

[Mr. Peabody]

Mark Penn Is Killing Hillary Clinton Campaign...Political strategists face-off off on bed-wetters show....

He's such a whiny unlikable fellow. Plus, Trippi made him look like an idiot.

[LaMarcus Bryant]

Obama has said on record that he would cut taxes for americans making less than 75,000 a year.....sounds fucking good to me, keep saying stuff like that and he'll undercut some of hilary's base

[Clandestino]

Obama has said on record that he would cut taxes for americans making less than 75,000 a year.....sounds fucking good to me, keep saying stuff like that and he'll undercut some of hilary's base

poor people don't vote

[jochhejaam]

Barack Hussein Obama
Iraq Hussein Osama

Coincidence?
And if that doesn't send chills up your spine, consider this;

Barack contains the letters that spell Arab.
Hussein contains the letters that spell Sin.
Obama contain the letters that spell Bom (bomb).

Yikes!

[jochhejaam]

Obama has said on record that he would cut taxes for americans making less than 75,000 a year.....
If that's per individual he's got my vote, if it's for the household he doesn't get my vote.

[Wild Cobra]

I agree. There's a reason the term "swiftboated" has entered the lexicon of American politics.
Well, if Swift-Boated means using the truth, then Obama has allot of secrets to expose about Shrillary. Don't need to lie about a damn thing!

[Wild Cobra]

Obama has said on record that he would cut taxes for americans making less than 75,000 a year.....sounds fucking good to me, keep saying stuff like that and he'll undercut some of hilary's base
Do you realize what you are wishing for?

The destruction of America!

What the democrats want, is the number of people who depend on them to increase. They want a committed group of people so they can screw America and turn it into a Lenin Utopia!

[xrayzebra]

Obama has said on record that he would cut taxes for americans making less than 75,000 a year.....sounds fucking good to me, keep saying stuff like that and he'll undercut some of hilary's base

I haven't heard him say any such thing nor read where he
said any such thing. Maybe you are correct, but I don't
think so.

Anyhow, if he did, and you believe it......shame on you.
No way can he cut taxes and create all the programs
he wants. Like Hillary, I have a million ideas, but
cant afford them. What they mean is you cant afford
them.....

If he or any of that bunch on the left do anything it is
to raise taxes. Like let all the Bush tax cuts expire and
not renew them.....same-o, same-o. Tax increase for
the working stiffs.

[boutons_]

"Swift-Boated means using the truth"

swift-boating is smearing about a veteran to promote a draft dodger.

[Wild Cobra]

"Swift-Boated means using the truth"

swift-boating is smearing about a veteran to promote a draft dodger.
I'm sorry, but I believe the guy who lives near me in Lake Oswego, Oregon...

Kerry is a piece of shit!

Again...

Why hasn't Kerry opened all his military records up to the public? If I was running for office, I would, and I have two Article 15's in mine!

Kerry's discharge status was changed. Kerry's metals were reauthorized. That means he lost the authorization, and you can only lose the authorization for them under a dishonorable discharge!

You should really learn some facts before... well ... actually... You always look like an idiot!

Get Kerry to reveal ALL his military records, or shut up. The truth is on my side here.

[xrayzebra]

I'm sorry, but I believe the guy who lives near me in Lake Oswego, Oregon...

Kerry is a piece of shit!

Again...

Why hasn't Kerry opened all his military records up to the public? If I was running for office, I would, and I have two Article 15's in mine!

Kerry's discharge status was changed. Kerry's metals were reauthorized. That means he lost the authorization, and you can only lose the authorization for them under a dishonorable discharge!

You should really learn some facts before... well ... actually... You always look like an idiot!

Get Kerry to reveal ALL his military records, or shut up. The truth is on my side here.

When hell freezes over he will release his military records.
You know like Clinton released his medical records.