Obama Hits Bill Again, Faults National Media For Misreporting On Reagan Comments

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Obama Hits Bill Again, Faults National Media For Misreporting On Reagan Comments
By Greg Sargent - January 21, 2008, 3:27PM

Barack Obama met today with editors of South Carolina's largest newspaper, The State. In the meeting, he hit Bill again for lying about his candidacy -- and broadened his attack to include the national media.

The State has the story:



Now, without a full transcript or video -- which I'm trying to get -- I don't want to delve too deeply into this. Suffice it to say for now that the Obama camp very clearly has made a decision to shift gears and respond to Bill Clinton much more aggressively than they had in the past.

Perhaps the Nevada loss drove home that the previous responses to Bill were ineffective and that Bill's broadsides are working better than expected. More in a bit.

Late Update: The State account specifies that Obama told the paper he wasn't praising Reagan's policies. "Obama said he was making a point that Reagan reached across party lines in order to snare a large majority of American voters that made it easier for him to push his agenda," the paper reports.

:shrug:

Have you noticed Obama throw comments out or attacks out and then waits about 7 days before he attacks or retracts them, he is seeing how they fly with voters.

Its a nasty little way of politicking. He doesnt care who he hurts in the process. Its all about what can help him at the time.

Politics of hope my ass. He's clearly playing a nasty little game now.

Its firmly about to come bite him on the ass. That teflon has worn off, time to play with the big boys and he's rattled the Lion cage with Bill Clinton.

The national media claimed he "praised" Reagan, when in fact he did no such thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGS7Ku0_JuI

"...he (Reagan) brought us clarity, optimism, dynamism and entrepeneurship...that had been missing..."

WTF?
:shrug:

whinging about Obama under the column: making shit up as you go.

great politics although learning on the fly is scary. It something he has learned to do and exploit his freshman status toward the plus side. It is wrong to critique someone for performing political skills. That politics nasty approach is for losers even in a fair, considerate environment. That he responds and then escalates carefully can be interpreted as caution, trying to protect the positive image.

The other school knows the dirt sticks and even unbelievably childish negativity reaps its rewards if given the initiative and ignored.

My take on Obama is 90% policy based and 10% concern about learning on the campaign trail and overall concerned about not getting the picture. But politics? He is a master so far of the whole gamut and has actually decided to try to win. the more he gets the picture of the stuff arrayed against him the sooner he will learn and do something about it. He in is very august company on those tragic learning experiences. if the Clintons want to win, on the other hand, they are completely veteran to the hows and whys. If they sell out everything to try to win it is with no such reservation or inexperience. there could come some very ugly points when the party and nation need to be trashed and the mandate cut away to preserve her candidacy. The actual temptation to cause the most "friendly" damage to us all lies mostly in the Clinton court. That crossed line may never be noted.

Where WE cross the line, and I likely do by entering the arena of objections and preferences at all, is to demonize what are usually general failing of all Dem leaders or pols or Americans or whatever. Lost in that is any rational appreciation for the people and how we will actually fare in November minus our candidate hype. Obama has a great, still risky chance to win big. The same I claim for Edwards but that won't matter if he gets squeezed out. The Clintons do not only start out with risk but an increasing price the party will have to pay up front for their opportunity to match the GOP game in a pretty predictable game.

contributed to the toxic stews

Saint Ronnie is not, nor will he ever be, the Patron Saint of the DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

Saint Obama made an error in judgment when he invoked the name of Saint Ronnie.

Democrats don't want to know about Saint Ronnie as an "agent of change."

It's called "The Audacity of Making a BIG Mistake."

Obama made the mistake.

I can live with that.

Roll the dice and sometimes you lose. Saint Obama chose to lift up Saint Ronnie in praise.

You BUTTERED the bread, Saint Obama...now you can EAT IT.

Play those cards, cash in that hand.

JOHN EDWARDS '08.

OBAMA...keep your wife's "now or never" promise.

Peace, OUT.

A.V.

Obama is the most desperate candidate I've ever witnessed in a campaign.

All the LIEs he and his wife are telling. He's spinning so fast, he's going to topple over because he can't keep up with himself!

After this Rezko thing goes down, his elect ability quotient will be in doubt even as a State Legislator!


SAD!

Obama "may be" STUPID.

he "may be" MENSA-level BRILLIANT.

But bringing up the name of the decayed GIPPER while fighting for his party's nod was JUST...FUCKING...STUPID.

So Obama made the bed, and his apologists can straighten the SHEETS, but HE is the one who FUCKED UP on a GRAND scale.

:patriot:

I posted this earlier in another thread. It bears posting again for those who are unfamiliar with Reagan history.

Obama probably isn't even aware or maybe he is aware of the ramifications suffered by the Black Community because of the "BIGOT" Reagan's presidency. It seems there is nothing Obama won't say or do to Win the nomination, even to selling out his own countryman and all they have fought-for for generations.


How Reagan and the Republicans disenfranchised black's from attaining Civil Rights:

A few Facts about Reagan's (covert) view of Civil Rights for Blacks:



Several Articles regarding Reagan's destructive policies and how Reaganomics plunged the economy into a deep recession..Obama thinks the Republicans have had the greatest ideas over the last 10-15 yrs. Ask him what drugs he is on now?

6.8.04'GeorgeCurry.com

'Heroification' after Reagan death overlooks legacy of discrimination

...even though there are others in this thread who've gone public with their assertion that they DO.

I want John Edwards as our next President.

I'll vote for Obama...or Hillary...or Mickey Fucking MOUSE...if it means keeping the GOP out of the oval office.

But that's the ONLY reason under which I will cast those votes.

Obama's a SLOGAN MACHINE.

Hillary's TOO DIVISIVE.

Either way, it's better that President McCain...President Romney...President Huckabee.

God bless fuckin' AMERICA.

:patriot:

matter to you at all?

Does it?

Ever heard that one?

It's true, he did.

The statement came from the premise that if you try hard enough, you can say something good about everyone.

Obama screwed up in invoking Reagan. Period.

Obama's TRUTH needs a little work.

"2. Who We Are: Democratic Underground is an online community for Democrats and other progressives. Members are expected to be generally supportive of progressive ideals, and to support Democratic candidates for political office. Democratic Underground is not affiliated with the Democratic Party, and comments posted here are not representative of the Democratic Party or its candidates. "


Buh Bye

wrong..why I remember not too long ago when bill clinton was complaining about the media in regards to hilary but I'm sure he's liking the cmw mispresenting Obama's statement about raygun.

level, but I do understand he has to defend himself. Too bad everyone couldn't just run on their records and quit the personal attacks.

you see no hypocrisy in the promise to campaign above the fray. Obama is a cynical, calculating politician, no more, no less.

mistake that Kerry was reported to have made about not answering the swiftboat attackers. I've read that he did answer and the m$$m didn't report it(sounds right).

To me, this is smart of Obama and crew to go to the South Carolina papers. Somebody has to expose the m$$m on how corporatewhore distorting they are.

This is all good..Obama needs to get ready for the rw in the general and nice of bill to supply him with their playbook maneuvers.

How is that going to play with those people he promised a change in politics, not well i think. They may just think they have been hoodwinked and he's just another politician.

I've said all along he was walking a fence with a campaign of hope and change, he'd have to play dirty soon and here we go, the image problem is going to be massive.

to answer the clintons' smears and jeers but that politics for ya.

"I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what's different are the times. I do think that for example the 1980 was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."

......from IP
Late Update: The State account specifies that Obama told the paper he wasn't praising Reagan's policies. "Obama said he was making a point that Reagan reached across party lines in order to snare a large majority of American voters that made it easier for him to push his agenda," the paper reports.

Reagan put the country on "a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."

Fundamentally different path: Reagan began undoing what FDR and Harry Truman had done, which was strengthen the
middle class. Today, the gap between the richest and the poorest is reverting to what it was pre-FDR

Excesses of the 60s and 70s: The era of Martin Luther King marches, which resulted (along with Johnson's much-needed arm twisting) in the Voting Rights Act; the era of women's rights (For example, in a Massachusetts public shcool, once I started "showing" while pregnant, I had to quit teaching and couldn't resume teaching until my youngest child was 2 years old; protests against the Vietnam War.

Reagan and the "excesses" of the 60's: Reagan made a speech in Mississippi praising "state's rights" (code for segregation) near where 3 young people were brutally murdered for attempting to register blacks to vote.

Sense of entrpreneurship: Reagan was for GE (he was their paid spokesperson after his acting career faltered) and other corporations. He broke up the air controllers' strike and did everything he could to get rid of unions.

And why did Obama have to take a swipe at Bill Clinton? Clinton is a Dem. I think that comment was another example of being unnecessarily divisive.

So, Obama got a few more votes in Nevada as a result of the interview. But what did he do for Dems? for our country?

Thanks for the reminder.

"He just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."

Besides, why not say good things about a Democrat?

Obama talked about the hopes and feeling people had that Reagan's message appealed to. That isn't a policy. Do you not understand the difference between a feeling and a policy position or do you just want any excuse to attack?

Reagan obviously tapped into something because he won by such a wide margin. If you actually thought about the point Obama was really making instead of looking desperately for a reason to go on the attack then you might understand why he didn't pick a Democrat. It wasn't a Democrat who won in a landslide in 1984, or in any year since 1964.

That's a policy. Obama says Reagan was for entrepreneurship. Reagan busted unions and promoted privatization to corporations.

So, Obama praised Reagan for doing the opposite of what Reagan actually did.

And you call yourself a radical activist. George W Bush had 90% approval after 9/11. Should Dems therefore hold W up as a model for leadership?

I just don't get your reasoning at all.

:eyes:

Waaaaaaahhhhhhh the national media is being unfair to me!

You think this is bad, Obama? Wait till its you vs the GOP.

Well, yeah, I figured that out pretty quickly. And stated it over and over. Got crickets mostly.

It's always "Hillary is being mean", "Bill is being mean", "It's my staff's fault", "It's the media's fault"

Not sure the angry, whiney crybaby act is gonna work for him!!!

When he isn't blaming them he is telling us what he told "my staff" to do or what he will tell "my staff "to do

I think it is time for him to introduce us to his staff--the people he tells to not hand him papers until 2 seconds before he needs them or he will lose them.

In this case, the Reagan goof, he is clearly out of his depths without a clue as to how to solve what is just pure everyday politics. Politics are what they are. Our politics have never been clean and never end with people going home satisfied and happy.

Obama's posturing seems to be from his adopting Dennis's whining, crying, and stamping his feet. The media isn't treating me right he seems to be saying. Well, shit, when did the media ever treat Bill, Hillary, or even Chelsea right?

Poor Obama. He also, as has been pointed out several times in this and other threads, delays his reactions so that his campaign staff has a chance to figure out a response. Both Hillary and Bill think on their feet and respond immediately.

Yesterday's news is just that. Yesterday's.

hold on to his hat cause he he wants to take on the Big Dawg I think all he has to do is name the time and the place and the big dawg will be there. It will not be pretty cause afterwards Obama will not know whether to wind his butt or stratch his watch....

"You know the former president, who I think all of us have a lot of regard for, has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling." Obama, wishing Bill wasn't so good at politics,

David Brooks on Russert's show saying Republicans respect Obama and would vote for him over many Republican candidates.If our side buys that, we can always look forward to 2012 and 2016 and go with "whats behind door number 2....I'm tired of losing and we will win with HRC.

Imagine listening to that fish mouth wife of his ranting throughout the house.."Barack, I'm NOT doin' this again." "This is just too much to ask from us." "They pick apart every word we say, constantly correcting us, calling us liars.." "Who do THEY think they ARE... anyway."

And believe you me, Obama isn't sleeping well now that he's thrown down the gauntlet calling for a showdown with BIG DAWG! Yes, you're right, Ben David. If this was pay per-view, I'd pay to see it too!

This is how Kerry should have responded.

And you really believe that?

He's probably bitter after all those years of Republicans playing dirty tricks on him. He thinks that's the only way to win.

if the shoe fits............

and putting Bill Clinton in the same boat as Nixon. What an oaf - doofus.

Mr. Bright is not too bright imho

He has now made a real enemy of Hillary Clinton, if you didnt notice he greeted
Edwards today, but ignored Hillary and she looked straight ahead while he was slapping Edwards on the shoulder right next to her.

He's a whiny double dealing big baby but I dont think its going to matter much because when the Rizko matter comes to court in February or March, I pretty much think obama's candidacy will go down the drain....he took lobbiest money from one lobby too many - called the mob.

Frank Rich, the whole gang is out to get Obama.

During an interview with Meet The Press:



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