Leaked Clinton Camp Memos: Paint Obama As Foreign

On Friday the Washington Post reported that The Atlantic magazine got hold of internal Hillary Clinton campaign memos. Today the Politico posts a sneak peek. Some highlights:

On Jeremiah Wright: "Does anyone believe that it is possible to win the nomination without, over these next two months, raising all these issues on him? ... Won't a single tape of [the Reverend Jeremiah] Wright going off on America with Obama sitting there be a game ender?"

On attacking Obama's foreignness: "All of these articles about his boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii are geared towards showing his background is diverse, multicultural and putting that in a new light.

"Save it for 2050. ... Every speech should contain the line you were born in the middle of America American to the middle class in the middle of the last century. And talk about the basic bargain as about the deeply American values you grew up with, learned as a child and that drive you today. Values of fairness, compassion, responsibility, giving back.

"Let's explicitly own 'American' in our programs, the speeches and the values. He doesn't. Make this a new American Century, the American Strategic Energy Fund. Let's use our logo to make some flags we can give out. Let's add flag symbols to the backgrounds."

On Clinton's confused message: "The internal discord over whether to attack Obama led some of her own staff to spin reporters to try to downplay the significance of her criticisms. The result for Clinton was the worst of both worlds: The conflicting message exacerbated her reputation for negativity without affording her whatever benefits a sustained attack might have yielded."

On the much-criticized 3 AM ad: "In the days leading up to Ohio and Texas, the campaign kept arguing over whether to air the [3 a.m.] ad. With the deadline looming, Bill Clinton, speaking from a cell phone as his plane sat on a runway, led a conference call on Thursday, Feb. 28, in which he had both sides present their case. As his plane was about to lift off, it was Bill Clinton -- not Hillary -- who issued the decisive order: 'Let's go with it.' "

Comments

[lthuedk 1]

"Make this a new American Century." ???

The Project for the New American Century is a totalitarian conspiracy, in case the HRC people didn't know it.

http://www.light-to-dark.com/Freedom_of_Choice.html

[WasteNJ]

"Let's explicitly own 'American' in our programs, the speeches and the values. He doesn't. Make this a new American Century, the American Strategic Energy Fund. Let's use our logo to make some flags we can give out. Let's add flag symbols to the background­s."

This is page 238 of the Rove playbook. Didn't the GOP "own" the America brand after 9/11? Isn't that what allowed them to intimidate the Dems into capitulation every time, lest they be called "unpatriotic"? "Where's your flag pin?"

Now let's look at the obvious reference to the Neoconservative think-tank "Project for a New American Century". Are you kidding? These people aren't Democrats, they are their own party all by themselves, with help from the GOP.

[mm29464]

i don't exactly get why people in the media when reporting on this story automatically add the phrase, "of course the candidate/campaign chose to discard penn's strategy" or something to that effect. oh really? gore vidal is fond of saying that u.s.a. stands for united states of amnesia and it really is true. does anyone remember bob kerrey dropping several times that obama attended a secular madrasa (whatever that is) as a child in indonesia or the campaign releasing and distributing photos of obama in native african dress to the right wing media? how about bill clintons assertion in a 3 person race that if the race came down to hillary and mccain at least the country would have 2 people running for president who love this country? or all of the attempts to paint him as the affirmative action candidate? or hillary bringing up ayers in a debate with no context or trying to link him to farrakhan? give me a break: branding obama as the "other", unamerican, unpatriotic, and oh, yeah not white (remember hard-working white americans supported her) was the hillary clinton campaign strategy taken directly from the atwater/morris/rove playbook and punted off to her good buddy, john mccain.

[lady49]

Guys....
Listen...a­ll of this "BREAKING NEWS CRAP" is designed to divide the Democratic party-JUST BEFORE THE CONVENTION­.....

The Edwards 2 YEAR OLD affair (you know it was a set-up) to make it breaking news- Limodriver who "just happened" to drive both parties and then knew EXACTLY where and how to get the info to the national enquirer "THAT SAME NIGHT?" COME ON PEOPLE THIS IS DIRTY POLITICS FROM THE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN?

And the Clinton papers???? Remember when their office was "broken into" in Pennsylvania????
Obama camp certainly didn't do it!!!
I am an Obama supporter but THIS CRAP IS NOT RIGHT AND IT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT FAIR TO THE CLINTONS!!!!
DEMOCRATES PELASE WAKE UP!!!

THIS IS REPUBLICAN SABOTAGE OF DIVIDE AND CONQUER AT IT'S BEST!!!

Huffpo, if you're going to report this AT LEAST PUT AN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST ON IT FIRST!!!

This is no different than the same OLD DIRTY POLITICS OF 2004!!!
We have to bring our "A" game this year DEMOCRATS

[marthlois]

I sincerely want to be as confident as you seem to be - truly I do. But it just wreaks of good cop/bad
cop to me. I'm certainly not shocked that the MSN is spinning it for all it's worth. But at the same time it would take some major players (LIKE THE CLINTONS) to show some guts to pull the party through the mess that has been created. Hopefully they will, because it's theirs to lose all over again and into the future.

[chronic]

lady49, I agree!!

[neesy08]

last time i checked, hawaii, where obama was born, is a state. panama, were mcc was born, is a country.

[antiparanoid]

"New American Century"?!?

[Star2000dancer]

And why are we to believe this is true?

[11907281]

Did you not just post "0bama is a well known womanizer.­" posted Aug 11, 2008 at 18:21:13
Funny that you are calling out the truth, sad sad pumac tr0ll"

[OmegaZ]

I caught that too...

[bryansmith]

It would appear as though they plan to unsuspend her campaign. If Obama loses, she has no one to blame but herself. She may have taken enough of a hit from own negativity, but in the end, her negative message about Obama got out there. She percolated the problem, I expect they will continue to do so - all in hopes of a last-minute nomination.

History will not judge them kindly

[liseworks]

The true Democratic Party is SUPPOSED to stand firmly for something proud :
Tolerance, diversity, compassion, ethics, service etc. : all of which BOTH C's have basely defaced.
Appalling. They need to switch parties & go Repubs. to find like-minded allies.
I agree with a post below & add this : Light sheds on darkness & reveals ....what we needed to know :
The truth.
It's a low, low road the C's chose to travel - by choice, they keep traveling in the opposite direction from the righteous one.

[Nikelaus]

Anatomy of a failure. Love it. Buh-bye Clintons!

[caj]

Again, am I wrong in believing that Hillary did not go "buy-bye" but that she only 'suspended' her campaign. I am afraid that we have not heard the last of the 'dynamic duo' yet.

[thehardertheycome]

You people continue to give Bill and Hillary Clinton all of this clout. she lost! That is the long and the short. I do not understand what kind of supporter continues to go down this negative trail. I have never seen anything like it. Never before has the loser made such a commotion about having lost.

what does this say about women as candidates? While she opens the door for women with her right hand she slams it shut with her left hand. believe it or not it will be a very long time before a viable women will seek and win the office of the presidency. And in my opinion Hillary Clinton was not the woman that we needed as the first woman president. The first woman president will have integrity first.

[CalliDem]

By by Obama

PUMA

[TheKnownTruth]

Bye Bye Puma.

[greejambri]

You can't even spell. Go register Republican. We don't need you, nor Hellary Clinton.

[WaspStings]

Two weeks to extinction, how sad, and such pretty little kitties. Those tire marks on your back are from Hillary's campaign bus.

[11907281]

I think there was an error when you setup your name, it seems to have Dem in it. Everyone knows Pumac's were setup by a Mac donating fr@ud from 2000. I know it's not fashinale to claim the Repub title right now, but you conscience must be killing you, ... ohhh ya, the repub thing.

[harriscrl3]

Karma has struck her thats why she is in DEBT and she LOST. Karma you get what you give and boy she got it. It couldnt happen to a more deserving person and if McCain wins and she tries running in 2012 there will be another Obama who comes and TAKE IT AWAY from her again. She will NEVER be the POTUS karma will keep coming back on her and Bill Clinton. I hope his legacy is TARNISHED FOREVER

Carol

[dawlishgal]

"Every speech should contain the line you were born in the middle of America American to the middle class in the middle of the last century. And talk about the basic bargain as about the deeply American values you grew up with, learned as a child and that drive you today. Values of fairness, compassion, responsibility, giving back."

The irony here would be hilarious if so many people weren't suckered into supporting Hillary with just this kind of crapola. "Values of fairness, compassion, responsibi­lty.." for everybody BUT your opponent. When it comes to him, play the race card AND the "foreigner" card. And still pretend to be "fair" and "compassio­nate." This is the advice she paid 25 million bucks to hear????

[liseworks]

The C's & all their big donors contributed to the Money Pit - & that's where it is - they all pitched in & created the grave for the candidacy's burial.
Thank Goodness we learned what they represented, from the inside-out.

[coloradosiren]

It's all water under the bridge.

[Sixtwo]

What's done in the dark will come to light. When light comes, there is no darkness because the victory has been won.

[jpcline004]

Man I really hope someone is working on Primary Colors 2. It will be great....

[aubrey8]

That and the New Adventures of Obama and Rev. Wright....­be a great double feature.

[doctorwang]

I heard Mark Penn will be starring in an updated music video of Steve Miller's 'Take The Money And Run'. Now that should be great!!

[friscosf]

Great !!

Does it co-star Monica and Norman Hsu ?

Out of gratitude, it should also include all those Chinese-American dishwashers who gave the thousands to Slick Hillary

Bill and Hillary, the Democrats' own 'Axis of Evil'

[acharles]

C'mon it's unfair to the Clintons to release this info. I'm not a fan of either Clinton anymore, but I can understand harsh strategies. This stuff is a lot tamer than I'd imagined.

[doctorwang]

Tell that to Atlantic Monthly and whoever leaked the memos to them.

[rasthedestroyer]

Do you really understand the implication of what a victory for the Clintons would have meant after reading this..... MORE LIES, MORE JOBS LOST, SAME OLD POLITICS.. MORE NEOCONs...­.. Get real Chuck... NO MORE of the same old $h!t .... OK?

[Star2000dancer]

No war, peace, prosperity & respect back in the world again. Just like it was when Clinton was in before. This is the worst time in history to go with an unknown.

[IGGHY]

If Hillary went away gracefully after losing, these memos would have been far less interesting. Can you imagine more than a few chuckles at this point if she accepted her loss cleanly and and fully endorsed Obama in June? The Clintons are making ripples ahead the convention making this story far more interesting. A fully united front would have mainly drawn Oh Well, yawn.

[JimR]

Disagree. I think it's very illuminating.

[sueno]

And the Clintons expect help with her debt
to pay off the guy who made them lose-
The Clintons have much more money than the Obamas,
and considering how dirty they play...
let' em eat lots of cake!