Clinton Ignores Questions About Wright And Superdelegates

Clinton Ignores Questions About Wright And Superdelegates

NY Times   |  Patrick Healy   |   March 21, 2008 10:07 AM


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Ever since Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton started running for president, her team has argued that she is more electable than Senator Barack Obama: more experience, as first lady and senator; more spine, after years fighting Republicans; and more popular with key voter blocs, like women, Hispanics and the elderly....

Mrs. Clinton, of New York, sidestepped reporters' questions on Thursday about Mr. Wright and electability. At one point, she turned from a reporter, pursed her lips and shook her head no. A spokesman said later she was unaware of anyone involved in the campaign pushing the Wright issue with superdelegates.

As a matter of strategy, top Clinton allies and advisers said Thursday they were treading carefully when it came to talking about Mr. Wright with superdelegates, the elected officials and party leaders whose votes could determine the Democratic nomination. They said they were aware of the potential repercussions of pressing the issue too directly but were convinced this was going to be a key factor in superdelegates' making a judgment on Mr. Obama's electability.


 
 

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What I'd like to know is who gave these tapes to Hannity? It's not like he's figuring out things on his own. It was either the Clinton campaign or the GOP. We know there is no investigative journalism at FOX.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:20 PM on 03/21/2008

Brian Ross of ABC broke this. Word at Politico was that his "opponents" were pushing this and ABC finally ran with it.
The timing suggests they wanted it before Ohio, but ABC waited so it wouldn't affect the election.

I'd say this is HRC, because the GOP would have loved to use this in October.

But ABC probably won't give up who their sources are.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:01 PM on 03/21/2008

Thanks for the information. The Clinton camp must have bought the tapes a long time ago and poured through them so they could spoon feed it to Brian Ross. These people will resort to anything.

Clinton's "fellowship" is pretty weird:

Mother Jones article on Clinton and "The Fellowship":

http://www.motherjones.com/cgi-bin/print_article.pl?url=http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer.html

The Atlantic article on Clinton and "The Fellowship"

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200611/green-hillary

Harpers article on "the Fellowship"

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2003/03/0079525

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:20 PM on 03/21/2008

Wow- HUFF PICK actually picked a pro Hillary comment.

According to Senator Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe, "If Sen. Clinton wants to have a discussion about electability and vetting, we're happy to have it".
www.politicalamnesia.blogspot.com

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:58 PM on 03/21/2008

The Clintons only true validity might well be an egocentric view of reality...........................

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:07 PM on 03/21/2008

Clinton campaign raised 16 million LESS than claimed in February!!!

http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/?p=926

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:37 PM on 03/21/2008

I think Hilliary should get 30 minutes of FREE AIR TIME ON TV...just like Obama did for his "religion " speech.

Why did Obama get 30 minutes of free air time? And to make it worse he spoke about "religion" and race. I can see the race piece...however, re-run Martin Luter King anyday...this is a new era.

RELIGION DOES NOT BELONG IN GOVERNMENT

Obama did not deserve a FREE RIDE on TV. If Obama would have paid for that spot then I would have respected it.

Now...to keep it fair...let Hilliary have 30 MINUTES OF FREE AIR TIME..and I supose, McBrain-less should get 30 minutes as well to reiterate his incompentencies.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:33 PM on 03/21/2008

NeverRepublican...If Hillary got 90 minutes to give a speech she still couldn't get out of the rut she's in. All the crap that Bill and Hillary has done in the past 15 years has comeback to haunt them. It"s time to pay the piper Bill and Hillary! What goes around comes around !

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:26 AM on 03/22/2008

If Hillary wants to come out and give a BIG GROUNDBREAKING SPEECH on gender, be my guest.

I think she will not compare favorably to the gifted Sen. Obama, but if she wants to do it, go right ahead.

I welcome it.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:02 PM on 03/21/2008

Explain to me why Hillary can't give a similar speech on race or gender? I'll tell you why. For one, she opposes speeches as a matter of course. Her slogan right now is "solutions *not* speeches". Perhaps she recognizes the immense power of a well-crafted speech now?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:42 PM on 03/21/2008

Hillary continually talks about all her "experience" and "solutions." Well, some of us don't see either one from her. If we allow that she has "35 years of experience, " wouldn't one think she would have accomplished something major by now?

I used to admire the fact that she attempted to give us a health care package. She failed because she did it as the Clintons always do things....secretly. That's the reason when she went to offer it, nobody would buy in. She had never included the opinions or suggestions of anyone else in crafting it.

Did you ever wonder why, after learning what she did wrong, she never tried again? I'll tell you why. She began to accept large sums of money from the insurance LOBBYISTS to help convince her to leave it alone the rest of the Clinton presidency. We might have had insurance for everyone 16 years ago, had she not be bought off by special interest groups.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:00 PM on 03/21/2008

Obama got all 60 minutes with Larry King last night, and all kinds of air time the Friday before. These controversies create a great deal of face time for Obama. I would like to see equal time for all the candidates.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:32 PM on 03/21/2008

The reason you've seen more of Obama this week is because of all the trash that's going around about him. I venture to say he would have been perfectly happy to not have had to deal with the issue of race at this time.

Obviously it had to come out at some point, however, and he dealt with it like a true leader.

Hillary and Bill Clinton have been "sucking the air" from the media for months. Are you kidding in asking for "equal time?" They are ALWAYS getting their faces into the news, because they're so controversial. McCain is not in the news much because he's finished with his run for the nomination, did you notice?

I would personally like to see a whole lot less of all of them and get this over with.
OBAMA 08

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:06 PM on 03/21/2008

How elementary do you sound? Like a kid whining that he didn't get the same amount of time on the slide as another kid. Do you know for a fact that it was FREE AIR TIME or is it easier to speculate like it's the gospel truth! That's a huge problem with the mainstream and anonymous comments on blogs. People think if it's said on the "news" (and I use the term loosely) or posted on a website, then it must be true. Do yourself a favor and know the facts before spouting off on something!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:09 PM on 03/21/2008

Apparently Obama supporters are the children... Could have fooled me with all the whining and tantrums on this site by Clinton supporters.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:22 PM on 03/21/2008

PLEASE! What about her two hours paid time on the hallmark channel. You call that fair usage?! Mass media has bashed Obama and highlighted Clinton. Thank god he got that 30 minutes of air time because that was an important speech for the American people to see. Too bad most media outlets cut it to crap after the original delivery and only gave out of context excerpts that favored clinton and shaded Obama as the "black candidate" as if that is undesirable.

Obama 08!
Watch videos of Obama on all kinds of issues PLEASE:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=900C5EDCAF3C292A

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:39 PM on 03/21/2008

Very good point, surprised I didn't think of it.

You are correct.

Equal time for ALL candidates.

BRILLIANT

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:26 PM on 03/21/2008

some of these comments are just getting stupid. I refuse to believe some peoples bulbs arent that bright. Anybody with half a brain would NOT step on a landmine (wright) after seeing what it did to someone else. Common sense, thats all, no special black arts, special african or haitian witchcraft, druid potions, rovian tactics or clintonian machinations. ITS JUST COMMON SENSE.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:12 PM on 03/21/2008

Obama Campaign: Just Words
At this point, it"s no secret that the Obama campaign is in political hot water given the news stories of the last few weeks and is desperate to change the subject.
The ground is shifting away from them and their response?
First, disenfranchise voters - Prevent new votes in Florida and Michigan. Stop voting in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Oregon, West Virginia, Puerto Rico, Kentucky, South Dakota, Montana, West Virginia and Indiana.
Second, peddle photos of President Clinton shaking hands with Reverend Wright less than 48 hours after calling for a high-minded conversation on race. Well, President Clinton took tens of thousands of photos during his eight years as president. Stop the presses.
Third, accuse our campaign of having something to do with Senator Obama"s passport file being breached, a reckless charge that has zero merit.
Fourth, continue attacks on Senator Clinton"s character in an effort to implement what the Chicago Tribune called a full assault on her ethics.
Fifth, stonewall the press: no tax returns, no state records, no answers about the inconsistencies in the Rezko story.
So it"s not a pretty sight - it"s all part of a pattern of just words.
Senator Obama talks about voter participation while actively disenfranchising millions.
He calls for high minded debates while practicing lowdown politics.
He promises a different kind of campaign while attacking Hillary"s character.
He promises transparency while hiding basic info and stonewalling the press.
It"s no wonder that Americans are coming to see that for all of his lofty rhetoric, Senator Obama"s candidacy is really just words.
It"s no surprise that Americans are expressing serious doubts about his ability to answer the 3am call.
It"s no wonder that top journalists are calling the Obama campaign desperate, saying that it"s amateur hour in Chicago.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:08 PM on 03/21/2008

You say "our campaign" like you have some key position. Hillary Clinton doesn't give two cents about you unless you're the ONE vote that could win her the election and big hint...YOU'RE NOT! Like I've said before, just because you type a long post full of innuendo and un-verfied gossip doesn't make it the truth. Unless you've got documents and firsthand knowledge of all this MESS you allege, then do me a fovor and go read a book...get some REAL knowledge and improve your life.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:12 PM on 03/21/2008

Thank you...I agree totaly.

Clinton '08 for me.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:36 PM on 03/21/2008

Your support of your candidate is admirable

BUT

It is reality time

-Obama leads the pledged delegates by an insurmountable margin
- Obama leads the popular vote by 703,000+ which is also almost insrmountable
-ALL interviewed supe D's that have not comited yet have ALL said that they will NOT overtrn the will of the people

It is over. Kudos to Hillary for going farther and higer than any woman has in ameican history.

Obama is the dem nominee

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:38 PM on 03/21/2008

You know, I have yet to see this subject broached on the board (though I will admit I could have missed it): Do the Obama folks realize that delegates to the convention--and I'm talking your run of the mill delegate, not the Super D's--can change their vote at any time? Do they realize that if issues--like Wright; possibly Rezko; who the heck knows what else, given that we are talking Chicago politics and a thoroughly unvetted candidate here--keep rearing their heads, that it may be more than just the Super D's who need to take a good long look at who is the best candidate?

I'd be holding my breath if I were in the Obama camp; I can tell you for a fact that as a Democrat, I'm currently holding my nose from the stink that could be heading this way.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:34 PM on 03/21/2008

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer.html

There's a reason Hillary Clinton has remained relatively silent during the flap over intemperate remarks by Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. When it comes to unsavory religious affiliations, she's a lot more vulnerable than Obama.

You can find all about it in a widely under-read article in the September 2007 issue of Mother Jones, in which Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet reported that "through all of her years in Washington, Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as "The "Fellowship," also known as The Family. But it won't be a secret much longer. Jeff Sharlet's shocking exposé The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power will be published in May.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/ehrenreich

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:03 PM on 03/21/2008

i'm sorry this is stronger than me....i really respected her in the past,i can't understand this urgency to win whatever it takes...she became her worst enemy.....

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:57 PM on 03/21/2008

Atila, Can you say "close race". He has 49.5% and she has 46.9%. If she pulls out of the race it's a big deal for 12,577,409 people who want her to be President.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:07 PM on 03/21/2008

As in ALL races, close doesn't count. He's got 10% more delegates. That's NOT close. He's got over 700,000 more popular votes. That's NOT close. And he's won TWICE as many states than Clinton. THAT'S not close either. "Close" is in your hopes and dreams, NOT in reality. I tell you what IS close: with the above numbers, she's thinking of him for her Vice President! That's insulting, arrogant and pretty CLOSE to MORONIC!!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:56 PM on 03/21/2008

Tell me what person running for president has NOT HAD THE ATTITUDE of COMPETETION to win the nomination?

I don't and have not EVER seen one campaign with "glad hands" complimenting each other all the way to the final vote.

Is this the first campaign you have ever payed attention to?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:02 PM on 03/21/2008

I find Hilary to be such a joke. See Obama's pastor for 20 years was controversial and still on Obama's campaign. Rezco was fuzzy but people felt that it was another achilles heal of Obama's. These are suppose to be Obama's problems that is KNOWN and BOTH have a Clinton connection that is UNKNOWN but for some reason Hilary thinks that make her more electable. Hilary should be grateful that Obama isnt wallowing in the mud like she is. Because if there is two things about Hilary that was Unknown how many more are there. How many more lies and deception of Hilary's that we dotn know about. That the republicans are salivating at revealing. If anyone who is vulnerable to being swiftboat is her and Bill Clinton. SO far they have been shown to be the RISKY deal. Hmm what's in those taxes another Bombshell?. I worry about the future I really do because this woman might find a way to get back into the White House and its a choice between her lies deception and making a mockery of the Executive Branch yet again Vs McCain war mongering and grouping of Al Queada terrorist, and extremist together. Either way it doesnt paint a hopeful future.

Carol

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:51 PM on 03/21/2008

could this photo of Hillary and Wright together be why?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/21/95038/2607

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:39 PM on 03/21/2008

that photo is taken at the same prayer breakfast meeting that Obama got their photo of bill and wright
and it is the obama camp that is pushing this "guilt by association" crap

obama is the one with a disgusting 20 yr relationship with this racist bigot!!......end of story

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:46 PM on 03/21/2008

She's smart enough to avoid the questions because the media are just looking for more conflict to sell toothpaste with -- and to answer would allow the Obama supporters to say she is the cause of his problems when it's clearly of his own making. To sit there in that church for so many years, to take his children to that church so they could learn that hate too, I'll never understand it and it is no reason to trust Senator Obama. In fact, is it something the Senate Ethics Committee should look into because the pastor's remarks were clearly anti-American and shouldn't a Senator not participate in unAmerican activities?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:34 PM on 03/21/2008

First they tried to sell Obama as the "Black" candidate, then they tried playing off the Latino vote against the Black vote, now they are piling on Reverend Wright to scare off the working class white voters and get the Super Delegates.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:00 PM on 03/21/2008

Hillary is like Bill, shameless.


    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:32 AM on 03/21/2008

What does Clinton know anyway? She is just another "TYPICAL WHITE PERSON."

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:18 AM on 03/21/2008

Clinton should have shown as much class as Huckabee.

Within days of this breaking out, former Republican candidate Mike Huckabee said of the controversy: "¦As easy as it is for those of us who are white, to look back and say "That's a terrible statement!"...I grew up in a very segregated south. And I think that you have to cut some slack -- and I'm gonna be probably the only Conservative in America who's gonna say something like this, but I'm just tellin' you -- we've gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told "you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus...""

Huckabee also added, "Decency is an underrated virtue in American politics. Not just ethically, but politically, too. If Hillary Clinton had walked in front of the press and forcefully denounced their constant coverage of Wright, noting that all of them had heard Obama lay out his political opinions in exquisite detail for a year now, and they knew better, how much stronger a political position she'd be in right now. The good cop doesn't only play good cop because he's a nice guy. It also helps elicit a confession."

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:47 AM on 03/21/2008

WOW!! If he only believed in Evolution! But seriously, what a graceful sentiment for Huckabee to make. I'm not a religious man. I don't believe in God. But his comments are religion at it's very BEST. Not close--minded, but OPEN-minded. Just like Jesus I'm sure was. Good for you, Mike! You did yourself proud.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:04 PM on 03/21/2008

She better avoid such now especialy after the revelation that Rev Wright was good enogh for her hsband to have at the white house for a prayer breakfasst and sin repentence schtick due to monica lewinsky.

Rev Wright was also good enough to get 3 letters of comendation from LBJ for being such a goodnurse when LBJ was in the hospital. The Secret Service vette Re Wright back then.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:41 AM on 03/21/2008

Expect more dirty tricks from the Clintons. They will fight like rabid cornered animals rather than gracefully allowing the voters to decide. I hope you Clinton people are going to be happy with President McCain, and War with Iran. Thanks a lot guys. What a monster she is