Clinton Backer Bob Kerrey on Smearing Obama

While campaigning on behalf of Hillary Clinton this week, former Senator Bob Kerrey became the fourth Clinton supporter this month to raise a false smear against Barack Obama, one of her main rivals for the Democratic nomination. Adopting the bigoted language of lies that have circulated about Obama on the Internet, Kerrey falsely implied that Obama attended an Islamist school; falsely said that Obama had "chosen" to be Christian; and falsely claimed Obama was repelled by his own middle name. Obama is actually a life-long Christian and a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. In January, CNN debunked the smears against him, reporting that allegations that he "was educated in a radical Muslim school known as a 'madrassa' are not accurate." In October, The Nation's Chris Hayes traced how false emails about Obama have gained traction online.

The smears come after several other dirty tricks from Clinton backers were exposed this month. Last week, Clinton Campaign Co-Chair Bill Shaheen falsely implied that Obama had a drug problem or possibly dealt drugs, while Clinton Campaign Pollster Mark Penn repeated similar charges on MSNBC. After over 24 hours of criticism, the Clinton Campaign announced that Shaheen made the personal decision "to step down" because the comments were unauthorized. On Monday, however, Clinton said that actually "we asked him to step down." Earlier this month, two volunteer chairs resigned from the Clinton Campaign after sending emails lying about Obama's religion, while a third Clinton volunteer was on the same email chain.

Yet Kerrey's comments are distinct because he is the highest level Clinton supporter to publicly push the Muslim smears against Obama, and he is also ratcheting up the rhetoric. In a series of high profile interviews, Kerrey has gone out of his way to cover every aspect of the smears - saying "Muslim," "madrassa," "Hussein" and that Obama chose Christianity - and also raising traitorous language. Pressed about his comments on CNN, Kerrey purported to distance himself from the very smear campaign he was advancing: "There is a smear campaign going on. And people are acting as if he's an Islamic Manchurian candidate." That phrase only turns up 29 hits on Google, however, and nine of the references quote Kerrey. So very few "people are acting" or saying that - unless they're discussing Kerrey's sly effort to raise the line of attack.

In a Sunday interview with ABC, Kerrey offered some bizarre advice on ads Obama "should" run. "There's this nonsense out there about him being a Muslim Manchurian candidate. He should do a commercial, look the camera straight in the eye, and say, 'My wife Michelle and I are Christians, but my father was a Muslim and my paternal grandfather was a Muslim, and that fact and my name means I can speak to a billion people around the world..." Apparently, Kerrey thinks people will believe that as an experienced pol, his strategy to dispel a "Muslim Manchurian" smear is to run ads that say "Muslim" more often than "Christian."

Unlike the uproar over the other smears this month, however, the Clinton Campaign is not distancing itself from Kerrey's offensive. "I know Bob. He was being very complimentary of Sen. Obama," said Clinton, according to Tuesday's Quad City Times, an Iowa newspaper. Kerrey has assiduously wrapped the smears in complimentary language, yet that approach may also suggest how deliberately he is pushing each message. Channeling the bigoted attacks on Obama, for example, he repeatedly raises the middle name "Hussein." Thus he told the Washington Post: "It's probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama." Of course, there is no evidence that Obama is repelled by his name. As The New York Times Caucus blog noted Monday night, "We don't think we've seen anywhere that Mr. Obama has disowned his name." Kerrey found another way to emphasize Hussein in his ABC interview, while ostensibly explaining his "second" reason for deciding that Obama has enough experience to be president: "His name is Barack Hussein Obama. I know that middle name is seen as a weakness by Republicans, but I don't think it is." The name "Hussein" compensates for inexperience and carries no electoral cost? Can anyone take these shifting arguments seriously? Whether assessing candidates, Obama's inner feelings, or G.O.P. strategy -- everything goes back to the smears for Kerrey.

So far, many reporters have given Kerrey the benefit of the doubt while further airing the smears. Under the misleading headline MADRASSAGATE, the Daily News even swooned that Kerrey offered "so powerful a compliment that one might think he was on the stump for Obama instead of Clinton." An odd claim, since the two words you never hear Obama backers say on TV are madrassa and Hussein. Americablog's John Aravosis, who is generally supportive of Clinton, called on the Clinton Campaign to muzzle their newest backer: "Kerrey is doing the dirty work of the Clinton campaign, or he's a rogue agent spreading racism in their name. Either way, the Clinton campaign needs to stop this, now."

He's right. Clinton should disown Kerrey's comments immediately. Given the stakes in this election and the costs of (even a perception) of lying character assasination in Iowa, I think both the Clinton and Obama campaigns would be better off without Kerrey's "complimentary" smears.

UPDATE: Readers contend that it is accurate to say Obama "chose" Christianity, since he became religious as a young man in Chicago. Given the accusations that he is hiding Muslim roots, however, it remains a questionable point for Kerrey to emphasize. Obama grew up with an unobservant Christian mother and an atheist father, and then became more observant as a young man. R.J. Escrow responds to this post by adding that "Kerrey falsely claimed Obama's father was a Muslim. Obama's father was an atheist." Again, this is another point where Kerrey has carefully pushed the agenda in a way that some would argue is technically accurate, but it suggests a careful strategy to push the smears. As The Christian Science Monitor reports:

[Obama's] father, a black Kenyan economist, was raised Muslim but was an atheist by the time Obama was born. His mother, a white Kansan, had Baptist and Methodist roots but viewed organized religion with a gimlet eye...

Finally, some readers defend Kerrey by noting that he raised the smears before, in an Economist interview posted on October 30. The Politico's Ben Smith cited the interview as one reason not to jump to "conclusions about the motives of the former Nebraska Senator." There are a few sentences from the interview quoted on the Economist site, here is a longer passage of Kerrey's answer, after a clip was played of Obama saying he would talk to friends and enemies of the U.S.:

Q. Fine words, But is, is--

K: Well they are fine words. Look I - I look at Barack Obama I think he does have substantial experience in areas that matter to me, personally. For example, he's addicted to nicotine. He's trying to kick the habit. You got a million adolescents every year in America who take up smoking. So he gonna be able to lead in the area. Second he's black. And you know, some black leaders are saying he's not, but he's black. And he can speak to youth in America, as he did in Selma, and tell them, that look, I'm for civil rights, I'm for more money in health and education, but if you don't work harder, if you aren't a good parent, if you choose self-destructive behavior there is nothing I can do to help you. And finally, I love that his name is Barack Hussein Obama; that he was educated for a while in a secular madrassa. I know the right wingers are saying that he's, you know, sort of an Islamic manchurian candidate, but he can speak like no other candidate to a billion Muslims on this earth and say we're not your enemy unless you make us so.

Got all that? First, "he's addicted to nicotine." "Second, he's black" -- even if people say "he's not," he really is. And "finally," some people say he is "an Islamic manchurian candidate," but Bob Kerrey thinks otherwise. If this interview is supposed to make Kerrey look better, then he's really in trouble.

----
Ari Melber writes for The Nation, where this post first appeared.

Follow Ari Melber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AriMelber

Comments

[itsnotmyfault]

One could easily view what Kerry said, which was all essentially true, as if delivered with best intentions. Kerry certainly elaborated each point in a way which highlighted positive outcomes associated with each attribute.

But all of you OBama supporters and campaign staff have characterized this as a deceitful vile brutalizing attack, totally outside the boundaries of good faith politics. You people are nuts.

If Obama is this fragile, get out of the kitchen now. The Republicans will not even waste a heartbeat on the petty anti stuff. Are you kidding me. And when Obama is truly assaulted with no holds barred slander is he going to respond by whimpering how unfair, how mean. Obama and supporters, there is no free lunch and no free pass in the general election.

Barack Obama: Oh, Godfather, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.
Don Corleone: [shouts] You can act like a man!
[he slaps Barack]
Don Corleone: What's the matter with you. Is this how you turned out? A Chicago finocchio that cries like a woman.
[Don Corleone imitates him sobbing]
Don Corleone: "What can I do?"
[cut to Hillary who is laughing]
Don Corleone: "What can I do?" What is that nonsense. Ridiculous."

[thatvisionthing]

Obama could ask Bob Kerrey about waterboarding and war crimes. Kerrey's kind of an expert since his experience at Thanh Phong and with kitten drowning:

http://www.counterpunch.org/gibson.html - "Getting Away With Murder, Bob Kerrey, the CIA and War Crimes":

"This is what Nebraska's Robert Kerrey said in the opening paragraph of an article titled, 'On Remembering the Vietnam War:'

"'Around the farm, there is an activity that no one likes to do. Yet it is sometimes necessary. When a cat gives birth to kittens that aren't needed, the kittens must be destroyed. And there is a moment when you are holding the kitten under the water when you know that if you bring that kitten back above the water it will live, and if you don't bring it back above in that instant the kitten will be dead. This, for me, is a perfect metaphor for those dreadful moments in war when you do not quite do what you previously thought you would do.'"

yada yada

[maidyalook]

Did Bob Kerry say anything that wasn't true? Why are some people protecting Obama from the cold cruel world? If he ends up with the nomination then I would hope he can handle what will come, because it won't be a pretty sight. Shouldn't he be proud of his name and not off limits to someone for saying his name? Buck up Obama, it's going to only get worse, unless he continues to get a free ride in the media

[DasBoot]

This strategy of overtly defending somebody while covertly repeating an attack is devilish. I only hope it won't pay.

Of course being Muslim is nothing offensive whatsoever. But the Hillary people know that deep, deep in their middle American hearts, many voters are scared of Muslims.

Everybody loves to quote polls that show how voters reject negative ads. And yet, they work, that's why we see them every campaign season.

[NABNYC]

I love the reference to the Manchurian Candidate. Maybe we should throw in a little Mi Lai Massacre while we're at it.

How can Bob Kerry promote this type of racist hatred, and the attitude that all "others" are evil, given his own tawdry past. Bob Kerry was the head man in a U.S. military raid on a village in Vietnam named Thanh Phang, in which many unarmed non-combatant civilians were simply murdered.

The fact is that the U.S. had many groups inside Vietnam who were told to kill every single person they saw. When John Kerry said he volunteered to go into a "free fire" zone, that's what he was talking about -- the Americans were free to fire on anything that moved. These types of policies, of course, raised the number of civilian dead in Vietnam, just as the same policies are doing in Iraq.

When details of this slaughter came out in 2001, Bob Kerrey acknowledged that their standard operating procedure had been to "dispose" of any people with whom they came in contact.

The main reason the U.S. feels free to murder hundreds of thousands or millions (2.0 million in Vietnam) of civilians is because we have leaders who define anyone who is not white and not Christian as being suspect, being lesser, as being of little consequence, and therefore proper for killing. Racism.

I would think Bob Kerry might sit this one out rather than prop up the ruling elite viewpoint that anyone non-white, or even related to a Muslim, is somehow suspect. Isn't that an awful lot like the Hitler years viewpoint that if someone had even some tiny percentage of relationship to a Jewish person, they must be killed, and the Klan viewpoint that if someone has a tiny percentage of non-white blood, they should be killed.

Honestly Bob, and Hillary and Bill and all the Democrats, when did you join the Klan? What has happened to you that you would promote this type of despicable racial and ethnic hatred against others.

[OkieMon]

Does anybody not think the repugs will run with pictures like this of obama?



http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42039000/jpg/_42039742_07_obama_ap.jpg

[CornBred]

Open question to HuffPo readers:

Is there an individual that you would consider to be the "conscience of the Democratic Party"?

If so, who is it and why?

[VicPerry]

What the Hillary People Taught Me Today:

Rovian attacks are extraordinarily effective.
(although they didn't seem to work last November)

Rovian attacks - "swift-boating" - are reality-based or at least based on something that can be twisted around.
(although the original Swift Boat attacks were not reality based and the only thing that was twisted around was a full blast lie)

Rovian attacks cannot harm Hillary
(I can't even explain the reasoning behind this one)

[Countess]

These smears and the reaction to them by supporters of Mrs. Clinton are very troubling indeed as they are showing an ugly side to right wing democrats who support her and their willingness to accept racial and religious slurs without blinking an eye. They are no different than the republican bigots they are always denouncing.

[WomanInOrangeSweater]

Of course Mr. kerry was paying Obama a compliment. his reasoning is exactly why I'm voting for Hillary. We want a candidate with hands on experience in lying, pandering, corruption, slimy political dealings and scandal in the white house. A candidate with such knowledge is much better equipped to handle the office of the president. Right?

[barackoblogger]

David Geffen was right.

The Clintons will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, even stooping so low as to spread racist (drug dealer), xenophobic (madrassa), ridiculous (Kindergate) LIES.

[carol]

Kerry is an academic and so am I. He's slick and stealthy about Obama but he knows exactly what he's doing and should be ashamed. He's finessing a more nuanced Willy Horton meme against Ombana. He isn't Tancredo or Brownback who are intellectually challenged. His behavior is reprehensible and I hope it blows up in his face. He wagered his objective scholaly legitimacy for politial gain.

[Canukistani]

I have to wonder how anyone expects to get a 'change' candidate, given the number of conditions a candidate is expected to meet. The ideal candidate has to have a long background in politics so that they know how the system works. They have to run a conventional campaign with conventional positions. They have to have conventional families with conventional tastes.

If any of these criteria are not met then people start saying that the candidate won't do because he'll never win. Given all this, just how much change can anyone expect to get no matter who wins?

[Nonamnesiac]

Why is everyone complaining? Hillary calls Kerrey's remarks complimentary towards Obama. She's not involved in these smears. She's trying to help Obama's campaign.

Kerrey and Howard Wolfson should form an elections consultant firm. They have brought Don Rickels humor to Hillary's campaign, but in a complmentary manner according to Hillary.

[RAVEN13]

One can find Sen. Kerrey's comments via a
link at TaylorMarsh.com, article: 'Castratas'
for Clinton. They were originally made in Oct. 2007, in the Economist.