Color-coded Hillary Alerts

If anyone has paid acutely painful attention to the political ministrations of Karl Rove over the past two and a half decades, it's me. And if there is anyone qualified to make comparisons between democracy's Darth Vader and Hillary Clinton, I stand at the head of that line, as well. And sadly, the similarities are so brutally obvious as to be disturbing.

First, there is this matter of her husband, a man I admired as president in spite of his teenage behavior. Sen. Barack Obama has run a campaign that has never mentioned race. In fact, ethnicity was not an issue until President William Jefferson Clinton made his comparisons of Obama in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson. We were on the verge of almost transcending such superficial nonsense until Mr. Clinton brought us back to 1968.

And presently, we have the first female vice presidential candidate ringing the bell on the same topic. Geraldine Ferraro is, of course, a part of the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Senator Clinton plays the innocent on most of this by refusing to denounce these pronunciations. When she had the opportunity on 60 Minutes to tell the world that it is nonsense for the fear mongers to suggest Obama is a Muslim, she demurred with a qualified, "as far as I know" he's not. But she does know. Sen. Clinton and Obama have attended numerous Capital Hill prayer breakfasts together. Does she think he was playing the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, perhaps trying to see what is going on with that whole Christianity thing? Isn't any person believable when they declare their faith until they have been vetted by the Clinton campaign?

She saved her campaign in Texas by acting like George W. Bush drunk on the ideas of Karl Rove. The 3 a.m. call ad that used fear to drive voters in her direction was nothing more than a desperate politician's attempt to tell everyone not even duct tape will save them if they vote for Obama. Created by Roy Spence of Austin, the ad was first deployed in 1984 in the Mondale campaign. (His ad agency also gave us, "You are now free to move around the country," and, "Don't mess with Texas," as memorable slogans.)

As Karl Rove has proven and as Orlando Patterson pointed out in the New York Times, campaigns and their messages are often more about image than substance. Was it an oversight or a design that the children sleeping safely in that 3 a.m. ad were white? Isn't everyone in politics astute enough to know these days that everyone who needs protecting isn't white? When Bush was running for president, Rove never let him be photographed without a rainbow coalition of children. Are we supposed to believe that Hillary's minders didn't see the racism implicit in her phone call ad?

The Clinton campaign doesn't seem to understand that the depth of Obama's appeal comes from his willingness to look forward with optimism instead of over his shoulder in fear. When he says, "We need to talk to our friends, but we also need to talk to our enemies," he is speaking for every mother and father who has a son in Iraq or one who might end up toting a gun for an amorphous cause that few can any longer explain. Who doesn't want to know why we are so despised that people will strap bombs to themselves to blow us up? Oh, I forgot, they hate our freedom. That's one Sen. Clinton hasn't tried yet.

It is also obscene in the extreme for the Clinton campaign to compare Sen. Obama to Ken Starr. Many voters from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunny shores of California want to know how much money the senator and the former president are earning, to whom he is speaking for large sums, and how he paid for his library in Little Rock. Do the Clintons really want to remind us what Ken Starr was looking for? As a friend of mine has suggested, this utter lack of judgment to bring his name back into the public discourse is "breathtaking."

Clinton is unwilling to sully her own hands with these absurd references. Like Rove, she relies on surrogates to go out and fire the gun. After the targets are wounded or dead, Rove had his clients come in and call for gun control and explain how they admired the political victim. Not Senator Clinton. She does nothing to denounce the nastiness. By pretending Obama is not prepared to lead, she proves her own desperation to acquire power and she denigrates the remaining historical reputation of her husband's administration. Historians might look beyond this dust devil she has spun, but the general public won't be able to see through the dirt flying through the air.

We are all tired of this. We all have Bush-Clinton fatigue. We need a hopeful, fresh start. Hillary might have made a fine president. But she has turned into an ugly campaigner.

This is not her time.

Comments

[Ipanemagirl]

This is campaign time, they all get ugly and desperate even though they may be best friends when it is all over! I wish they could just each talk about what they would do, rather than bash each other, but let's face it, they all end up doing this, even Obama! He makes his comments against Hillary but you don't seem to notice; or is there a different standard when he does it ?.Can we at least be fair??????

[jsinclair]

I wasn't very interested in the Clintons' finances or alleged corruption back in the Whitewater days. But I admit that now, watching them stonewall on taxes...donors list....earmarks.....I'm curious to know--"What do they have to hide?"

Really. What could it be?

Also, I just found out that Clinton's top advisor--lobbyist Mark Penn, and McCain's top advisor--lobbyist Charlie Black--are not only close friends but also, respectively, CEO and Chairman of the SAME LOBBYING COMPANY (BKSH).

This explains why Hillary and McCain's campaign strategy seems far more focused on attacking Obama than each other or Bush. It also stinks of possible collusion, corruption--plus a big windfall for either lobbyist if BOTH wind up as the nominee.

Why is the media ignoring this? This relationship of top advisors/lobbyists at the highest level of the Clinton / McCain campaigns--combined with the stench of collusion between the two in strategies (bloody Obama; speak well of each other)---stinks to high heaven.

[swkidder]

Nice piece ... I think you're right. She's one very bright woman, and I respect that. But Toto has pulled the curtain back on the Wizard, and the woman we see standing there ain't pretty. I've learned over time that I don't really trust anyone who hasn't been driven to their knees. I don't think any of us really knows who we are until we've been put under intense pressure. At the end of that process we've either become a diamond - or a pile of carbon dust. I don't see a diamond.

[tandrmcdonald]

Why Senator Clinton lost my vote.
I held off until the Illinois primary because I wanted to give both candidates time to develop a campaign "voice." I paid close attention to what both candidates said and looked at their voting records to see if what they said matched how they voted.
I began to notice a decided change in the tone of the Clinton message when the former president joined the team. Bill Clinton couldn't have done more damage if he'd set out to sabotage his wife's bid for the Oval Office. I decided that Senator Clinton would not get my vote. My decision was based on the disparity between what she says and how she voted, her apparent inability to admit that her vote for the invasion of Iraq was wrong, the continued decline of civility in the overall campaign and finally on the ugliness of her 3A.M. phone call ad.
The Clinton campaign has taken a page from the Karl Rove political hatchet-job handbook and it's ugly. Instead of blasting the Bush Republicans for the mess they've made of our country, Clinton's team is adopting their game plan. Rule by fear is not an ideal of the Democratic party I've come to support over the last forty-five years. Hillary Clinton's Goldwater Girl roots are showing.
Gramma Rose

[Rosey]

The sad sad truth is Attack Dog Hillary is only making it easier for McCain to get elected. Many women (me included) do not want to vote for her - period! And yes, all you rambo females (who are voting for her only because she is a woman)...... I would LOVE to vote for a woman. I would vote for Dianne Feinstein in a New York minute! I will not vote for Hillary so I guess if she wins I will sit out this election or write in Obama anyway.

[tandrmcdonald]

Note to Rosey;
I'm a firm believer in gender, racial and religious blindness. I wouldn't vote for a woman just because she was a woman, Ann Coulter is a woman....uh... I think.
How about Donna Brasille? Smart, even-handed, rational and not given to the currently popular escalation of political hysteria. I'd move to another state to vote for her in an Illinois minute, which is roughly equivalent to about a New York half-hour. We're a bit slower out here on the prairie.
Gramma Rose

[jsinclair]

It would not surprise me in the least if McCain offered Hillary a major cabinet position. If she can't win, HIS winning would be the next best thing for her career (which, as we've seen, is the MOSt important issue of all).

She would fit in much better into a McCain administration than into an Obama one. That says it all.

[AtiasMom]

You are so great! Why don't you cover the same with Barack. How come he could take two weeks to deny the Nafta incident and then finally say it did happen, but mis-understood. Yeh! Right! No dirty politics here. Just Politics as usual.

If Barack wasn't running, then the comments in South Carolina and Geraldine's comment would have no merit.

I don't like dirty politics, the only difference is that I don't like it by any candidate. Barack has just as much going on on his side as Hillary does. You really don't believe that Barack's inner circle didn't voice that Hillary was a monster? When is the media going to cover him with the same gusto they do Hillary? I don't call a 5 second coverage on what his wife said a full coverage. Then we don't hear anything more about it.

Fair, unbiased media coverage! Right! What about the money supposedly Barack is receiving from the lobbiest? That's kind of interesting since he is against lobbiest.

[rojo7449]

One only has to watch the Olbermann/Obama interview where Barack's feet are "held to the fire" to get the truth out of him about what he knew, when he knew it, and just how close is the relationship between him and Rev Wright to see how hard it is for our media to be fair to Hillary Clinton.

What a joke. Over a year ago Obama and Wright together discussed the likelihood Obama would have to distance himself from this minister and his very controversial/hateful views at some point during the campaign. Yet, Olbermann allowed Obama to state he had only just heard the Christmas Day sermon that morning!! Christmas Day sermon. I repeat, Christmas Day sermon. Obama was the centerpiece of the Christmas Day sermon, yet he didn't hear it because he didn't go to church on Christmas Day and not one person from his congregation mentioned to him that he was the focal point of the sermon...his horrible life as a black man in this horrible country. One has to wonder if Obama was told not to attend church on Christmas Day so he would be able to pull off distancing himself from this political campaign rally.

Obama made a conscious choice to live in the black community. He had been raised by his white mother and grandparents and not in the inner city. But, people are posting that the Obama camp has never once tried to play the race card. It's being played every Sunday in the black churches across this country. People can believe what they want to. I find it illogical to think that Obama has been unaware of the racist trend his campaign is using to get his voters to the polls. It's never a bad thing to get people to the polls, what's wrong, though is to pretend they didn't use hot buttons to do so. Record numbers of voters went to the Ohio polls in 2004....not to vote for Bush, but to vote against gay marriage...and, as long as they were there, they'd vote for the man who agreed with them on that one issue.

[jsinclair]

You need to check your facts on NAFTA.

[tdbach]

This hit piece is pure trash. One might even say Rove-like trash. You've made a career of illuminating the sins of Rove, and now you're using those bona fides to advocate for Obama - no, that's not exactly right, you're coming up with every inuendo and falsehood you can contrive to tear down his opponent, all in the guise of comparing her campaign to a Rove job. Looks more to me like you have been studying that guy for so long, you've simply become him. Look in the mirror, big guy.

Most of the people here in HuffPo who call Hillary Bush II, and accuse her of using Roves tactics in a campaigndon"t have a freaking clue what they're talking about when they make such bone-headed comparisons. But you SHOULD. Maybe its just lazy shorthand for "I hate Hillary and all she represents, and I don"t care if it"s based on fact or fantasy " I hate her, and that"s all that counts."

Good heavens, what an election!

[imagine0594]

This is the impression I'm getting too. People hate Hillary first, and then try and find reasons to back up their hatred.

[Twocentsworth245]

HO-HUM! Yet another political pundit all too eager to trash Hillary and worship at the altar of Barack Obama. How tiresome -- not to mention annoying, deplorable, and disgusting -- is THAT! Better to be a sexist than a racist, huh? When it comes down to sexism and racism, there is no such thing as a proverbial "lesser of two evils," they are EQUALLY bad! Speak for yourself, Mr. Moore, because you certainly DON'T speak for ME! Oh, I most DEFINITELY have BUSH fatigue, that's for certain. But, CLINTON fatigue? NOPE, not I! Barack over McCain? ABSOLUTELY! Hillary over either one of them? UNQUESTIONABLY! Hillary is NO monster! She is neither a "Darth Vader," who is at least fictional, or (HORRORS!!) another Karl Rove, who, unfortunately, is NOT fictional.

Why is it that Third World countries, as well as some fellow industrialized countries such as England, etc., have no problem with electing a female head of state, but here in the good ol' U.S. of A.? We'd rather elect a lesser-experienced MAN (Barack) over a more experienced WOMAN (Hillary). How unenlightened is THAT?!?!

Mr. Moore, I think you need to stand back from your exalted position at the front of your imaginary line because you are apparently standing too closely to see the complete picture, (like in that story of the blind men with the elephant).

What this country REALLY needs is another Shirley Chisholm!

[WebForce1]

Well said "twocentsworth425". Hillary is far more qualified and it is her turn not Obama's. She's been doing this far longer than he has. Obama supporters are quick to point out all the accusations that have been levied against the Clintons, but then their candidate is brand new. Let Obama get down in the trenches and fight the Republicans for twenty years and see how he looks.
But it's not just a gender problem. Race is clearly an issue as well. People like Mr. Moore are desperately trying to prove to black people that they are not racists. It's called white guilt. The unfortunate side effect of this hysteria is that these people usually have to paint another white person as racist in order to set themselves apart. It also causes them to make judgements not out of any logical, or reasonable deliberation.
If you support Hillary Clinton and you are a woman, the Obama supporters will label you a feminist, if your a man they label you a racist.
Never mind the fact that Hillary is far more qualified and experienced in her own right, but you also have to aknowlege the fact that her husband, best and life long friend, and closest personal advisor, is a former two term President of the United States. Just as he relied on her, she will rely on him.
The fact that Hillary had to run an ad expounding her experience is in itself a sad commentary on this campaign.

[littlequeenie]

Please explain to me how she is more experienced.
http://www.kitchensink08.blogspot.com/

When I first started hearing he state her 35 years of experience, I was shocked and started researching it. In fact, Obama has more legislative experience than HRC.

I used to support both the Clintons, voted for Bill twice. I would LOVE to see a woman as President. But her campaign tactics have disgusted me.

(And I am a 54 year old white woman making about $30,000 a year - supposedly part of HRC's constituency).

[Mooyizz]

errr..emm, im a bit confused here, but what EXACTLY is hilarys experience please? Dinner and Tea parties with heads of states, private nudgings in the bed of the white house,speech at the Bejing conference? oh, also included in my research was the 8years in thw white house as lets say invisible chief of staff? i just dont get americans that 'worship at the altar of hilarys all too opaque experience' where art thou o angel of experience, please come to the rescue of hilary rodham clinton, thine time is near,...........................let them see that she is no less experienced than Obama,neither of the two are experienced, but hey!! hasnt america voted very 'experienced persons in teh past? GWB-Thanks for enriching OPEC, Oil is peaking @ $110 a barrel, oops, experience also made him lie about the WMD right? then also, another Experienced President was BC who we thank for Rwanda,Tora Bora and Integrity and Fidelity @ the white house..................experience, oh experience, is she is such an experienced person, how come her campaign lacks strategy and direction? i assume ths is teh way she intends to lead americas foreign policy right? how come her campaign is broke? i assue also that when she runs teh american economy further into teh doldrums she will borrow y'all money? then how come she always screams, rants and rails at her percieved enemies? thats how i guess she intends to relate with Chavez,Ahmadenijab and Kim il jong right? screaming,ranting and making outrightly stupid comments on them? Shame on you Medvedev,Shame on you Kim,Shame on you Chavez!! Vote Hilary and you will get just what you all deserve

[WebForce1]

Moore references the times op-ed piece by Patterson in an attempt to give his argument more weight. I too have read that piece, and In that article Patterson draws comparisons between Hillary's ad and the film "Birth of a Nation" which was a kkk propaganda film from long ago.
What Moore doesn't mention is that Patterson's piece drew more than 600 comments, the vast majority of them dismissing what can only be described as "paranoid and Herculian leaps to unfounded conclusions".
This ad was not filmed by the Clinton campaign. It was a rush job. The polls were close in Ohio and Texas and they wanted to get their "experience" message across. They purchased the stock footage from an ad agency, added Hillary and got it out quickly. They did not spend months planning and crafting this ad.
Also, Hillary is no more responsible for Ferraro saying what she said than Obama's is for Powers remarks about Hillary being a monster. Every campaign is going to have people who either get caught in the moment, or off guard and they say things which hurt their candidate.
Does anyone believe that Powers' remarks helped Obama? he lost a very intelligent and experienced aid over one stupid mis-statement. Likewise, Ferraro's comments don't help Hillary. Now she has to defend herself from more accusations of racism.
I am from Ohio, and I am a white male and I'm 38. I support Hillary because I remember how the economy was when the Clinton's were running things. And for those of you who might be too young to really remember that time, things were pretty good. I'm not saying that Obama wouldn't make good things happen, but for me, and many other people, Hillary is a known quantity. What's more, I never saw the 3 a.m. ad until after the primary. That's right, many people in Ohio were pulling the lever for Hillary anyway.
In every campaign things are going to be said, and candidates are going to make mis-steps along the way. This campaign is especially sensitive because we have a woman and a black man running. It is very easy for one side or the other to take a statement out of context, or jump to conclusions and make false accusations regarding racial or gender driven bigotry. In some cases, supporters will go out of their way to make these claims believing that it will help their candidate.
I refuse to believe that the Clintons are racist. If you take Hillary's time in the senate, and William's time as president, you'll see that they have worked tirelessly to improve life for the poor and dis-enfranchised be they black, white, hispanic, asian or other.
One other note, Obama may be running a cleaner campaign, but then his supporters are saying all the dirty sleazy things in his place. No doubt every one here has read many of the statements made by Obama supporters against Hillary, and or the Clintons. For example "the Hill,Billys" these remarks are thouroghly, patently and outright racist comments. The term "hillbilly", in this country is a racist and derogatory name that implies uneducated, southern, WHITE person. Just like "redneck" which has also been used by Obama supporters. If you're an Obama supporter and you decide to post a comment tearing Hillary down for racism, at least have the good sense not to convict yourself of racism in the same paragraph.

[jsinclair]

Except...Powers remarks were clearly "off the record". She had previously (and subsequently) praised and admired Clinton. And Powers apologized and resigned gracefully.

On the contrary, Ferraro embraced, repeated, and elaborated on her comments which were much worse and decidedly NOT off the record. (Powers remark about Clinton was a personal feeling, and not about women in general. Ferraro clearly wasn't just talking about Obama, but about her antagonistic feelings toward African Americans in public life, period).

Obama immediately asked Power to leave the campaign. Clinton waited and waited, never asked, but let Ferraro "leave" (to still "keep working for her"), with an angry, bitter statement.

Power and Ferraro. Two very different kinds of women.

Obama and Clinton. Two very different kinds of leaders.

[blinddraw]

For weeks the average American (read: me, too) has been glued to every posted and visualized word, sifting the wheat from the chaff, trying to be as fair as his/her bias' will let them regarding all of the drama of the democratic primary. Some have given up by simply saying, "I will vote and they can do what they want with it". To say that there is a lot of dust for the meek and the tired is to put it mildly. Others have stayed the course, drinking in all of the information that is available and are responding with more and more wisdom. To say, however, that we, as layman in this process, have not been able to see the forest for the trees, is putting it mildly, as there is a lot to absorb. Your comment that "...the general public won't be able to see through the dirt flying through the air" is an echo of my own sentiments for the last several weeks. But, you can be sure the superdelegates are wighing, daily, all that is going on and will either vote their principled convictions or reveal that they don't have any, as in "Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up".

[z1scouts]

Articles such as this and comments made to them, mostly by men is what has caused such a divide in this campaign. What Ferraro said, and if accuractly statedt, is not about ract, it is about sexism. Obama is no saint on playing the race card. Comments such as "I don't know if Bill can dance", said during one of the debates when asked if he agreed with Toni Morrison's description of Bill Clinton as the "first black president", is indicitave of how one sided and over stated the race card gets played.

This is like a nightmare that should have never happened. It is not Obama's time for all you men who would prefer a man over a woman. It is justly Hillary's time, so get a grip.

[daddysboy]

Hillary Clinton is guilty of wanting the job way too much and hiring unscrupulous people to get it. Unfortunately, she is showing her style and it appears to be really annoying to many people. Having passion is great, but it needs to be applied correctly or it just comes out as chaos. Bill Clinton can be forgiven because he is sitting at the nexus of this campaign machine clearly out of control and this is his spouse. I admit you are right about the mention of Jessie Jackson as being a very poor misstep harkening back to last century though; that was entirely unnecessary and unfortunate. The question in the end is still which of these two people will be more effective and will truly represent the American people and bring about the real prosperity that this new century promised us prior to 'government interrupted' .

[englishprof]

Mrs. Ferraro is so deeply racist that she doesn't even know it. This is why she is so sincerely outraged when she is called on it. I do know one thing: Anyone who talks like her should not represent the inner circles of the Democratic party as a superdelegate. She is a disgrace to the party and should be stripped of her superdelegate status.

[Marilyn Ferdinand - Huffpost Blogger]

I have only one thing to say to the Obama supporters here and elsewhere. You are going to have to make amends to the Clinton supporters for all the dirt YOU have been tossing. If the shit that has been posted on this and other pro-Obama sites can't be called dirty campaigning, I don't know what can. I'm willing to forgive your finger-pointing and intense trashing of Hillary, but you're going to have to ask to be forgiven. You've been outrageous and hurtful.

[polly14]

wow, are you, like, Gerry's sister?

The Clinton camp has a rogue member out there shooting her mouth off, making ridiculous, deep-seeded racist comments, yet somehow, you as a Clinton supporter needs an apology from Obama supporters??? Ridiculous!

[youngliberal]

hahahahaha... I am LOVING the new Hillary-logic....

And I thought Obama suppporters were supposed to be the fanatical ones... these people are now crossing into hilarity/insanity with their defense of a candidate who is obviously NOT THE COUNTRY"S CHOICE..

Just get used to it already... we're sick of being called trash-talkers for responding to the truck full of trash you keep throwing at us...

[Najam]

What is so "absurd and ridiculous" in Geraldine Ferraro's statement? Look at the Mississippi results, 91% African Americans voted for Obama! Look at the statistics of actual votes cast in any primary, people voted based on race for Barack Hussain Obama. Sounds more like "elections" in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Kenya or Idi Amin getting 99.99% popularity in "elections" in Uganda.

Barack Hussain Obama's many statements remind me what was said by Mr. Bush, "if you are not with us you are against us.

Our luck would not change unless we take our heads out of racism and look at the candidates as in the case of Mr. Hype Hussain Rhetoric.

He calls himself full of hope and a hard worker, hopefuls and hard workers are not so thin skinned about positive criticism, anyone who said anything that Mr. Hype didn't like that person is slammed everywhere. Those who don't dare disagreeing with race based campaign of Barack Hussain Obama would not understand how the disagreement is received by these people.

Barack Hussain Obama and his team can have their opinion but can't have their "facts". Voting on the basis of race and tribes has been very recently tried in his dad's native Kenya resulted in violence and loss of thousands of life. The very core of democracy and common sense is being played with by Barack Hussain Obama to get elected.

Yes, press and media has given him a free ride, in fear of racism cries by his supporters, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and a long march or boycott. It is all about selling their products and he is one of the products of opportunity. He says anything knowing that he will get away with it. There would have been riots on the streets and fiery speeches from all "civil rights" activists if Barack Hussain Obama has won Florida and Michigan and somebody try to re-vote.

Whatever he says about immigrants is again to sound like he is taking their side. Of course, only to get their votes in remaining primaries. It is Barack Hussain Obama who is playing the race card and the rest of us silent in fear of being called a racist.

John Edwards had more substance, common sense, solutions and focus on problems than this man's rhetoric and hype, who can not be pointed at in fear of violent reactions, name calling and foul language his followers use all across the media.

Anyone uses the word change is lying to people of this great nation, this is not an Empire or Kingdom, our President even President-Elect works with the Congress. Washington cursing for hype, deception and votes is well understood who do not have any prejudice. Mr. Barack Hussain Obama knows very well that he will be living in Washington in the best house of the country, the most secured on earth, and then the "Incredibly Arrogant" would know the difference between the hype and reality.

SO MUCH FOR CHANGE

Thank you,

Najam, NJ

[Brinkman]

The conflation of Barack Obama's middle name takes the air out of any argument you are making. Doubly so since you spelled it wrong.