Faux Obama Supporter Mayhill Fowler Sets Up Smears on Obama
"What Barack Obama's remarks last night in San Francisco reveal," Mayhill Fowler asserts on the Huffington Post, "is his self-confidence--to the point of cockiness--right now."
I have close friends who attended the Obama donor event in Pacific Heights where Fowler claims she became so upset about his remarks. My friends, an interracial couple who are professors at two public universities in California, assured me that they did not hear any of the "cocky" tone that Fowler claims made her so "uncomfortable." The event was held for like-minded people who want to see Obama succeed. From her writings and her whirlwind media tour slamming Obama, Mayhill Fowler clearly does not share this sentiment. That's fair, but she shouldn't pretend to be an "Obama supporter."
Her charges of "cockiness" on the part of Senator Obama have had their desired effect. She has garnered publicity and has been given a free ride on this non-issue. She appeared on the Lou Dobbs show, and CNN and other news outlets are flogging her false and vituperative sentiments about Obama. Predictably, the Republican Party and the John McCain campaign seized upon Fowler's distortions and used them as talking points. And of course Hillary Clinton, needing some good news after Mark Penn ignominiously resigned when his ties to Columbian lobbying money were revealed, is milking Fowler's smears for all they're worth, (which isn't much).
Mayhill Fowler apparently took away a totally different feeling from the event than anyone else in the room and her spin on Obama's statements to what he thought was a sympathetic audience (save Ms. Fowler) is a sorry distortion. Fowler posed as a "citizen reporter," but she didn't seek responses from others who attended the event, nor did she check her own subjective and uniformly negative biases at the door.
"Even the Obama Campaign, I suppose, can never have too much money," Fowler sniffs. This is a curious dig coming from someone who claims to be sensitive and made to feel "uncomfortable" by the mere suggestion that some people in America after eight years of miserable misrule might be a tad "bitter."
Fowler writes: "The fact that so many middle class Californians are giving $2300 to Obama shows both the depth of prosperity in the state and the allure of the scent of victory." I guess Fowler believes the California economy has been just humming along during the Bush years? Maybe Fowler should do some of her "citizen reporting" and inform the governor and the state legislature, which are currently dealing with a $14 billion budget deficit and contemplating cutting $5 billion from education, about "the depth of prosperity" of the state. Fowler is the one who is out of touch with the plight of average working people, not Obama as she claims.
She even goes over Obama's use of the English language with the eye of a schoolmarm: "Note Obama's delicate sentence constructions. Never a gender pronoun--a he or a she--anywhere." I suppose she considers this kind of thing "political analysis."
According to her bio on the Huffington Post, Mayhill Fowler is a middle-aged Southern belle "born and bred in Tennessee" who moved to Houston, and later became a California resident.
But Mayhill Fowler does succeed in bringing up a powerful point relating to race relations in America: How must the first African American presidential candidate to make it this far behave? How much "confidence" in his own abilities can he show before people like Fowler label him "cocky?" And what are Fowler' credentials to make this kind of judgment? Do her white Southern roots allow her to really see a black candidate? Or is Obama to her Ralph Ellison's "invisible man?"
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Ms. Fowler was an Obama supporter. Why else would she have donated $2,300 to his campaign??? His condescending, arrogant comments gave her pause to realize this man is not who he claims to be!!! I applaud her for writing the article she did! He thought he could go to the rich people and criticize the middle class, small town Americans and get away with it!!! I hope this does it to FINALLY GET THIS FRAUD OUT OF THE RACE ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!!!
It's called an investment!
Did we know anything about Ms. Fowler before this?
Call her all the names in the book, but she will be cashing in on this "investment" for years to come. They are probably processing her W-4 at FOX News right now.
She may not have donated. She may have been there as the guest of someone who did. That question hasn't been addressed.
I was kind of wondering the same thing. Given that she has been so obviously critical of Obama, it seems odd she would donate that kind of money to his campaign. Maybe she WAS a guest. Or maybe somebody else paid her tab.
Speaking of fraud (umm, you really shouldn't use all caps ), just because she is wealthy enough to give over $2000 to attend an Obama event doesn't mean she supports him.
Just read her previous posts.
Or look and see she gave $250 to Fred Thompson
http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=Fowler&fname=Mayhill
This is just another media made firestorm. Obama will be the nominee. Hopefully, you'll look at him
more objectibely and support him in the fall.
Poor choice of words from Obama? Or true color?
Those were elite self serving remarks. Obama has played the black and elite white communities like a fiddle. Skillfully playing on the elite white Starbucks crowd Guilt and ‘Hope’ for candidate for the black community.
So your saying elite whites vote for him because of guilt and blacks vote for him because he's black?
That's your analysis of the situation? It's people like you that will always hold America back from progressing to a peaceful and tolerant nation. You may see your statement has non-racist, but do you actually hear yourself? Obama has no merits other than he is black????
Please, please leave the country if your not happy with where the rest of us are trying to go. PLEASE. We're tired of the divisions and the hatred. We're tired of the bigotry and the fear mongering.
So I assume you didn't vote for Clinton in 92 because he made similar remarks
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/13/bill-clinton-flashback-al_n_96433.html
He said remarks similar to what he said then (worded much better) and its not as Clinton and McCain are telling everyone he said. He said things similar all the way back in 2004 in a interview with Charlie rose. So his true colors are not what the right wing is trying to paint him, of course if you believe the right wing (DLC and Republicans) then your already in trouble.
Obama has been saying the same thing, in much more convincing language when he's given the time, in public since at least 2004. See these comments on the Charlie Rose show in 2004, after Kerry lost. Pass this along.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oGF3cyHE7M&eurl=http://talkingpointsmemo.com/
I don't believe for a minute that she is an Obama supporter. She only gave to the Obama campaign when it was required to gain access to events. Before that, she was giving to the evangelical campaign of Fred Thompson.
Based on the stories she has written about Obama, she is no friend of his. She conveys a personal dislike for him in her writing.
Exactly. Anyone who labels her an Obama supporter is either fooling themselves or trying very hard to fool others.
Yes it is really surprising that two wealthy, or at least maxed out donors, both university professors do not hear anything cocky in describing rural Pennsylvanians (read: these rubes) as clinging to their guns and religions because the don't understand their own interest.
I'm maxed out too on giving to the Obama campaign, and not only am I not even close to being wealthy, I never will be.
I am a middle-class rural Pennsylvanian who comes from a family of church-going gun owners. And proud of it. I was not offended at all by Senator Obama's remarks. I certainly wish he had phrased them differently, but that's the nature of the beast. We all say things that we later wish we had phrased differently. He spoke the truth and sometimes that's hard to hear. I am much more offended by the talking heads, who are as far from rural and middle-class as a person can get, fretting and clucking over how offended "little people like me" should be. Shut up. We can speak for ourselves. And most of us see Obama's meaning for the truth it is.
I don't get why people think "we little people" are oh-so-offended at being called bitter. Like it's the worst thing anyone could say. I much prefer Senator Obama's truth telling to Senator Clinton's looking in my eyes and lying strategy. And her "this man looks down on you" scare tactics.
I'm not saying this isn't all the buzz in my state and that people aren't talking about it. They are. But not in quite the way the Clinton campaign hopes. There's no anti-Obama tide rolling through here. Despite what the punditry class wants everyone to believe.
I too am a Pennsylvanian ,from as rusty as it gets ,32 years of teaching in Johnstown. I am happy that Obama said what he said. It is on the table now, perhaps something will be done to start the healing. We can not keep denying the problems or throwing promises at them.I wish there was a way to know the truth about Fowler,(Fouler) She was a whiney ,complaining person in her previous articles. What an unpleasnt bitter racist slant.
the funny thing about Mayhill's propaganda report is that all day CNN tried to make it the biggest issue in the news, in fact that is just about all they talked about sat. they also said that it would be all over the sunday morning news shows, and although I didn't see all of them but of the ones I saw there was not even a mention. so Mayhill and CNN let me say Backfire on your non issue. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
also to hillary supporters
its called democracy, we had a vote and hillary has already lost, don't be sore losers.
there is no way she will get more people to like her so she should stop trying to make people hate Obama.
I too noticed CNN blowing this up from nothing.
CNN has now become a 527 for the Hillary campaign.
Well CNN's Ballot Bowl is talking about nothing else this afternoon. And good old reliable, the ultimate professional Tim Russert spent half of his program talking about it this morning. Of course the notion that this woman is or was ever a supporter of Obama is laughable.
For those of you who continually misconstrue Obama's words, see this:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6oGF3cyHE7M&feature=bz301
Now, what have you got to say about that? Stop being bamboozled by the Clinton campaign. Wake up America!
Thank you. Send this over to CNN and into Ms. Flower's in box!
so Hillary Clinton has her very own Linda Tripp. How nice.
Love the Linda Tripp remark! Karma is a biatch.
She also contributed to FRED THOMPSON"S camapign according to Opensecrets and Fundrace!!!!!!!!
She maxed out to Obama to get access!
I don't know why she contributed to Fred Thompson, and neither do you. Maybe she just wanted access there, too. Things would have been better all over if Fred had just told everyone he wasn't really serious.
The odd thing about Obama's comments regarding the rural folks in PA is that no one has seemed to pick up on the fact that he sees the bitterness in their political reactions differently than the bitterness expressed by Rev. Wright. The good Rev. is just a crazy uncle that he tolerates, evidently, out of an old friendship. The rural folks seek comfort in guns, religion, nativism, and anti-globalization. Mr. O, however, doesn't really explain why he subjected his family to semons from a foul-mouthed bigot for 20 years--I guess friendship goes a long, long way with him or he agrees with what the good Rev. has to say. But we are left guessing.
His inability to connect with the rural folks is quite amazing, explained perhaps that he just has never thought much about them. That he believes he is licensed to lie to them is without question. He feels they are misguided about NAFTA, being desperate fools and all, so he can say whatever they want to hear about NAFTA and continue being the pathetic dupes he sees them as. After all the joke will only be on them again after the election, as his campaign has taken pains to assure the Canadian government.
And so it goes....
.
i do know that she goes by the name Junehill as well, has said she's likely to vote for Hillary ( yet didn't contribute to her) and that she has contempt for just about everyone she writes about, especially Obama and dems. She also lives in the ELITE , rich area of Cali. READ ALL OF HER BLOGS and bio attached to her blog here. I'm digging and will be sure to let you know what else I learn about her! IShe's looking for 15 minutes.
do you even realize that one of the places Obama grew up in was Indonesia? Do you know that it is one of the poorest places on earth, not club med?
Amazing that the son of a goat herder and single mom who went to a good school on a scholarship and who then eschewed a corporate lawyer job in order to work on the streets of Chicago as a community activist and organizer can be called elitist! The Mc Clintons and McCains belong to the super rich and have been out of touch for years!
Elitist is the Super secretive “FELLOWSHIP” political-religious cult Hillary belongs to: http://prorev.com/2007/12/hillary-clinton-heavy-into-rightwing.html
The Fellowship believes that the elite win power by the will of God, who uses them for his purposes. Its mission is to help the powerful understand their role in God's plan.
Actually, if you had listened to his speech on race, you'd know that he does address the bitterness of African Americans, and sees it as a problem.
The black church has served as a place to vent a bitterness about the way society has failed the black community. The criticisms within the black church are not anti-American, and the rural focus on "guns and God" are not just "redneck" sentiments. He's trying to point out that people in cities and people in the country have common interests that they miss if they get too wrapped up in the culture wars. Impoverished inner city black communities and impoverished largely white rural communities have more in common than you'd think.
I grew up in a small town in Illinois. Obama is as invested in Illinois' rural communities as he is Chicago. He's got a global view of our problems. Unfortunately, some people are unwilling to get beyond the divisions and prefer to "cling" to their prejudiced and unjust views of people like Rev. Wright without any attempt to see the larger picture. I expect that gun and God loving rural voters in PA are a lot smarter than you give them credit for, and are quite able to see that Obama is the real deal.
Sigh. Another "low information" Clinton supporter. I suppose Obama's years as a community organizer were spent not caring about the people he worked with, rural or otherwise. Oh, and as far as the NAFTA flap goes, let's not forget this:
"Per the Toronto Globe and Mail, in a story that was the lead on the paper’s front page today, that call to the Canadian embassy was actually from the Clinton campaign, not Obama’s:"
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/06/738264.aspx
Obama '08
You have a lot of facts wrong. You should do your homework before posting.
Sorry, he is connecting with them. Also, do your homework on "NAFTA-gate,"
starting with developments from way back that took CNN days to report. An internal probe is still going on at the PM's call.
For support on NAFTA, look to the pep rallys Hillary hosted when hubby pushed for it. See First Lady records recenty released by Library of Congress and Bill Clinton Library.
She also wrote thes words in a post on Huff Po earlier last week.
"Obama exits, shakes a few hands -- there aren't that many eager spectators, so it's looking like Philly isn't as easy a lay as Altoona --and moves on down the sidewalk. The light catches the fabric of his suit. You know he is vain, because only fit thin guys can get away with shiny fabric. "
In it she manages to offend both Obama and the nice people of Altoona, PA. It is the height of hypocricy that, after referring to the small town citizens of Altoona in such demeaning terms, that she should be in a position to judge how they will feel about truths spoken by Barack. Judging from her own smearing of their collective reputation, Mayhill Fowler cares very little about the people of PA. Someone should send her post to the Altoona papers so they can see just how much she cares about their sensibilities. Like my mom always says, "Consider the source."
By the way, I've tried to post the actual link to the post 3 times and HuffPo will not post it. I also noticed that the particular article, Pennsylvania Campaign Journal: Obama Hams It Up, Flirts, And Gets A Bit Cocky" was not accepting any comments.
Her reporting is pretty bad. I hadn't really paid much attention to her columns until now, but her writing is full of the crap you mention. It's like she's reporting for Access Hollywood...
She also wrote this post earlier last week. In it she manages to offend both Obama and the nice people of Altoona, PA. She states that while in Philadelphia on his bus tour, Barack did not find Philadelphia "AS EASY A LAY AS ALTOONA," implying that the people in Philadelphia were somehow more critical and not as "easy" as those in Altoona. Totally offensive and demeaning to the people of PA. It is the height of hypocricy that, after so referring to the small town citizens of Altoona in such demeaning terms, that she should be in a position to judge how they will feel about truths spoken by Barack. Judging from her own smearing of their collective reputation, Mayhill Fowler cares very little about the people of PA.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/pennsylvania-campaign-jou_b_94779.html
See Rachel Sklar's Profile
I think your last paragraph is stunningly unfair to Mayhill Fowler. I read her blog post initially and was struck by how detailed it was, and by how closely she had been following the Obama campaign. She reported what she saw, stated her impressions and explained their source. Nowhere - but nowhere - did I pick up any sense of racial analysis or commentary of Obama as a black candidate. I think it is a huge stretch to then make this about whether Fowler's "white Southern roots allow her to really see a black candidate" - that's appalling.
As for her credentials she's been following Obama for much of this campaign - check out her archive http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowlerr). She's been on site, observing the candidate on the trail, and she's been posting accordingly (not to mention posting critically of Clinton as well).
Note that Mayhill went above and beyond in this report, not only using the individual quotes that she thought were significant, but transcribing large chunks of them AND uploading the audio of the event so that everyone could hear and judge for themselves. That is far, far more than what you get reading an average report from the trail.
If you take issue with Mayhill's report, fine. You make plenty of good points and bring in an alternative report from other attendees. But your last paragraph is out of left field and an unsupported, unfair attack making a damaging allegation. Someone with your "credentials" should know better.
she said this to PBS about her " job" at huffpo:
"There’s nobody out there telling me not to slant a story for the candidate I favor. So I"m always checking myself to see if I’m being fair. " Mayhill Fowler, Off the Bus contributor
She gave to FRED THOMPSON and her Middle East Blog linked to her full huffpo bio ( under the name Junehill) says she''s leaning toward voting for Hillary
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2008/03/digging_deepersemipro_journali.html
people at the even totally disagree with her take! She snuck a tape recorder in , sat on the story for a week and then did not approach Obama for context,. She has referred to him as arrogant, uppity, cocky and flirty!
she said this about California in the same article she slammed Obama for making generalizations:
"Californians, who are a people in a state already surfeited with a smug sense of superiority and, as an ironic consequence, a parochialism and insularity at odds with the innovation, prosperity and openness for which California is rightly known. (Of course, this is a generalization, and as such does not fit everyone; but as a state characteristic I stand by it.)"
She is an ELITIST and very sneaky, hypocritical PLANT!
:
Of course she's posting critically of both Obama and Clinton. Mayhill Fowler is a Republican. Go check Open Secrets and see who she gave all of her money to, right up until she paid $2300 to gain access to the Obama fundraiser where she heard him make the "bitter" statements.
I don't think the last paragraph is unfair in the least. The newest meme from the Clinton campaign is to call Obama cocky or arrogant and then connect that to his electability. What they mean by cocky and arrogant is "uppity". The ignorance and arrogance of the meme in and of itself is painfully clear.
Mayhill states her own blog that she will vote for HRC; this partisanship should be ackhowledged. Again one does not expect impartiality just transparency.
you nailed it, transparency is what the issue is. Sick of lies and evasion and secrecy! Obama may not phrase everything perfectly the way everyone wants him to every single time but he tells the truth and doesn't dumb things down. His ideas are brilliant. He also happens to phrase things far better than most people most of the time! Considering all the crap Bill has been spewing lately ( and for years) you'd think Hillary would tread carefully before attacking Obama about words!
I was at the event Fowler "reports” on. It was a relaxed atmosphere; Obama’s much-quoted comments were responses to questions, rather than part of his remarks. No one was aware, I'm sure, that this supposedly private event would end up on the evening talk shows. It was not actually a fundraiser, but a reception to honor Obama, for donors who’d recently given $1,000 (I’m not wealthy – I organized a garage sale!) Fowler’s actions seem an invasion of this event -- as though someone had recorded my college lecture, then posted my answers to students’ questions completely out of context. It seems we must be on guard all the time now. Perhaps this is one reason some see Obama as “aloof” – he must watch every syllable, even in what seems a private setting.
And yet nothing he said needs defending in the end. His comments were informed and sympathetic, a reflection on how people cling to the familiar when confronted with hard times, tending to distrust the unknown. His tone was compassionate and humble, not elitist. He never implied the sole reason anyone would own a gun or be religious or turn against immigrants was their "bitterness" -- his words were in fact completely in line with social psychological research (on "realistic conflict theory"), indicating that times of scarcity result in far more acts of scapegoating, with people projecting their bitterness onto each other. We are in such times, it seems, and not just in Pennsylvania.
Thank you for being a voice of reason. Not many people are familiar with conflict theory, but what you say is absolutely true. I'm glad to hear someone who was actually there is out here letting people know what really happened.
As Obama said: when your name is Barack Obama you're always the underdog. A part of me hoped he was wrong, but after the constant race baiting by the Clinton surrogates it appears they indeed have no shame.
She also donated $250 to Fred Thompson. http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=Fowler&fname=Mayhill
This cannot be emphasized enough.
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