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Clinton Campaign Finds a Friend at NationalReview.com -- Or Do They?

March 23, 2008 12:11 PM

Bill Clinton's remarks Friday have created a storm of controversy...what did he mean, if anything? Was he impugning Obama? Is the Obama campaign willfully mis-reading what he said?

The Clinton campaign this morning sent out a  "Must Read" blog post from an unlikely source -- the National Review.

Kathleen Parker writes "In Bill's Defense," saying that the Obama campaign's interpretation is "nonsense."

Parker, who was at the speech in question, writes, "In no way did I interpret Clinton’s remarks as questioning Obama’s patriotism. Clinton was making the case for his wife’s electability against McCain, who, last time I checked, is the presumptive Republican nominee, and her challenger should she win the Democratic nomination. He may have intentionally bypassed Obama in his leap to match Hillary against McCain, but he didn’t say anything that could be construed as questioning Obama’s patriotism. 

Some Kathleen Parker columns the Clinton campaign won't be sending out anytime soon:

"Evoking a boomer past makes Clinton 'so yesterday'"

"The Rev. Hillary's Tin Ear"

"Clinton, Obama lack foreign policy work"

"When girls insist on playing hardball with the boys, they don't get to cry foul -- or change the game to dodge ball -- when they get bruised"

etc, etc...

- jpt

March 23, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (79)

User Comments

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I thought we had seperation of church and state. it really sounds like the chambers of the Vatican here"Hebemos Papas",habemos Papas" "Habemos Obama"
Should I stock up on bibles before the prices rocket? I would not want to be caught without one. I might be labeled racist and ognostic.
Habemos Papas!!! No,no beer, beer!

Posted by: ruthmatters | Mar 24, 2008 1:36:53 AM

It's laughable to call Obama transparent. He hid his Wright problem all year hoping no one woould discover he lacked the decency to walk away from a racist church for 20 years. And no, Obama cultists, the sermons weren't taken out of context, it's not a "normal" ucc church (it's an separtist one teaching black liberation theology), Fox news didn't make it all up (ABC broke the story), those of us who are offended aren't being racists we are standing up to hate, many of us are democrats so it's not all repubicans who are offended, and no, Obama doesn't have the judgment to lead after lacking courage for 20 years. He needs to have the courage now to stop defending Wright and that church. And the pitiful attempts to say "look Bill Clinton liked the crackpot minister too" because Clinton shook his hand once just makes him look even more like he has something to hide. He needs to man up and if he's going to stand by Wright, then take the consequences.

Posted by: Sarah | Mar 23, 2008 10:35:11 PM

Obama makes a fool of himself, he does not need Bill Clinton. Obama is no more patriot than Osama is.

After all, why would he interact with a lunetic racist Rev. Wright for 20 years allowing him to spew hate speech, especially when his kids were at the church?

What is Obama's involvement with Willaim C. Ayers, the noted and self-proclaimed Pentagon terrorist? Why is he not answering questions?

Do you really believe that he is going to get away with this? I'm afraid not. What I have read about this character makes the hair rise on my back:

I'm Independent and will vote Hillary. If Obama becomes the nominee, then McCain has a new voter -- me.

Posted by: Henry_Scranton | Mar 23, 2008 10:33:25 PM

Val, you are right,the clinton has nothing to lose,if they can't win then wound,they intend to come back as early as next season '12.

Posted by: Adams | Mar 23, 2008 10:32:34 PM

Who is Emil Jones and how is he related to Obama?

Posted by: ken | Mar 23, 2008 10:31:37 PM

the clintons knows for sure they are going nowhere this time '08,they are staying in the race just to make sure they wound Obama enough for him to lose in november,ofcourse they (clintons) have the next four years in mind also.

Posted by: val | Mar 23, 2008 10:26:57 PM

Harriet said: "The Clinton campaign's gutter politics have been manifest enough, for everyone with a clear and an initially unbiased eye to see." Harriet, I'm afraid your eye is anything but clear and unbiased. The idea that Obama is "above the fray" and that Hillary practices "gutter politics" is spin pure and simple. Both candidates, directly and through their surrogates, haven't hesitated to poke a stick in the eye of the other. Obama is very capable of fighting dirty -- he and his surrogates have attacked Hillary on every front possible, including that she is unfit for the Presidency because she was deceived by her husband in the Lewinsky affair. If fighting to win is "gutter politics," then Obama gives no quarter to Hillary in that department. Harriet, if your eye were truly unbiased, you'd see that clearly.

Posted by: shellray | Mar 23, 2008 10:15:03 PM

Jake,

thanks for the links to the Kathleen Parker columns. They are pretty good sometimes. One of Parker's accurate observations:

"It may not be Hillary's fault that her voice sounds like it was fashioned from metal, but it is her fault that she sounds like a car alarm when she's handed a microphone. It is her fault that she panders -- badly -- to her audiences.

Her performance last weekend in Selma revealed more than atonality. Like a warped bell, Hillary Clinton rings untrue."

Posted by: Barko | Mar 23, 2008 10:10:34 PM

ken, propaganda will not keep anybody awajke, it is your feedom and liberty to vote for a WBush 3rd term, that is OK, I am sure that Hillary will join you in that crossover to help her very close friend Mccain to win against Obama. God Bless America and God bless Obama. OBAMA08.

Posted by: BKMC | Mar 23, 2008 10:01:03 PM

At this point, if the DNC doesn't work out with the MI and FL revotes. I think as a Democrat voter, I will either boycott the general election or even vote for the Republican party for the first time in 30 years of voting. I think Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi have been incompetent. Revote is the fairest way. How did those Democrats vote in the Republican primary anyway. There should never be cross over votes between Republican and Democrats. Why is Obama's camp so afraid of a REVOTE or NO VOTE!!!

Posted by: ken | Mar 23, 2008 9:55:05 PM

So Saddened, You are absolutely correct in your comment about Obama supporters "turning away, Clinton supporters.

I blog seldom, read much. I did not know such an element existed in the Democratic party, I was apparently very naive. Thought only far-right Repubs possessed such venom. "I have awakened and learned". Have not encountered such from "regular" Republicans on blogs.

I have been called a racist, bigot, ignorant, etc. I may be a bit "ignorant", that term is subjective. However, I am about as far from being a racist or bigot as one can get. I have a forehead scar (61) and a bullet hole in upper arm (62) to prove it.

What I have become is a person who will never vote for Obama under any circumstances. Not even on a joint ticket.

The only means I have to express my dismay regarding Obama supporters, the DNC, and the "Obamaesque media, other than with-holding donations from the DNC (which I have done), is to with-hold my vote in the GE.

If Obama is nominee, I will write in HRC, or if my repulsion continues to grow, vote for Mc Cain in hopes he would govern toward the center.

I could never allow myself to be involved or aligned with Obama supporters in any way. As a good song by Bobby Bland says "I'm too far gone to turn around"!

Posted by: M.C. | Mar 23, 2008 9:32:11 PM

DNC has succumbed to pressure from party elders like Kerry, Kennedy, Dodd, Pelosi and others to steal this nomination for Obama. FL and MI should be seated somehow.

Posted by: MattOhio | Mar 23, 2008 7:50:33 PM

Good post ...navarro!!!!

Posted by: MattOhio | Mar 23, 2008 7:47:38 PM

Navarro: I agree with your post. The MSM is very late to the table on Obama. It could be owed to racial sensitivity, or it might be that when the video was exposed they could no longer shield him.

Posted by: JanetP | Mar 23, 2008 7:46:01 PM

Today I found a more convincing and telling example of finding unexpected friends.

Doug Kmiec, the well known REPUBLICAN Law Professor who served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel (U.S. Assistant Attorney General) for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and more recently as legal advisor to Mitt Romney's campaign,

ENDORSES BARACK OBAMA.

He writes:

"Today I endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States. I believe him to be a person of integrity, intelligence and genuine good will. I take him at his word that he wants to move the nation beyond its religious and racial divides and to return United States to that company of nations committed to human rights. I do not know if his earlier life experience is sufficient for the challenges of the presidency that lie ahead. I doubt we know this about any of the men or women we might select. It likely depends upon the serendipity of the events that cannot be foreseen. I do have confidence that the Senator will cast his net widely in search of men and women of diverse, open-minded views and of superior intellectual qualities to assist him in the wide range of responsibilities that he must superintend.

This endorsement may be of little note or consequence, except perhaps that it comes from an unlikely source: namely, a former constitutional legal counsel to two Republican presidents."

Full text of this interesting endorsement at the SLATE site.

Posted by: Harriet | Mar 23, 2008 7:44:53 PM

BKMC: You have a very high opinion of Obama....nothing to disrespect that but Obama is not ready...he is lying blatantly on national television...he has sided with Wright which will be noticed and condemned by majority of Americans

We need a balanced leader like Hillary who is willing to fight and get things done.

Hillary-Edwards '08

Posted by: MattOhio | Mar 23, 2008 7:43:08 PM

sosaddened, Obama is the only one who will defeat the suni terrorist groups AlQaeda in Irak, in the Phillipines, in Afganistan and in Pakistan. He is the only one who will get Iran and Noth korea to respect the rule of law and accept the will of the world.Obama is the real Commander in Chief. God bless America and God bless Obama. OBAMA08.

Posted by: BKMC | Mar 23, 2008 7:39:44 PM

so saddened writes:
"the democratic nomination - which he would not have gotten if the american people had been told the truth before they voted in all the primaries and caucuses held so far."
-----
Remember that columnist Richard Cohen TRIED to bring up the "church" matter back in January, and was roundly denounced for it by others in the media. Many in the media made much of the size of John Edwards' house -- which he paid for without help from mobsters -- without MENTIONING the Obama mansion, the peculiarities of Mrs. Obama's employment compensation, and the like.

What the media did to Edwards -- who, with a Depression under way, is still the best bet for a Democratic Party, as opposed to "post-partisan", nominee -- is very similar to what was done to Howard Dean, who should be president right this minute.

The person in the media who's been most disappointing lately is Keith Olbermann, the formerly-fine commentator who now seems to be in a competition with the unctuous Dan Abrams as to which of them can divert the most air-time to giddy adulation.

Posted by: Navarro | Mar 23, 2008 7:39:37 PM

so sadened, Obama will need Hillary 's support to beat McCain. He is the front runner. He will ask Hillary to support him and beat McCain as a drum come November 2008. Obama will need also the support of honorable American like Richardson, Dodds, Kerry, Kennedy's etc.to make a contribution to the progress of their beloved America. Hillary has to drop out because she cannot win, she is not ellectable. America and the world are waiting for Obama to lead them. God bless America and God bless Obama. OBAMA08.

Posted by: BKMC | Mar 23, 2008 7:34:31 PM

Obama and his family are afraid to attend church on Easter Sunday. What a couple of gutless phonies Michelle and Barack Obama are.

Posted by: geevill | Mar 23, 2008 7:25:40 PM

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