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Obama Wrong About D.N.C. Claim

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January 22, 2008 12:00 PM

ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., inaccurately claimed Tuesday that the Democratic National Committee has defended his decision to launch a national cable buy reaching a substantial number of homes in Florida, a state which violated D.N.C. rules by scheduling its contest before Feb. 5.

"The DNC has consistently said that we have not broken that pledge," said Obama.

Obama's claim is not true.

"The DNC has not weighed in on the pledge because it was a pledge with the state party chairs from the four early states, not the DNC," DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton told ABC News.

While the Obama campaign has not been defended by the D.N.C., his campaign was told by Carol Fowler, the chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, that she did not consider a national cable buy to be in violation of the pledge made to South Carolina.

The Democratic Party chairs in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada have not weighed in on Obama's national cable buy. Having already held their contests, the state party chairs in those three early states are deferring to the South Carolina Democratic Party.

Florida is holding its Democratic and Republican primaries on Feb. 29. In order to punish Florida for violating D.N.C. rules, no delegates will be awarded in the Democratic contest.

January 22, 2008 in Obama, Barack | Permalink | User Comments (42)

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What??? Obama is wrong about something?

This has to be a mistake, NO ONE in the media can dare say ANYTHING about St. Obama!!

Posted by: Kevin | Jan 22, 2008 12:09:31 PM

The tactics the Hillary Clinton used yesterday at the debate did not work. Obama came out firing at her and won the debate. she was trying to tear him up burt it did not work. whatever she through at him Obama came back even harder. This is what the arrogant devious Hillary Clinton always does to try and get her point across. She will try to be nice on debates but backbite Obama every chance she gets on the campaign trail and use false statements just to get points for votes

Posted by: Aziz Jackson | Jan 22, 2008 12:23:11 PM

She walked all over him.
Are you blind and deaf?
The Emporer has no cloths.

Posted by: russ | Jan 22, 2008 12:36:59 PM

I have always vote democrat but unfortunately because of the tactic of the Clinton camp, after the February5th election, will not be voting in the November election if she is the candidate

Posted by: karl | Jan 22, 2008 12:43:40 PM

It was down and dirty!! Hillary showed she is tough but also the most knowledgable and cool!! The more I watch her the more I like what I see!!! !

Posted by: Cindy | Jan 22, 2008 12:46:11 PM

St Obama is going down. If he could not handle Hillary last night, how can one expect him to handle the Republicans? Hillary was right on message, gave details about her plans and Obama spent the night spitting and sputtering.

Posted by: Paul | Jan 22, 2008 1:15:08 PM

As far as mandating health care, my god we have mandated auto insurance in this country. Are people not as valuable as autos? Not in Obama's book.

Posted by: Paul | Jan 22, 2008 1:16:50 PM

Hillary, told it like it is.. If Obama can't stand the heat, then drop out of the Race.. I like all the Democratic Candidates, but They seem to be playing into the Republican Dirty Tricksters hands.. I wish that they would spend more time attacking the bush administration, instead of each other.. My vote will go to Hillary, and I hope that she picks Obama, or Edwards as her VP.. If Obama wins then we will have another Carter.. Nice man, but no experience to be the President.. It will either 4 years, an out, or 16 years, and maybe more.. My hope is that she picks one of them, and we go for 16 years..

Posted by: J.Murphy, CA. | Jan 22, 2008 1:22:12 PM

Hillary may be the better junkyard dog (Bill clearly is), but nominating her will (1) ensure that the GOP will turn out in big numbers (to oppose her), (2) alienate independent voters who are warm to Obama but cold to Clinton, and (3) ensure a presidential race that focuses on Hillary, her political calculations and personality, rather than focusing on Bush, the GOP, and the dire need to change from a high-polarity political paradigm to something which has a chance of addressing problems and moving us forward. Obama has plenty of experience, and has a gift of expression that will help line up support for a more progressive agenda. If Hillary is elected, we will have four years of unremitting GOP efforts to cause her presidency to fail. For all of his gifts, the only major legislation Bill Clinton ever passed on a bi-partisan basis was Welfare Reform, which was in part a GOP initiative. His budget act passed over the no vote of every single GOP member in both houses. Maybe it's not her fault, but I would rather take the chance on voting to change the tone of politics forever, than to vote for an almost certain continuation of bitter political battles between left and right. An easy choice if you ask me.

Posted by: Mark T | Jan 22, 2008 4:01:09 PM

It is almost as if some of you WANT to have a divisive, broken government. You seem to revel when a candidate slings enough mud on stage and claim that it is great when someone "can't take the heat."

Why do you want this sick, broken way of governing to continue? It's disgusting, and you relish in it like your watching a cage match and spilling beer on your shirt. Grow up peole.

Posted by: Lance | Jan 22, 2008 4:19:48 PM

Obama never said he didn't know Rezko, but that's not the same as being 'friends'. I have acquaintances, co-workers, business colleagues, and friends. I know the difference, as does Obama.

And no, he didn't lie about what he said about Reagan, either. Watch the video, read the transcript, and most importantly KEEP IT IN CONTEXT.

Presidential candidates are dealing with big issues, and it takes more than a one sentence sound-bite to discuss them. Fortunately, most informed people realize this. Which is why they dislike the Clintons' Karl Rove-like attacks.

Did it play in South Carolina? I doubt it. SC is the home of Lee Atwater, Karl Rove's mentor. Most people there have seen so much sleaze they can recognize it a mile away.

Posted by: Tom J | Jan 22, 2008 4:29:57 PM

Clinton lied about what Obama said about Reagan first and foremost. "good ideas" was part of her quote but not Obama's quote. It's a fundamental change in the premise of what Obama was saying especially since he said the Republican meme has "played itself out." To twist that into some type of compliment is infuriating because it's so wrong. It's like arguing with a crazy person who can't even hear what you're saying and the worst thing is that the crazy person has crazy friends who mishear it the same idiotic way.

Posted by: Andy | Jan 22, 2008 4:45:18 PM

Explain to me why it's "Obama's claim is not true" here for something regarding a minor detail (state v. national Democrats), but when Hillary or Bill out-and-out lies, it's "subject to interpretation."

Posted by: texasdem | Jan 22, 2008 5:03:24 PM

Pickings are kinda slim for HRC & Co. Good luck on this one!

Posted by: one | Jan 22, 2008 5:10:52 PM

Why shouldn't Bill Clinton be weighing in? If he's going to be muzzled then the other campaigns should muzzle their family members.
In the debate, Hillary was on the issues until Barack started attacking her. He started the personal attacks, but his disciples are too stupid to watch an even happening right in front of their eyes and follow it.

Posted by: tekk | Jan 22, 2008 5:11:11 PM

Why is this a story? Obama innocently misspoke. He said they got the approval of the DNC, when he meant the South Carolina Democratic Party. When the DNC was asked about it, they said they hadn't weighed in because it's the South Carolina Democratic Party's decision. And that's exactly who Obama actually got his permission from!

So he was right that he got permission from the people he needed to get it from. He just gave the wrong acronym, and the media feels some need to "correct" him?

How about correcting any of the dozen or so lies Hillary spit at Obama last night in the debate, instead of just reporting them in a he-said-she-said format? Even when she lies about what he said a week ago, you refuse to report what he said a week ago, because it would show that he's lying. So you report what he says he said a week ago, versus what she says he said a week ago. The overzealous phony balance of the he-said-she-said reporting is incredibly damaging to the political process. The media refuses to grow up and play the part of keeping people honest, so liars get the upper hand.

Posted by: Jason | Jan 22, 2008 5:31:20 PM

OOPS, very bad typo in the post above. The "because it would show that he's lying" should be "because it would show that SHE's lying."

Posted by: Jason | Jan 22, 2008 5:32:45 PM

Hillary won the mudfight.

Obama dropped his "Walmart" bomb in the middle of a long response... Hillary ignored it, responded to other stuff, then dropped her Rezco bomb at the very end of her statement....and then Edwards got to say some stuff... Hillary's timing and placement of the Rezco bomb was masterful, especially since Hillary only dropped her bomb in retaliation to the "Walmart" comment.

Posted by: paul_lukasiak | Jan 22, 2008 5:59:49 PM

Two things: First, this piece shows that Obama was right in principle, since the DNC defers to the early states, and the early states deferred to the SC Chair, FOwler, who said the buy was OK.

Second, Hillary's long-term career as a corporate lawyer and Wal-Mart board member was a deliberate choice consuming many of those "35 years" of helping "ordinary people" that she always boasts of. Representing one person for five hours does not compare. Furthermore, the LAST thing the Clinton supporters should want to have discussed is the question of who, as between the Clintons and Obama, put their trust in more shady characters. Hillary Clinton put Webb Hubbell in the number 2 slot in the Justice Department and he was a serial defrauder and liar. He was convicted of stealing from his partners and tax fraud. The McDougals? 'nuff said. Even though the Clintons weren't convicted of any Whitewater stuff, their associates were. Marc Rich? A fugitive from justice married to Hillary pal Denise Rich. He was a first class sleazeball, and he wasn't just associated loosely with Clinton, he got pardoned by Bill after Hillary's pal Denise contributed $450,000 to the Clinton Library. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Posted by: RaymondA | Jan 22, 2008 6:18:19 PM

This just goes to show that Obama supporter need to take a reality check. The Walmart dig was stupid. The Clintons were aquainted with Sam Walton and because that she work for him. Tagging today's Walmart with what it was under the founder is idiotic. The Walmart cooperation of today is not the company that Sam Walton developed but instead is the what happened when greedy stock holders took over. If you want to sling the Walmart work at her then please research the company that it was then and not confuse it with what it has become today. Even Hillary has admitted that the leadership is not the same as it was when she was working there. As far as all the other garbage goes, the Clintons have been vetted by more comprehensive investegations than anyone should have to live through and the only thing found was a couple of CONSENSAL affairs that Bill had. No rapes, no crimes, no fraud. These alegations have no merit and the only harrassment charge had no legal merit and was only settled because it in itself was allowed to turn into legal harrassment of the Clintons by somehow managing to get back in courts again and and agian after it had been dismissed based on the fact that it had no merrit. I charge people to go back to Jones's orignal claim itself. Even if you take her story at face value as the gosple truth, Clinton only made a pass (indencent proposention) at her, no harrassement. The other stories are so pathetic bad fiction writers would not touch them. I mean really, a woman claims to be raped by Bill but shows up at a rally for him the next day because she was obligated to show up. All the stories are full of this stuff. They accuss rape but yet after the fact they continue thier assocaition with him for thier own gain. GET REAL. Money will get people to say anything and the problem with stories are is that unlike any President before the Clintons come nothing and therefore have alot of connections still there and the temptations of money is to great. Obama will face the same thing. He might want to get over himself and get used to it. If he cant handle Bill he doest stand a chance agaisnt these guys

Posted by: Dottie | Jan 22, 2008 7:16:35 PM

obama will never be vp on clinton ticket....thats 3rd in command.... Hillary does not care about the democratic party. Just herself. Does she not care that every Obama voter is turned off by her, and if by some miracle she wins the nomination it is most likely that Obama supporters will jump ship and hope for a Bloomberg run or close there eyes, swallow hard and pull that lever for McCain. I count myself as one of those. Enough Kings and Queens; no more bushes, or clintons. FREE US FROM THE SAME OL SAME OL....btw go ask some Rwandan's how great Clinton was as a president..just like old girlfriends we only remember the good times, not the times we caught them in bed with our friends....shame on you billary....

Posted by: kc | Jan 22, 2008 7:45:22 PM

I don't recall Obama ever claiming that the DNC gave him authority to run the ads. It was ALWAYS THE SC Democratic Party Chair, Carol Fowler, that he and his campaigned worked with to resolve the ad run.

OBAMA NEVER CLAIMED HE HAD TALKED TO THE DNC.

This is article is inaccurate and it's not correctly sourced.

Clinton's campaign machine was livid that he was running national ads. (Why haven't they smartly worked out the administrative details of a national ad?), so this must be their attempt to put out misleading information that can be passed along by divisive reporters and gobbled up by uniformed readers.

Posted by: Readingisfundamental | Jan 22, 2008 8:04:49 PM

Hillary resigned from the Walmart board because they would not listen to her and promote more women.

If you "investigated" Obama's charges against her with the same vitriol you used to "investigate" Obama's "factcheck" about Hillary, you would know this.

And, yet, I am a democrat and I will support the DEMOCRATIC candidate in the general election.

Posted by: Kathy Sammons | Jan 22, 2008 8:11:36 PM

Andy (Clinton lied about what Obama) is dead wrong. Read the transcript:

I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what's different are the times. ... I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.

"Excesses of the 1960s and 1970s?" "Dynamism missing?"

Like the civil rights movement"

Like the anti-Vietnam war movement?

Like the women's movement?

From the man who destroyed unions, initiated the reign of greed with his tax cuts for the rich, armed terrorists, eviscerated civil rights?
Give me a break.

Posted by: Susan Rennie | Jan 22, 2008 8:26:21 PM

From Paul: "As far as mandating health care, my god we have mandated auto insurance in this country. Are people not as valuable as autos? Not in Obama's book."

But the government does not require you to buy an automobile. Poor folks in Massachusetts are now paying fines rather than paying for mandated health insurance they can't afford - great solution to the health care crisis!

Posted by: Miguel | Jan 22, 2008 8:54:58 PM

I just wish Bill and Hillary would take their dysfunctional marriage and go some place else. I for one am suffering from serious Clinton-fatigue. Although I am an independent who routinely votes Democratic in national elections, if the Clintons are on that ballot next November, I will either vote Republican or sit this one out.

Posted by: JVoter | Jan 22, 2008 9:24:10 PM

I can't believe that people would actually vote REPUBLICAN than voting for Hillary Clinton. TO ME THAT IS NOT BEING A DEMOCRAT. Jesus, its just Hillary Clinton. I don't want to be put through another 4 years of a republican because of nonsense on behalf of the democratic voters. DEMOCRATS SUPPORT DEMOCRATS. You sure can't say you don't like Bush...IF YOU WILL VOTE REPUBLICAN IN 2008.

Posted by: hunter | Jan 22, 2008 9:47:23 PM

Hillary, drop out of the race because JVoter said he will not vote for you if you win! Give me a break. Who in the hell cares if people who didn't help her win the nomination don't vote for her after she wins? Duhhh, of course a loser wouldn't vote for her, she's a winner!

Posted by: casey | Jan 22, 2008 9:48:41 PM

Obama is not a unifier. He is the opposite.

Posted by: dfr | Jan 22, 2008 10:07:22 PM

I wish the media would nail down what "mandated" health insurance is going to cost people. My family policy with some kind of subsidy from the company my husband just retired from is going to cost us almost $600/month when his severance package is finished 18 months from now. We can afford it but I am sure that $7,200/year would be an impossible nut for many, many millions of Americans. And thats WITH a subsidy.

Posted by: Katelyn | Jan 22, 2008 10:43:47 PM

Posted by: Susan Rennie... THANK YOU, Susan for putting his statement in front of everyone's eyes.

Obama said it, denied he said it, twisted what he said in the debate last night ("context") to excuse the fact that he said it.

He said it to bolster his Nevada tactics of getting "Republicans to vote Democratic for a day, so he can win". It backfired. The man will make himself look or sound like whatever he needs for the moment and then cries "FOUL".

It was only a matter of time before we were going to hear that old familiar song... "they're picking on me"

GIVE ME A BREAK!

Posted by: dverot | Jan 22, 2008 10:47:28 PM

Let's learn from history. Be sure to watch "the Clinton Chronicles" (Google it). Make sure what you're putting back in the whitehouse if you're a Clinton supporter. Yes, I'm female and in the demographic that is supposed to vote for Hillary so that I can see a woman in the whitehouse in my lifetime. Be sure to watch the video all the way through to the credits and then make your decision. The republicans can't wait for Hillary -- they've the goods on her and Bill.

Posted by: SharonAustinTX | Jan 22, 2008 10:56:14 PM

Obamas cheating? I am shocked. I thought he was innocent as the driven snow.

Posted by: C DEPP | Jan 22, 2008 11:22:20 PM

Aziz Jackson are you living in this world or in bizzaro world? Poor little Obama was taught to respect a lady that will fight back. He must hang with some real pushovers that always give him his way. Obama when you lie and deceive and do your race card you are a born loser.

Posted by: pesojoe | Jan 22, 2008 11:43:41 PM

This article is pretty worthless, whether or not you support Obama. What's newsworthy about a misstated reference with no implications? Seems like a lot more spurious claims have been flying around from any number of angles. What the h- is wrong with journalism in this country?

Posted by: Chris | Jan 22, 2008 11:47:11 PM

WHAT? Obama the Pure and Untouchable Messiah of Ineffable Unity was lying or misleading or tried to spin some political spin?

It can't be true. HERESY!

Posted by: CarolinaGirl | Jan 23, 2008 1:45:40 AM

I encourage you to do some fact finding. Senator Obama's relationship with Rezko is going to be a very big problem for him. It has been a long term relationship for nearly 19 years...with increasingly large amounts of money done for favors. You might want to start by reading the Chicago Sun. It has also been discussed in Taylor Marsh radio and blog. This needs to come out before the general election ...or the Republicans will destroy him.

Posted by: anniesmiles | Jan 23, 2008 1:55:01 AM

Taylor marsh has lied multiple times and been caught red-handed multiple times. Check her sources before you take what she says as gospel.

What favors did Obama ever do for Tony Rezko? Zero. 12 years ago he did a half a day's work writing up a memo for the law firm he worked. That's your great secret smear? whoopy do.

And I read the Chicago Sun-Times every freakin' day. I know what they published, and I know what it adds up to: nothing.

Posted by: dbt | Jan 23, 2008 5:32:43 AM

The more I see Hillary the better I like her. She is so knowledgeable on the issues. This country is in such trouble, we need someone who cares enough to learn and understand the processes and procedures of government. Governoring is not easy; it is not for those who think it is sport. I can see that Hillary has done her homework and is ready for the test.

I will be voting for Hillary

Posted by: roland | Jan 23, 2008 11:42:00 AM

So, Obama being 'wrong' is only in the sense that the DNC is deferring its judgment to four states, three of which are now deferring the South Carolin, from which a state Democratic Party representative has said exactly what Obama claims?

To say this doesn't constitute DNC approval is a little like President Bush claiming Iraq wasn't his war because he deferred to his military commanders for figuring out the logistics required to invade.

Posted by: Paul | Jan 23, 2008 1:27:08 PM

I am voting for either Democrat, because they both support partial birth abortion,,,,,

Posted by: Joanne | Jan 23, 2008 3:38:14 PM

Obama, were you fudging the truth? Sounds like underhanded politics. Naughty!

Posted by: irma | Jan 23, 2008 4:27:14 PM

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