Mark My Words...the Clinton Campaign Will Burn for the Drug Charge

[Bullet1987]

The media is running with it, and not positively for Clinton. With the fact that Obama is trying to raise money from this...this is not gonna go well for Hillary. My only assumption is that the Clinton campaign wants to bring Obama down with them...they can afford an Edwards win in Iowa...not Obama. But Iowans hate nasty campaigning...she probably just cost herself that state.

[Bitwit1234]

1. Obama's didn't when they accused of the Novack lie.

so they get a pass on every thing they do, and no body else does. Right...

[Kahuna]

6. Hillary's mistake is thinking that she's still running against Little Rickey

Lazio. She thought that she could play the victim and glide. When that didn't happen she went on the attack against Obama who is considered by most people to be very likeable. MoDO calls him Obambi. I know she intends it as a dig. But when Hillary attacks Obama it's like she's attacking Bambi. :rofl: She can't when doing that. When is she going to stop? After 7 of the nastiest political years in history does she think that people want that in our next president?

[jgraz]

21. Excellent point. Hillary has yet to win a competitive election

The way things are going, she never will.

[ClarkUSA]

28. After all the nasty swift boating attempts by Hillaryworld, who said Novak was lying?

And it's funny how the Clinton campaign NEVER accused Novak of lying... not once. You know why -- because he wasn't.

Never trust anything a Clintonian says... that's what I've learned during this election year. I'm not the only one, either.

[Colobo]

2. Hillary's people are the ones on drugs.

[Renew Deal]

3. Check out the end of this video.

The focus group people REALLY REALLY disliked it.

For realz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdaROq57qsg

[hisownpetard]

5. Aweome clip. Thanks so much for posting that!

[ClarkUSA]

29. Ouch!!

Gotta love it. :smoke:

[Zueda]

50. Bwahahahahahahah...

hahah

[Egnever]

67. wow

according to that group Hillary lost ground again in this debate. Only one person was willing to stand up for her.

The whole crowd proclaimed her drug attack dirty politics. Amazing! I only hope the rest of america reacts the same way.

[TomInTib]

4. As well it should.

Blaming it all on "Blabber-mouth Bill" isn't gonna cut it.

That was Strategy, and anyone who can't see it is either naive or just plain blind to the way things work at this stage of a campaign.

[Adelante]

7. So very, very many people have kids, young or grown, who did drugs

at some time in their lives, or did drugs themselves. They and their kids grew up and became respectable contributors to society, were educated, even if later, hold jobs or professions, are raising their families. Here is an ordinary boy who became a successful man, reaching a great height in American public life, with a beautiful and stable family life. Others were not so fortunate or not so strong and, yes, there have been many drug tragedies in families, including my own, and a whole lot of voters still do drugs recreationally and manage their lives at the same time -- but it's a wonderful thing to see what is possible, for kids to see and for parents to see. Obama is a good role model. When parents with troubled kids or parents who have barely escaped tragedy look at him, I think that is what they see first. Anyone trying to turn something as ordinary as teenaged drug experimentation into a candidate negative is going to run into American common sense. The voters have been there. They know what it's about.

[BeyondGeography]

9. What you said

:yourock:

[Cha]

66. Excellent points..so many

people have family and friends touched by the tragedy or near tragedy of drugs and Obama's story is inspiring.

What was billy shaheen thinking?

[sniffa]

8. they'll burn for that and much more

and it's wonderful to watch. it warms my cockles.

[JackORoses]

10. that is quite telling...the whole group says "It's Dirty Politics" in unison

[Perry Logan]

11. It boggles the mind to hear the ultra-nasty anti-Hillary crowd talk about Hillary getting negative.

[EFerrari]

27. Worse than conjuring up the sterotype of a black drug dealer?

I don't think so.

Clinton just slit her own throat.

[ClarkUSA]

31. And you just KNOW the black Democratic base in SC love the Clintons for saying that about Obama...

Because SC voters love it when rich white guys try to slime a good black man endorsed by Oprah with remarks that play into racist stereotypes. :wtf:

[EFerrari]

32. WHAT were they thinking?

:wtf:

[ClarkUSA]

49. They have such an entitlement complex that they are unable to think of how "little people" feel...

Beyond Mark Penn's focus groups and micro-polling, that is.

The Clintons and their loyal toadies have lost touch with political and popular reality. They live in their own neo-Rovian/Machiavellian bubble,spending all
their time plotting against "enemies" who stand in the way of a Clinton II coronation. They've become Nixonian caricatures, in a sad way.

[alteredstate]

34. ClarkUSA speaks the truth

:)

[ClarkUSA]

51. alteredstate...

Fired Up! :pals:

[alteredstate]

81. Yep!

Ready to go! :toast:

[sniffa]

35. ..

:rofl:

[Hieronymus]

62. Hillary's team is using Lee Atwater tactics .. and she's fully aware.

[Cha]

70. So, maybe you should cover your

ultra purest, hillary supportin' eyes.

I'll tell ya what's "nasty"..those bush enablin' votes that hillary couldn't keep from votin' "Yea". Nasty Shite.

[snowbear]

12. Donny Deutsch just said this is a much bigger deal than Oprah's endorsement..

Clinton's team needs to get their act together.

[suston96]

13. The Clinton campaign,,,,?

Obama brought up his own drug abuse. What was the reason for that? Why would a candidate for President bring up his drug use?

"Hey, I was a druggie once, but I ain't now, and I am admitting that now so you don't bring it up again."

Yeah - right! What a crock!

[silverweb]

14. Do you read?

If you do, then check out Obama's book, "Dreams from My Father," published in 1995 -- which is where he first talked about experimenting with drugs as a teenager.

He was a kid at the time, and he talks in the book about feeling lost and confused about who he was, and cites his drug experimentation as a negative. Since then, he has talked to many groups of youngsters about the lessons learned during that time in his life, turning his negative experience into a positive lesson for today's kids -- and himself into a positive role model.

Virtually all successful drug rehab counselors are former users or addicts themselves, yet rehab counselors are held in high esteem in our society because they overcame their problems, and they are not badgered about those earlier mistakes.

So just what was your point again?

[suston96]

18. 1995......?

So that's how long he has been planning this Presidential run and covering his tracks that lead back to a misspent youth.

And anyway, if there is nothing to all this, why are you people so distressed. Feed your "youthful indiscretion" story to the public and see how it flies.

[silverweb]

22. "see how it flies"

Yes, we're doing just that.

As for the rest of your assinine comments, your calculated and repeated efforts to spread distortions, deceptions, and very deliberate misinformation will not go unexposed. Enjoy the backlash.

[suston96]

24. Aha! I must be on the right track!

Stay tuned.

[BootinUp]

15. It doesn't matter how the media spins it

people will make up their own minds. I do not pretend to know what that decision is. I am just pointing out that some issues transcend talking head bs.

[blm]

16. I feel sorry for the Shaheens who were undoubtedly put up to it.

.

[silverweb]

17. I don't.

They're adults. They know what dirty politics means. They know what smear tactics and whisper campaigns are. They could have said "no" to slime attempts.

[blm]

20. Of course, but certain characters can be SO persuasive when they're whispering

in your ear.

[silverweb]

23. I suppose.

Especially when they're whispering promises of either great reward or great retaliation....

[Cha]

72. Were they the canary in the

coal mine? If it flies, great..if it doesn't then they take the fall?

We thought maybe billy came up with it..an article said mark penn didn't think they should go negative on that? Or was it bill? :(

[proudmoddemo]

77. Penn' camp says it was Bill; Bill's camp says it was Penn

Talk about disarray. I believe Bill's camp because Penn is a real low life.

[mikelgb]

19. Burn them!

Burn!

omg

clintonites fighting obamaniacs and vice versa is funny as sin

[Cameron27]

25. Ok, they're marked

we'll see if there's permanent damage.

[Avalux]

26. They went too far with the 'nuance' and it isn't going to be pretty.

Yeah, Obama tried drugs, who cares. Inferring he was a drug dealer, come on. Reminds me of crap Rove did w/Bush. I hate that kind of shit.

(I'm still undecided, BTW)

[ArkySue]

30. What "charge?"

Obama told a room full of studients that he had done cocaine. I saw the video clip of it.
The Clinton Campaign did not dig this up and make a charge about it. Obama admitted it, on tape.
If you don't think this will be jumped on by the publicans, you're nuts!
Even stupid w knew better than to admit cocaine use.

[EFerrari]

33. The Clinton campaign raised the question of dealing drugs.

That charge.

[sniffa]

37. and him popping caps in punk-ass Bloods

:scared:

[EFerrari]

38. LOL!

:rofl:

[ClarkUSA]

36. Bill Shaheen asked whether Obama "distributed drugs"... thinking the reporter would take the bait.

Instead, the reporter printed the story including Shaheen's slimy comments. And I'm sorry you think Obama's HONESTY is "nuts"... better to lie
like a rug like Bill Clinton, eh? Yeah, that went over well in 1992. The Republicans didn't attack his "but I didn't inhale" comment at all. Too bad
the Clintons and their apologists are better at attacking fellow Democrats than they ever attacked Bush for his drug use.

[Cameron27]

39. Shaheen actually said the GOP would

bring up the questions, and it was in the context of electability.

[EFerrari]

40. That's right and he fooled no one. n/t

[Cameron27]

41. Shaheen was acting on his own,

unless you have proof otherwise and Clinton personally disavowed his remarks to Obama, then of course, Shaheen stepped down.

[EFerrari]

42. When you work for an organization, you can't act on your own.

You represent them until you don't. The damage is done.

[Cameron27]

44. Look, Obama put the issue in the ring and

Romney's already used it against him. Shaheen was asked about electability and what the GOP could use against Obama, and he didn't lie, he didn't make up facts to smear the man, he used what's already on the record. Just because Obama put his cocaine use out there, doesn't immunize him from being questioned about it.

[EFerrari]

47. That's right. And it doesn't immunize the Clinton campaign

when they trot out racist stereotypes.

Obama did a smart thing: he put the issue out there because he knew it would come out. They did a stupid thing: they took it in the wrong direction.

[Cameron27]

48. What racist stereotypes?

This is about a candidate confessing to using cocaine, and how it will be used against him if he wins the nomination.

[ClarkUSA]

52. Man, that Clinton Kool-Aide must be strong stuff!

Yeah, and The Swift Boat Vets were only trying to point out Kerry's lies about his service record. :eyes:

[Cameron27]

60. Shaheen was trying to use it against Obama,

there's no doubt about it, but so what? If he dredged up the issue out the past then yes, that's off limits IMO, but he didn't, he was using Obama's statements against him by correctly pointing out that the RWers WILL use it. Romney already has, so there's no lie there.

[ClarkUSA]

63. So Shaheen was attacking Obama to demonstrate how Republicans would do it?

Wow, I guess Clinton's "Obama is a Muslim Machurian candidate who studied at a madrassa" emailers were only trying to do the same thing, huh?

Gee whiz, ain't that nice of Hillaryworld to swift boat Obama before the Republicans do? Aren't they the best folks in the world?

Really.

No, really.


:eyes:

[Cameron27]

74. No, he was attacking Obama using the issue

Obama brought into the campaign himself. I just said it wasn't a smear because Shaheen didn't lie, and he made his comments in the context of electability. It's politics, and the words were barely out of Shaheen's mouth before Obama turned to Axelrod and asked, "so how much damage can we inflict on Hillary?"

[Bongo Prophet]

75. Hey now, he was just "concerned"...a professional concern troll.

They likely consider it a public service.
This is the "fun part" of campaigning, don'tchyaknow.

[EFerrari]

54. Not any more. n/t

[Joe the Revelator]

43. Do you even know how campaigns work?

There is no way anything is said to the press unless it comes from the top. NO WAY.

[blm]

79. Shaheen SHOULD have said THIS to reporters: A black teen sampled Pres. Bush's IranContra cocaine

that he was dumping by the TONS into black communities at the time? I DEMAND that we open the books on that illegal operation and get to the bottom of it.

But that wouldn't be helpful to Clinton now would it?

[elizm]

45. Billary is toast. nt

[suston96]

46. Here is a problem with candidates.....

......or other "successful" people admitting to "youthful indiscretions", especially to young people.

The young people aren't ready to deal rationally with such an admission. They will think, in their young, enterprising reasoning: well you did drugs and look where it got you.

Was Obama's answer about drug use too honest?

By Carol Costello
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Does a good role model talk about using illegal drugs?

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama started the debate when he admitted to a high school audience in New Hampshire that he had experimented with drugs while he was in high school.

"There were times when I got into drinking, experimenting with drugs. There was a stretch of time where I did not really apply myself," Obama said.

He added that when he left for college he realized he wasted a lot of time using drugs.

"It's not something I'm proud of," Obama said. "It was a mistake as a young man."

What a change from Bill Clinton's 1992 admission that he had smoked marijuana a time or two and didn't like it. "And I didn't inhale and didn't try it again."

"I never understood that line," Obama said, who said he did inhale marijuana when asked by a student. "The point was to inhale. That was the point." Video Watch Obama admit he inhaled »

Clinton's admission has become a cultural joke. Obama's comments? If you ask Republican rival Mitt Romney, Obama's comments were too honest.

"I think in order to leave the best possible example for our kids, we're probably wisest not to talk about our own indiscretions in great detail," Romney said.

Romney isn't alone in that belief. When George W. Bush was governor of Texas in 1999, he talked briefly about his use of alcohol, but refused to talk about other drugs because he feared kids might think what he did was "cool."

Bush said at the time, "It is irrelevant what I did 20 or 30 years ago. What's relevant is that I have learned from the mistakes that I made."

So what's a role model to do? Should he be discreet or open about past indiscretions?

According to Steve Pasierb, president of Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Obama is right on the money. Pasierb says kids are not naive; they know people in high places have experimented with drugs.

"The key is to be honest and to put it the context of saying I did this and it was a dumb choice," Pasierb said. "Obama talked about how it wasn't the right thing to do. When he got serious about his life, he left it behind. If he were to lie, I think most kids would know."

Pasierb says the worst thing to do is feed kids a story they're not likely to believe. In other words, never tell them that you tried it, but didn't inhale.

"Most kids are going to see right through that and will ask themselves, 'How could you know if you didn't like it if you didn't inhale?'" Pasierb said. "Clearly not recognizing something when you did it is probably not the best course."

Pasierb says role models and parents should not be afraid to admit they did the deed.

"Really the truth works best. You owe your kids honesty," he said. "But you don't need to tell them every little detail. You don't have to give them blow by blow."

Is talking about past drug use the best thing for a someone running for president? That's a question much harder to answer.

According to a 2007 Pew Research poll, 45 percent of Americans would be less likely to support a candidate for president who had used drugs.

Obama has to hope his honesty with kids translates in a good way to the adults deciding whether to vote for him. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/27/costello.drug.use/

[EFerrari]

55. So, according to the poll you cite, Obama did the right thing

when he came clean about his own past because the majority polled were not less likely to support him.

"According to a 2007 Pew Research poll, 45 percent of Americans would be less likely to support a candidate for president who had used drugs."

[suston96]

56. Nope. That's not what the article said.

The 45% support was only a part of the topic.

Admitting to young people that using drugs when you are young is bad as you stand there running for President is stupid.

And there is another segment in there by Mitt Romney, potentially an opponent with whom Obama may one day debate this very drug admission.

[Bullet1987]

58. CNN is almost overtly pro-Clinton...

that has already been established. It doesn't surprise me they act the apologist when it concerns an obvious misstep.

[Andromeda]

53. You just hope that will happen.

I don't think the Clinton camp is exactly shaking in their boots. Hillary is still ahead in the national polls in spite of Obama's gains and to start predicting doom and gloom for Hillary's camp is a bit premature.

Iowa is not the universe, although sentimentally important, and it's possible to lose Iowa and win the election. Bill Clinton did. He didn't even campaign in Iowa in 1992 and that was the smart thing to do because Tom Harkin got something like 76% of the vote.

Some of the inflammatory rhetoric I see here at DU is beyond the pale. Take one comment from a dubious source and you accept it as fact.

I prefer to wait and see how the election plays out.

[Franc_Lee]

57. The boomer generation, like we really have to tell them something about drugs, sheeesh!

[suston96]

59. What Obama said in 2003 .....

"I had learned not to care," he wrote. "I blew a few smoke rings, remembering those years. Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though. ..."

"Blow" is a street name for cocaine. "Smack" is slang for heroin.

"Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man," Obama wrote. "Except the highs hadn't been about that, me trying to prove what a down brother I was. Not by then, anyway. I got high for just the opposite effect, something that could push questions of who I was out of my mind, something that could flatten out the landscape of my heart, blur the edges of my memory. I had discovered that it didn't make any difference whether you smoked reefer in the white classmate's sparkling new van, or in the dorm room of some brother you'd met down at the gym, or on the beach with a couple of Hawaiian kids who had dropped out of school and now spent most of their time looking for an excuse to brawl. ... You might just be bored, or alone. Everybody was welcome into the club of disaffection."

Obama last week apologized for not telling me earlier about his past as portrayed in the book. He said I had caught him off guard with the drug question and that, at the time, he had not wanted to overshadow his story of that day - his endorsement by the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

http://www.mapinc.org/newsnorml/v03/n1786/a06.html

[jenmito]

64. self-delete

wrong place

[Irishonly]

61. I Don't Care About Past Drug Use

I have not read his book but from what I have read here it doesn't sound like he was stealing and living for his next high. Romney thought it was bad Senator Obama talked to kids about not using drugs. Romney, the animal abuser. Like that should carry any weight.

I never thought much of Joe Trippi until today. I was glad he hit Jim Wells right between the eyes. Wells can do more harm to Hillary than almost anything. What a pig. He's rude and I am glad he was put in his place.

[jenmito]

65. Craig Crawford, an avid Hillary supporter, called it a "murder-suicide"

and said the drug charge WILL hurt him while also hurting her. He's the ONLY person I heard say it would hurt HIM in any way. But I guess that was the best he could do for his "girl." :eyes:

[ShaneGR]

68. Out of curiosity, why could they afford an Edwards win and not Obama?

What do you mean by that statement? There positions are like night and day, Edwards actually answers questions and states positions... Clinton doesnt.

[jenmito]

69. Because they can easily explain an Edwards win (he's been campaigning in IA for years) AND

he doesn't have the money to compete with her. The Clintons never expected an Obama to get in the race. They thought Edwards would be their biggest competition (according to a TH on a Sunday politics show).

[ShaneGR]

71. Honestly, I think you're looking at it wrong

If Edwards wins in Iowa, he'll steamroll New Hampshire just like Kerry did. Keep in mind, running up to Iowa in 2004, Kerry was polling at 4% and Dean was at war with Gephardt. Look how that turned out. If Edwards wins Iowa, it's OVER for Clinton. The media spotlight on Edwards will erase any gains any candidates had.

[jenmito]

73. I disagree...

Like I said (and everyone knows), Edwards has been practically living in IA since '04 and has a strong organization. Obama got there about when Hillary did. Edwards had to take matching funds. If Obama, with as much money as Hillary, ALSO beats her, HE will ALSO have momentum as well as money to continue. The biggest surprise would be if Obama beat Edwards and Hillary. The least surprise would be if Edwards won (2nd and 3rd will be important because if Hillary comes in 3rd, her inevitability will be totally destroyed).

So I think it's over for Hillary only if she comes in 3rd or 2nd to Obama.

[proudmoddemo]

78. Obama has handled this much better than Dean

so I think that he won't be dragged down like Dean was...

[DCKit]

76. While HRC and BO's fans fight it out, JB and DK are rising.

It'll be a better campaign - and we'll have better choices - without the "inevitable" candidates. Bwahahahahahaha!!!

Jes' sayin'

[Dawgs]

80. You might be right. I'm actually more scared about Edwards than I am Hillary.