This is utterly disgusting. I have for a few weeks tried to soften the rhetoric regarding Clinton and her Campaign, arguing that they have every right to fight for the nomination. With information such as this, how are we supposed to filter through this garbage with hope that somehow a Clinton presidency will be any different from the Karl Rove-esqe presidency of George Bush
An article on Huffington Post-by Peter Dreier (Off the Bus)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Former journalist Sidney Blumenthal has been widely credited with coining the term "vast right-wing conspiracy" used by Hillary Clinton in 1998 to describe the alliance of conservative media, think tanks, and political operatives that sought to destroy the Clinton White House where he worked as a high-level aide. A decade later, and now acting as a senior campaign advisor to Senator Clinton, Blumenthal is exploiting that same right-wing network to attack and discredit Barack Obama. And he's not hesitating to use the same sort of guilt-by-association tactics that have been the hallmark of the political right dating back to the McCarthy era.
Almost every day over the past six months, I have been the recipient of an email that attacks Obama's character, political views, electability, and real or manufactured associations. The original source of many of these hit pieces are virulent and sometimes extreme right-wing websites, bloggers, and publications. But they aren't being emailed out from some fringe right-wing group that somehow managed to get my email address. Instead, it is Sidney Blumenthal who, on a regular basis, methodically dispatches these email mudballs to an influential list of opinion shapers -- including journalists, former Clinton administration officials, academics, policy entrepreneurs, and think tankers -- in what is an obvious attempt to create an echo chamber that reverberates among talk shows, columnists, and Democratic Party funders and activists. One of the recipients of the Blumenthal email blast, himself a Clinton supporter, forwards the material to me and perhaps to others.
These attacks sent out by Blumenthal, long known for his fierce and combative loyalty to the Clintons, draw on a wide variety of sources to spread his Obama-bashing. Some of the pieces are culled from the mainstream media and include some reasoned swipes at Obama's policy and political positions.
But, rather remarkably for such a self-professed liberal operative like Blumenthal, a staggering number of the anti-Obama attacks he circulates derive from highly-ideological and militant right-wing sources such as the misnamed Accuracy in Media (AIM), The Weekly Standard, City Journal, The American Conservative, and The National Review.
There's more as well, just click on the link. (Thanks to all of you who pointed out that the whole article was posted, instead of snippets. Don't want a copyright violation)
Look, I appreciate the commentary thus far that has specifically pointed to the content of this post. I guess in my quest to actually get this out there before anybody else did (often times I am trying to post new articles and in the midst of writing, realize already that 4 diaries just covered the same topic - sheepish grin).
If you are looking for my opinion or analogy regarding this article, it is this. Even though there have been many accusations of the Clinton campaign being underhanded or perhaps using insinuating words or phrases, there has never been complete proof of their tactics. What makes me even more curious is the fact that parts of the Media have been receiving these updates for quite a while, yet why did it take so long for somebody to post an article about this?
Call me naive, but at this juncture, during an election where the Democrats were heavily favored to win, regardless of who the front runner is, having proof of one democrat's campaign seriously undermining and using Rovian tactics to cut the knees out from another Democrat's campaign does not sit well with me at all.
Thanks!
UPDATED THOUGHT:
Another thing, since the delegate race is by most measures over and the real audience is now arguably the Super delegates, I wonder how they will react to this since party loyalty is important regardless as to whom you support.
UPDATED: FUNNIES!!
Per Huffington Post again:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Barack Obama On Late Show With David Letterman: "Top 10 Surprising Things About Barack Obama"
- My first act as President will be to stop the fighting between Lauren and Heidi on the Hills.
- When I tell my kids to clean their room I finish with, "I'm Barack Obama and I approved this Message."
- I have canceled all my appearances the day the Sex and the City movie opens.
Look, there have been a lot of comments regarding the formatting of this diary during its first 30 seconds of existence. I apologize for the mistake, it will not happen again, however please try to bring the debate back to the issue at hand, not my poor blogging skills. Cut me a little slack here. I've only been posting on this blog for a couple months and generally they were all opinion pieces. Thanks!