Republicans or one of their associated right-wing groups may be about to launch a racist smear of Barack Obama -- and try to make it look like Hillary Clinton's campaign was responsible.
If you've heard anything similar to my story below, please share it here or let other DK readers know.
While running errands this morning, I was listening to the "Community Comment" call-in show on WPFW, DC's Pacifica radio station. A somewhat young-sounding, unidentified man with a slightly Southern accent called in about 9:15 or so, and described himself as a Republican who was mildly complimentary about Barack Obama. He then launched into a repetitious rant about how "progressive white Democrats" (a term he used multiple times) were going to "destroy" Obama over the next few weeks, how they would never let him get the nomination, and this would all be led and organized by the "Clinton machine".
Yes, Mark Penn and Bill Shaheen of the Clinton campaign did try their disgusting dog whistle racism (chimed in on by bizarro Bob Kerrey). Maybe I'm wrong, but (while I'm a strong Obama supporter), I think both Bill and Hillary Clinton are too smart -- and too much values their own standing with the black community -- to let this be repeated, much less amplified, especially after the campaign has already burned itself in that way.
On the other hand, racism has been the Republican Party's bread and butter for four decades now, especially in elections, and the NH GOP showed the illegal, vote-suppressing tactics they're capable of with the 2002 phone-jamming scandal. They have a rich record of scurrilous to illegal tactics long before the 2000 theft of the White House, from Bully Bill Rehnquist's minority voter intimidation to Don Segretti "ratfucking" to Karl Rove's Alabama judicial election smear.
So it would be fully consistent with their record to have some 527 or 501(c)(4) group distribute flyers or make push poll calls with a racist smear of Obama -- and create a trail purporting to lead to the Clinton campaign. From the GOP's view, it would be a three-fer: they'd get to play the foulest race card against Obama while handing it to Clinton (thus smearing two of the three leading Democrats, and far and away the two best-funded and thus financially equipped to take on the eventual GOP nominee), and to appeal to independents by pretending to be nobler and purer than those awful Democrats. And to pave the way for this by announcing the public script in advance so they could say "we told you this is exactly what would happen."
Now, I'll admit that this could be one jerk just trying to create trouble on his own. But this was in DC, on a station with a very liberal Democratic demographic, and the guy clearly sounded as if he was repeating a script and not winging it. If any DK readers have heard any similar indications on call-ins, talk radio, or any other source, please share it here, or write your own diary. Forewarned is forearmed.
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