Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Milwaukiedave]

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
Clinton, trailing Obama by a wide margin in South Carolina, began airing a negative radio ad in the state that criticizes the Illinois senator for recent statements he made about Ronald Reagan.

The ad is a continuation of an attack the Clintons have been making since the lead-up to the Nevada caucuses. They have argued Obama said the Republican Party had the "best" or �better� ideas over the last 10 to 15 years. Media fact-checkers have said those earlier attacks took Obama�s words out of context. So not surprisingly, the South Carolina radio ad tweaks the language to make it factually accurate.

�In her newest negative, dishonest attack, Clinton claims that Obama praised Republican ideas apparently in an attempt to obscure her record of voting for Republican ideas like bankruptcy, NAFTA and, of course, the war in Iraq," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. "That fact that Hillary Clinton has praised Ronald Reagan and supported some of the very worst Republican ideas just underscores that she will say or do anything to get elected.�

Below is the transcript for the ad, which is tracked by a deep-voiced man with a southern twang:

ANNOUNCER: Listen to Barack Obama last week talking about Republicans.
OBAMA: The Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years.
ANNOUNCER: Really? Aren�t those the ideas that got us into the economic mess we�re in today? Ideas like special tax breaks for Wall Street, running up a $9 trillion debt, refusing to raise the minimum wage or deal with the housing crisis. Are those the ideas Barack Obama�s talking about?
OBAMA: The Republicans were the party of ideas.
ANNOUNCER: Hillary Clinton thinks this election�s about replacing disastrous Republican ideas with new ones. Like jumpstarting the economy, putting an immediate freeze on foreclosures and mortgages, cutting taxes for the middle class and creating millions of new jobs.

With the economy in crisis, we need a president with the ideas, the solutions that get our economy working for all of us. Hillary Clinton. Solutions for America. Paid for by Hillary Clinton for president.

CLINTON: I�m Hillary Clinton, candidate for president and I approve this message

[Czarjorge]

I'm waiting for the Clintons to start implying that Obama has a secret white baby.

[Milwaukiedave]

Czar,

Bush/Rove lies=Clinton lies

[Kuros]

[Czarjorge]

No, I was making a joke. What's with the humorlessness of most of the posters on this site. I've been taken to task for jokes far to regularly. Either I'm not funny, or you are too serious. Probably a bit of both.

And Obama's statement was clearly taken out of context. He was arguing that the Dem's need to be the party of ideas, rather than allowing the Reps to control the discussion. C'mon, Kuros, I know you support Clinton, but I thought you were more even handed in your analysis.

[Kuros]

[Czarjorge]

Explaining jokes kills them, but hopefully anyone who might get it will have read it before the explanation.

In the 2000 election Bush scuttled McCain by implying that he had an illegitimate black child. He did this to affect the vote in South Carolina. The Clintons are also amping up the attacks as Obama is leading in South Carolina. The joke was tying the attack ads of the 2000 election with the current one, and bringing together comparisons of the Bushes and the Clintons. The underlying fun bit being that Billy and George Sr. have gotten buddy buddy of late.

[Milwaukiedave]

Czar,

I got it. Some people clearly have no sense of humor or don't have a brain bigger then an egg.

[Kuros]

[Gopher]

[Milwaukiedave]

[Matt_22]

[Czarjorge]

[Kuros]

[stevemcgarrett]

MilwaukieDave:

Thanks for sharing that ad. I wasn't aware that it was running. As you know, I predicted this would happen the longer the campaign drags on.

And the Clinton insinuation that Obama somehow secretly concurred with Reagan's policies is disingenuous. Anyone with two nerve synapses firing in his brain knows that Obama was describing a historical phenomenon, namely, Reagan's transformative brand of politics, which Obama also aspires to.

And you can bet the Columbia River that if Obama were not a minority, these dirty pool tactics would be even more frequent.

It will be interesting to see if Black voters--especially the younger generations who were not part of the civil rights movement and did not campaign for Bill Clinton--become turned off to these attacks enough to switch their allegiance to Obama. Sure hope so.

And if Bill points one more finger at a reporter asking a legitimate question, someone should twist it. BTW: have you noticed he gets more Secret Service protection than all of the candidates except the front runners?

Watch for the parsing of words by the legal team of Hill-Bill, which might also turn off less educated voters tired of lawyer-speak.

I just hope Obama can hold up but as his wife said, he's been tested in Chicago politics which are mud-slinging contests exceeded only by Louisiana and Texas.

One more thing is really starting to get under my skin: this tag team wrestling tactic of Bill taunting and Hill denying. Obama was right on the mark when he quipped during the last debate that he sometimes doesn't know who he's running against. This is, of course, an unprecedented move on their part and at some point it will be legitimate for Obama to pick holes in Bill's record as President.

But all of this only makes the Dems look bad. Would be real curious to know two things at this juncture: who is Dean backing behind the scenes and how much will Edwards cozy up to Clinton for a VP spot if he sees his chances waning? Don't forget: doing so would bring pay back time to Kerry, who came out in favor of Obama.