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In "Monster"-Gate, Clintonites Get Away with a Slur, While Respected Obama Aide Falls
The big news today--if you listen to the Hillary Clinton camp--is that Samantha Power, a foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama (and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide), referred to Clinton as a "monster" in what she believed was an off-the-record remark with a reporter. She did apologize. But the Clintonites, ever on the lookout for an issue (or non-issue) to hype, quickly called on Obama to fire Power.
Non-News Flash: Aides to presidential candidates routinely refer to the competition in harsh terms, particularly when they talk to reporters off the record. More than once, a top Clinton person has told me that s/he believes Obama is a self-righteous fraud--or worse. It was, of course, always off the record. But if I had reported any of these remarks, I could have gotten the pop The Scotsman has received for disclosing Power's comment.
The Clinton people do deserve chutzpah points for trying to turn this nothing-burger into a full-course feast. During a conference call with reporters yesterday, Clinton's top spinner, Howard Wolfson, compared Obama and his aides to Kenneth Starr because they dared to question Clinton's refusal to release her income taxes. (In The Washington Post, Dana Milbank credited me with asking the question that prompted the Ken Starr remark --a quip obviously locked and loaded before the call.) The comparison was ridiculous. But in Democratic circles, there's not much of a bigger slur than, Hey, you're Ken Starr! For Democrats, Starr is the functional equivalent of a monster.
So the Clinton crowd does not have the moral high ground in this round. Yet what was the net result? Power, a talented journalist and thinker who gives a damn about genocides (certainly more so than Bill Clinton did during the Rwanda nightmare), was forced off Obama's campaign. On Friday morning, she released a statement:
With deep regret, I am resigning from my role as an advisor [to] the Obama campaign effective today. Last Monday, I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor, and purpose of the Obama campaign. And I extend my deepest apologies to Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, and the remarkable team I have worked with over these long 14 months.
Well, at least she had the heart to apologize and admit she had gone too far in denigrating the opposition. You won't see such sentiments at Clinton HQ.
HILLARY, WHAT A TANGLED WEB YOU WEAVE, WHEN YOU CONTINUE TO DECEIVE ...
Clinton Again Raises Running With Obama
Mar 7 01:27 PM US/Eastern
By SARA KUGLER
Associated Press Writer
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday again raised the possibility that she might run with rival Sen. Barack Obama on the same Democratic presidential ticket.
Speaking to voters in Mississippi, where Sen. Barack Obama is expected to do well in next week's primary, Clinton said, "I've had people say, 'Well I wish I could vote for both of you. Well, that might be possible some day. But first I need your vote on Tuesday."
It is the second time this week that she has hinted at a joint ticket with the Illinois senator; he has not ruled it out but says it is premature to be having those discussions.
-----------------------------------------
COMMENT:
First Hillary maintains that only her and Republican John McCain are ready for the heavy responsibilities of the presidency, including stewardship of national security.
Then she suggests that, in the unlikely chance she is the Democratic nominee, she would consider Barack Obama to be her vice presidential running mate.
The vice president is a heartbeat away from being president.
So either Hillary is making up the claim that Obama is not ready to lead, or she is putting the country at risk by suggesting she would pick him.
The first choice would make her a liar, the second, that she is very cavalier in her attitude about national security.
Or may both are true.
Either way ? just another reason to support Barack Obama for president (and Sen. Jim Webb for vice).
Power was an unpaid foreign affairs advisor. She messed up, and removing her from the public eye is smart.
Obama can continue to solicit advice from her in an unofficial capacity, and you can be sure she will find a spot at the State Department.
That'll be a fun confirmation hearing though?
HILLARY, WHAT A TANGLED WEB YOU WEAVE, WHEN YOU CONTINUE TO DECEIVE ...
Clinton Again Raises Running With Obama
Mar 7 01:27 PM US/Eastern
By SARA KUGLER
Associated Press Writer
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday again raised the possibility that she might run with rival Sen. Barack Obama on the same Democratic presidential ticket.
Speaking to voters in Mississippi, where Sen. Barack Obama is expected to do well in next week's primary, Clinton said, "I've had people say, 'Well I wish I could vote for both of you. Well, that might be possible some day. But first I need your vote on Tuesday."
It is the second time this week that she has hinted at a joint ticket with the Illinois senator; he has not ruled it out but says it is premature to be having those discussions.
-----------------------------------------
COMMENT:
First Hillary maintains that only her and Republican John McCain are ready for the heavy responsibilities of the presidency, including stewardship of national security.
Then she suggests that, in the unlikely chance she is the Democratic nominee, she would consider Barack Obama to be her vice presidential running mate.
The vice president is a heartbeat away from being president.
So either Hillary is making up the claim that Obama is not ready to lead, or she is putting the country at risk by suggesting she would pick him.
The first choice would make her a liar, the second, that she is very cavalier in her attitude about national security.
Or may both are true.
Either way ? just another reason to support Barack Obama for president (and Sen. Jim Webb for vice).
Power was an unpaid foreign affairs advisor. She messed up, and removing her from the public eye is smart.
Obama can continue to solicit advice from her in an unofficial capacity, and you can be sure she will find a spot at the State Department.
That'll be a fun confirmation hearing though?
"trying to turn this nothing-burger into a full-course feast."
It smacks of desperation.
Not to mention HRC comes off as a meanie for calling for Powers to be fired.
Who is HRC the Queen of Mean?
I say - off with HER head.
Will you people let me know when you get back to objective reporting? If Hillary drops out, just WHAT will you write about? From your point of view, Barack Obama and his merry group of never-do-wrongers are squeaky clean and always will be. Let's give it some time, shall we?
Wolfson is asking for a double standard. The Clinton camp can not have it both ways. After all they started the name calling game.
David Corn's post should be plastered all across the Internet.
The Clintons' reach is frightening and hopefully the American people will see this as corporate dynasty "take-over" and reject it!
Stupid - Austan Goolsbee is the one who should be taking a bullet.
Monster? Not sure about that.
Now calling Obama a "self-righteous fraud", well they ought to know. Spending that much time with Hillary, you would know a thing or two about being a fraud and a phonie.
Apparently "off the record" in Scotland means something different from what it means here.
Another foreign newspaper helping out Clinton...what is going on here?
If David Corn would return the favor it would be poetic justice. I know that's not a possibility, though.
I really was impressed by Samantha Power. The country could really have used her voice and her ideas on foreign policy. More than anything else, America is in need of talented voices on foreign policy.
Samantha Power was and is an intelligient, compassionate, talented woman and i'm sorry to see her go. And for Hillary's camp to call for her to be fired is ridiculous. If that's the standard, Wolfson should be fired saying Obama is like Ken Starr - I'd say that's the worse insult. Now we lose the voice of someone who actually cared about genocide and tries to do something about it. In contrast to Bill Clinton & Rwanda...
HILLARY, WHAT A TANGLED WEB YOU WEAVE, WHEN YOU CONTINUE TO DECEIVE ...
Clinton Again Raises Running With Obama
Mar 7 01:27 PM US/Eastern
By SARA KUGLER
Associated Press Writer
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday again raised the possibility that she might run with rival Sen. Barack Obama on the same Democratic presidential ticket.
Speaking to voters in Mississippi, where Sen. Barack Obama is expected to do well in next week's primary, Clinton said, "I've had people say, 'Well I wish I could vote for both of you. Well, that might be possible some day. But first I need your vote on Tuesday."
It is the second time this week that she has hinted at a joint ticket with the Illinois senator; he has not ruled it out but says it is premature to be having those discussions.
-----------------------------------------
COMMENT:
First Hillary maintains that only her and Republican John McCain are ready for the heavy responsibilities of the presidency, including stewardship of national security.
Then she suggests that, in the unlikely chance she is the Democratic nominee, she would consider Barack Obama to be her vice presidential running mate.
The vice president is a heartbeat away from being president.
So either Hillary is making up the claim that Obama is not ready to lead, or she is putting the country at risk by suggesting she would pick him.
The first choice would make her a liar, the second, that she is very cavalier in her attitude about national security.
Or may both are true.
Either way just another reason to support Barack Obama for president (and Sen. Jim Webb for vice).
Your piece is predicated on a false premise. The Power interview was "on the record," and only when Power realized the implications of her slip of the tongue, did she belatedly asked for the comment to be put "off the record". As a longtime journalist whose writing I've admired in The Nation, you should know better than anyone that the groundrules are established BEFORE the interview begins.
nice post by David Corn and Mick Andersen - I believe there will eventually be a subheading under the definition of hypocrisy which will read "Clinton campaign 2008". Webb is a really nice pick for VP as would be Bill Richardson
Looks like you are a Obama fan. Comparing Kenith Star with a monster is too mythichal. After all he was doing his job what he was asked to do. And Obama by asking for Hilary's tax returns was imittating Kenith's actions. So where does the monster word comparison come in. You look too desperate a Obama fan. Be real.
I've been commenting on this everywhere since last night when I thought the Power episode was a good thing--a chance for Obama to stand up to HRC for once. I'm an ardent Obama supporter and have maxed out for him in the primary, but this resignation was a big mistake. He has lost the news cycles and this resignation shows both weakness and an inability to pivot to the upside of this story, that is, to point to the Clinton's habitual smear tactics that happen to be ON THE RECORD. As someone who grew up in Ohio, the male vote there, and in Penn, Kentucky, Indiana, and so on, will see this as nothing but weakness. PC actions get you nowhere. Obama's campaign is trying to run out the clock and with this move today, I'm starting to believe they just might find a way to botch what it rightfully theirs.
"The Clinton camp can not have it both ways. After all they started the name calling game."
clearly, they can.
Slur by the Clintons, my a**.
She crossed the line. Any rational person knows, there's a line, you cross it, you are in trouble.
And if the Obama staffers don't know how to handle the media, they're subject to the criticism the Hillary staffers are, that handling the media is part of the job.
Those are the rules, and they don't change just because it's "your team" in trouble.
Mrs. Clinton is the grown-up in this tete a tete; Obama, the callow youth. It's that simple.
I'd rather a tough, seasoned, thick-skinned politician on my side than an unproven, unknown, untested black man with a pleasing voice who can read other people's words with conviction. She's been up against the ultimate viciousness of republicans against her, her daughter and her husband and has the experience. And it's showing in these brouhahas. Keep up the pressure, Hillary, not all of us are upset at your tactics.
obama said he's running a clean campaign. well this fool changed that. i dont think she quit. obama fired so fast she tripped on her "putlzer prize". she should be fired. He doesnt need this fool around
The Clinonistas may want to run with this story, but if they do they will only draw attention to the fact that she actually is a monster!
"It smacks of desperation."
No, rather it smacks of Karl Rove. This is straight out of his play book. And it works. I have no doubt that she can take on McCain.
"... In Democratic circles, there's not much of a bigger slur than, Hey, you're Ken Starr! For Democrats, Starr is the functional equivalent of a monster." I can't believe this argument is being made. If Ms. Power had said something like, "Hillary is just like Richard Nixon...," then the comparison might have been valid. But no, she said "monster." It's debatable whether the reference to Ken Starr qualifies as a slur. (I'm sure Mr. Starr would have a thing or two to say about that.) There is no way to take what Ms. Power said as anything other than a slur.
Do you know anything about journalism? "Off the record" is arranged BEFORE making controversial remarks. The interview in question was to publicize a book and was therefore clearly understood to be ON THE RECORD. It is absolutely routine (see Bob Woodward using Dick Cheney's Iraq war comments during an interview about Gerald Ford) for a journalist to vary the topic, and also to reject an attempt to place something off the record after the fact.
Your supposed Clinton sources WERE off the record when they made their supposed negative Obama comments. That doesn't mean they're sinister -- they're savvy. There's no way for us to evaluate whether it even happened, because it was off the record; all we have is your word. Since you're obviously pro-Obama, your word, in this case, is not reliable.
Sorry, Obama's group loses on this one. Don't take my word for it, though, see how it plays in the next few days.
If you bother to read the whole article about the incident, it was clearly stated that it was an "on the record" interview about Samantha Power's new book. It was during this interview that she called Senator Clinton a "monster", and only after making this statement did she try to make it an "off the record" comment. Mistakes happen and only an idiot tries to blame someone else for the mistake. I can not see how Senator Clinton can be blamed for what Ms. Power said, but apparently, a large number of Obama supporters seem to think they know how to blame her.
Time to grow up folks and learn to think instead of parroting nonsense.
worse for Obama, in another interview, she flat out admitted that he probably wasn't going to be able to shut down the Iraq war as quickly as he's telling folks on the campaign trail. I'd say talking out both sides of ones mouth is a pretty good description of "fraudulent".
I am in despair this morning. Clinton will stop at nothing. To hell with how she alienates voters across the country. I might cynically say she actively wants the alienation. If we hope-mongers stay out of the political process, she and her cronies can continue to enjoy the spoils of power.
We get the leaders we deserve. And it's looking like we are undeserving in the extreme.
Power was an unpaid foreign affairs advisor. She messed up, and removing her from the public eye is smart.
Obama can continue to solicit advice from her in an unofficial capacity, and you can be sure she will find a spot at the State Department.
That'll be a fun confirmation hearing though
Keep this up, Dems, and John McCain will waltz into the White House come next November. This insane intra-party guerilla warfare has GOT to stop.
Seriously, everyone, stop and take a deep breath.
Had any Clinton staffer or advisor been caught saying this about Obama, the Obama press machine (including his many friendly bloggers) would have used it as evidence of how the Clintons will stop at nothing to get elected. They would also have demanded that the staffer or advisor be fired or resign. But since it's an Obama staffer making the comments and the Clintons playing the role that Obama would have played had the situation been reversed, suddenly it's a big deal and proves how terrible a person Hillary is.
Please. If Obama fans get worked up about THIS, it's going to be a long general election campaign if Obama gets the nomination.
Funny. I never saw any reports that the Clinton campaign suggested Powers be fired.
She was a fool to mouth off to a reporter without confirming the those comments would be off the record. The interview being conducted was for the record, and she knew that.
David, as Josh Marshall has noted at TPM, it's about political competence, not what she said. First, how do you, especially as an experienced former journalist herself, try to make the old ex post facto "off the record" comment? (I'm a newspaper editor/writer myself, and have been on the receiving end of that once; it's like a red flag in front of a journalistic bull.)
Second, isn't it a bit arrogant to be giving an in-depth interview to a foreign newspaper when your candidate hasn't even won the nomination yet?
Third, as Josh said, it shows how much Clinton is getting in the head of Obama staff. Well, Obama can realize both Clinton and McCain are "old politicans" and deal with it... or not, and get his hat handed to him more.
DAVID CORN: just another tacky, second rate journalist (questionable if he deserves that title) and Hillary hater. Hey Mr. Corn, get a life!
Just another pathetic spin article by an Obama cultists with a blog. How this got on RCP is beyond me.
You can love your candidate, but you can't LOOOVE your candidate. You people scare me. I fear a rash of suicide bombings after Clinton steals the nomination...which she will, and it will be stealing.
Even though the aide resigned, the fact still remains that the statement "Hillary is a Monster" is out in public.
This is itself old politics. Although I'm sure Power didn't mean to do this, the occasion does end up benefiting Obama. And certainly Hillary's shrill response to it doesn't help her as it just reinforces the stereotype.
So Hillary went on TV and used the issue to bring up NAFTA gate. How can the MSM let her do this? The facts have come out that Hillary was the one that phoned the Canadian Government and contradicted her stance in the debate, not Obama.
Please these lies and deceit coming out of Hillary needs to be reported on. The Fear of the Press of the Clintons is absurd.
A phony liberal is someone who believes Bush's motivations were good.
"So Democratic audiences are often surprised when I tell them that I don't consider George Bush a bad man and that I assume that he and members of this Administration are trying to do what they think is best for the country.
I say this not because I am seduced by the proximity to power, I see my invitations to the White House for what they are-- exercises in common political courtesy
snip
It is to say that after all the trappings of office -- the titles, the staff, the security details -- are stripped away, I find the President and those who surround him to be pretty much like everybody else, possessed of the same mix of virtues and vices, insecurities and long-buried injuries, as the rest of us. No matter how wrong-headed I might consider their policies to be -- and no matter how much I might insist that they be held accountable for the results of such policies -- I still find it possible , in talking to these men and women, to understand their motives, and to recognize in them values I share."
Obama, The Audacity of Hope 2006
This is what he makes of the motives of the Administration which has done the most to destroy our Constitutional system. I recall no cries for impeachment from Obama -- few moves to hold them 'accountable' in any way.
In the era when Mother Jones was first produced he would have been known simply as a bullsh$t artist.
I seem to recall that early in the race, even before the first primary Obama called Senator Clinton "Bush/Cheney lite." That would seem to me to be a greater slur against a fellow Democrat than Ken Starr.
It is about time some Democrat learned how to win an election in the Post-Rovian world. Look around...Karl Rove enabled our dim-bulb leader to win not once, but twice, while trouncing weak kneed Democratic candidates who scurried about on that mythical highroad to nowhere. If all the young new voters that Mr. Obama is said to be bringing into the contest cannot stand to see this contest get tough, then maybe they should get out their history books, or rather their Wikihistory, and learn how the job interview for leader of the free world is going to be conducted in the post-Rovian world. The high road is a proven dead-end, you can believe the Republicans already know as much.
Wow...I wonder whom you support for the nomination. I think you could use a refresher from Journalism 101...keep it objective. Clinton is constantly denigrated by the press/pundits why shouldn't Obama's camp be held to the same standard? This is the big league and there isn't room for dish it out but can't take it mentality. Should Obama win the nomination I hope he holds up better under pressure from the REAL opposition than he has from Clinton's so-called negative campaigning. Obama was visibly irritated when his followers, I mean the press, actually threw him some hard ball questions.
David,
I have long admired your work. I am however very disappointed in your characterization of Samantha Power as "a talented journalist and thinker who gives a damn about genocides..." This is in keeping with the standard narrative that she traffics in regarding Yugoslavia etc. Please check out this view http://www.monthlyreview.org/1007herman-peterson1.php
on that tragedy. It is argued that her's and many other left/progressives' support for US/NATO aggression is what laid the ideological groundwork for the neocon's savage wars. What is a real shame is how much the blinders are on left/progressive people such as yourself. Have a look at the piece above as well as several other authors cited in it and tell me what you think.
It would do humanity a world of good to have someone with your position taking another look at "humanitarian interventions".
Martin Donovan
In J-school they taught me that nothing is really ever "off the record."
It's not illegal or unethical to report the entirety of someone's comments, as far as I know.
That being said, why should Power be chastised for calling Clinton a monster? She's been called worse...and it's no secret that these two campaigns have some animosity for eachother...what's the big deal?!
It never ceases to amaze me how self-righteous the Obama camp is. Can you tell me what would constitute a slur when hurled at hillary.....
Let me guess nothing for we all know she deserves it..right. I mean she is evil personified isn't she.
It is amazing how people base their senseless comments on a perception that was cultivated in the 90s.
I mean how many of you have actually sat down and talked with her to have cultivated such derision and hatred. Its really amazing.
So let me tell you something about Barack...
HE IS NOT A MESSIAH or the CHOSEN ONE...HE IS HUMAN. Someone like us mere mortals with the ability to do both good and harm.
He is just another smart and talented politician fighting for the most powerful and coveted position in the world.
And please lets stop whining about how she threw the so called Kitchen sink at him.
If this has dented the prince's shining armor wait till what's in store for him in the fall.
I have never seen a civil policy debate on these forums. Wait that would require us to think, deliberate and come up with something original to say and who has time for it. Lets go with the flow and hurl crap left behind by others.
ANother thing that gets me is how people say "We don't want the Clinton years again". First of all how many of you even rememebr what they were all about. And how did it harm anyone of you. For all we know it has done more good than any of you have cared to look at.
Bill clinton was the Barack of the 1992 election. A man a promise but with his own sets of issues.
Its amazing how we revere JFK and revile Bill just because his adultery was palyed out by the persistent pursuit of Mr. Starr. JFK probably had more affairs than one can remember. But how can we bring that up and mess up the image of Camelot that we have created. Don;t tell me if he was hounded and cornered like Billwas his first reaction wouldn't be to deny everything. Thats basic human nature guys....Look within yourselves...
So I implore you to stop these petty senseless posts and foxus on a more substantive debate on where the country needs to be headed. And which one of the two is the best person to do so and also has the ability to win. For in the end thats all it comes down to winning...whether it is 50.1-49.9 or 70-30.
How can a person call someone a MONSTER and then when she is caught at it, say she "ADMIRES" the person she called that??? HYPOCRITE!!!
By the time she is finished, if somehow, someway, she steals the nomination, what good will it do any of us?
100 years in Iraq.
My 16 year old's great great grandson may get the chance to serve.
That's because she resigned before they hit full on . . .
From TPM . . .
Hillary Campaign Calls On Obama To Fire Adviser Who Called Hillary A "Monster"
By Greg Sargent - March 7, 2008, 10:25AM
On a conference call just now, Hillary advisers and surrogates called on Obama to fire senior foreign policy adviser Samantha Power for calling Hillary a "monster."
"Personal attacks are not the way to convince voters that you're capable of being president of the United States," New York Rep. Nita Lowey, a key Hillary surrogate, said. "We're calling on Senator Obama to make it very clear that Samantha Power should not be part of this campaign."
"It's really a very important test for Obama," Lowey said, adding that whether or not he fired Power was a "test of character."
Rep. Gregory Meeks, an African American Hillary supporter, reiterated the call for Power's firing, saying that the only appropriate way for Obama to proceed is "Senator Obama saying that this person can no longer be associated with his campaign."
Hillary spokesman Howard Wolfson added a few more twists of the knife, suggesting that Obama's handling of the Power affair would demonstrate the "kind of leadership" Obama was prepared to show. Power has already apologized for the comment.
This is some serious hardball -- it's obviously all about trying to tarnish Obama's high-mindedness. More in a bit.
Are you really stupid or are being deliberately obtuse? How does comparing someone to Ken Starr compare to calling the former first Lady and a sitting Senator a monster? Unless of course, you equate Ken Starr to a monster.
Mr. Shaheen was cashiered. The staffers who circulated the e-mail about Obama being a Muslim were asked to leave. Fair is fair. She can rejoin an Obama presidency, or his campaign if he gets the nomination. This kind of thing is symbolic, anyway.
Now, if they'll just put a muzzle on the Obama Post, or declare it as a campaign expense...
Oh, PUH-LEASE! Who hasn't half-jokingly referred to a rival in less than flattering terms? Hillary is the world's biggest Bitch.
I've voted Democrat all my life, as did my parents. If Hillary somehow is the nominee, not only will I not support her, but I will work to see that the man she thinks meets the "Commander-in-Chief threshhold" is elected. But not her.
The American people have proven once again that a politician will be rewarded when he or she tosses the last slime ball just prior to the vote being taken. Rove and the Republicans have proven this political contest certitude over the past eight years. Hillary, with her sleaze ball staff, has picked up where the Rovian's left off. And, in Ohio, the public bought her pitch.
Obama, if he is to be successful in this campaign, must do one of two things: 1) He must quickly find a way to neutralize Hillary's s**t ball tossing machine ...a task that would sap much of the energy of the campaign; or, 2) Obama must respond in kind and at a higher rate of fire for his slime-ball cannon. Else, Obama is doomed to failure ...either losing the campaign to Hillary and her ilk or in becoming a catastrophically wounded candidate who will be unable to recover for the fall election against McCain.
Clinton has lowered the bar into the mud. I don't see how Obama can flutter-about above the mud and be successful. Clinton has set the playing field, the public has demonstrated an appetite for the game to be played in the mud ...will Obama be able to refuse the terms of engagement? Only by dropping out and ceding defeat can he remain above the fray ...the hell with his desire to run an uplifting campaign. The customers have demonstrated what product they desire. It is time for Obama to meet these customer requests.
There are some pieces conveniently left out of this story. For one, the advisor was not speaking OFF the record. Secondly, the Ken Starr remark was made after the Obama campaign claimed that Hillary is the most secretive politician in America, and brought back the talk of cattle and real estate purchases. It was not just because they asked for her tax returns.
Personally, as being someone who remembers the 90's very well, I really do not want to hear all that Ken Starr stuff re-hashed. If Obama wants to be a new style politician, with a positive tone, and be the future and not the past, I think he should stick to that theme and not be a hypocrite.