Guy Who Received Obama Muslim Smear Email From Hillary County Chair Speaks

Comments (31)

DTM wrote on December 5, 2007 2:46 PM:

I also asked this elsewhere, but has anyone identified the other person who sent the e-mail, the one who "had been posting pro-Clinton comments for several months on websites covering the campaign"?

I know the County Chair is a bigger story, but I suspect a few people besides me would be interested to know.

Mark wrote on December 5, 2007 2:54 PM:

I this is a bigger story as well. In fact, I believe it was Hillary's inner circle that allowed this smear of Obama to proceed.

On the Clock wrote on December 5, 2007 2:57 PM:

The proximity of this mailing to the epic Washington Post A1 smear on Obama strikes me as something more than circumstantial.

Nick wrote on December 5, 2007 2:57 PM:

It is clear to me that this county chair acted on his/her own. It is unfortunate that Hillary's campaign did not get the message to this individual that such shenanigans are not acceptable in her campaign. That said, I really do not think that this "horse race" story is worthy of the headline. How about reporting how each candidates policy positions will impact the lives of all Americans?

Allen wrote on December 5, 2007 3:01 PM:

Nick, I would really like to know how it is clear that the county chair acted on his own? where is the evidence for this assertion?

Curious Bill wrote on December 5, 2007 3:05 PM:

He hung up? Gracious, Greg. What did you say to him?

;)

joejoejoe wrote on December 5, 2007 3:07 PM:

Jones County, IA is a rural locale. I'm not suprised that Gary Hart (Chair, Jones County Democrats & Dodd supporter) is trying to end the story without humiliating the person that passed along the email. To the the much of the political world that person would be cannon fodder and the subject of some serious derision. In Jones County that person is going to be seen as somebody who made a mistake, was fired, and should be forgiven.

I'm always for more disclosure but I think this man Gary Hart is doing the right thing by trying to get the story resolved.

I worked in an office in NYC with several Muslim co-workers on 9/11 and the amount of hateful emails that were sent was not pretty. When you asked the mailer "Did you know X is Muslim and you just called them a terrorist?" the sender would almost always be shocked and say "I didn't mean HIM". It's ignorance that needs to be fought all over and that ignorance isn't fought by destroying some rural county chair who sent a stupid email.

Paul Dirks wrote on December 5, 2007 3:10 PM:

where is the evidence for this assertion

I would say that the simple fact that its embarrassing to the campaign and they immediately repudiated is pretty good evidence that he acted on his own.

It has the advantage of being the simplest explanation as well.

allison sands wrote on December 5, 2007 3:10 PM:

There is no question that this was coordinated with both the Washington Post piece and the various pro-Hillary AP pieces of the last couple of days. These folks (the Hillary campaign) are as ruthless as the folks behind the Swift Boat stuff. How ironic. I guess they become even meaner as they realize that their candidate is a weak one.

Drew M. wrote on December 5, 2007 3:10 PM:

Politico has email:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1207/Clinton_staffer_on_antiObama_email_chain.html

Michael wrote on December 5, 2007 3:12 PM:

Though I'm no fan of the politico overall, Ben Smith over there continues to do some great investigative reporting this election cycle (not to take away from EC, of course...you guys are still my go-to, 1st page visited everyday ;) )

Anyway, Ben has a copy of the email, and has identified that the sender is someone named "Judy" with an email address that starts "jcheroke"

Sent Nov 21st and received by another Clinton staffer, with whom Ben has tried to make contact.

Read about it, and read the email itself (its pretty bad) here

David B wrote on December 5, 2007 3:17 PM:

Nick and Paul Dirks,

Again as someone above asked, where do you see evidence of this assertion that it was "clear" that the chair acted on his/her own?

"Clearly" sounds like you work for the Clinton campaign, what with being so quick to appologize for them.

That's what it "clearly" looks like from where I sit...

centavo wrote on December 5, 2007 3:18 PM:

Kiran Chetry, CNN morning host, made mention of the Obama smear memo this morning and ended her comments by saying "Obama SAYS he's a christian". Apparently faux news exposure is like herpes. Once its in your system, you just can't shake the virus.

Derrick wrote on December 5, 2007 3:20 PM:

This is nothing but a Swift Boat attackagainst Obama. Expect more of Hillary's Swift-Boating of Obama.

Paul Dirks wrote on December 5, 2007 3:22 PM:

Clearly" sounds like you work for the Clinton campaign

I'll cite your reaction as further evidence for my point of view. I consider Clinton to be Bush-lite and feel she would be the worst of the Dem candidates. But I have a knee-jerk scepticism of conspiracy-theories and your's qualifies.

lambert strether wrote on December 5, 2007 3:32 PM:

Ah, it's all down to an "overzealous volunteer."

Right, that's sorted, then.

jt wrote on December 5, 2007 3:32 PM:

Pretty clear that the link to Hillary has been established.

Shame on them.

This might do them in if it gets out in Iowa press.

Max wrote on December 5, 2007 3:33 PM:

Snopes.com, of course, says this e-mail is false.

I've sent my right-wing relatives to Snopes many times. Apparently the smear merchants who write this junk are getting wise to the fact that Snopes usually shoots them down, and are trying to inoculate themselves with these false claims.

lorelynn wrote on December 5, 2007 3:34 PM:

Wasn't this discovered when Peter Dauo noticed the accusation on a DK thread? If the Clinton campaign was onboard, they simply would have ignored the DK post. No one is stupid enough to think that they can allow a county chair to smear a candidate in this fashion, and not be called on it.

Well, maybe the Obama campaign is. I don't have much confidence in those rubes.

Derrick wrote on December 5, 2007 3:38 PM:

The only reason Hillary admitted to this smear because they were caught doing that. Kudos to those fine detectives who found out that Hillary was behind this smear of Obama.

ramona wrote on December 5, 2007 3:56 PM:

Whether this was OK'd (or ignored) by higher-ups isn't the issue. It's that it illustrates, again, the ethics of the kind of people the Clinton campaign can't seem to help not only attracting, but hiring.

AlladinsLamp wrote on December 5, 2007 4:00 PM:

Gary Hart who?

The Gary Hart?

NCSteve wrote on December 5, 2007 4:03 PM:

If this were a wingnut blog, somebody would have already Googled the part of the email address Ben Smith didn't block out, based upon this sterling investigation, leapt to the conclusion that they had, in fact, found the person in question and then set up a website with what might or might not be that person's home address, phone number, place of business and kids' names. The full-Malkin, as its called.

evan500 wrote on December 5, 2007 4:05 PM:

In response to Nick who wants to get away from "the horse race" stuff I'd like to comment that yes policy is crucial, but that the Madrasa smear is a dangerous turn of events. It has all the potential to be a damaging swift-boat level calamity, and therefore it shouldn't be treated so lightly.

lorelynn wrote on December 5, 2007 4:10 PM:

Derrick - who caught the smear? I know the Iowa guy posted about receiving the email on DK. As I understand it, Peter Dauo followed up on it.

What is it you think happened? How, in your mind, did it get from one response in a thread on DK to a major story? Who picked it up from DK and ran with it?

Jeremy wrote on December 5, 2007 4:21 PM:

Why is exactly the identity of the guilty party being covered up by the Clinton campaign?

Reached out wrote on December 5, 2007 4:23 PM:

I'll bet Clinton's people reached out to him.

Hung up indeed.

lorelynn wrote on December 5, 2007 4:48 PM:

He says that he spoke with the Clinton people and is satisfied. Why is that problematic?

The fact of the matter is that Peter Dauo noticed an isolated post on DK, followed up on and the Clinton campaign fired the volunteer and disavowed the sentiment expressed.

How has obama handled the harassment calls coming out of his campaign? Has he issued any statements or is that behavior A-Okay with him?

DTM wrote on December 5, 2007 4:52 PM:

lorelynn,

First, the two situations are not equivalent (not even close).

Second, to my knowledge the person who reported getting an argumentative call from an Obama staffer could not give any identifying information (such as a phone number).

Allen wrote on December 5, 2007 5:07 PM:

exactly DTM! Hillary is definitely a good teacher, because so many of her supporters have embraced her parsing of words and non-answer answers.

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