Bill Clinton To Campaigns: Stop Telling Each Other's Staffers To Resign, Already!

An interesting moment from Bill Clinton on the trail today -- he openly mocks all the calls for resignations of staff aides that are flying back and forth between the two campaigns:

"I don't think any of these people oughta be asked to resign," he said. "All these guys that say bad things about any other campaign, they say, 'Should they resign?' My answer is no; they're repeating party line. They oughta stay right where they are. Let's just saddle up and have an argument. What's the matter with that? That's what America's about, right?"

Presumably that includes Samantha Power, right?

Either way, this isn't all that easy a call, when it comes down to it. On the one hand, you can't have aides out there saying anything they want; you expect a campaign to take action against certain offenses, such as the spreading of the false Obama Muslim smear email.

On the other hand, of course, the campaigns often absolutely love it when someone on the other side says something that allegedly offends them and gives them an excuse to shift into high dudgeon. This unspoken truth drives much of our campaign news -- yet everyone has agreed to pretend it isn't the case.


Comments (37)

Also Bill, let's stop telling networks to fire top-notch journalists.

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What a hypocrite, maybe he should tell his wife this before they jump to calling for the next Obama staffer's head on a plate for any little remark.

I want Samantha Power back!!!

You know what. She may be back.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/26/samantha-power-unapologet_n_93493.html

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The key quote in that is they're repeating the party line. In other words, what Bill's saying is that we ought to read incendiary quotes from staffers and surrogates as reflective of what the candidates and their campaigns actually believe, and engage in an argument on that basis.

There's a calculation embedded in that claim - that Hillary will win out in the ensuing mudfest. Obama, after all, is running on the promise of a different kind of politics, whereas Hillary is claiming to be the more experienced and effective fighter. That's why the Obama campaign has generally been quicker to sever ties with those who stray off-message; they'd rather not see the campaign devolve to that level. The Clintons, on the other hand, have repeatedly (and increasingly) made it clear that they're happy to trade outrage all day long. The assumption that rogue staffers reflect the actual views of their candidates aids Clinton's image as a figher, and hurts Obama's credibility as a reformer.

There may also be an element of projection here. There's very, very good reason to believe that Samantha Power got carried away. She's been remarkably forthright about her views in subsequent interviews, and it's fairly clear she doesn't actually regard Hillary as a "monster." Ferraro, on the other hand, continues to stand by the things she said. Clinton may believe that when staffers say incendiary things, they're simply speaking their minds - but that may not be equally true of her supporters and of Obama's.

I also get the feeling that we're seeing the outcome of a little intra-campaign struggle where the advisors who were trying to muzzle the big dog got told to leave him alone. Looks like from here on out the Clintons are going to say whatever they want to and the rest of the campaign can just deal with it. I love the way Chelsea handled the bozo who wanted to know about Lewinsky.

That bozo was (and presumably still is) a hillary supporter. If I asked that question and she told me that it was none of my business what happened to a sitting president I would tell her that BC, HRC and her are public figures and she can go fuck herself for thinking that she is above reproach. The questioner showed admirable restraint.

The questioner was an insufferable A**. He was way out of bounds asking anyone about their parent's infidelity. He may have been planted to make us look bad but your response would ahve made us look worse.

Presumably that includes Samantha Power, right?

Hilarious!

And it doesn't matter that Power no longer works for the campaign--the Clintons are still flogging her remarks.

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Good! I've had enough of this "denounce and reject" nonsense. It was starting to feel like the Spanish Inquisition.

Or at least the Monty Python version of the Spanish Inquisition.

Bill and Hillary Clinton had Vince Foster killed.

I read about it in the American Spectator. And you know its a very credible source because Hillary cited it as evidence that Obama is anti-semitic.


Even Poppy had the decency of respecting his role as ex-POTUS and staying out of his son's race.

This Clinton two-headed monster nightmare will not end if she wins.

Holy crap I agree with Bill Clinton again! It's an Easter miracle!

It's interesting that he concedes that "they're repeating the party line." Isn't this an admission that all those times when Hillary called it unfair that she was blamed for the statements of her surrogates that she really did approve the message? I will certainly remember this the next time they feign innocence.

I think the Samantha Powers incident is clearly not of this ilk. It obviously did not help Obama, nor did she think it would help Obama (hence her attempt to take it off hte record).

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It is Time to Shut Down Hillary Clinton
With Democratic race getting nastier by the day and Republican nominee wandering the world looking Presidential, it is time that Democrats brought an end to the nomination race.

Hillary Clinton is stretching her experience claims each day. She and her camp are trying to dig up dirt on the front runner so much so that it could damage the Democrats in fall. Hillary's trip to Bosnia under hail of fire has been discussed much in the media. Last night on Larry King Live, the renown journalist Maureen Dowd who accompanied Hillary put paid to Hillary's peace claims in Ireland. She said that apart from having tea with old ladies, Hillary had no contribution towards the Irish peace on that trip.

There is no mathematical possibility of Hillary Clinton winning the nomination. She is likely to win Pennsylvania, but she is 21 points behind Obama in North Carolina according to latest opinion polls.

It is time that a large number of Democratic Senators, Congressmen/women and party officials step forward and endorse Barack Obama in order to shut down Hillary Clinton before she does more damage to the party. Perhaps this is what Harry Reid was talking about yesterday.

Ok, we want Samantha Powers back.

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And the Clintons can get crazy grandma Gerry back. Fair trade.

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Kinda thin today!
Bill, so you did spout the party line in S.C.
HRC, No Bosnia snipers?
A Clinton epiphany?
This is epiphany number?
Oh! Of course Hillary did say revelation, yesterday!
Sinbad, where are you?
Good help is getting too hard to find.

That's because you don't really want to get out of Iraq.

You can read that as: Everybody duck. We're just getting warmed up.

The Tonya Harding plan begins. Let it be, it all seems to just strengthen Obama.

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Tena, a Democrat, to Bill Clinton:

Will you please shut up? I know you can't quite face it, but you really aren't running this time.

And you ain't helping.

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I could go with the flow on the talk of lets just go ahead and let this whole process run if HC wasn't turning this process so nasty. I have no problem with her hanging around ala Huckabee just in case some giant shoe drops before the convention. But you can't go running around aiding and abetting the right wing rags. If she just hangs out and lets Rush run his 'operation chaos' and see where that ends, fine. I do agree that BO actually will benefit to some degree from the exposure in that case. But the unwritten rule is that you can't attack a presumptive nominee the way she is.

The fact of the matter is that the odds say it's about 90% likely he is our nominee. So it's 90% likely that all her hard work kneecapping Obama is for the benefit of McCain. That's democratic time and money being invested in sinking our candidate.

I don't dispute her right to be here, or her right to try and win on her considerable positives. But you can't be pumping the other guy's negatives at this point in the game. It would have been forgivable if a little ugly in January. Now it's bordering on fratricide.

When do the supers step in?

Whites, Jews and now Italians:

"Obama's pastor slurs Italians in magazine:

Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., pastor emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago where Obama has been a member for two decades, slurred Italians in a piece published in the most recent issue of Trumpet Newsmagazine."

Geez.

This is just more evidence that the Clinton's don't recognize that what is wrong in politics is too much shouting and arguing and not enough conversation and dialogue.

Obama wants to bring back civil discourse to Washington. I'm not surprised that the Clintons don't like that concept.

This is proof that the clintons won't really change what is wrong in Washington. They'll just play the same game thats been played for the last 30 years and nothing will change. Nothing.

Obama offers a clean break from all that fighting and bickering and partisan positioning.

The Clintons will say anything and change nothing.

An earlier part of Bill's speech is also interesting.

"If a politician doesn't wanna get beat up, he shouldn't run for office," he said. "If a politician doesn't wanna get beat up, he shouldn't run for office. If a football player doesn't want to get tackled or want the risk of an a occasional clip he shouldn't put the pads on."

Probably a response to the "Tonya Harding" quote.

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I find gotalife's handle ironic...

Also, I opine with the name "getalife".

Lets show the President some respect and call him President Clinton.

He is the last great Dem. President and you so called "progressives" are Democrats.

President Clinton wants Wright to come back.

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Almost as ironic as Big Tent Democrat.

Not a surprising statement from a man who would have been pressured to resign long ago if he weren't in a uniquely protected position.

Ironic is "progressives" want change but nothing will change if Obama is the nominee because he will lose.

"Progressives" are blocking the change needed by supporting a sure loser.

Are you old enough to remember the Clinton economy?

They were giving away cars to come to work.

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I find gotalife's handle ironic...

Yeah, but the gravatar is more fitting than was originally the idea, perhaps.

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Perhaps you missed Bill's message: "they're repeating party line".

That means "Hillary is a monster" is BO08 party line; let his campaign stand behind this revealed position, and argue it out.

That means Bill Shaheen's view (that GOP surrogates would ask whether candidate Obama ever sold anyone any drugs) reflects the view of the campaign. Let Hillary's campaign stand behind this (unremarkable) assertion and argue it out, rather than apologizing just because it coincidentally impinges on a racial stereotype.

This probably wouldn't extend to endorsers (a Tony McPeak or a Robert Johnson) ... or would it?

shameless self plug:

Bill Clinton: Like A Pig in Mud

In which i espand on my thoughts on this issue and how it displays the biggest difference between the Obama and Clinton candidacies...

Bill Clinton - Last Dog Dying


DENOUNCE and REJECT

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Nice comic relief. Hope it's OK to post this from humorist Andy Borowitz:

Can we call a truce for one minute?
I'm a Hillary supporter but laughed hard and long at the following from humorist Andy Borowitz:

Breaking News

Hillary Says 8-Year-Old Bosnian Girl Was Actually Sniper

Bouquet of Flowers Hid Semiautomatic Weapon


Accused in recent days of embellishing her story of a brush with sniper fire in Bosnia, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton today said “don’t be fooled” by photos showing her being greeted at the airport by a pony-tailed 8-year-old Bosnian girl with a bouquet of flowers.

“That was no little girl,” Sen. Clinton told reporters in Gary, Indiana. “That was a covert ops midget sniper.”

The New York senator said that moments after the “so-called little girl” presented her with the flowers, she revealed what the bouquet had been hiding: “a tiny semi-automatic weapon.”

“Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to use some of the Tae Kwon Do techniques I had learned in preparation for the Northern Ireland peace talks,” she said.

Defending his wife against charges that she had yet again fabricated her exploits while First Lady, former President Bill Clinton told CNN’s John King that “Democratic voters have a clear choice this election: do they want a liar or a plagiarist?”

“Hillary tells some real whoppers, but at least they’re original,” he said.

In response to a question about whether he believes his wife’s account of the events in Bosnia, Mr. Clinton said, “All I have to say about that is Reverend Wright Reverend Wright Reverend Wright Reverend Wright Reverend Wright.”

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I can't wait for Bill to shower us with some more pearls of wisdom. I'm guessing his next pronouncements will be something along the lines of: "We just need all these people to stop lyin' about their past. I think it's a shame when you've got two wonderful, America-lovin', battle-tested, tried-and-true candidates who just want to have a civil debate about the issues and instead you get all these made up stories with somebody sayin' they were gettin' shot at and they weren't...I mean...so that's why I'm supportin' Hillary."

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