I don't think Hillary's campaign had anything to do with it, but seriously, calling them amateurs when they are kicking your ass from coast to coast? You can't take a serious look at how their campaigns have been run and say Obama is an amateur while Hillary knows what she is doing.

Laughable.

What makes that a "valid question," because the Clinton campaign threw that out in a call?

The Obama call this morning and the memo they sent out was extremely damning - much more than anything that has been put out before, and the Clinton campaign's response was noticeably light on substantive rebuttals.

Perhaps that is something you could report on too?

Amateur Hour = not preparing for any states after February 5.

Here's what Obama's camp should say:

It is our understanding that the Clinton camp does not appear to have been involved with the passport security breach, AS FAR AS WE KNOW.

can anyone tell me or point to an email, a memo, or a statement from the obama campaign accusing the clinton camp of being behind this?

I haven't heard them say anything like that.

So is Howard Wolfson just flat out lying? Or did i miss a memo?

Count me curious to see where this goes. I have not yet read once where Obama's campaign, explicitly or implicitly, tried to link Clinton's campaign to the breach of Obama's passport files.

That said, would I be surprised if Clinton's fingerprints were on this? Not in the slightest.

If the Clinton campaign is blowing smoke up our asses about the Obama campaign trying to link them to this story - and let's be honest, it's always a safe bet that the Clinton campaign isn't telling the truth - then I hope the media calls them out on it. Of course, they won't.

He amassed those delegates and votes BEFORE Dems knew his "moral comapss" was a hateful bigot, who hailed the violent deaths of 3,000 Americans on 9/11.

Poll released today: 56% are 'concerned' about Obama's relationship with his "moral compass".

Unfavorable rating: 50%.

Good luck with that in the general election.

The "amateur hour" response is typical of this "silly season."

Joe Scarborough reported that, and it was a lie from him. You shouldn't take Joe Scarborough at his word.

Uh, Phil? Wasn't the Clinton campaign going to have the nomination wrapped up on Super Tuesday? How's the money holding up?

"Amateur Hour," said the kids from Romper Room.

Well if it came from MSNBC, you can count that as coming from the Obama campaign. They are about as unbiased as TPM, which is saying something.

MSNBC just broke that Hillary's file was looked at too!

I haven't seen anyone in the Obama camp make that accusation, but I have certainly seen Hillary's camp pimping the Wright story. They want to call someone else 'amateur hour'? really? the most incompetently run campaign in modern memory, excepting Rudy Giuliani's?

Quick Greg! Post about Hillary's passport breach!

Nobody did about Obama's, but that's ok, this is Hillary TPM.

Just more of the kitchen sink strategy. Guess they aren't too happy that Richardson is not only endorsing Obama he is suggesting Clinton end her campaign and the party start battling McCain.

Go Obama!

A Modest Proposal:

How the State Dept. can fully protect their passport files from unauthorized snoopers, and spies.

Install the TPM login method. No one will be able to stay logged in long enough to accomplish a damn thing.

1st Clinton surrogate: "We think the Obama campaign will accuse us"

2nd Clinton surrogate, in reference to 1st: "See! Obama is attacking us!"

3rd Clinton surrogate, in refernce to 1st and 2nd: "See what a mess these amatuers on Obama's campaign are making!"

Is "amateur hour" as bad as "monster?" It's close. It's clear that Singer should step down.

Obama (D-Rezko) = poor choice.

Shouldn't you fact check before posting this allegation?

What would happen if you all just stopped reporting on anything the campaign flaks say and just concentrate on the candidates.

I really find this every day back and forth behind the scenes to be massively stupid and un-helpful.

This is professional. Remember Hillary's huge 35 million haul in Feb? Turns out that was some fuzzy math.... It was 19 mil

http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/

Greg, when you have to preface your summary of the latest Clinton conference call with the words "This is interesting," it's a good bet that it's not. The Clintons call the Obama campaign "amateur hour" and it's news? If you can't find stuff more interesting than that, maybe you should spend some time reporting. Or something.

From the desk of:

Howling Wolfson

We Professional Losers here at Camp Hillary, accuse those Winners over at Camp Obama of being Amateurs.

We Professional Losers from Camp Hillary are unveiling our new campaign theme:

IT TAKES A CLINTON TO RAZE OUR PARTY.

You know we mean it. We have done it before.

Just to show that we mean business: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has endorsed John McCain for Commander in Chief, ahead of Senator Obama.

Party unity is only for when Hillary needs it.

Hillary is the new Lieberman.

"Amateur hour" made me burst out laughing. It's such an absurd thing to say, it's absolutely hilarious. Honestly, who, in Obama's camp or elsewhere, immediately suspected Hillary was behind the passport breach? I'm venturing almost no one. The logical likely culprit would be the current GOP administration. The Clinton camp is just slinging that kitchen sink like crazy. It's comical. Talk about looking desperate.

Clinton lied about February donations...
http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/?p=926
16 million less than what she claimed

Just because you spend millions of dollars on high-priced consultants, does not mean you'll do better then a bunch of amateurs.

Hopemonger, hold off on that one. I think Al misread the LA Times story. It was ambiguous at best.

Anyway, the "amateur hour" comment is highly amusing. "Those clueless idiots! They're barely beating us!"

Too funny coming from one of the worst run campaigns in recent memory. I'm still waiting for the riding in a tank in an oversized helmet moment.

The Clinton campaign has made blunder after blunder. If you'll pardon the expression (borrowed from Shakespeare), this clearly is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Amateur Hour??? Sounds like a porn site to me. Her campaign is teetering on absurdity. It's getting funny, almost to the point I'm feeling sorry for them.

A call for reason

This is a unique moment in the American Presidential history that cannot be ignored. After eight long years of Bush’s mismanaged politics domestically and abroad, after a war that was uncalled for, a crumbling economy scarred by raising gas prices and foreclosures, no one, at this point, should need to be reminded that there is no better time, no better opportunity, no better moment, to claim the White House back to a democratic leader. But a leader that can not only be seen as a transition step from failed politics but someone who can truly inspire and catalyze change in this country.

The fact of the matter is that this campaign, more than any other in history, has succeeded in engaging millions of voters (young and old, poor and rich, black and white) in understanding their role in politics and that their voices do matter. This is no small feat and it should not be ignored—nothing that the McCain-Bush camp will ever be able to claim. For that alone, I am grateful to both candidates. But the reality that the Clinton campaign has consistently failed to admit is that the Clintons represent mere transition, while Obama embodies the voice of change, the voice of a new future at arms reach.

There is, in fact, a wide gap that separates the two democratic candidates. While Hillary has played “by the book” of how politics are normally done, acting subversively, divisively (and unequivocally fiercely), Barack has demonstrated consistently his contempt for hypocrisy, cynicism and ruthless means to get to an end.

Hillary is an intelligent woman, no doubt about it. Obama has made a point to acknowledge it every time they have a face-to-face encounter. She has served the country to the best of her abilities, I have to believe, and before anyone could fathom that Barack could sweep the election away from her, she would have had a true shot at locking down the nomination. But now, clearly against all odds (it’s virtually mathematically impossible for her to surpass the delegate lead and the popular vote count Obama has), her perseverance has morphed into blind stubbornness, helping in absolutely nothing when making our (democratic) case against Mr. McCain. At this point, I question what Hillary is trying to prove and to whom. Is it that her political ambition is just this uncontrollable that she can’t see past her own meager attack tactics?

The country has given the lead to Barack Obama, a lead that he legitimately owns out of his own merits as not only a politician, but a grass roots organizer and, more importantly, an undeniable President of the (future) United States of America. He has shown the vision, judgment, assertiveness and determination to become an historic president. On all levels, on all accounts. And this is what Hillary’s campaign needs to start conforming to.

The realities of this campaign have been that Clintons will stop at nothing, and that’s not a quality to be praised. It’s rather a myopic view of how this election should unfold. After the memorable speech on Race, all doubts, if any still existed, about Obama’s ability to be Comander and Chief should have been dissipated. I am still to hear Clinton make such a remarkable impact on American society as Obama already has.
On the contrary, Hillary’s tactics are weak and short-lasting: her so called experience that includes eight years in the White House as First Lady are still to be vetted, her involvement in any crisis or critical decision taken during that time is overtly questionable and dubious, her poor judgment on the war issues regrettable. Her use of kitchen sink politics (including aligning herself with McCain as far as the two best qualified for the presidency due to experience) hinges on mediocrity and despair. And this is what I fail to understand—why is Clinton still in the race? What good does this do to the Democratic Party, to the country and to politics in general? I am at a loss. My fear, however, is that this drawn out race will hinder our ability to show union, and rally the country behind a need for change. I believe the last thing we all want is another republican in the White House that supports Bush’s policies.

Hillary’s last resort is the appeal to the super-delegates. And It can’t be any more unfortunate than this: winning not by popular vote, not by number of states, not by pledged delegates, but winning by using the subversive, demagogic powers that command in Washington. This would be a blow, I have to believe, for most democrats, especially after the Al Gore/Bush debacle. It would be shameless, ruthless and utterly unacceptable.

I lived in Europe, where politics are and have been rotted for generations, and lived in the US only to witness Bush’s disastrous politics. Hillary Clinton is above average, but far from the greatness of Barack Obama—a leader of such caliber I have never seen in my lifetime. And the first step to making a change is believing we can make a change. The gap between Hillary and Obama is the gap between good and great. I believe that greatness is possible and I urge Mrs. Clinton to let History take its right course.

"We're going back to check the original MSNBC report and we'll keep you posted."

STILL WAITING GREG!!!!!

Have you ever noticed how, well, "Freudian" the Clinton campaign is sometimes? Projection or something like that. The first time that just left me gasping for air was the "Obama's too ambitious" bit, going from kindergarten to Hillary herself describing him, derisively, as "someone who was planning his presidential campaign the day he was sworn into the Senate." ...... Words fail.

There have been a whole bunch along the way, really should collect them ----- but I think today's accusation that the *other* campaign has been run like an "amateur hour" most definitely belong up on the top shelf of that collection.

"Amateur hour?" Really? Shall we ignore the fact that the Clinton campaign is in the red while Obama has raised a ton more money than her all throughout the campaign? Shall we ignore the fact that Clinton managed to lose 11 primaries in a row with around 20-point margins? Shall we ignore the fact that the Obama campaign was prepared to move on from Super Tuesday with the groundwork already set while Clinton had assumed that Super Tuesday would be her coronation? Who's really acting amateur around here?
This is in no way protecting the conspiracy theories linking this passport mess to Clinton. It's just... amateur? Come on.

As they sday on the Jim Rome show when someone celebrates a sack while their team is down two touchdowns with a minute and a half to play: "Scoreboard!"

It is to laugh.

After winning 11 states in a row,it's a good thing for the Clinton campaign that the amateurs are running the Obama campaign. If they were professionals Hillary would've been forced to concede defeat by now.

"...Hillary Spokesperson Describes Obama Campaign As "Amateur Hour"..."

OMG that's rich... People you have to watch this piece of video...

You have to see it to believe it... Hillary has no shame -- lol

Hillary Clinton in Bosnia
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/hillary_clinton_in_bosnia.php#comments

Un'freakin'believable.

High 'elders' I really don't want this woman teaming up with McCain and Lieberman against Obama when she starts lying about the WMD in Iran... I think you officially pull her plug now! pleeeeeeze....

Is it just me, or does Hillary's "Ready On Day One" theme sound amateurish in the way she inserts her mantra into everything? It seems she is saying at breakfast time she is ready on day one to have coffee and Danish, ready on day one to get into her limo, ready on day one to have a Q&A, ready on day one to have your passport vetted, ready on day one to go to the bathroom, ready on day one to wipe her... well, you know.
This annoying habit, plus the familiar cackle, plus talking like Moms Mabley when addressing a black audience... it's not sending out any pro vibes to me, anyway.