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Clinton Ally Lanny Davis: Wright Issue "Is Not Going Away"
Another Clinton ally is publicly going after Barack Obama over the Jeremiah Wright story, with former White House special counsel Lanny Davis writing a lengthy op-ed piece in the Wall St. Journal — a piece that questions Obama's electability in an apparent appeal to any super-delegates who might be reading.
"Attacking the motives of those who feel this discomfort about Senator Obama's response or nonresponse to Reverend Wright's comments is not just unfair and wrong," Davis writes. "It also misses the important electoral point about winning the general election in November: This issue is not going away."
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This is nothing new from Lanny Davis. He's posted similar tripe in The Huffington Post.
April 9, 2008 8:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Read: It's not going away if they have anything to say about it.
April 9, 2008 8:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've got to say, of all the different candidate surrogates, Davis is hands down the worst. Rendel? I like his moxie. Schumer? Good guy. Evan Bayh? Not bad for a robot. On the Obama side, can't say I've got a problem with any of them, though Andrew Sullivan can show himself to be an unpersuasive ass when he starts defending Obama. But Lanny Davis? Davis is like Mark Penn. There are just some people who need to go away for good. Lanny Davis is one; Penn is another. Please, please, please. We don't Republicans like that in the Democratic Party (oh, and feel free to take Sullivan with you).
April 9, 2008 8:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Andrew Sullivan may be an idiot, but he's not a surrogate because he's not attached to the campaign.
April 9, 2008 9:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
I know. He's just the only one out there shilling for Obama that I tend not to like.
April 9, 2008 9:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, Davis has a really long history of idiocy, whether it's accusing Lieberman's critics of being bigots and liars, to accepting an appointment from Bush to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and talking publicly about all the GREAT privacy protections they were briefed on that he's not allowed to tell us about. It's clear he has no principles, and will suck up to anyone in order to remain in The Village. He is truly a special case.
April 9, 2008 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
If for no other reason than the way he supported Lieberman in the last election, with so much dishonesty and so much vigor, he should be kicked out of the Democratic party.
Come to think of it, the entire DLC should be kicked out of the Democratic Party. They have nothing in common.
April 9, 2008 9:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wanker.
And in his representation of corporate scumbags like Richard Scrushy, Davis is little more than Mark Penn with a law degree.
April 9, 2008 9:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, that's mean, but I agree with you (and Billy Sumday). Lanny Davis is horrible. He's the one person in any of the campaigns that sickens me in the same way that Karl Rove, Tom Delay, Coulter, Limbaugh or Fox News folks do.
April 9, 2008 10:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, for me, Davis in second place (tied with Charlie Black) in my current Wankers of the 2008 Campaign List. Number one? Couldn't be anyone other than Mark Penn.
April 9, 2008 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
The only people this isn't going away for is Hillary and her campaign, who want to exploit this ignorance and racism, this right-wing smear from Fox News for their own political gain. It is beyond shameless that they are trying to make an issue out of this.
Besides, it is obviously not a problem considering his numbers in the polls have only gone UP since then. Also, the GOP can't use it against him, because McCain, and Huckabee, have defended Obama and Wright, and McCain has his own crazy church issues, as does the whole Republican Party.
Face it, this is nothing more than a shameless and desperate attempt to scare superdelegates into voting for her. And obviously it isn't working because she hasn't gained any over this, while Obama keeps picking up more.
April 9, 2008 9:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
He might not be going away, but neither is Vince Foster...and he can't give interviews.
April 9, 2008 9:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
It appears that Lanny Davis, Gov Rendell and Hillary Clinton are worried that the Rev. Wright story WILL fade away. They seem to be the only ones still PUSHING IT.
Polls show that Americans don't, for the most part, care about the story. Dem's still vote for Obama. They are smarter then Lanny, Rendell and Hillary - they don't agree that what the pastor says is the same way Obama feels.
The Hillary Camp are ERY WORRIED alright -- not about the Wright story hurting Obama; but about Hillary losing in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana because of her own lies (Bosnia sniper fire, Penn and Bill's Columbia connections).
April 9, 2008 9:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
"I am a strong supporter of and a substantial fundraiser for Hillary Clinton for president (though in this column I speak only for myself)."
What a weasel Lanny Davis is. Immediately after saying, "Oh I speak only for myself, don't hold Hillary Clinton responsible for what I say," he goes on to hold Obama responsible for what Wright said. What an unbelievable tool.
Davis, Penn, Wolfson, Carville and the like are one of the primary reasons I don't want to see the Clintons back in the White House. Do we really want to listen to 8 more years of this garbage?
April 9, 2008 9:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's nice to hear you speak your own mind. I'm curious, are you angry on any level as a Clinton fundraiser that so much of your money and the hard-earned dollars of loyal supporters are going to the likes of Mark Penn?
April 9, 2008 10:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
That was a quote from the linked Lanny Davis column, not from The Other Ed. Note the quote marks.
April 9, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Racist campaign of Obama's moves on.
Via The Tartan, the student newspaper for Carnegie Mellon on a Michelle Obama campaign rally in PA: Some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan’s correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another, “Get me more white people, we need more white people.” To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, “We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.”
“I didn’t know they would say, ‘We need a white person here,’ ” said attendee and senior psychology major Shayna Watson, who sat in the crowd behind Mrs. Obama. “I understood they would want a show of diversity, but to pick up people and to reseat them, I didn’t know it would be so outright.” The politics of theater. Can you imagine if a similar request for African-Americans was made by the Clinton campaign? It would lead the evening news.
April 9, 2008 9:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm willing to put money that any campaign indulges in that sort of tactic. Glad to see you managed to work in the "can you imagine if a *white person* did that?" dead horse, though.
April 9, 2008 9:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
where's the TrollRating 3000 when you need it. this post is aching for some analysis.
April 9, 2008 10:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
And Sniper Gate will endear Hillary to independents and cross-over voters all across the country? Gimme a break.
Notice that Davis says he's writing only as himself, but he echoes that stupid Hillary line about you don't get to choose family members but you can choose your pastor.
And on that point: there are lots of people who barely tolerate their clergy but keep going to a church, temple, etc b/c they take great satisfaction from the congregation/ community.
April 9, 2008 9:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Seems like wishful thinking from the Helms campaign, er, I mean, Hillary campaign.
Bosnia-gate is not going away either!
McCain who faced real bullets can go up against Hillary's Bosnia fanatasy.
She wrote her own Swiftboat ad!
April 9, 2008 9:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lanny, as they say in courtrooms all across America, asked and answered. Your attempts to place him at the scene of the crime, notwithstanding, you acknowledge that Senator Obama clearly doesn't share those views. And despite Senator Obama's unequivocal statements that he was not present when these statements were made and that he learned of them after they became a YouTube sensation, you pretend that there is still some question on this matter. More to the point, you ignore his unequivocal statement and pose a question that suggests that his statement was false.
To be frank, it is virtually impossible to speak out against statements until after you hear them. And if he did not know of these statements until their YouTubing, as you are well aware, then it is disingenuous to ask why he was awarded a campaign spot. Just as it would disingenuous to ask why Senator Clinton why she and President Clinton invited Reverend Wright to a White House breakfast knowing that he made these controversial statements.
I don't question your motives, I question your integrity and intelligence. It is a sad day when a so-called Democrat engages in tactics such as these. A sad day indeed.
April 9, 2008 9:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
We hope the rumor is true. Pastor Wright, his Church and his Church Members are going to file a Defamation of Character, Malice, Slander, Libel, Deception, Distortion Law Suit against the Networks, Pundits, Host and network Attorneys for not doing due diligence. In regard to airing those deceptive Sermons.
Go to YOUTUBE.com to see the complete Sermons of Paster Wright. Instead you guys in the Media continue to show the Deceptive 15-30 seconds clips over and over again.
Tell the Whole Story FOX! Barack Obama's pastor Wright
http://uk.youtube.com/user/TRINITYCHGO
Sam Stein>> Meet The (White) Man Who Inspired Wright's Controversial Sermon
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/politics/
April 9, 2008 9:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, Obama swiftboated by people in his own party. Well, it ain't gonna work, not this time. Lanny Davis can go, as we Cuban Americans say, pa' el carajo!
April 9, 2008 9:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
This reminds me of the MSM claim that Iraq isn't on the news because it's not on people minds.
April 9, 2008 9:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Can you imagine if a similar request for African-Americans was made by the Clinton campaign? It would lead the evening news."
Actually, campaigns do this sort of orchestration all the time. I was once moved from a section of the bleachers at a rally because I wasn't wearing the same Union T-shirt as people around me.
Regarding the Wright issue - fine let it come up - it's another opportunity for Obama to handle it well - and for McCain's wacko religious supporters to be outed.
April 9, 2008 9:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ok, Democrats - you do this to me again like you did it to all of us who wanted to see Howard Dean run and I'm through with you after I vote in November.
I am not going to let you do this to me again, Democratic Party - hear me?
You get my vote and then you see the back of me as I walk right out the door marked: 3d Party this way====>
April 9, 2008 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
You know what else isn't going away?
Everything from travelgate to whitewater to stained blue dresses to Bosnia lies.
They may swiftboat Obama...but they'll swiftFLEET Hillary.
April 9, 2008 9:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Really? O god I hope this is true - this is exactly what they need to do - fight back and fight back hard like you life depends on it.
April 9, 2008 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
No shit, Sherlock.
They are dying to run against her - this is the worst they can come up with against Obama? They are dying to run against her.
For the love of heaven - it's going to be all Monica all the time, among many many other things.
We get to replay the entire 90s, plus every moment since they impeached Bill. From his pardons to her association with scum - they will absolutely slaughter Clinton and the party in the process.
April 9, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Somebody needs to ask Lanny which he prefers in the White House, a man that has sex with an intern while talking about American's business on the phone, or a man that went to a church that had a pastor that said some bad things about America?
We all know Lanny supported Bill.
April 9, 2008 9:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
And last night gotalife was citing LittleGreenFootballs in support of HIllary.
LittleGreenFootballs - you know what Squeaky and his minions really call LGF? LittleGookfuckers. Squeaky is probably the most racist violent hateful blogger on the planet. Well, next to Misha, the Rottweiler.
What a pair - dem and gotalife. If they aren't Repug trolls, who needs Repug trolls.
April 9, 2008 9:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why is it that every time I hear how the Wright issue is not going away, it seems to be Sen. Clinton's surrogates? They act as if they are the only ones who know that the Repugs are going to attack the Democratic candidate and they are trying to protect poor little Barack:
"Yes, this has been a fun little run but now it's time for you to go back to your little Senate seat, Barack. You can't handle these big, bad Republicans in November cause they are so M E A N! Be a good boy, and run along."
April 9, 2008 10:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Calvin Butts, whose endorsement Clinton sought and received, invited Fidel Castro to give a speech at his church. Will Clinton denounce and reject him for that? Why isn't that getting more play?
April 9, 2008 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
I can't decide who's worse -- Lanny Davis for being a concern troll or Eric Kleefeld for being a slut (by posting this).
April 9, 2008 10:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps I've lost my sense of objectivity, but the Clintons seem to be surrounded by either whiny wankers or slimy henchmen. Lanny Davis coming across as the former, Terry McAuliffe the latter. Actually, I'm sure Lanny and Terry can be decent guys on some level, but I'm getting irritated at the Clinton camp's selfish prolonging of their hopeless cause that is now damaging the person who in all reasonable likelihood (Democrats are beginning to realize) has already won the nomination.
April 9, 2008 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps I've lost my sense of objectivity, but the Clintons seem to be surrounded by either whiny wankers or slimy henchmen.
Lanny Davis coming across as the former, Terry McAuliffe the latter.
Actually, I'm sure Lanny and Terry can be decent guys on some level, but I'm getting irritated at the Clinton camp's selfish prolonging of their hopeless cause that is now damaging the person who in all reasonable likelihood (Democrats are beginning to realize) has already won the nomination.
April 9, 2008 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
whiny wankers or slimy henchman
No, you haven't lost your perspective. You've nailed the Clinton campaign.
And whoever said "they'll swiftfleet her": Priceless.
I love the internets at times like this.
April 9, 2008 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lanny Davis, Harold Ickes and those of their ilk are just so desperate to keep the Wright issue alive, in the faint hope they can keep the primaries close enough to somehow win this thing with Superdelegates (which isn't happening, by the way)....Bringing up the Wright issue is about as transparent as someone who says "I don't think the country is ready for a (black man, woman, etc.) to be President, I personally am ready, of course, but the country isn't."
It doesn't seem to be working with the Superdelegates either....Hillary's advantage has shrunk down to 28 Supers according to Real Clear Politics. The writing is on the wall, so guys like Davis and Ickes are going to have to decide whether they want to get on board the freight train, or get their asses run over by it.
April 9, 2008 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lanny Davis is one of the reasons why, even though I will vote for her if she's the nominee, I'm not particularly enthused about Clinton.
He's a loathsome individual who represents the appeasement wing of the Democratic party. The ultimate insider, who's had a serious negative impact on Democrats.
I loathe him.
April 9, 2008 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I could not agree more. I was about to post something exactly along those lines.
April 9, 2008 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
of course its not going away.
Clinton supporters won't let it.
No one besides them is talking about this.
April 9, 2008 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
lanny, lanny, lanny! coming from a man who wrote an entire book about the evils of "gotcha politics", you're just damn lucky you aren't hit by lightening, lanny!
truly an amazing hypocrite!
April 9, 2008 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lanny Davis is the guy who wrote glowingly back in January about the idea of a McCain-Clinton ticket.
"But I'm betting that such a third ticket won't be necessary, because either Democrats or Republicans -- or both -- will nominate a bipartisan ticket in 2008 or commit to a bipartisan presidency after the election. And I'll wager that if only one of the parties does it, that party will win."
Nuff said.
April 9, 2008 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
OBAMA ALLY DEADALUS: 'Lanny Davis Issue' is Not Going Away
This man is one of the reasons I have never supported Hillary.
April 9, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
The fact that Lanny Davis put this out to the public must mean that Ickes and his crew of ten teephone-wielding assistants couldn't persuade the super delegates with the Wright issue.
So in an illogical desperate ploy, this public article is saying 'SEE, the Wright issue will stay alive', SEE...it's still alive SEE....here's proof it is still alive......SEE!!! [because, well, we in Hillaryland have to keep it alive, 'cause he's whopping our last hopes]
April 9, 2008 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Okay, now, let's keep our rightwing smear archetypes straight, shall we? This is a "Tank With a Funny Hat" ad they'll be doing with the Tuzla Tess footage, not a Swiftboat ad.
A "Swiftboat" smear is one that attacks a candidate's strengh with lies. "Obama was not really a professor" is a (minor) kind of Swiftboating.
A "white hands" smear is one that makes a blatantly racist appeal with an just barely enough subtlety to enable the candidate to feign innocence of racist intent with enough plausibility to be believed by his/her most vociferous supporters (if no one else). Lanny Davis is engaging in a "white hands" smear.
A "Willie Horton" smear is one that makes a blatant appeal to prejudice on the basis of a tenuous factual connection between the candidate and the event. I haven't seen a true Willie Horton yet, or if I have, it was lost in the parade of horrors. Rezkobased attackes come closest.
A "Tank and Silly Hat" smear is one that exploits an instance where the candidate made him/herself look ridiculous, usually in connection with trying to bolster one's "manly warrior" credentials. That's what the Tigress of Tuzla would be facing if she won.
April 9, 2008 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
You also gotta love how he declares that "attacking the motives" of the people keeping this alive is "unfair" because this is going to be an issue in November, when in fact attacking those motives is exactly how it should be dealt with in November if it's still being talked about, so how the hell could it be "unfair" to do it now?
But I'm sure if we tell them it's "unfair," to bring it up, Republicans will say they're sorry and drop the whole thing. Right, Lanny?
April 9, 2008 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Btw, calling this guy an "ally" or even a "surrogate" is an inappropriate usage of the word. Davis is a meat puppet, nothing more and nothing less. When Hill or Bill want a respectable looking front for saying something really repulsive, they pull Lanny out of the closet, shove a hand up his ass to the shoulder and employ their ventriloquism skills. "Ta Cherimiah Wrght issue ish not going away! Itsh not going away, I shay! Hey, doesh anyone want to shplit a gottle of geer?"
April 9, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Aaaand, the sad part is that their choice for a "respectable looking front" could hardly be less respectable or more transparent.
I bet FOX news will be airing Hillary's coronation come January, complete with cardboard bible, fake background and CGI crowds. And it'll be just as good for her supporters. "Who cares if it's true? We've seen a woman become president on TV in our lifetime!"
April 9, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lanny, your name is L-A-N-N-Y, who can take you seriously?!
April 9, 2008 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was a Hillary supporter with my voice and checkbook from 01/07 to 01/08. The turning point for me was a Lanny Davis interview on NPR after Bill had let the Jesse Jackson and He only won cause he's black rap out of the garbage can. I had always supported Bill and I was impressed with Hillary in NY. But listening on NPR to Lanny blaming Obama for Bill's comments and saying that Obama had started this food fight actually shocked me. I have been a senior political appointment for two governors(neither of whom I campaigned for!)so I am not naive. And in fact, I admired the way Lanny defended Bill during Monicagate. But the consistent use of race by the Clinton Campaign, most disgustingly and consistently by Lanny Davis, has turned me off big time.
Also: Listening to all the Clintonites saying that they will not vote for Obama in the general, I want to say that I will not vote for Hillary if she is the nominee. And who will be the number one victims of such small minded petty personal poltics: The women who support Hillary who will see the Supreme Court take away their right to choose.
Sorry, I am just so disgusted with Hillary, her campaign, and her supporters. If she is the nominee, I will vote for Nader/McCain. No. Sadly, I care too much for my country and my party, because of its more humane values.
April 9, 2008 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone who thinks that the Wright or Pakistan or any other controversial issue about Obama is not going to come up in the general election is living in a bubble. It's up to the super delegates to consider who will have the best chance to win in November. If it looks like Obama will not carry certain voters or has too much negative issues he will not get the nomination. Simple as that. The Dems want to win this time. Lanny Davis is only voicing what many are already talking about.
April 9, 2008 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Harold Ickes should be ashamed of himself.
The premise of Davis's piece is that Obama should have left the congregation; but what does that say about the 8,000 members of Trinity? If, as Davis suggests, there is a moral reason to leave the church, that reason should apply to all members; there's no double standard on that. Is Davis saying the entire congregation is morally bankrupt? Of course not, because the reality of Wright and Trinity is that he and the church have done many many good things...things that one doesn't renounce on the basis of three snippets.
I don't know what Davis's motivations are (I lied, I do, as we all do); but I can't believe a man of Ickes' history and principles would subscribe to Davis's formulation of the "issue" in the WSJ.
Mr. Ickes, what do you believe in?
April 9, 2008 5:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bill Clinton's jizzum all over that blue dress is an issue that won't go away for some people (not me; I was over it before it began), so I guess Lanny would not question a Democrat who wrote an Op-Ed in the Phila Inquirer that the messy dress and all the lies about it are not an issue for said Op-Ed writer, but might be an issue for many voters.
Will someone just put Lanny Davis in a soundproof booth and not publish his idiocy?
April 9, 2008 9:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
We already know 20% of whites will never vote for any black man. Sounds like Lanny Davis is in that group.
http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=4678
April 22, 2008
The Wright context
If you were to visit Trinity United Church of Christ, a predominantly African-American congregation on the Chicago's South Side, you would be warmly welcomed. You'd experience spirited singing that comes deep from the soul. You'd feel the palpable pain of the people, many of whom live in neighborhoods where innocent children are caught in the crossfire of warring gangs, where police officers are regularly accused of engaging in racial profiling, and where the rates of incarceration and unemployment are extremely high. And until his recent retirement from the pulpit, you would have heard the powerful preaching of Jeremiah Wright.
We don't know if the United States is willing to elect a black candidate to its highest office. But it is already clear that many Americans are not interested in understanding the prophetic preaching of a black minister.
April 9, 2008 11:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think Lanny's article backfired because the more Rev. Wright's words are studied, the less offensive they become. I was much more offended by Lanny's words. I grew up when Democrats were burning flags during VietNam, so Rev. Wright's words just don't seem that alarming to me. I believe in free speech, and I thought the Democratic party did too. But a Democrat candidate is using the same "un-American" tactics as Karl Rove. God help us from the "true patriots" such as Lanny and Karl. (Somebody should tell Bill and Hillary Clinton that they have become Republicans.)
April 10, 2008 2:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was wondering, is Lanny Davis gay?
April 10, 2008 2:18 AM | Reply | Permalink