Obama-Backing SEIU Hits Hillary In Tough Last-Minute Iraq Mailer
SEIU, one of Obama's key labor allies, sent out a hard-hitting, last-minute mailer in Indiana implicitly attacking Hillary on Iraq.
Click on the image to enlarge...
"It isn't just about who will bring them home," the mailer reads. "It's a question of who voted to send them to Iraq in the first place. Barack Obama is the only Democrat who opposed Bush's misguided war from the beginning."
One thing that's interesting about this mailer is that in the Indiana contest, foreign policy issues seemed to recede into the background, displaced by debates over the gas tax and the economy.
By contrast, foreign policy arguments seemed to be in the forefront in the closing days of the Ohio and Pennsylvania contests, particularly after Hillary hit the airwaves with ads questioning Obama's ability to handle national security crises.
There have been no such closing foreign policy debates in Indiana (yet). Indeed, this mail piece hitting Hillary on Iraq was dropped by a third party.

















Hillery is going to win IN by 10 points, at least. And in NC she will win, just by the skin of her teeth. She said so herself. She's gonna win big tomorrow. Gotalife said so, too. And he has been right over and over and over again.
And you know why? Gas tax holiday. Lots of people drive, especially in NC and IN. They don't need elitists telling them about "supply and demand" and "what the market will bear". They know they want to save $45 over three months. And they will throw their lot in with Hillery. And people like holidays, especially ones that last all summer. Awesome.
Hillery is the only candidate that stands up for the little guy. She's not some multi-million $ elitist from an Ivy league law school, unlike Obama. She's just a downhome country gal who like herself some whiskey and drives around in an old pick-up truck. And she hates OJ. And has bowled a 300 four times, once at Tuzla Lanes. She has the credentials to answer phones at 3:00 AM like no one else.
May 5, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice snark!
May 5, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, because "she said so herself," I'm changing my vote today, and I encourage everyone here to acknowledge the fierce logic of this position.
Thank you for an entertaining 4th grade recess.
May 5, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
And don't forget that Hillary has laserbeams coming from her eyes and can jump buildings in a single bound. Hillary is magic. Gnomes and fairies dance in her trail. Her spittle cures blindness . . .
May 5, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
You forgot about the Commander-in-Chief rainbows she can shoot out of her ass.
May 5, 2008 1:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
This isn't snark. Hillery is going to win IN by a big big margin and take NC.
I'm very confident about Hillery's chances in NC. She, I mean WVWV, has been doing an amazing job "registering" African American voters in NC. She has this thing in the bag. Yesterday Tuzla, today NC and IN, tomorrow THE WORLD!!!
May 5, 2008 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
afferent input is just bullshitting you there is no way hillary will win in NC and she knows it, Obama will gain delegates tommorow because north carolina is much bigger, also there is a reason why no economy experts like the gas tax holiday so don't listen to any of that crap
May 5, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
A more artful headline would be that SEIU is sending or distributing this piece.
"Dropping" as in campaign parlance, has a different meaning than in others, making the headline sound like SEIU is backing away from the mailer.
May 5, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's done that before. I thought Clinton was taking an ad off the air in PA because he said she was "dropping an ad." We're not the only ones who've said that, too. You'd think after enough comments like this ...
May 5, 2008 6:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Greg,
I may not be all "in" with the lingo thing here, but the title of the post made me think that by "drops" you meant they had decided not to send the mailer out.
May 5, 2008 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Drop" is a mass-mailing term. When a mailing is "dropped" means the day it either hits the post office or the recipient's mailboxes.
May 5, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent. I'm sick of how there is rarely any talk about how we got to where we are in the first place. The general election should be about this first and foremost, and yet it has barely been talked about.
May 5, 2008 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, maybe with the news of 4 marines being killed yesterday in Anbar Province (and the Iraqi first lady almost getting blown up) this will come back into play. It can't hurt to remind people about this ... surely the American people can handle two or three issues at a time, no? ;)
May 5, 2008 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've been wondering if HRC was going to drop some bomb of an ad (a la Osama bin Laden) the day before the IN election, but she hasn't. Guess she has to settle for that horrible gun ad.
May 5, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do people really still see Obama as "the only Democrat who opposed Iraq from the beginning" - based on that one speech before an anti-war crowd before he was even in the Senate - where he voted exactly the same as Hillary on every single vote pertaining to the war?? I thought Obama moved on from the "I opposed the war" issue once people started seeing how weak it really was.
May 5, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, he hasn't "moved on"....Nor will he, as the simple fact of his opposition to the war will hit McCain like an anvil in the general election.
Here's hoping you swtich your party affiliation and consider joining us in supporting the Dem. nominee.
May 5, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
so on one hand obama has been running for president since kindergarten, but on the other hand he had nothing at stake politically just 2 years before election to national office. very consistent logic. why do you buy into this nonsense?
May 5, 2008 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't be obtuse. Of course he had something at stake. He must have been laying the groundwork for a Senate run and must have known that his previous public statements on the war would be analyzed. He chose to go on record and that was courageous.
[I hate to quote George Will, but years ago on This Week he defended a Republican (jesse helms, methinks) thus: "He didn't take a poll, he took a position." I think that sentiment applies to Obama quite well.]
May 5, 2008 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's one more speech than she gave pal.
May 5, 2008 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh and I think this ad really hits home and is well made. Exactly as Carol says, Iraq's fragile peace is quickly unraveling. It's not just about a stupid gas holiday.
May 5, 2008 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
There were no debates in Indiana because Obama refused to debate.
May 5, 2008 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
oh boo hoo
May 5, 2008 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, Otto, STFU ... there were, what, 21 or 22 debates? Please. You mean to tell me that Hoosiers don't have televisions? They haven't seen any of the other debates? That is a total strawman argument and you sound ridiculous even suggesting it. And nice non sequitur. What does that have to do with the mailer?
May 5, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Otto says, "There were no debates in Indiana because Obama refused to debate."
Otto's right: the people in Indiana didn't get to ask Obama about issues important to them, such as whether Obama thinks Wright is patriotic, or why Obama doesn't wear a flag pin all the time, or why Hillary Clinton said she dodged sniper fire when she most clearly did not.
Does anyone seriously think a debate in Indiana would raise any issues that hadn't already been trivialized in all the other debates?
Maybe someone from Gary is wondering whether Obama would beat Hillary in arm-wrestling; maybe a retiree from Indianapolis is wondering whether Hillary thinks she could drink Obama under the table.
May 5, 2008 5:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is about time, the real issues cropped up in this election.
(And going by Greg's usual opinionating, he doesn't seem to like it)
May 5, 2008 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
B.O never attend in the war..how can he handle the war...he didnt visit in millatry.......just only hillary clinton can do this ..she is very strong
May 5, 2008 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Huh?
May 5, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are all Hillary trolls uneducated ? Even a third grader can do better than this.
Go away.
May 5, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm trying to be patient with this poster because it seems that English is not his/her native language. But, God, what tripe. These posts are completely unintelligible.
May 5, 2008 1:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
FIRE..........BAD!!!!
May 5, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary shut off your computer before you start swilling your Crown Royal. You are going to feel very embarrassed when you dry out, and read all your drunk typing.
May 5, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Except that foreign policy seems to affect economic issues like gas prices. I think we can thank George Bush for about half the increase since 2002.
May 5, 2008 1:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Indiana borders Kentucky... KY voters overwhelmingly do *not* want a black man for president. I wonder how much of that will trickle over into Indiana? At this point, it seems realistic to expect that Clinton will win IN and Obama will take NC.
Which resolves nothing, except to keep everything static until the next batch of primaries. Arg.
May 5, 2008 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
If by "static" you mean "Obama leading and Hillary falling further and further behind" then, yeah.
May 5, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Which basically means that the story hasn't changed since Super Tuesday, and Obama will be the nominee.
May 5, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
. . . didn't change, except for the 11 straight wins by Obama, most of them blowouts, including the decisive Potomac Primaries.
May 5, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Tough"? Only in the "truth hurts" type of way.
But this third-party mailer is incredibly soft and positive compared, say, to the Clinton CAMPAIGN's recent gun mailer in IN. The SEIU's doesn't get into "Hillary didn't read the NIE," or her irresponsible nuclear war prattle, or Tuzla, or many of the other points that could have been thrown into a truly tough one.
May 5, 2008 1:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Otto F:
Obama's opposition to the AUMF in Iraq was a key issue of his campaign for the Senate in 2003-04.
Are you suggesting that wasn't a politically risky position for him to take?
As for debates, the only debate engagements Obama should accept from now on are those against John McCain.
Hillary will be lucky if she's not primaried in NY at this point.
May 5, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm a New Yorker, and I have vowed that I will work tirelessly for whomever runs against her in 2012. I am totally done with her.
May 5, 2008 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Me too Carol. I live in upstate NY (Hudson Valley) and will do likewise. My local congressperson is not getting any donations from me either. But I don't fault her for supporting Hillary. I just won't financially support her.
May 5, 2008 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
If she sticks to this "nuclear option" nutcase idea, she is going to have serious problems in the Senate upon her return among her peers, and aye, she can expect a primary battle.
That said, I think she will be taking this to court before it's over.
Pax,
M.
May 5, 2008 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
HILLARY THE OBLITERATOR
IS A WAR MONGER.
May 5, 2008 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess Oilbama has to busy voting for Dick Cheney's Big Oil Energy Bill to do anything about trying to stop funding for the Iraq war. Whats that you say? He has voted for funding the Iraq war every time? What has he done since he has been in the senate to try and stop the Iraq war? Whats that you say? Nothing? How many hearings has he held as Chairman of his subcommittee? Whats that you say? Zero? Why did he accept the chairmanship if he was not committed to do the job? Why did he become friends with Rezco and Ayers? Whats that you say because they gave him money? Why is he blocking the windfall profit tax on Oil companies? Because they give him money.
Scumbag empty suit Oilbama.
May 5, 2008 2:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
*yawn*
Your record-player is stuck, dear. If these issues had merit, Sen Clinton would have already won.
What's that you say? She was to have sewed it up by Super Tuesday?
Not with lies and obliteration my dear dembillc. She will have even less room to maneuver after tomorrow. Watching you twist in the wind does have merit, however.
May 5, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Stop calling it Dick's energy bill. You should try reading it sometime. The net effect was increased tax cuts on the oil companies, instatement of several great green intiatives. Obama voted for it because it would be good for Illinois' economy= great ethanol intiative in the bill. Get your facts straight.
Was the bill great? No. Do I agree with Obama's vote? No.
I can absolutely understand it though.
May 5, 2008 2:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
oops. that should be a net effect of increased taxes on the oil companies, not tax cuts.
typo, my bad.
May 5, 2008 2:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
The only Democrat who opposed the war from the beginning? Are they kidding me?
Obama is by no means the only Democrat who opposed the war, and Hillary is by no means the only Democrat who voted for continued weapons inspections before the use of military force.
This mailer is misleading and should be pointed out as such. Also, it doesn't point out that Obama blurred his own position when he said that he doesn't know how he would have voted if he were in the Senate and that his position was basically the same as G.W. Bush. How anti-war does that sound?
May 5, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
It says that Obama is the only "candidate" that opposed Bush's war from the beginning. Hillary is the only other candidate in the Democratic primary, and she is a complete War Monger, who loves to threaten seventy million men women and CHILDREN with a Nuclear Holocaust.
Hillary, The Obliterator, is a War Monger.
May 5, 2008 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
It actually says "Democrat."
May 5, 2008 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ambinder has a hilarious gas-tax-holiday-as-Nigerian-scam-letter from Clinton and McCain. Sample:
May 5, 2008 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why has Hillary been given a free pass regarding her politically calculated vote for the war???? Obama should be hammering her on this, every day. So much for her judgement. Obama, Kennedy, Byrd and a lot of others were not "fooled" by the chickenhawk-in-chief. THEY SHOULD RUN AN AD OF HER BEING CALLED TO VOTE ON THE IRAQ WAR AT 3PM, IN BROAD DAYLIGHT WITH ALL THE FACTS THERE TO SEE, AND BLOWING IT!!!!
May 5, 2008 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another Hudson Valley resident who will work to see any other Dem in HRC's senate seat here in NY. She has morphed into McCain, strapped on testicles, is the opposite of any candidate a feminist should support, and advocated nuclear attacks - which any humanist should abhor.
May 5, 2008 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
afferent input is just bullshitting you there is no way hillary will win in NC and she knows it, Obama will gain delegates tommorow because north carolina is much bigger, also there is a reason why no economy experts like the gas tax holiday so don't listen to any of that crap
May 5, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
people are won over to Obama's side by attraction, rather than promotion. What makes your opinionated snark attractive, is what I want to know.
May 5, 2008 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
obama is better on gas, the economy, health care, and the war i sort of thought that was obvious, that is why im attracted to him and the list of what hes better on with mccain goes on an on
people who aren't with him are probably racist because he is clearly the best canidate
May 5, 2008 7:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
obama is better on gas, the economy, health care, and the war i sort of thought that was obvious, that is why im attracted to him and the list of what hes better on with mccain goes on an on
people who aren't with him are probably racist because he is clearly the best canidate
May 5, 2008 8:00 PM | Reply | Permalink