Populariteit: 15% [?]

Door: Jonas Goldberg

Waar of niet, is de campagne Clinton beschuldigd van het spelen van de raskaart. De ironie hier, natuurlijk, is dat de Rekening en Hillary slechts zelf om van het aanwenden van de soorten politieke tactiek die nu hebben te beschuldigen tegen hen wordt gebruikt.

As the Barack and Hillary Show extended its tour to such off-off-off Broadway primary states as Indiana and North Carolina (coming soon to Puerto Rico!), it was inevitable that both sides would dust off the "playing the race card" script.

Recently, Bill Clinton was asked whether he had played the race card when he compared Barack Obama’s South Carolina victory to Jesse Jackson’s in 1984 and 1988. "No," he said in one of his typical outbursts of enraged self-pity. "I think that they played the race card on me, and we now know … that they planned to do it all along." Then Clinton added to an aide — without realizing he was being recorded — "I don’t think I should take any s—- from anybody on that, do you?"Oh, the ironies. First, Clinton’s initial comments were entirely valid. Obama boasts enormous black support, more than 90%, and that’s what put him (and Jackson)over the top in South Carolina. Second, while it’s arguable that the Clinton campaign has, at the margins, played the race card against Obama, it’s hardly been with much gusto, effectiveness or racism.

Where’s the racism?

Indeed, Obama’s spinners must be yoga masters considering how far they have to stretch to make their case. Betsy Reed, of the left-wing magazine The Nation, cites the Clinton campaign’s reference to Obama’s past drug use (raised most prominently by black Clinton surrogate Bob Johnson) and Bill’s belittling of Obama’s claims of anti-war purity as a "fairy tale" as examples of invidious racial politics.

Huh? Bill Clinton’s marijuana use was an issue in 1992 and, in 2000, the press went bonkers over allegations that George W. Bush had used drugs long ago. So why should it be racist to mention Obama’s even more significant drug use? Likewise, the use of the phrase "fairy tale" wasn’t racial. Even Hillary’s entirely valid, but now-infamous, observation that it was Lyndon Johnson, not Martin Luther King Jr., who secured passage of the Civil Rights Act can be described as racist only if the standard for racism is reduced to anything that hurts Obama. Dubbing inconvenient truths as "racist" is poisonous to U.S. politics. Which is why I have so little sympathy for the Clintons because it was the Clintons themselves who mainstreamed crying racism (or sexism or, in the case of Chinese fundraising scandals, anti-Chinese sentiment) in response to criticism.

Throughout his tenure as both "the first feminist" and "first black" president, Clinton Inc. routinely ascribed political opposition to bigotry. At a conference on race in 1997, Bill Clinton famously wheeled on Harvard scholar Abigail Thernstrom
— a high-minded critic of racial quotas — and bullied her with the question: "Do you favor the United States Army abolishing the affirmative action program that produced Colin Powell? Yes or no?" The tactic was no less brilliant for its cynical dishonesty. (Among the problems with Clinton’s ambush: Powell didn’t benefit from any affirmative action programs, which weren’t in place when he joined the Army nor even when he became a general.)

In 1999, when the Senate rejected his nominee for a Missouri judgeship, Clinton exclaimed that "the Republican-controlled Senate is adding credence to the perceptions that they treat women and minority judicial nominees unfairly." The Clintonites reflexively lamented how "angry white men" were standing in the way of progress, and even resorting to violence. After the Oklahoma City bombing, Clinton fingered the real culprit: Rush Limbaugh.

Then, of course, there was Bill Clinton’s double-dealing of the race card during his impeachment struggle. As my National Review colleague Jay Nordlinger noted at the time, "Whenever Clinton gets into trouble, he reaches for black people, as if for a shield."

Impeachment defense

The first weekend of the Lewinsky scandal, Clinton suddenly invited his old nemesis Jackson to become the family’s spiritual adviser. He summoned black pastors, radio personalities and a battalion of black lawyers. Slowly — but oh so deliberately — the message went forth: Impeaching the first black president was racist. Rep. Charlie Rangel compared him to Martin Luther King. In response to the Starr report, Rep. Maxine Waters said that she was "here in the name of my slave ancestors" to thwart the racist assault on this honorary black man. When asked on BET whether Republicans wanted him impeached because of his affinity for blacks, Clinton responded, "It may be," wink wink, "that that’s a source of anger and animosity toward me."

Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift, the Clinton’s reliable water-carrier, got the memo, saying of the all-white Republican impeachment handlers, "I mean frankly, all they were missing was white sheets. They’re like night riders going over. This is bigger than Bill Clinton."

Hillary Clinton played similar games, of course, insinuating sexism when convenient. But even if she didn’t, it’s worth remembering that she wants credit for being something akin to a co-president in the ’90s. Fine, it’s her record, too.

It’s no wonder the Clintons don’t like it when Obama and his supporters cynically complain that attacks on him are racially motivated; they’re dealing his own race card back at him. This surely stings as Bill no doubt sees this as ingratitude from a constituency he has long taken for granted. And we’d all be better off if this card were tossed from the deck. But make no mistake: Nobody should shed any tears for the Clintons.

About The Author: Jonah Goldberg is editor at large of National Review Online and author of ‘Liberal Fascism.’ He is also a member of USA TODAY’s board of contributors.

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Fox News’s Chief ‘Smear Guru’ Sean Hannity and ReTHUGlican Pollster Frank Luntz Have Been Misrepresenting Polling Pata - To Make Obama Look Bad

Report By: NewsHounds.US

Republican Frank Luntz, who has been reprimanded for misrepresenting polling data, was once again presented as a neutral pollster on Hannity & Colmes last night (5/1/08), this time with another focus group of undecided voters. The only excerpt we saw from the focus group was Luntz repeating his gotcha game designed to make Obama supporters look and feel foolish. As he chatted on the Hannity & Colmes set, Luntz boasted that after the focus group, some of the respondents had changed their point of view as a result. Then he joked that “if only the economy was better” they could do it every day. When Alan Colmes challenged Luntz’ findings, Luntz turned testy and rude. With video.

White-rights champion and Neo-Nazi sympathizer Sean Hannity began with an introduction that took a slap at black voters. “In (Indiana and North Carolina) Obama leads with the younger vote and among African American voters, even after the Rev. Wright media tour.” (my emphasis)

Viewers were not given any information about Luntz’ background nor of his ties to the Republican Party. Hannity introduced Luntz by saying, “Joining us now for analysis, our own Frank Luntz is with us.”….[more]

Popularity: 22% [?]

Hillary Clinton and surrogates are always quick to assert that she has been vetted fully, and that Barack Obama has not, and that the right-wing Republican Nut-Jobs will inflict withering attacks on him in the general election that he will not survive.

Wrong!

Because all they have is Jeremiah Wright and a handful of crooked freak show attacks — with which to stroke racist fears among whites.

The Clinton’s on the other hand are a ready-made ’smear manufacturing factory’ — bedecked with years of association with more and worse unsavory personal associations?

Here are some supporting documents:

1. What Obama wishes he could say
2. The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy’s Dossier on Hillary Clinton — Why Hillary Should Never Be President
3. Bitter and Angry in Rural Pennsylvania: Obama’s Reality vs. Hillary’s Fantasy — QUOTE: “Prejudice, racism and fear do run rampant in areas like this. People are poor. They are in bad health, overweight from a deep-fried diet, and toothless from the lack of dental care. They are unemployed. They are uneducated. They do cling to their hunting rifles and to their religious beliefs. For many, it is about all that they have. The towns around here are full of decaying, boarded up buildings. People live in rundown old trailers with abandoned cars in the front yard. I have seen people using an old car as a stable, with their goat tied to and living in it. I could drive you by a least three old houses that have Conderate flags in the windows.”
4. Fair Play for False Prophets — Do white right-wing preachers have it easier than black left-wing preachers? Is there a double standard?

Editorial Reviews

Book Description: Here’s your one-stop guide to everything Hillary and her staff don’t want you to know. Written in the style and format of Regnery Publishing’s New York Times bestsellers The Official Handbook of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy and Politically Incorrect GuidesT, the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Dossier on Hillary Rodham Clinton is full of fresh reporting, devastating quotes, scandalous stories, funny sidebars, and forgotten but telling incidents from Hillary’s past.

From the Inside Flap: Your one-stop guide to everything Hillary and her handlers don’t want you to know

They adore her in Manhattan. They worship her in Hollywood. They idolize her in the liberal media. But out in the real world are those of us see through her lies about her husband, reject her socialist economics, and despise her radical social agenda. We are the members of what Hillary Clinton described as a “Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy”-and here at VRWC headquarters, we’ve been keeping a file on her. If you’re one of us, The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy’s Dossier on Hillary Clinton will give you all the ammunition to help end Hillary’s White House dreams once and for all.

It’s all here: the dirty deals, unsavory incidents, insane proposals, revealing comments, and outright flip-flops in Hillary’s past. You’ll also find the complete record of her activities since leaving the White House, and the machinery she already has in place to return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The VRWC’s Dossier also reveals:

* Hillary’s constantly shifting (and consistently self-serving) stance on the Iraq war

* Her unsavory fundraising activities (including her taste for campaign contributions from foreign sources)

* How she used 9/11 as an opportunity to win large federal grants for her well-heeled corporate campaign donors

* Hillary’s relentless efforts to control the flow of information about her-including her calls to slap speech controls on the Internet

* “There’s no such thing as other people’s children”: Hillary’s relentless and unyielding desire for collectivism and government control

* How Hillary has wasted your money on outrageous New York porkbarrel projects

* Solid evidence that she will revive her plan for nationwide socialist healthcare

* Her plan for the economy: not lower taxes, but more government

* President Hillary would be an unmitigated catastrophe for the United States-one from which our nation might never recover. Stop her now: with The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy’s Dossier on Hillary Clinton.

* How she has consistently supported policies to facilitate amnesty for illegal immigrants
[On this issue I agree with Hillary 100%] — The racist and xenophobic handling of the immigration reform process by the Republicans, calls for a strong stand in opposition by the eventual Democratic nominee.

More Reviews

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