Posted on 02/22/2007 4:17:14 AM PST by Chi-townChief
He benefits from their name-calling, but is it 'cheap political points'?
LOS ANGELES -- As he seeks the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama is campaigning against "the smallness of our politics" and "scoring cheap political points." It would seem, then, that Team Obama has a higher self-imposed standard when it comes to responding to shots, even cheap ones, lobbed at the Illinois Democrat. It makes life on the trail much tougher, but that's the high-minded course Obama set for himself.
The volley aimed at Obama came Wednesday via a live-fire e-mail from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign. The New York Democrat was filleted by movie mogul David Geffen in an interview he gave to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. Geffen co-hosted Tuesday's glitzy $1.3 million Beverly Hills fund-raiser for Obama, followed by a dinner at his home where a small group of the best donors got to mingle with Obama and his wife, Michelle.
Geffen was once close to the Clintons, Bill and Hillary.
No more.
Not the chairman "Everyone in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it's troubling," Geffen told Dowd. Clinton's chief spokesman, Howard Wolfson, read Dowd's column and zapped out a demand that Obama "disavow personal attacks" Geffen delivered in Wolfson's morning paper.
"While Senator Obama was denouncing slash-and-burn politics yesterday, his campaign's finance chair was viciously and personally attacking Senator Clinton and her husband," Wolfson said.
"If Senator Obama is indeed sincere about his repeated claims to change the tone of our politics, he should immediately denounce these remarks, remove Mr. Geffen from his campaign and return his money."
Geffen, however, is not Obama's finance chairman. That title goes to Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker. Geffen is not part of the Obama campaign. His main role is as major fund-raiser, a job he completed, at least for now, Tuesday night.
Obama's response came from his chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs.
"We aren't going to get in the middle of a disagreement between the Clintons and someone who was once one of their biggest supporters. It is ironic that the Clintons had no problem with David Geffen when he was raising them $18 million and sleeping at their invitation in the Lincoln bedroom. It is also ironic that Senator Clinton lavished praise on Monday and is fully willing to accept today the support of South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford, who said if Barack Obama were to win the nomination, he would drag down the rest of the Democratic Party because 'he's black.'"
Crazy like a fox? Gibbs reminded everyone of the mid-1990s Lincoln bedroom Clinton campaign finance scandals. He also injected a racial element by bringing up Ford. Clinton and Obama are clearly concerned about how they are being defined in the opening weeks of their White House campaigns.
Gibbs reacted exactly as most would in his shoes: He took it to the next level and smashed back.
Wolfson drew attention to a devastating Clinton column that probably would have had a short shelf life if he let it alone, a seemingly bizarre tactic.
But Wolfson may be crazy like a fox. Gibbs' hardball response, the Clinton team seems to be betting, may serve to show that the Obama campaign may not be as different as it claims.
mailto:lsweet3022@aol.com
And the American body politic is in need of a Toon exorcism.
Why do I think this is all a set-up for Hillary to eventually make nice-nice and put B. Hussien Obama on the ticket?
as soon as the sharks smells blood, the msm will turn on hillary is my bet....too much baggage will be the claim
Reminds me of one of those RealTV specials on FOX... When Sacred Cows Collide!
Not only lots and lots of cash but also some action from Mrs. Rich................
Geffen was close enough to the Clinton's to know the scoop about them. I suspect he thinks that Hillary can't win. I think he is wrong. He also knows that any squabbles can be cleared up with money later.
The typical Hillary response came in a 1-on-1 (ie tightly scripted) interview with Stepanopolis, not in a public impromptu comment to journalists.
I think this is an indication that Hillary can't stand the heat and she's got a political glass jaw.
(Obama vs Condi in 2008?)
Will there be a Rat versus Rat debate? That would be worth the price a admission.
I was reading back in the archives. Geffen was really angry with the Clintons over what he saw as a betrayal over Leonard Peltier. Apparently Clinton promised Geffen and his friends that he would grant clemency to Peltier way back in 1991, before he was ever elected President. Then Clinton strung them all along for the next nine years, and stiffed them at the very end.
This could be a rift between Geffen and the Clintons that is beyond bridging. I read this at face value, that Geffen is supporting Obama because Obama is the best chance to beat the Clintons.
I guess the enemy of my enemy is my friend (for now)...
I like it!
Federal Park Police Captain, Craig Livingstone, said that even though a severed horse's head was found next to Geffen's body, he believes it was a simple case of suicide.
unless he is posturing for influence - support obama now - wait til he has a gaffe, then throw the support behind hillary, garnering an indebtedness
By creating a supposed fight between Clinton and Obama it elevates the status of Obama perhaps making him seem more acceptable in the VP slot.
That was '98. Their split occurred in 2000, when clinton pardoned the seditious sleaze Marc Rich, but not Leonard Peltier, Geffen's guy.
It would be interesting to see a comparison of the Rich and Geffen money in the clinton coffers to that point....
Can you imagine the tongue thrashing Billy Boy is getting for not pardoning Geffen's friend? Yikes!
Is it possible that this was staged to distance Hillary from Hollyweird for the benefit of mainstream voters? The only problem with our scenario is that Geffen's statement was just so devastatingly accurate.
Because his slam is so dead-on target it vividly reminds everyone of the reasons for Mrs. Clinton's well-earned rep as a compulsive "congenital liar" who reflexively fibs even when it's in her own best interest to tell the truth. Geffen's hit harms her much more than it helps her with the electorate at large because it plucks her biggest liability out from the underneath blanket of media obscurity & elevates it front & center for public scrutiny once again.
So if this indeed was a sneaky machiavellian effort by the Clinton War Room to give Hillary the chance to shake off the "nuts & sluts" stigma of a Hollywood endorsement, it sure seems like a really dumb way to do it. No, I think Geffen has genuinely arrived at the conclusion that he just can't stand the sight of the lying bi!@# anymore.
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