Posted on 03/06/2008 9:52:19 AM PST by kingattax
On Sen. Barack Obama's new pledge to run a more aggressive campaign against Sen. Hillary Clinton -- asking what her national security credentials are, pushing her to release her tax returns -- Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson just said on a conference call with reporters: "I for one do not find that imitating Ken Starr is a way to win a Democratic primary election for president."
- jpt
UPDATE: I asked both campaigns for comment on Wolfson's remarks.
Wolfson said that by making attacks on Sen. Clinton's openness (or lack thereof), her failure to release her tax returns even after loaning her campaign $5 million, and Whitewater, the Obama campaign is employing Ken Starr-like tactics
The Clinton campaign's evidence includes:
1) An Obama campaign memo which noted that when the Clintons in the past didn't release tax returns, there was interesting material in the unreleased returns, per the Wall Street Journal editorial: "During the 1992 campaign, the Clintons claimed to be coming clean by releasing their tax returns from 1980 forward. But they steadfastly refused to release their returns for prior years, and only later did we learn that 1978 and 1979 were the tax years when Mrs. Clinton reported her 10,000% cattle-futures trading profit."
2) The same Obama memo pointing out that "here are eight pieces of information that could be learned from her tax returns, the accompanying schedules, and attachments:
"Effective tax rate – including whether or not any tax shelters were used to reduce it "Amount of income for spouses by source "Amount of stock gains and losses "Gross income for the couple "Amount earned from stock dividends "Amount of household employment taxes paid "Personal exemptions taken "Charitable contributions made."
3) Obama senior campaign strategist David Axelrod, appearing on This Week with George Stephanopoulos last Sunday, saying, "with all due respect, I would think that the Clinton campaign would be the last person to be wanting to characterize any real estate transaction as unusual," an oblique reference to Whitewater.
4) Axelrod pointing out that the Clintons have not released many materials from the Clinton library, as quoted in Time.
The Obama campaign, noting that Obama has released his tax returns, responded to the Clinton charge, spox Bill Burton saying, “It is absurd that after weeks of badgering the media to ‘vet’ Senator Obama, the Clinton campaign believes that they should be held to an entirely different standard. We don’t believe that expecting candidates for the presidency to disclose their tax returns somehow constitutes Ken Starr-tactics, but the kind of transparency and accountability that Americans are looking for and that’s been missing in Washington for far too long. And if Senator Clinton doesn’t think that the Republicans will ask these very same questions, then she’s not as ready to go toe-to-toe with John McCain as she claims."
Why the Clinton campaign would want to engage in this fight is a question -- Sen. Clinton and her allies have not disclosed a lot of information, that's just a fact.
A bigger question may be why Camp Clinton would want to invoke Ken Starr, conjuring forth memories of grand jury testimony and images of certain presidential mistresses. Will voters really think of Obama as part of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy? I'm not a well-paid political consultant, maybe there's an upside to this that I'm not immediately grasping.
Hey, if Osama was Ken Starr, Hitlery would have been history a long time ago.... :-)
LOL KEN STARR!!!!
Wagging finger and sniffling,
" I did not have sex with that man, Bill Clitorous!"
“I for one do not find that imitating Ken Starr is a way to win a Democratic primary election for president.”
Well, something similar could be said to The Klintoonistas:
“I for one do not find that imitating Ken David Duke is a way to win a Democratic primary election for president.”
Hmm...maybe Obamster should start using the “race card” on Hitlary
There are millions out there saying Ken who?. They will google, they will find excerpts from the Starr report, they will read details they have never been told by the MSM.
I think that's a stupid reference for her campaign to make.
So Obama is a guy who will waste millions of dollars investigating an unimportant petty crime, while ignoring dozens of serious felonies, until it is too late to do anything about them?
Word of advice. If you are ever arrested for a terribly serious crime against the United States, it is better to pay for the services of a local mall lawyer, than to accept the services of a “top lawyer from a major law firm”, who wants to defend you for free.
The difference between the two is that the “top” lawyer will give you the defense you want, before you are found guilty and sentenced to death; but the local mall lawyer may actually win, or get you off with time served.
Conversely, had a local mall lawyer investigated Bill Clinton, there is a good chance that he would be in a federal prison, along with his wife and most of his staff, for the next 20 years.
Howard Wolfson is such a creature.
I despise him.
Yeah. They were hoping to save this one for the general, but they had to unholster it ahead of time. So they've already unholstered the crying victim routine, the race, DBM=VRWC card, now the Ken Starr card. Wonder what's left.
I can tell you right now that Obama has never been to a single meeting.
Clinton aide compares Obama to Ken Starr
Politico | 3/6/08 | Ben Smith
Posted on 03/06/2008 11:35:23 AM EST by traumer
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1981363/posts
What an insult to Ken Starr! I’d sue. -Wb
And now, it really gets ugly. They are neck and neck with no distinctions to be made on the issues. The beauty contest aspect only slightly favors Obama. All that is left is the mud wrastlin. Let the mud fly, let there be more of it, let there be much more of it.
But an examination of the Starr report includes all kinds of embarrassing facts, like how Bubba jacked off in the bathroom sink in the oval office on numerous occasions, his lying under oath, the late night adolescent sex calls with Lewinsky from the oval office, Easter morning sexual encounter with Monica before heading off to Church bible in hand, his loving wife and daughter at his side, the shoving off a cigar into Monica's (you know where).. There's all the dubious business dealing - Whitewater, the McDougals, etc
It's time Obama remind America what sewage these two really are. I say go for it and go for it hard. Someone in the Obama camp needs to get Juanita Broaddrick’s story back out there. Let's remind people this bitch has stood by a rapist for 35 years, just for all the attention and power it's afforded her.
A very big question. Just as images from La Vie En Rose fade from voters' consciousness, they are to be replaced with images of La Stain En Bleu Dress?
Perhaps it was poor judgment because the call came in a 3 a.m....
Has McCain released his taxes?
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