Nice.

From the NYT:
-Mr. Johnson later issued a statement saying he was referring to Mr. Obama’s work as a labor organizer in Chicago, which he described in his book “Dreams From My Father.”-
The dude is a liar and Hill is getting yuckier and yuckier.

I like the Bill Clinton speech. Basically he is saying the same thing that I have said. Obama wasn't in the senate, and so we don't really know how he would have voted with all the pressure that EVERY senator faced.

So you can like Obama for a lot of reasons, but not "voting" for the Iraq war should not be one of them.

Let me state up front that Hillary Clinton is, at best, my third choice for president. (Specifically, I prefer Edwards and then Obama.)

Having said that, I noticed that very few people are talking about whether or not Obama is playing the race card. Right now the general impetus for the heat against the Clintons on racial issues is problematic at best. Paul Krugman and John Edwards both disparaged Obama's idealism, but neither of them are facing heat for being racist. Bill Clinton makes a point about Obama's Iraq policy and suddenly he's disparaging black people and the whole of civil rights? Obama responds, invoking Dr. King (the "false hopes" speech), a reporter asks Hillary about it, and she responds fairly directly to a specific question, and people come crashing down on her for it? With all due respect to folks like Rep. Clyburn, whose civil rights credentials are unimpeachable, I just don't hear the slight. It's very easy to bash Hillary on the race issue, since it means people can pick on her without pointing out her womanhood. I find it absolutely bizarre that, suddenly, a dust-up about the Clintons is actually raising my sympathy for Hillary.

And, on that note, it is only fair for me to add that I am saddened to hear that Edwards is piling on in this ugly situation that amounts to press-driven blaxploitation.

I noticed that he never got around to actually saying what he'd be stupid to believe.

The Clinton campaign is being smarmy. They're not being direct in their attacks, but being fairly clear with the implications. If Obama's campaign/supporters calls out the issue, then they are blamed for playing the race card.

I'd much prefer they attack his drug use directly, his position on the war, etc, instead of spending their time on insinuation.

Here's a good example of the Clintonites sticking to plausible deniability: on the page, the transcript of these remarks seems like it could be innocuous. But wow, to actually hear him say it, it's sure clear that he's not referring to something admirable.

Not that cocaine use isn't admirable.

The Clinton campaign is attempting to re-define Barack Obama as Jessie Jackson. The whole point of the race-driven comments is to get Obama to react with Jessie Jackson-style outrage. He isn’t, but his surrogates are.

It’s dirty pool. How come the Clintons never get this dirty when they’re fighting Republicans? That’s the most damning element of all this.

Anyone who believes that Clinton’s surrogates and prominent black leaders are all making these comments—at the exact same time!—without prompting must surely believe the Easter Bunny is on the way.

Funny as hell. Welcome to politics, Obama-maniacs!

Oh! This makes me giddy!

Such a delightful sight to see the Democrats hoisting themselves on their own petards…

Surely they must not have seen this coming through all those years of shrieking “Racist!” in reaction to every criticism or attack against a black man and “Sexist!” in reaction to every criticism or attack against a woman.

How amusing to find them, by their own thoughtful definitions, forced to choose between a Racist! and a Sexist!.

My cup truly does runneth over!

And for the record…

I’m rooting for the Sexist! But my money is on the Racist!...

Racism has longer legs in the party of Andrew Jackson.

NH proved that the Clintons need to rally the base: older and middle-aged whites. What better way to do that than to make the opposition look like an angry black man who is obsessed with race. They are poking and prodding him just enough in an attempt to get him to react. So far he doesn't seem to have taken the bait. I hope it stays that way.

Mike of Renton @5:

I noticed that he never got around to actually saying what he'd be stupid to believe.

Ha, that's exactly what I noticed! I was waiting and waiting for the end of that incredibly long sentence, and it never came.

Anyway, Bill Clinton is taking some undeserved heat for comparing Obama's whole campaign to a fairy tale. However, he does deserve to be pilloried for saying it's a "fairy tale" for Obama to say that Obama's position on the war has been clearly distinguishable from Hillary's.

Likewise, Hillary deserves to be pilloried for the analogy that she is LBJ and Obama is MLK. Her point was "It takes a president;" the insinuation was that Obama's just an eloquent (and black) outsider. Well, if Obama gets elected president, then where's that point?

Oh, and Bob Johnson deserves to be pilloried for (A) the obvious drug use insinuation, (B) the patently pathetic denial, and (C) that horrific, unended run-on sentence.

Blah blah blah, dumb thing to say, blah blah.

My tiny college is in the NATIONAL NEWS!! Wo0t! Go Koalas!

I heard that Clinton operatives are injecting CO2 into the upper atmosphere to accelerate global warming and distract attention from her using Vince Fosters' corpse to smuggle White Power literature bought from Richard Scaife to our troops in Iraq and diverting the money to buy Diebold machines! Pass it on!

Jason @12:

What better way to do that than to make the opposition look like an angry black man who is obsessed with race. They are poking and prodding him just enough in an attempt to get him to react. So far he doesn't seem to have taken the bait. I hope it stays that way.

Excellent point. I think Obama and David Axelrod and the rest of his braintrust are smart enough not to get baited into making this all about race and gender.

But you know, it doesn't take much. Who knows how many votes the less-than-gracious "Hillary's likable enough" comment cost him in NH?

Really, to summarize what he said,

Why vote for Obama to be the first black president when Fmr. Pres. Bill Clinton was the first black president?

big sven @15, you forgot to mention the united nations' "black helicopters." they are the transport for the corpse and literature. get your facts straight, man!

ellarosa-

The helicopters bought with the money Lockheed Martin gave her after she convinced Bush to invade Iran this summer?

I can't bring myself to vote for either. Leave it to a woman and a black to desperately race each other to out "white male" each other.

Hillary needs to promote a "cuddling initiative".

Obama needs to get on the bandwagon to teach ebonics and krunk in an official public school currriculem.

@5 and 13

THANK YOU!!! I hoped that maybe watching the video of this statement would help make sense of it (reading the transcript certainly doesn't help), but no such luck. It's driving me nuts that the man never finished his thought.