Obama Camp Turns to Clinton to Counter Palin

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

ST. PAUL — Senator Barack Obama will increasingly lean on prominent Democratic women to undercut Gov. Sarah Palin and Senator John McCain, dispatching Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to Florida on Monday and creating a rapid-response team to deploy female surrogates to battleground states, Obama advisers said on Thursday.

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign event in Florida, her first for Mr. Obama since the Democratic convention last month, will include a forceful response to the searing attacks and fresh burst of energy that Ms. Palin injected into the race with her convention speech on Wednesday night, Obama aides said.

With the McCain-Palin team courting undecided female voters, including some who backed Mrs. Clinton in the Democratic primaries, Obama aides say they are counting on not only Mrs. Clinton but also Democratic female governors to criticize their Alaskan counterpart, Ms. Palin — and, by extension, Mr. McCain — including Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.

Still, within the Obama campaign and among Democratic officials nationwide, talks are well under way about how the party should treat Ms. Palin in the final two months of the campaign — and what Mr. Obama and his running mate, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, need to do to regain the offensive after the Republican convention.

Some Democrats were urging Mr. Obama’s campaign not to underestimate the potential power of Ms. Palin’s electrifying speech to the Republican convention on Wednesday night even among voters not aligned with either party: On liberal talk-radio shows and on left-leaning blogs on Thursday, some Democrats fretted that the Obama campaign should fight back hard to avoid being caricatured as Senator John Kerry was four years ago. And some party strategists warned that Mrs. Palin’s personal narrative, as a “hockey mom” with a special-needs child, would appeal to some undecided women voters.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/us/politics/05dems.ht...

---

YES - We are loaded with strong women to counter Palin. They are going to slam Hockey Mom in to the boards!

[skooooo]

1. YEAH BABY

That's what I'm talking about. I want Hillary to kick that goon to the curb.

[napi21]

2. As well they should! Give Hillary the chance to tell Sarah she has no right to claim

she is going to continue what Hillary started. I'm POSITIVE that really pissed hillary off big time, and I hope I get the chance to hear her responce!

[ksimons]

40. I think Hillary is doing it for Chelsea - and all the other daughters out there - not for Obama!!

If this McCain garbage sinks into the deep crevices of the country and starts to cement those who don't look deeper into the issues or find out much more than what television regurgitates, they will buy into the Palin 'look' without knowing the consequences behind it. It's simple. McCain Palin means Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade - and then some. I'm talking outlawing a woman's right to make her own decisions about her body. Not just that, they'll likely make it illegal to travel outside the country to have an abortion. It's already done for other laws and they would eagerly apply it here too. These are not reasonable people.

If Hillary goes to support the Democratic ticket and the causes it represents, she is doing it because she knows what our world is pivoting on - and it will last longer than any one party's term in office. And it WILL effect America's daughters - especially those who don't have a two-income family, with many siblings and a nice govt. job to spread the babysitting around. When a father, priest or stranger rapes a young girl, they will make it impossible to even use a morning after pill to flush the cell from her. McCain made it clear. Sarah makes it all the more crystal clear. THIS IS IMPORTANT.

Sorry for my extended rant. My mom's mother died during a botched back alley abortion when she was 5 (yet she supports McCain Palin. I know. One cannot explain the thought process here.) BUT - hopefully no one will ever have to go through that kind of thing ever in this world. It is not so long ago in the past that these evils were commonplace.

Here, something to lighten the heavy weight of this post.

[greblc]

3. Reow!!!!!!

I love a cat fight. My money is on the old gal.

[meow2u3]

10. Mrrroww!

Hillary will scratch the eyes out of Mooseburger McOil.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[skyounkin]

28. I agree completely

This is beneth Hillary- palin is running with mccain in the vp slot- so have Joe Biden tear her in fucking half. This isn't about Obama defending himself against pailn- he needs to defend himself against mccain.

[emilyg]

35. Thank you.

[Captiosus]

4. Let me answer this one.

"Still, within the Obama campaign and among Democratic officials nationwide, talks are well under way about how the party should treat Ms. Palin in the final two months of the campaign..."

Easy.

Treat her like any other politician.
She took the gloves off.

Let the surrogates, especially Hillary and other female supporters, get out there and blast the hell out of Palin and then when the VP debates roll around don't hold back. It's clear Palin wants to play hardball, and I'm all for equality.. so, here's your equality. Obama, on the other hand, should just stick to the McCain and the issues.

Palin best not cry sexism when she gets bested because she brought this on herself. She wants to play hardball, well... Welcome to national politics.

[RamboLiberal]

7. I hope unlike this passage from OP they do make an issue of her experience

David Axelrod, the campaign’s chief political strategist, said Mr. Obama would not raise questions about Ms. Palin’s experience. Instead, the campaign would work to impress upon voters the seriousness of the race and continue its attempt to link the McCain-Palin team to President Bush.

Especially let the Democratic women point out this woman is a light weight not ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

[Triana]

23. Exactly what Captiosus said. Bytheway, welcome to DU, Cap! n/t

[ShockediSay]

5. You can't just replace Hillary with another woman

Bill Clinton tried it and it never worked !

credit to C Ferguson

[greblc]

12. LOL!!!!!

I'm hanging on to that one!

[bitchkitty]

6. Electrifying? n/t

[Believing Is Art]

8. Well, Palin did something good

If you can say anything positive about Sarah Palin, aside from being a good butt for jokes, it's that I feel more unity in the Democratic party. Even those who were staunchly opposed to Hillary's campaign feel offended on her behalf. Offended that some nobody who wants to turn our country into a theocracy, some hypocrite that wants to undo women's rights can come in and steal Hillary's thunder, touting that SHE is the one that broke the glass ceiling.

So to Hillary I say "you go girl!" Show Palin what being a real woman in politics is all about!

[HughMoran]

13. She certainly has energized the Democrats

My not-so-political mom said she couldn't stand to watch her and knew all the dirt on her.

She's REALLY pissed off her some Dems. A little pissing off is considered good, REALLY pissing people off is not so good.

[Frisbee]

9. Let Hillary go national...

and local or region women go after her in their regions (I'm in MO, send Claire McCaskill after her). They can't take her lightly, and don't think they will.

[MadMaddie]

11. Oh dear I don't think little Sarah is ready to take on Hillary

Sarah is playing in a different league now and she has no idea what's coming.

Hillary go do your thing!

Oh boy this is going to be good!

[ejbr]

14. ROFL!!! "Slam Hockey Mom into the boards!!!" n/t

[HughMoran]

Fuck that - punch her lights out - it's all part of the game, baby

I loved fighting in hockey - let me take on that troll!

[Clintonista2]

36. LOL

[johnnyrocket]

15. If Hillary pulls this off, I will start liking her again.

This is SO MUCH of what we need. Palin is atrocious, and really pisses me off.

[Stinky The Clown]

16. She's a hockey mom. Puck her.

Hillary will high stick her.

[HooptieWagon]

17. A call to photoshop artists! Hillary as one of the Hanson Brothers (Slapshot)

[LeFleur1]

18. Wait

NOW you want Hillary to come to the aid of the Party?
You guys are funny.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

21. Do you think that was clever enough for anyone to take the bait? (n/t)

[RamboLiberal]

22. Country First!

Let Hillary unleash on Palin what she unleased on Obama! If Obama wins then Hillary wins. Reward her with Senate Majority Leader, Secretary of State or whatever else her heart desires.

I'd expect Obama to have countered any African-American candidate McSame would've picked to counter Hillary if she had won.

[Adsos Letter]

30. Put her on the Supreme Court...

I can think of four sitting justices whose heads would do a 360* and explode...

[Demeter]

34. It Could Happen

I haven't written Hillary off completely. We do believe in second chances.

[RamboLiberal]

19. Oh yeah - put the Hillary and the Dems ladies in as the

Hanson brothers!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

25. HRC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Barbara Mikulsi.

Were there three brothers? I never saw that flick, and it was filmed in my hometown!

[HooptieWagon]

32. Yes

And two of them actually were brothers named Hanson, IIRC. They were minor league hockey player goons. Supposedly they weren't acting, they really were like as in the movie.

edit for update: Two were brothers named Carlson, the third was named Hanson. here:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/hockey/nhl/06/26/...

and a pic:

[Straight Shooter]

20. Sarah Palin has NONE of the traits I admire in Hillary Clinton.

Zip. Zero. Zilch.

talks are well under way about how the party should treat Ms. Palin ... Treat her as she deserves. Fillet the barracuda.

[RamboLiberal]

26. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is going to be great at this

Yesterday I heard her point out her district has more people than Palin represents in Alaska. Today in WPost.

Democrats offered a more scathing assessment. "As much as Joe Lieberman might be trying to give her an information dump on what he knows, he can't infuse her with the expertise that she's sorely lacking," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.) said in an interview, adding that vice presidents often serve as foreign emissaries during international crises. "The problem with her lack of foreign policy experience is she's running with a man who's 72 years old and, God forbid something happens to him, it's frightening because this is someone who would have the tiller of America's foreign policy."

Noting that the vice president sits on the National Security Council, Wasserman Schultz added: "What advice could Palin possibly offer McCain? There might as well be an empty seat at the table."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

[Imagevision]

27. Palin actually calls Hillary a whiner? -> that's deep!

[flamingdem]

29. This will be a great way to unify the party, go Barack, go Hillary, friends again nt

[AdHocSolver]

31. Palin is a distraction (from senile McCain), and needs to be handled carefully.

Obama and Biden have to avoid appearing to "beat up" on a "hockey mom".

She is the youthful looking counterpoint to McCain's wrinkled senility. When one hears McCain-Palin, it will be her youthful image, not his, that will come to mind for many people. She was picked by a Madison Avenue advertising agency. Her vetting was by focus group.

I like the idea of well-known Democratic women going after Palin. Some Democratic hockey moms should go after her as well.

However, Hillary should be careful NOT to turn this into a cat fight. The Republicans will complain that Hillary is being vindictive and "unstatesman-like" toward another woman. This has to be avoided.

Picture Palin as a venomous cobra which can hypnotize its prey, and handle her with extreme caution.

Democrats have to bring the focus back to the guy who would be president, namely McCain, and the fact that they are all Republicans, the party that screwed up the last seven plus years. Beat up on the Republican Party, because they could still switch either or both candidates at the last minute.

Bush-Cheney could not have gained power or wrecked the country so badly without the support of their enablers, the Republican Party.

This needs to be the theme of the Democratic campaign and will reap benefits beyond this election.

[Demeter]

33. That's Like Calling Out the Cannon to Swat a Fly

When what we really need to do is clean up the shit that breeds the vermin....

[neuvocat]

37. True

However if I'm trying to sleep at night and some damn fly keeps buzzing around then a well-aimed cannonball starts to sound pretty good. I'll take the boom over the buzz of shitty talking points any day.

[The_Casual_Observer]

38. It's like palin is the bizarro world's Hillary.

"Me vice person want to take vote from you"

[pnorman]

39. I was only definitely for Obama from mid-May, but I was always somewhat leery of Hillary.

(Although I'd have DEFINITELY voted for her had she been the nominee). It's possible that a few of my postings may have given offense to some of the committed Hillary supporters here. To them, I offer my FULL apologies. Hillary will utterly DEMOLISH that faux "glass-window smasher"!

That Palin choice was an inspired move, one that is just starting to sink in! In one move,McCain is almost totally OFF the screen, and replaced with an "untouchable" hottie! But Hillary will handle her with great ease.

"Conventional wisdom" would say that the Obama machine is really masterminded by a Karl Rove type guru. But I sense the firm (and SWIFT) hand throughout this campaign of Barack. And this latest move only confirms it!

pnorman

[aquart]

41. We have some fabulous women in the House, too.

Remember: Democrats have husbands and wives, Republicans have little women.

[DogPoundPup]

42. Obama sends supporters to blunt Palin's impact

Source: Yahoo news

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Barack Obama's campaign plans to employ high-profile female supporters in an effort to blunt GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's potential to persuade women to vote Republican.
ADVERTISEMENT

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius all were scheduled to campaign for Obama in the coming weeks. Republicans say they hope Palin, who made her national debut with a feisty speech on Wednesday, could put some female voters in play.

"We respect her. She's a skilled politician, as she proved last night," Obama strategist David Axelrod told reporters aboard the campaign plane Thursday. "She's deft at going on the attack."

But it's not clear exactly how Obama and his running mate Joe Biden should respond. They keenly remember how women rallied around one-time Democratic front runner Clinton when they perceived she was a victim of sexism. They don't want to appear with a weak response, either, and certainly they also don't want to send independent women flocking to the GOP.

Sebelius started on Thursday, linking Palin to the unpopular President Bush.

"She mastered the words written by the Bush speechwriters and delivered them well. But what we didn't hear was what people talk to me about every day," Sebelius told reporters.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080905/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_oba... ;_ylt=A0wNcxeLP8FIBSIAmAWyFz4D

[TwilightGardener]

43. Good--hard to charge sexism when our Dem women who are REAL feminists

smack this nasty vapid cheerleader upside the head.

[Coventina]

44. YES! Women can say, "Palin doesn't speak for US!"

This is genius on the part of the Obama campaign. Palin can't cry "sexism" if it's WOMEN who debunk her crap.

Props to my girl Janet! I hope to see her out there kicking @ss!

[calico1]

45. I think it will be a good idea

for Democratic WOMEN like Clinton, Nepolianto, etc. to attack hard. They can't accuse them of sexism.

It seems this is the way they are going. Hope so. Biden and Obama need to be careful because the Repubs will jump at any chance to brand them as sexist.

The thing to do is for the Dem women to go on the attack against Palin.

[True_Blue]

46. No Direct Attack from Clinton on Palin -- Yet

Source: Washington Post

By Anne E. Kornblut
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday night put out just her second statement mentioning Gov. Sarah Palin -- but continued to hold back from the harshest attacks.

"The two party conventions showcased vastly different directions for our country. Senator Obama and Senator Biden offered the new ideas and positive change America needs and deserves after eight years of failed Republican leadership. Senator McCain and Governor Palin do not," Clinton said.

"After listening to all the speeches this week, I heard nothing that suggests the Republicans are ready to fix the economy for middle class families, provide quality affordable health care for all Americans, guarantee equal pay for equal work for women, restore our nation's leadership in a complex world or tackle the myriad of challenges our country faces. So, to slightly amend my comments from Denver: NO WAY, NO HOW, NO McCAIN-PALIN."

Clinton has been exceptionally quiet since the selection of just the second female vice presidential nominee in history. With some of her supporters anxiously hoping Clinton will step up to push Palin back, she is scheduled to make stops in central Florida on Monday on Sen. Barack Obama's behalf. But the trip is not, according to people in both camps, designed as a direct response to Palin. An Obama aide said the trip was "in the works for weeks" and two Clinton advisers said she will continue to focus on issues, such as the economy.

Read more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/04/n...

[EV_Ares]

47. Rachael just mentioned, she is going to FL tomorrow and Obama is getting out

all of the women governors, congress people and they are going to be hitting places hard.

[kurth_]

48. Just wait

I'm sure she's working on it. You don't mess with the Clintons.

[Stuart G]

53. I agree..you an I will see...............nt

[McCamy Taylor]

49. Clinton IS an attack on Palin. The contrast could not be more marked.

What we do not want to see is a "cat fight". Better for Clinton to attack McCain's policies and go after Palin's gaffes---which should be many unless Team McCain plans to keep her in a paper bag.

I would like to see Hillary Clinton talk about some of her favorite community organizers as she travels around the country. This would be an excellent way to promote Obama in swing states--get the endorsement of people who are working for causes that are popular with working class voters. It would also remind people who the community organizers are and why Palin looked like a horse's ass when she said they have no responsibilities.

No one thinks any other communities' organizers do any good, but everyone knows that the people who run their own homeless shelters or their own women's crisis centers do good work.

[Adsos Letter]

52. "What we do not want to see is a "cat fight". "...

You nailed it...anything smacking of a "cat fight" only subtracts from the substantial firepower Senator Clinton brings to the campaign.

When this campaign is over Palin will be a smoking wreck of her own making...Senator Clinton will be there to call attention to the stops along the way.

[MannyGoldstein]

50. She Knows That Attacking A Woman Tends To Increase Her Favorability

She's used that might well herself.

Clinton tried very, very hard to goad Obama into an attack, but Obama was too smart for that.

[cobalt1999]

51. Too early. Their convention needs to end first

Then the media will start to pay attention. It's coming.

[ChazII]

54. Janet

has already spoken.

ETA: as in the gov. of AZ

[hamsterjill]

55. Go, Hillary

I wanna see a real feminist (Hillary) kick the ass of a wanna be (Palin)!!!

And in all honesty, if anyone can do it...Hillary can!!!

[wvbygod]

56. Hillary should be in the VP slot to do this

Is it too late for Biden to drop out and let Hillary clean up this mess?

[noonwitch]

57. This might be a case where it's better that Hillary isn't on the ticket, if she's going to hit hard

Let Hillary tear her a new one, so Biden doesn't have to look bad doing it.