Did Obama's camp set up the Wright story themselves?

[Teaser]

Just something I'm toying with.

The story being dropped now doesn't make sense. Hilary's camp should have held onto it to right before Pennsylvania, or used it earlier in the campaign.

The R's should have either used it earlier to eliminate O, or held on till it was closer to the election.

But it get's dropped now, 6 weeks before PA? Why?

It's the best possible time to clear the story and render it as harmless as its ever likely to get. Furthermore,O decides to use this week to clear up
the Rezko stuff.

Was this a calculation on O's camp's part to release this when the damage could most easily be mitigated.

It's worth considering.

[Colobo]

1. It could be. Would not be surprised.

[UALRBSofL]

20. Like someone said on TV

It may not hurt him in the primary but it could in the GE.

[slinkerwink]

2. I don't think it was calculated at all by Obama

this was a right-wing attack that came from Hannity.

[Teaser]

6. Someone pointed out the tapes to Hannity though

Why now? The timing makes no sense.

[LisaL]

21. The stories were circulating about Obama's church.

Nobody had to point anything to Hannity.

[Teaser]

25. Again...

something, though, made it punch through the noise at this moment.

These things aren't unitary phenomena. Lots of things come together to make them happen. They bubble under the radar for a bit, and something pushes them up into full view. What was that final push?

I don't know. It's kind of weird, because it doesn't benefit anyone as much as it should right now.

[tabatha]

3. Do you think Obama works with Hannity

of Fox - a station he has refused to go for an interview - but Clinton has had many?

[UALRBSofL]

4. No, because Hannity made a statement he was pushing this story a year ago

And seemed happy about it. He even takes credit for bringing it up first.

[GarbagemanLB]

5. Absolutely not. The timing is beneficial, but they didn't seem prepared much for the reaction.

[Teaser]

7. That's a fair point.

Still I am baffled by the timing.

[Teaser]

10. As a note, I think this is clever shit if true

I am not opposed to machiavellian scheming. I admire it, actually.

[maddiejoan]

11. Maybe they weren't expecting

the reaction to be as strong as it was.

[Political Heretic]

8. Probably not. Though I agree that the timing is fortunate.

[Cha]

14. Obama obviously has some

pretty good timing in his life. Obama plays it straight..you can do that when you have gravitas.

[maddiejoan]

9. absolutely

He's making Friday night news dumps to prepare for a huge negative assault of his own.

[jgraz]

12. Whether Obama's camp did it our not, they should leak that they did

Make the story about another instance of Obama ju-jitsu rather than about Scary Black Preacher Man^tm.

[mikelewis]

18. Your sig line is the story of my current political views... next is 60% for Clinton and then 51%...

..on Nader over McCain or any other Republican... except for possibly Leiberman or pelosi I can't imagine a Democrat I'd not vote for against McCain.

[jgraz]

23. Mine will never be any % for Clinton

If she somehow manages to slime her way into the nomination, I'll change it to 100% AGAINST John McCain.

And then I'll weep.

[mikelewis]

29. Hilary is not the terrible person you paint her out to be...

Obama is the better candidate... I agree... but not by much...

I think that reality is settling in and she's becoming unsettled by the possibility of losing... she is not a bad candidate... she has made some mistakes but if she were to win it would mean...

a Democrat in charge of the Department of Justice...
a Democrat in charge of the Department of Defense...
a Democrat nominating Supreme Court Justices...
a Democrat in charge of the Department of Education...
a Democrat in charge of the Department of Health ...
a Democrat in sitting as the tie breaking vote in the Senate...
a Democrat in charge of the Department of the Treasury...
a Democrat in charge of the entire Executive Branch...

Hilary Clinton will not be alone in that job... she will be come the focal point for all that concentrated energy and the decisions she will make will be offered by Democrats, analyzed by Democrats, designed by Democrats and I don't know about you but I am really fucking tired of Republicans... I'm sick to death of them and wish they'd just fade away and choke on their own greed. If Hilary takes the nomination and that seems rather unlikely... I'll be glad to vote for her... proud to vote for her... eager to vote for her... I'm just glad that my third choice is doing well though my 4th choice will do just fine...

[jgraz]

32. I have personal knowledge of Hillary and her tactics

I helped campaign against her husband in 1992. Back then, they were fighting Jerry Brown and they needed my state -- Wisconsin -- to help put him out of the running.

So they started a whispering campaign that Brown used to host "drug parties" at the Governor's Mansion in California. When that wasn't enough, the "drug parties" became "drug orgies". Then it was "gay drug orgies", and then Brown was using the "gay drug orgies" to sell cocaine to minors.

The lies worked, the Clintons won WI and the rest is history. But I will never forget the shameless scumbaggery they used to get Bill into the White House. They are low, classless people and, once again, the nation is getting a facefull of their special brand of slime.

[dkf]

33. You'd think that they had done so many slimy things to their opponents

that they would have a ton of enemies.

Beats me why more people haven't risen up against them.

[Johnny__Motown]

13. It's possible. The timing is pretty good for him, could have been much worse

[C_U_L8R]

15. Awareness Test

http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

[LisaL]

16. Not in a million years.

[anonymous171]

17. Clinton's camp set it up to push Ferraro out of the news.

They were of course, waiting until a week or so before the PA primary to release this, but Ferraro's careless comments were hurting her badly.

[LisaL]

19. I guess the fact that the sermons were for sale doesn't occur to

you.

[anonymous171]

24. It does occur to me. What should occur to you is the timing of these "revelations."

[Teaser]

28. possible

.

[jackson_dem]

No. It was only a matter of time before the msm bought the videos

If Obama were wise he would have told the TUCC to stop selling them.

[Teaser]

27. another fair point

my mind certainly isn't made up on the topic.

[trynottogiveuphope]

22. I Doubt It

They would have made Wright take a walk long ago if they'd been prepared for this backlash. They knew it was coming, but never thought it would play out as strongly as it has so far.

[McCamy Taylor]

26. I wondered the same thing. This would have killed him in the general but it wont hurt him now

in the primary. Democrats won't really care (unless they get worried about its effect on the general). He does not have any caucuses coming up for a while so as long as he can keep his numbers vs. McCain's looking good this is a good time to defuse a story that was bound to break sooner or later.

The RW would rather he was the nominee than Hillary, because they still think they can use the Southern Strategy, though I think it doesn't work for them nearly as well as it used to. But it is hard for Karl Rove to learn new tricks. It is his greatest weakness.

So, yeah, I think maybe Obama is glad this is out now, even if he didn't actually hand FOX the tapes, maybe an Obama supporter handed FOX the tapes. Strategically it is a sound move and shows some political maturity on the part of his campaign. Thumbs up for good strategy.

[democrattotheend]

30. I think it's quite possible

As you said, the timing does not make sense for either Clinton or McCain. Obama's campaign knew this would be an issue (they have not come out and said it, but based on what Obama has said I am guessing that he first found out about the particular sermons in question when they had self-opposition research done at the beginning of the campaign), and this is a good time to get it out. Pretty smart move if that is the case.

[boppers]

31. Poo flinging, by its very nature, is not calculated.

If Obama thought this was a *serious liability*, it would have been fixed and/or aired months before super Tuesday. It was handled in a minor way, because he trusts americans not to over-react to the weird things that happen in american churches.

This is just the monkeys flinging poo part of the campaign, to see if anything sticks.

Maybe next week Obama will be a baby-killer.

Or a bad father.

Or he'll forget to tip at a campaign stop.

Or he'll have a former crack-smoking-gay-lover-who-fails-a-polygraph.

This, friends, is kitchen sink.

Expect every, and any, lie/accusation/misdirection that Hillary or her surrogates can muster. Do not expect integrity, honesty, clarity, or decency. Those don't matter to her.

Just make sure that they matter to you.

[uponit7771]

34. The wife & I were talking about this yesterday!! Wright is a net GAIN for Obama cause 1.) no longer

...a Muslim, 2.) Now he's a "strong" Christian with Christian values and is being beat up by the media because of his pastor which a good portion of America has the same type of pastor, 3.) the more he gets in front of cameras the more he seems presidential, hell...even Hillary had to stand at a podium yesterday to be a counter to Obama's attention. 4.) there's NO way McCaint can use Wright in the general election because of his own bigoted pastors

[Umbram]

35. Wouldn't they have done a better job preemptively softening the blow? (nt)

[barack the house]

36. If this is true Barack is is fearking best political genius in history Plus it clears up the muslim

thing.

[Perry Logan]

37. Doesn't this make the Obama team kind of...duplicitous?

[barack the house]

38. Barack was very prepared for response wasn't he. WTG Obama.

[barack the house]

39. Keep this kicked folks.