Obama Precinct Captain's Mailer Urges Republicans To Switch Parties To Stop Hillary

[kpete]

Obama Precinct Captain's Mailer Urges Republicans To Switch Parties To Stop Hillary
By Greg Sargent - January 14, 2008, 5:10PM

An Obama precinct captain in Nevada has circulated a flyer that urges Republicans (and independents) to become Democrats just for a day in order to stop Hillary.

The flyer is likely to be controversial, because it's playing on Republican dislike of Hillary to get GOP voters to affect the outcome of the Democratic caucuses.

"Republicans, Independents, Everyone," the flyer reads. "You can make the difference if you think a Democrat will win in November and you don't want Hillary...You can come to the Democratic caucus and vote for Obama."

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more at:
http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2008/01/obama_precinct_captains_mailer_urges_republicans_to_switch_parties_and_caucus_against_hillary.php

.........

to be fair:
Obama campaign said this:

Obama spokesman Bill Burton confirmed that Buchanan is a precinct captain, and sent me this statement:

We’ve learned that one individual who volunteers for the campaign was making the flyer and weve instructed him to stop creating and distributing it. But make no mistake, we want as many independents and Republicans to become Democrats and help to build a new governing majority in this country.

[sunonmars]

1. That flyer does not look good at all when you see it up close.

That really does not look good, in fact it looks fucking terrible. What sort of retard is he to put up concrete proof of a complete out and out attack on Hillary.

[lapfog_1]

5. even the "vote FOR FOR Obama" thing.

looks like an amateur.

Well, it was a boneheaded mistake. He could have worded it on a positive note like

Democrats, Republicans, Independents!

Vote for Change in Washington, Vote for Obama!

And I don't think anyone would object. After all, we do want Republicans to leave their morally bankrupt party and join us, right?

[Buzz Clik]

2. Misspelled Hillary? Brilliant!

That thing reads as if constructed by a third grader.

[rodeodance]

3. the damage is done.

[cali]

8. There's no damage done- much as you'd love to see it.

This is something a volunteer did on his own. It's akin to the anti-mulim Obama hate email forwarded by three high placed Hillary volunteers in Iowa. That wasn't Hillary's fault and this isn't Obama's fault. The Obama campaign has repudiated it, and it's obvious that this wasn't a top down thing. So sorry that it's not at all damaging. Nothing compared to Hill's surrogates suing to disenfranchise workers.

[rodeodance]

14. Hilliary stepped forward and fired that person-the campaign was held accountable--lets see

how Obama handles it.

[cali]

17. You don't seem to grasp the difference between this and bigoted emails

that lied and said Obama is a Muslim. Why is that? And Hillary, to her credit got rid of all three of the volunteer coordinators who did that. This is quite mild compared to what was sent out by Hillary volunteers.

[sunonmars]

19. Sorry but thats not fair

This guy was trying to essentially distort the reality of other peoples valid votes by trying to coerce republicans to vote in a primary just for the sake of screwing the results towards one candidate, in my mind thats an even worse offence towards the democratic party.

Obama's supporter have cried foul at every opportunity but yet think his campaign is all sweetness and light. Get a fecking grip.

[cali]

18. You don't seem to grasp the difference between this and bigoted emails

that lied and said Obama is a Muslim. Why is that? And Hillary, to her credit got rid of all three of the volunteer coordinators who did that. This is quite mild compared to what was sent out by Hillary volunteers.

[rodeodance]

21. Depends on one's perspective doesn't it? -And it does not matter WHO did it--it was done.

[Mass]

4. There are idiots in every campaign. It is all this proves, and the Obama campaign, to its credit,

reacted immediately.

[rodeodance]

6. they called a truce last night -now this happens

[Mass]

7. This happened yesterday or even before. Who knows.

It is obviously the fact of a person, not the campaign. Something tells me the campaign proofreads its flyers.

[cali]

10. you are desperately trying to make this into a big deal.

This has zip to do with the truce and you've been informed that the Obama campaign dealt with it immediately.

[rodeodance]

9. "The new version also appears to play on GOP hatred for Hillary, though .."

.........I just got off the phone with the precinct captain, Bob Buchanan. He said that he had stopped distributing this particular flyer and replaced it with what he called a more positive one.

Nonetheless, Buchanan acknowledged to me that this one attacking Hillary had been distributed.

The new version also appears to play on GOP hatred for Hillary, though in more cautious language. Buchanan confirmed that the new version says:

"Republicans, Independents, Everyone. You can make the difference if you think a Democrat will win in November and you have said anybody but Hillary."

[rodeodance]

11. This comment speaks of the positivity of the campaign--which it is losing now:

xxxwrote on January 14, 2008 5:19 PM:

Like it or not, many Obama supporters I know are extremely -- sometimes irrationally -- opposed to Hillary Clinton. It's inevitable that some of that frustration bottled into many Obama supporters will seep out from time to time.

That said, most Obama supporters are also committed to the positivity the official campaign espouses. Every public Obama event I've attended -- and this is in New York of all places -- has made a point of staying positive, and specifically avoiding off-color criticism of competitors.

I'd like to see the Obama campaign ask the volunteer to step down, but I doubt that'll happen. Thankfully, it seems the precinct captain has at least clued into the campaign's generally positive message.

[indimuse]

20. "Why say you're for a new tomorrow, then do old-style Chicago politics..

"Why say you're for a new tomorrow, then do old-style Chicago politics to remove legitimate candidates?" Askia said. "He talks about honor and democracy, but what

honor is there in getting rid of every other candidate so you can run scot-free? Why not let the people decide?"

In a recent interview, Obama granted that "there's a legitimate argument to be made that you shouldn't create barriers to people getting on the ballot."

But the unsparing legal tactics were justified, he said, by obvious flaws in his opponents' signature sheets. "To my mind, we were just abiding by the rules that had

been set up," Obama recalled.



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070403obama-ballot,1,57567.story?ctrack=2&cset=true


Obama is NO beginner at funny campaigning...

[Mass]

12. Concern noted and duly considered. Bye.

[cali]

13. You missed this part about the Obama campaign disavowing it.

Late Late Update: In response to some commenters below, the point of mentioning the Muslim smear email isn't that writing this flyer and distributing it is comparable to forwarding that email.

The point of drawing the comparison, rather, is that it illustrates that in this race the campaigns are being held accountable for the actions of low-level volunteers. The Obama campaign itself knows this, which is why they're disavowing the flyer.

[flordehinojos]

15. THE OBAMAS AND THE OBAMANITES ARE DESPERATE ... THE FLYER PROVES IT...

AND THAT, BY THE WAY IS JUST HOW THE O-VAMOUS-MAN WON THE IOWA CAUCUS. DIRRRRTY. DIRRRRTY. DIRRRTY.

[cali]

16. lol. Got a caps lock problem, or do you just like to yell?

Obama is doing quite well in NV. This was the work of one volunteer, not the campaign. And just as the Clinton campaign wasn't desperate when three of their volunteer coordinators did a far worse thing in Iowa by forwarding racist email about Obama, this is indicative of nothing about the campaign.

bzzzt. try again.

[UTUSN]

22. I got flamed back at Iowa time for describing this Rethug dirty trick,

how, back before Shrub became Weak-Governor-for-Cronies, all Texas was Dem office holders. Whatever Dem won the Dem primaries would shoo-in into the November election, the vast majority without a Rethug opponent. So, in order to have SOME say-so, Rethugs would frequently vote in the Dem primaries to pick the most Rethug-like among the Dem candidates.

After Shrub, Rethugs swept the offices. After that, Rethug operatives would still vote in Dem primaries, now that they often fielded Rethug opponents, in order to try to sway towards the WEAKEST Dem for them to face in November. It goes without saying, but I will, that these Rethugs (and "Independents") would definitely vote Rethug in November.

[WillTheGoober]

23. I don't blame Obama here ...

This seems very low-budget and I doubt had any ties to Obama.

This isn't a big deal.

W.

[blondeatlast]

24. Sigh--a precinct captain does NOT act officially for the campaign!

This is the kind of BS the media exploits to show that the Democrats are "ripping at the seams."

That precinct captain ought to be "fired"--and no other dust-up is necessary.

Gah.

[AtomicKitten]

25. The idiot didn't even spell her name right.