One last gasp

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

'American Leadership Project'


The new pro-Clinton 527, the American Leadership Project, incorporated with the IRS on Feb. 15, and lists as its chief a former Clinton White House deputy press secretary and former Gray Davis aide, Roger Salazar, according to its federal filing.

Jake Tapper has lots of detail, including the consultants working on the spots, and this:

The group is targeting through TV ads, mail, and phone communications white women under 50 in the Ohio area — specifically Cleveland, Columbus, Youngstown, Charleston (W.Va.), Wheeling- Steubenville, Zanesville, and Parkersburg (W.Va.).

White men will also be a focus, and if there are any excess funds Latinos in Texas and middle class families in Pennsylvania will also be targeted.

ALP has developed three ads aimed at tarnishing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as a talker and not a doer — the ads are called “If speeches could solve problems" — and they will contrast Obama and Clinton on issues of importance to middle-class voters, such as the economy, health care, and the mortgage crisis.

"Our purpose is to encourage audiences to look beyond the campaign speeches and political rhetoric to specific proposals to address these core issues," says an ALP mission statement obtained by ABC News.

The plan right now is for the TV ads to never actually mention Obama — rather, the statements about rhetoric vs. reality will go after him through implication, the contrast between Clinton and Obama already being so well-known.

One thing to note here: These are the kind of contrasts Clinton has been trying to draw for a month, and it doesn't sound like this group is going to be playing particularly dirty. (Hard to go that negative when you don't mention the guy's name.) Indeed, Obama now looks so strong that it will be hard to find Democratic operatives and donors to do the kind of intensely negative, personal stuff with which Republicans may be more comfortable.

You go girl. *yuck*

[Fash]

At least they aren't going really negative...

It might be a valid argument, speeches vs solutions, if it wasn't just more rhetoric. He has more elected experience than she does, and his speeches are better... she has very little ammunition with which to attack.

On a conference call, top strategist Mark Penn just told reporters that in the next two weeks Hillary Clinton will go after Barack Obama on the issue of who is better qualified to be commander-in-chief — and Penn suggested that Clinton would be a better commander of the nation's armed forces than both Obama and John McCain. "She is the only person in this race who is both ready to be commander-in-chief and would end the Iraq war and start to bring troops home within 60 days, compared to both Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain," Penn told reporters.

Later, Penn made it clear that Clinton will push the commander-in-chief issue in coming days. "The Republican nominee has extensive credibility in this area, and the Democrat is going to need to be commander-in-chief," Penn said. Obama has "relatively no experience in national security," Penn continued, an issue that "is going to be reflected in the debates that we have over the next couple of weeks."

UPDATE: Later in the call, the Clinton team was asked whether the not-qualified-to-be-commander-in-chief criticism of Obama was going too far, given that it would be used by Republicans against Obama if Obama is the Democratic nominee against John McCain. "We don't believe that he is the one who will face John McCain," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said. "This is a legitimate question that Sen. Obama would face if he were the nominee, and it is a question that he is facing as a result of criticism from Sen. McCain now, so I think it's perfectly appropriate."

[Sueven]

It might be a valid argument, speeches vs solutions, if it wasn't just more rhetoric.

I'm with you here. What is she talking about?

She claims that she has solutions and that Obama doesn't. ORLY? As far as I can tell, they've both got fairly detailed policy proposals on a number of issues. The only difference is that Obama spends less time talking about them than Hillary does. Even if you like Hillary's proposals more than Obama's (I don't) you can't say that he doesn't even HAVE policy proposals... it's not true.

She claims that she's a fighter with experience who is able to turn her words into actions? ORLY? When exactly has this happened? Her healthcare initiative while first lady was a disaster, and, while she's been a perfectly fine Senator, she hasn't been a standout. What major legislative accomplishments does she have notched on her bedpost?

She claims that she's been vetted and stood up to the Republican attack machine. ORLY? She's won precisely two elections in her life, both for NY Senate, against the immortal duo of Rick Lazio and John Spencer. New York is a blue state, she initially ran on the momentum of her husband's presidency, and she faced some of the weakest challengers imaginable.

Her rhetoric isn't sticking because, fearsome as the Clinton political machine might be, the rhetoric has zero connection with the real world.

[Sueven]

Also, anybody notice that Obama's margin versus Clinton last night (58/41) was wider than McCain's margin versus Huckabee/Paul?

[Canelek]

FFS, every phrase out of her mouth is rhetoric.

Her campaign is nothing but pointing fingers at Obama and using lame politician catchphrases. As her strategy crumbles, Obama is able to gain points in just about every demographic.

Keep up the good work, Hillary!

[Tyek]

Completely agree. I always laugh when people say she is a great politician. She is what I think of when I hear the word politician. You make a lot of noise, set up an oversite committee and accomplish nothing. She did it with health insurance and it looks like she sold her soul to them now. She did it with video games. I think she and most other politicians/minority leaders pander to the lowest common denominator and do nothing to resolve actual issues.

That is one of the main reasons I am leaning towards Obama. He has some ideas and I want to see if he follows up on them. I love what he said to Hollywood a few weeks back. He says it is the parents that are responsible for what their kids see, that censorship is wrong. At at the same time, Hollywood should not be advertising slasher flicks on American Idol or other shows with a prodominately young audience. He warned them to patrol themselves. Simple but true.

Hillory just glares and says "I will get them all for you." without clarifying what it is she is getting or who is doing the bad things.

[Fash]

Actually, if she knows she has lost it... this might be her exit strategy, to go down fighting and bilk as much campaign cash as possible... yet not go too negative so not to actually hurt the nominee.

[Canelek]

Perhaps...

I just hink it is her schtick. Obama will talk about fiing a broken Washington, etc and she will fire back with how Obama does not believe in Democracy, etc... although mudslinging is always going to happen, she simply cannot give up the quazi-oneupsmanship.... she can't stand not being as eloquent as her competition.

[Siji]

I'm gaining hope for the country again with how Obama is going in the states now..

With that said, fuck McCain's wife. Fuck her and her plastic surgery looking face. I'd almost vote for Hillary over McCain just because of that viagra cum dumpster.

[Zaelath]

Hrmm, apparently she had a stroke in 2004... you might be being a bit hard on her there...

[Siji]

Don't like her, don't care! Don't step into the political limelight if you're not ready for h8rs.