Democracy Has Prevailed.

May 3, 2008

Defending Olbermann

For those who've just read Maria's latest, here's the actual segment actually played on Olbermann's actual show.


There should be an offical MSNBC transcript by Monday afternoon.

Maria wrote:

This is about the program's #4 segment. On this Friday's show, the topic was how Sen. Hillary Clinton had appeared on FOX (Bill O'Reilly), had met with Richard Mellon Scaife (actually the full editorial board of one of Pittsburgh's two daily papers during the PA primary) and how Bill Clinton had gone on Rush Limbough's radio show (when Limbough was not hosting it). Olbermann pointed out how cruel the Right Wing media had been to the Clintons, but he went further. He spoke about how going on FOX was wallowing in filth, how it proves that She'll Do Anything to WinTM, and that (horrors of horrors!) demonstrates that she's trying to reach Reagan Democrats (you know, the folks that any presidential candidate will have to reach to actually win the White House).

He left out one thing:

Barack Obama was on FOX News less than a week ago.

But if you go back and actually watch the segment, you'll see what my friend Maria left out: the point.

Here it is - Clinton campaign advisor Sydney Blumenthal is now smearing the Obama campaign with some of the same tactics right wing media once employed to damage the Clinton administration.

Keith even mentions the source of the story calling it "the news of the day." It's by Peter Dreier and posted at the HuffingtonPost. In it Dreier says:
Almost every day over the past six months, I have been the recipient of an email that attacks Obama's character, political views, electability, and real or manufactured associations. The original source of many of these hit pieces are virulent and sometimes extreme right-wing websites, bloggers, and publications. But they aren't being emailed out from some fringe right-wing group that somehow managed to get my email address. Instead, it is Sidney Blumenthal who, on a regular basis, methodically dispatches these email mudballs to an influential list of opinion shapers -- including journalists, former Clinton administration officials, academics, policy entrepreneurs, and think tankers -- in what is an obvious attempt to create an echo chamber that reverberates among talk shows, columnists, and Democratic Party funders and activists. One of the recipients of the Blumenthal email blast, himself a Clinton supporter, forwards the material to me and perhaps to others.
Some of the stories Dreier says Blumenthal's been spreading. This one from the Scaife-funded Accuracy in Media about Obama's communist mentor in high school. It begins like this:

In his biography of Barack Obama, David Mendell writes about Obama's life as a "secret smoker" and how he "went to great lengths to conceal the habit." But what about Obama's secret political life? It turns out that Obama's childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a communist.

In his books, Obama admits attending "socialist conferences" and coming into contact with Marxist literature. But he ridicules the charge of being a "hard-core academic Marxist," which was made by his colorful and outspoken 2004 U.S. Senate opponent, Republican Alan Keyes.

However, through Frank Marshall Davis, Obama had an admitted relationship with someone who was publicly identified as a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). The record shows that Obama was in Hawaii from 1971-1979, where, at some point in time, he developed a close relationship, almost like a son, with Davis, listening to his "poetry" and getting advice on his career path. But Obama, in his book, Dreams From My Father, refers to him repeatedly as just "Frank."

A little fact-checking here. Senator Obama was born in 1961. So we're talking about the time between when he was 10 to 18. Davis was in his mid-60s, having been born in 1905. He died in 1987 - about a year before Obama even entered Harvard Law. That's the foundation of this "connection" between Obama and Communism. That's how AIM connects Obama to the Communist Party and there for the Soviet Union. And that's the story that Blumenthal is pushing.

It should make us all uncomfortable that Sydney Blumenthal, a senior Clinton Campaign advisor, is now trying to take some mud scraped from the "vast right wing conspiracy" (a term that he himself coined, by the way) and inject it into the mainstream media. That's how the right wing echo chamber worked a decade or so ago.

Remember?

Vince Foster was murdered by the Clintons for learning too much about Whitewater during his affair with the Hillary, they said. It's been published by the American Spectator (or the Washington Times or the Tribune Review or the Drudge Report), they said. The only reason the mainstream media won't publish it is because the media is liberal, they said. The mainstream media wanting to make sure it wasn't seen as liberal any more then wrote about "the controversy found in the rightwing media" and BAM! the story's found on the pages of the New York Times.

Remember how that worked?

It was a shameful episode in our nation's political life and it should not be resurrected by either party. That it's being resurrected by one of those victimized is beyond sad. It's pathetic.

That was the point of Olbermann's segment.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

John K. says: Can someone verify this. Has Olbermouth been placed on medication? After seeing Sen. Clinton on O'Reilly and Fox news and calling it fair and balanced I heard he went into shock.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for setting the record straight as usual. I might note that Keith Olbermann is the most courageous newsman on the air today. That he still has a job shocks and surprises me. That isn't to say that he's beyond criticism but he's one of the few real friends in the MSM, if you're reduced to attacking him and not seeing that Scaife/Hillary lovefest ...not to mention that his paper is playing up the Wright thing (Obama knows a scary black man didn't you know how awful...)

Question for Maria: Okay, so Hillary pulls out all the stops, maligns Obama until he's left a bleeding corpse, buys off the remaining superdelegates (she has the money of course being that she made 100 million off the presidency...how Jimmy Carter honorable...) and wins the nomination. The black vote, of which I am one, will then dutifully vote for the rich old white lady, who thinks lobbyists is people too?
Well, I don't think that would happen. There would be a huge backlash among arguably the most loyal constituency that the dems have. It would split the party if she were to muscle the superdelegates into violating the popular will.

I might also note that every African American knows that if the positions were switched Obama would be out of the race. Period. On the other hand, I suppose I've always wondered if Obama has actually faced real bigotry, or a kind of irrational hatred that reverts to stereotype no matter Obama's personal resume of excellence. I guess he's learning about the kind of "america" most african americans live on. Or: when you have a shot a winning we'll change the rules.

Philip Shropshire
www.threeriversonline.com

PS: Appropriate youtube vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8lvc-azCXY

Sherry Pasquarello said...

nothing i've seen or read has changed my mind about my support for obama.
sadly, a lot of what i have seen and read has changed the respect and admiration i had for bill clinton and makes me wonder how far hilliary will go to win the nomination.
i will vote for the democratic nominee, no matter which one, because i feel we americans, as well as the rest of the world can not afford and quite possibly might not make it thru 4 more years of republican greed and unethical, franky repulsive rule.
(and yes, i mean rule)

i believe we can change. i don't believe obama is a miracle worker and that's a good thing but i believe he can inspire us to try.
that is something that i do not think hilliary can do.

we need faith in ourselves.
we don't need fear. not fear of terrorists to the point of incapacitating our way of life nor the fear of a black man leading us.

i've waited a long time for a woman president. just not this one.
i can wait a bit longer but if i should die before that i do know that my daughter and my granddaughter WILL see the first of perhaps many.

i wish this primary was not so painful and divisive.

should i be more bound to my gender? no, because 1st and most importantly i am an american and a human being and as such we are all bound together.

Social Justice NPC Anti-Paladin™ said...

Clinton campaign advisor Sydney Blumenthal is now smearing the Obama campaign with some of the same tactics right wing media once employed to damage the Clinton administration
so Dave now believes that Sidney Blumenthal is now a smear merchant?
Funny, Dave once believed that Sid was a wise sage.

Sidney Blumenthal on the Gonzales' lies

Dayvoe said...

Mein Herr;

Ja, und?

Dayvoe

Bram Reichbaum said...

"I think Sidney Blumenthal has it completely right. He wrote this for the Guardian."

So he thinks an article written by SB was correct. How does this imply he's a 'wise sage', or imply any sort of allegiance to him?

Let's stay on topic, please. Hillary is a liar and lies about fellow Democrats. What does this mean for her presidency? If someone doesn't agree with her energy policy or health care plan, will she dig up dirt on them and go after them personally?

Anonymous said...

Interesting reading, but has Olbermouth been placed on medication? After seeing Sen. Clinton on O'Reilly and Fox news and calling it fair and balanced I heard he went into shock. not as interesting as ThreeSavvySolutions.com :-)

Anonymous said...

John K. says: LOL LOL The Democrats cry foul now that Blumenthal uses tactics to attack Obama instead of Republicans the left whines. I love it. LMAO

Anonymous said...

John K. says: Yep its confirmed, Olbermouth is in therapy after H. Dean also appeared on FOX news. Not only do they have ratings way over CNN or MSNBC but they also just proved Olbermouth is the WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD! LOL LOL LOL LMAO Man am I funny.

CB Phillips said...

Sadly, dayvoe, your partner in blogging has gone off the rails. Clinton's behavior gets more and more appalling with each and every day. It's sad to watch. If HRC thinks people are going to forget and forgive, she's sadly mistaken.