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April 12, 2008 8:15 PM

Clinton Campaign Hopes “Bitter” Comments Stick

Posted by Fernando Suarez
(CBS)

From CBS News’ Fernando Suarez:


GOLDSBORO, N.C. -- Just hours after the now infamous “bitter” comments made by Barak Obama surfaced in news reports, Hillary Clinton’s campaign retooled their message from top to bottom. She slammed Obama on the stump and her campaign has been pushing Obama’s comments behind the scenes.

Her husband is getting in on the act as well. At a rally in rural North Carolina hosted by President Bill Clinton, a few dozen people were seen wearing stickers that read “I’m Not Bitter!” When asked about the stickers, a Clinton campaign spokesman said they were printed up by the campaign’s North Carolina team and distributed. Clinton staffers initially denied having printed them up.

Obama’s comments have attracted copious media attention, and they are being interpreted by many in political circles as a serious gaffe. Obama said today he regretted the comments, but stopped short of apologizing for them.

It is clear that the Clinton campaign sees Obama’s comments as an opportunity to make some headway in the race. A campaign aide said Obama’s comments are powerful because they came out of his own mouth. Similarly, the media attention given to Clinton’s Bosnia blunder hurt her in the polls in Pennsylvania, and with the primary now 10 days away, the Clinton campaign hopes the same will happen to their opponent.

It may be just a matter of time before the campaign starts mass producing “I’m Not Bitter!” signs to be handed out at rallies.
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Add a Comment See all 22 Comments
by Lai K W April 13, 2008 9:08 PM EDT
Factcheck shows that Obama''s father came to this country one year before Kennedy provided the funding. He lied about that too.
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by Lai K W April 13, 2008 9:05 PM EDT
I got better things of the Obama. He filled up a survey form with his own handwriting on it and he puts the blame on his staff. Go to Factcheck to see his oil spill. The fundraising with the billionaires contradicts his ad of taking money from grass roots not the lobbylists. He has people in that column working for him now. He is too good at using words to hide the truth. The false ad he put up in order to show NAFTA takes away jobs for a guy who is later found to get a huge compensation from the closing of the company. Employees of that company claims the leave package was the best thing they had in life. He claims that Kennedy has anything to do with his father''s sponsorship to this country and he use the Kennedy''s connection to boost his campaign. Staying in a church for 20 years that preach hatred and rasism, he claims that it is the black culture, nothing special about it. So electing him implies these all will change. It won''t. It will get worse. Look at who is being discriminated against! Not Obama for sure.

The title of this article is presumptuous. I call this a loaded heading which is a shame of journalism who is supposed to give the facts and let the readers make their decisions. Reporting like this tries to dictate the decisions of the readers.
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by snarlah April 13, 2008 5:39 PM EDT
Lottobee''s poem seems racist to me. Not that racism in America surprises me at all. I heard on PBS that racism had ended at a certain point, maybe when Johnson was President--but it never ended because when people aren''t busy hating Obama for being half black they''re busy hating Mexicans and building the new Berlin wall to keep them out. Or killing them, which we''ve been doing ever since these poor, desperate people started trying to cross the border so they wouldn''t starve to death in their crummy country.
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by gaiaschild-2009 April 13, 2008 4:14 PM EDT
okay i admit a bias, i prefer obama. if this is the best the clinton campaign has got, hacking and slashing reactivity, no wonder the campaign is failing.
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by fourthsign April 13, 2008 4:07 PM EDT
obama needs to answer to the allegations made by Larry Sinclair; which say obama smoked crack and let larry perform mouth to you know WHAT ***... This is not going away and it is getting a lot of attention on the web but news media will not touch this... whitehouse.com did a polygraph on larry and whitehouse.com said they would publish results but they NEVER did..hmmm; all they said was that larry failed it??? if larry failed it then WHY haven''t they published results?????? FISHY, FISHY!
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by karela33 April 13, 2008 2:41 PM EDT
Can we trust Obama to speak for America? Well, let''s see; a compassionate man who listens to what voters say to him versus a woman who gets caught lying on video on the world news on a regular basis----hmmm, which one plays better? Hillary is a bitter pill.
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by boston481 April 13, 2008 1:23 PM EDT
Why don''t we focus on the important issues of the candidates. So, what if the candidates make comments or express there true feelings. Let''s keep the spinning of these unimportant issues for the spiders.
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by lottobee April 13, 2008 12:45 PM EDT
If Obama cannot be trusted to say the right thing at something as trivial as a fundraiser ---- do you trust him to represent the entire country when he deals with foreign leaders? Apparently his brain has been affected by the cocaine of his youthful adventures. We''ve already had a former alcoholic in office and look at the mess he made. Now you want someone who used cocaine to run the country. Is that why all the college kids are ga-ga over him? That''s some example for the youth of this country. Where are the adults and where is the common sense?
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by lottobee April 13, 2008 12:37 PM EDT
Obama has revealed himself with his comments to the elitist audience at the fundraiser in CA. The charade is over. Now we know that he looks down on the working class. If you look at the full quote from the beginning -- he is identifying himself with the elitists with "Our challenge is to persuade" (referring to those gun toting, religion clinging working class people). Is this the kind of president you want? The one who identifies with the latte drinking elitists and shows you a different face when it comes time to get your votes. I prefer someone who has already proven their loyalty to me with results. This country is in serious trouble and we have no time for someone whose mouth is not connected to his brain.
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by truth-hurts April 13, 2008 9:01 AM EDT
OBAMA HAS DIVIDED THE BLACKS

AND THE WHITES.

OBAMA HAS DIVIDED THE RICH

AND THE POOR.

OBAMA HAS DIVIDED RURAL AMERICA

AND THE CITIES.


I THINK THIS MAN HAS A SICKNESS

THAT COMES FROM HAVING A WHITE

MOTHER AND A BLACK FATHER. BECAUSE

OF HIS OWN DIVISION, HE SEES ALL OF

LIFE AS BEING DIVIDED, AND WHAT

ISN''T, HE DIVIDES SO IT WILL FIT

INTO HIS WORLD.
Reply to this comment
by Lai K W April 13, 2008 5:19 AM EDT
That students who have the ball to ask Chelsea the question about her parents shamelessly frame the question. I call those planted questions. It is not Chelsea''s fault. Moreover, the impeachment was officially processed and failed, justice should have been served. Moreover, why don''t you ask Bill instead of the girl who shouldn''t be blamed at all.

I call it historic misogyny.

If that student has already known the answer, there is no reason for him to ask. Is he showing off his chauvinism? He really has the ball to come out in an interview with no shame at all. What a part of this great generation! He is well received by the media and there are many who wants to follow suit.

Everybody know what those things mean, and nobody give a ***.
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by Lai K W April 13, 2008 5:18 AM EDT
Granted there is not much difference between the two candidates; however, the principle of democracy does have its tolling in justice.

Who care! Again nobody cares, they care for the party and not for the individuals making up the party.

Perhaps, the only choice that is left for voters in Michigan and Florida to assert their undeniable right is to hold the party responsible. No political party has more saying in human rights than an individual. I hold this as undeniable truth by intuition in democracy. They shot their horses, don''t they.

Furthermore, who can imagine that people like Pelosi, Leahy... can change rules of a proceeding election . It the existence of superdelegates is undemocratic, there should be an amendment of the rule before that. Now the election is taking place, people like Pelosi, Leahy are shaping the voters choices through implications that a candidate need to drop out of the election for the party. How dare? You call it outrageous or foolishness.

I call it communism, whatever way you want to make it. It just doesn''t make sense in democracy. Now I am more definite than ever that Americans are in a nightmare that they can''t tell a truth.
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by Lai K W April 13, 2008 5:16 AM EDT
Now more than at any other time in history is the way abusive language is used with sickening hypocrisy for the distortion of truth and suppression of human rights.

For example, you can hardly belief that a party called democratic can deny the voting rights of millions from two state. Candidates who remove their name from election for the party are collaborates against the people''s undeniable rights. For whatever reasons, those candidates are wrong and ought to be responsible for their wrong doings. The results of the election should be reinstated.

Putting a political party before individuals are communism; however, you can find that in a leading democratic country on earth. Are you kidding? Americans ought to be collectively ashamed because they seem to accept this move from the Democrats at ease. To me, it is hypocrisy to a grand new scale at the cost of people.

"Would a re-vote be that difficult?" ,Wolf Blitzer wonders.

Suggesting to split the delegates is equivalent to denying the voting rights of millions of voter. Are they communists? You bet they are worse than that! If the result of an election can be dictated by candidates or a political party, you still have the gut to call yourself democrates. It is ironic but nobody care as long as Obama get the nomination.
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by ordinaryjohn April 13, 2008 3:31 AM EDT
Cling to their guns? Anti Trade?

Obama loving media is conveniently ignoring some of the things he said.

First of all the media is trying to make his gun comment into having something to do with "HUNTING?" That is total BS. He was clearly saying that people are "BITTER" and they take their guns and commit crimes such as MURDER and ROBBERY. He is demeaning all these people by saying that since they are "BITTER" they have become a bunch of CRIMINALS! Hunting? Give me a break.


Second he was saying that all these "BITTER" people are anti-TRADE because they are "BITTER." What is he implying here? He is IMPLYING that these trade deals such as NAFTA are GOOD and that the only reason people are against it is because they are "BITTER." Again contradictory statements. Go in front of blue collar PA folks and say he is against trade deals. Then go in front of MULTI-MILLIONAIRES and BILLIONAIRES and say he is for it.
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by croft777 April 13, 2008 3:07 AM EDT
Obama said what he said and he knows it was wrong, he doesn''t care about those blue collar workers. All he cares about is how he is going to become president, and how''s his big head going to stay on those scrawny shoulders.
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by dinslc April 13, 2008 3:01 AM EDT
Obama wasn''t criticizing small towns, he was criticizing the crooked politicians like Hillary and McCain who have only looked out for themselves, their cronies, and their corporate interests. Middle America has been ignored for too long- and heck yeah, we''re bitter, alright.
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by Lai K W April 13, 2008 1:48 AM EDT
This type of loaded heading, loaded questions, filled with presuppositions is a disgrace to journalism and democracy.
The world is watching CBS making a fool of himself.
You speak for Clintons. You speak for the voters. You speak for the candidates based on your imagination.
What is your credibility and evidence that support your claims.
Bull assumptions!
Reply to this comment
by Lai K W April 13, 2008 1:47 AM EDT
This type of loaded heading, loaded questions, filled with presuppositions is a disgrace to journalism and democracy.
The world is watching CBS making a fool of himself.
You speak for Clintons. You speak for the voters. You speak for the candidates based on your imagination.
What is your credibility and evidence that support your claims.
Bull assumptions!
Reply to this comment
by akgol3 April 13, 2008 1:20 AM EDT
this is greatle sinical. The opotunity seem to get lost in the words of simentics. There i no politis wthout a philosophical position, neither there is an honest campaign without an ideological base. But there is something called a brainwashing position that I feel is relevent t this raguement. When people become disenfrenchised they cling to the lesser of the 2 evils. The peole are bitter agains politics of promise, that is a fact. People wants to have a sense of destiny in their own lives without money or embelishments of instant success, deny them that they go into worshipping - the white man, the gun, religion, status, name, origin, hope, fear, *** { have u asked urself why more babies are born around a conflict?). This is a fact of life, live with it, no matter the candidate. The tenants of social mobility - marxism, social constructionisn, and others, base their arguments of social mobility ot the satisfaction of the poor - this is social change that does not have color or respect in it - social reengeneering depends not on your bitterness but on the common good for your walfare and others''. Enjoy life within this campaign knowing that to get change you have to embrace the bitter truth that not your neighbor,friend or foe can deliver. The major question t ask ios not who I love, but who is best for my future - this discount experience
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by qpublic April 13, 2008 12:28 AM EDT
If Obama has really stepped in doo doo and Hillary gets the nod, McCain needs to get Colin Powell on his ticket and this election is over.
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