Obama Campaign Hits Clinton On Tax Records

Campaigns Trade Barbs Over Financial Disclosure And Negative Campaigning

(AP)  Strategists for the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton exchanged calculated barbs Sunday over accountability and ethics and who is engaging in personal attacks.

Obama communications director Robert Gibbs called on Clinton to release full post-White House tax returns; disclose all congressional "earmarks," or pet projects she had inserted into spending bills; and release all documents on the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Library, including a list of donors.

"What is lurking in those documents?" Gibbs asked as the two campaigns had dueling phone conference calls with reporters. "There are gaps that need to be filled," said senior Obama strategist David Axelrod.

"This is a tried and true technique of the Obama campaign that has repeatedly shifted negative when they find the momentum working against them," said senior Clinton strategist Mark Penn. He suggested the Obama campaign was trying to "deflect public opinion from their losses in Ohio and Texas" and faced with Clinton strength in Pennsylvania.

The Obama campaign's move on Clinton came after a weekend in which the Illinois Democrat sought to ease public concerns about his ties to an indicted Chicago developer and to inflammatory statements by his former pastor.

In interviews with Chicago newspapers, a TV appearance and a Saturday speech in Indiana, Obama disavowed racially tinged comments by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who was Obama's pastor for nearly 20 years before retiring recently.

Obama also worked to distance himself from Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a former fundraiser for the candidate who is currently on trial in Chicago on corruption charges.

Obama's team asserted that Clinton was continuing to shield financial documents from public scrutiny at the same time she was calling for greater accountability.

Clinton has said she will release tax returns for the years after her the end of her husband's presidency before the April 22 primary in Pennsylvania.

When asked if the request for tax information is what they are calling personal attacks, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said: "When you accuse somebody of being disingenuous and question their integrity and their honesty, as they are doing, that constitutes a personal attack."

As to Pennsylvania, Obama strategist Axelrod rejected a suggestion that their campaign was all but giving up on the state and focusing its energies on primaries that come later where they expect to do better.

"'We are going to contest vigorously in Pennsylvania," Axelrod said, noting that Obama would be there on Monday and Tuesday.

Still, said Axelrod, "she (Clinton) does have a lot of advantages there - and we understand that. We know we have an uphill fight there. ... But in no way are we giving up on Pennsylvania."

[sharednotion]

I think that ALL of the candidates, including Clinton, Obama, and McCain, should be open with the media and the public on things such as their taxes and finances; all three are seeking the nation''s highest office.

[johnpa3]

Dynasty -- Just say No!

We had
4 years of Papa Bush
8 years of Billary,
8 years of Little Bush --

=20 Years of Bush/Clinton rule in the USA.

Who wants to sign on for the possibility of another 8 years of the Bush/Clinton/Yale Elites Dynasty? Bush/Clinton/Yale Elites have had their run -- and look at the state our Nation now. Yeah Yale Elites -- NOT!

Plus, with how involved Hillary claims she was in hubby''s Presidency -- Does not another Billary Presidential term violate Presidential term limits?

It''s time for a change!

[whtpresident]

Part I

Clarification: The Obama campaign has told members of the press that Senator Obama was not in church on the day cited, July 22, because he had a speech he gave in Miami at 1:30 PM. Our writer, Jim Davis, says he attended several services at Senator Obama''''s church during the month of July, including July 22.

[whtpresident]

Part II

The church holds services three times every Sunday at 7:30 and 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Central time. While both the early morning and evening service allowed Sen. Obama to attend the service and still give a speech in Miami, Mr. Davis stands by his story that during one of the services he attended during the month of July, Senator Obama was present and sat through the sermon given by Rev. Wright as described in the story. Mr. Davis said Secret Service were also present in the church during Senator Obama''''s attendance. Mr. Davis'''' story was first published on Newsmax on August 9, 2007. Shortly before publication, Mr. Davis contacted the press office of Sen. Obama several times for comment about the Senator''''s attendance and Rev. Wright''''s comments during his sermon. The Senator''''s office declined to comment.

[greatdrivew]

Are you tired of the lies, deceit, double-talk and corruption of yesterday''s politics?

If so, then join the new majority. Obama 2008.

[Netterz]

Since the delegates, and the super delegates will ultimately decide who will be chosen, it really doesn''t matter, because these few people can choose to either go along with public consensus, or there own decision/opinion, so what any of us want, really doesn''t matter. What it all comes down to, is which of the them can pull off playing and actually being, the perfect used car salesman/woman, who can sell sand to a dying man in the desert(America). How much money either has made/stole/hidden really doesn''t matter either. The election years are the years when you can clearly see that there really isn''t any party lines anymore. They can stand there an tear each other apart on stage, then kiss and smile, hand shake, and then go have a cocktail or 2, laugh at how great of a job they are doing at bluffing the American People. In this day and age, there is no reason for delegates, one state having more power or control over the votes. The biggest scam in America, is that you are told, that YOUR individual vote, counts for anything. That is how they keep us controlled, by picking out a few select people, to make sure what the Gov''t itself actually wants to happen, will happen.

[boycot-china]

Senator Obama has been attacking his rivals and now it''''s coming back on him. He is crying fowl play and use the racial card!. If he can''''t handle the frying pan then don''''t jump in. This heat is nothing compared to the extreme pressure that he''''ll face as our president. He is truly out of his league. I am a Christian and "WAS ONCE" a loyal Obama supporter, but that quickly changed when I saw his dishonest financial dealings, his wife''''s anti-American comments, and his life time support of an anti-American Church. Why did it take Obama over a month to finally say something about his pastor? Obama freely supports this church by his regular tithing of thousand of dollars. That means HE support HIS pastor''''s RACIAL and REVOLUTIONARY statements of overthrowing America. Why donate all that money to a cause if he doesn''''t believe in it? Why is Senator Obama lying to America? So, instead of complaining about unfair coverage and accusing all of America of attacking him because he''s Black then just admit you''re wrong and drive on. Instead Senator Obama wants to pull out this racial and discrimination charge that doesn''t heal anything but actual creates more of a racial divide in America! Senator Obama is really contradicting his platform of change. I am one of many Americans who are getting turned off by Senator Obama''s hypocrisy and support of his pastor''s anti-white sermons. Again, he divided more than he''s healing!

[pepperwood2]

Good News for Hillary from Penna. We are not, & let me repeat, are not playing the Gender Bias Card here in Penna. So stall em off Hillary until after the Primaries are in.

As a voting Democrat from the old school of Bill & Hillary Clinton, Mondale, Ferarro. I''m happy to learn that Governor Rendell has come out with a vengence for Hillary in our GRRREAT State of Pa.

The old guard is alive & well here. They''ve expressed the belief That The Shepherd Boy Obama is a Democrat out of line, not sure what that means, but it is clear that the Governor has connections, and assured us that Hillary will win Pa.

Each day his constituents gather together at the summit to find new ways to distain, mock, belittle, ridicule, and start rumors circulating concerning Obama. His camp is encircled & he is outnumbered. He has to go it alone! Somehow, we''ve been told that Pa, NY,OH, NJ, & MA are superdelegate states and since Rendell was president of the DNC, I''m sure he knows the ropes. We don''t understand this but it sounds like a pretty slick trick.

We''ve been told that Our Great White Hope is in Hillary and that she is entitled to the nomination and nothing is going to stand in HER way. I trust this will be good news for Bill, most Pa & all voters across this Great Nation of ours, & the Mainstream News. We are not Gender biased here in Pa.

This is fun & we''re just warming up here in Pa. It''s Polka time so lets Roll out the Barrel & start the count down for Hillary. Go Hillary! We love you Bill!

[jockh]

If Hillary can loan 5 million dollars to her campaign then surely the voters have a right to know the source of her funding.
Why wont Hillary release her tax returns? People with nothing to hide don''t usually hide.
The main excuse we''ve gotten so far is that Hillary Clinton just has too much on her plate. "I''m a little busy right now," she said during the Ohio debate. "I hardly have time to sleep. But I will certainly work toward releasing, and we will get that done and in the public domain."
That was three weeks ago. Two weeks ago, Howard Wolfson promised the returns would be released "on or around April 15." But weren''t the returns completed and filed a long time ago? Doesn''t Clinton''s accountant have time to print them out and make some copies (note to Clinton''s accountant: many Kinko''s are open 24 hours).

In short, it''s well past time for Hillary Clinton to be as "vetted" as she claims to already be -- and to have this vetting done now by Democratic voters rather than later by GOP hit squads. She needs to live up to the standard she laid out for Rick Lazio, the opponent in her 2000 Senate race. At that time, she said it was "frankly disturbing" that Lazio was holding back on releasing his tax returns.
What a difference eight years -- and tens of millions of dollars (some of them from questionable deals) -- can make.

[johnpa3]

"Who''s foolin'' who?"

Clintons: Obama is all form -- no substance -- words not actions. She%u2019s the candidate we can count on to get it done. She''s the choice for action. Actions speak louder than words. Don''t be fooled -- vote for Hillary.

I get it.

If it%u2019s about actions, I don''t get their failure to act.

She says she''s the candidate that gets it done, but refuses to do what her opponent has already done. It makes me wonder, "They must have something really BIG to hide." If they want to win undecided voters like me, they may want to rethink their pitch about the "actions vs. words" and act quickly to put the tax return issue to bed.

She can%u2019t be soooo busy that she can''t make a copy. Does she expect us to believe she can handle difficult jobs, but can''t delegate simple clerical tasks?

I have used a copier before. Making a copy is a simple thing. If they cannot accomplish it within a day or or two -- how will they accomplish anything? Can you imagine, "we would like to address the economy and the war, and we will, as soon as we figure out how to use a copier."

Why beg to be judged by actions -- and then -- refuse to act -- hide behind words.
When asked about it -- they attack, deflect, bob and weave, make excuses and make more outrageous claims.
Then, straight faced, they say "on or around April 15th."

And in response to the silliness what has the press done?

Nothing.

Talk about free rides!