Wednesday, December 12, 2007

This Is Your Campaign. This Is Your Campaign on Drugs. Any Questions?

Has the Hillary Clinton campaign lost its ever-lovin' MIND???? Granted, that's assuming they had a mind to lose, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here because something as stupid as what they did today could only take the keen calculating mind of a complete moron.

The national co-chair of Hillary Clinton's campaign, Bill Shaheen, called Barack Obama on the carpet for his past drug use, saying that it could be used against him by the Republicans. Here's what Shaheen said:

It'll be, "When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?" There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It's hard to overcome.

Of course, Hillary's people tried to distance themselves from the comment, but you'd have to be a Clintonite to think this wasn't planned out. Let's not forget the fact that Obama has been making great strides towards taking the frontrunner position from Hillary in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, the first three tests en route to the nomination. And with the multiple gaffes from the Hillary campaign in recent weeks, it's a pretty safe bet that Hillary is looking for anything to stop her slide.

But going after Obama's drug use and blaming it on the Republicans? Please. You were on more solid ground when you lashed out at Tim Russert for "playing 'gotcha'" at one of the recent Democrat debates. It was a weak and dirty trick that reeked of desperation. You're a Presidential candidate, for the love of Pete! Start acting like it!

As for Obama, I can't say as I agree with what he did in his past. But I'm leaving it where it belongs: in the past. If it comes out that Obama's tooting on the campaign trail or shooting smack in between campaign stops, then he should be questioned about it. In the meantime, making stupid mistakes in the past shouldn't disqualify someone unless it directly impacts the present.

Like thinking Hillary Clinton is presidential.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

BAGHDAD — The Christian archbishop of Basra on Tuesday canceled the celebration of Christmas in that southern city to protest the deaths of a brother and sister, both Christians, as bombings and mayhem struck at cities throughout Iraq.

Archbishop Imad al Banna said Christians in Basra should still pray to mark Christmas, but should forgo such celebratory trappings as trees, gift-swapping and family gatherings to protest the deaths of Maysoon Farid, a 30-year-old cashier at a local pharmacy, and her brother Osama, 33. The two were found dead Monday night, dumped in a neighborhood controlled by the Shiite Muslim Mahdi Army militia.

Meanwhile, two police officers in Baghdad were killed by a car bomb that struck near the homes of two prominent politicians, while south of Fallujah, in the west, family members mourned a 9-year-old girl who they said was killed by U.S. troops.

A friend of Maysoon Farid, Jassim al Mousawi, said Maysoon's brother was kidnapped at about noon on Monday. The kidnapper then used the brother's phone to contact Maysoon and demanded that she meet with him to win her brother's release, Mousawi said. She left to meet the kidnapper. Their bodies were found Monday night, morgue workers and police said, in a poor neighborhood in downtown Basra.

There was no claim of responsibility, but Amal Fuad, 52, who said she was a relative and attended their funeral at Mary Afram Catholic Church, said she was certain that the pair's religion was the reason for their deaths. The killings, she said, were intended to make Christians live in fear "until they leave."

The Baghdad bombing happened about 20 yards from the home of a Sunni legislator, Saleh al Mutlaq, and about 400 yards from the home of former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

Police said the car that exploded was driven by a dapperly dressed man who passed unchallenged through a checkpoint leading into a neighborhood where many Iraqi officials live just outside the Green Zone. At a second checkpoint, guards asked him for identification, but he sped forward and detonated the car, killing two police officers, Mutlaq said.

The blast destroyed two trailers that Mutlaq's security detail used and shattered the windows in Mutlaq's house.

U.S. officials in Baghdad confirmed that U.S. special forces and Iraqi troops arrested one suspected member of al Qaida in Iraq in a raid near Karmah, south of Fallujah. But they had no information about the death of Hadil Walid Majed Mitaab, 9, who family members said was in a house in al Sicher, near Karmah, with her mother when U.S. and Iraq troops attacked at about 2:30 a.m.

With helicopters flying overhead, the U.S. and Iraqi troops blasted away the doors of two houses and opened fire on a third, which is where Hadil was, family members said. Police and relatives said a bullet pierced Hadil's neck, and she bled to death in her mother's arms.

A McClatchy special correspondent visited the house on Tuesday afternoon and watched as a U.S. soldier took bloodied carpet and a small shirt stained with blood from the room where Hadil died. Her father, Walid Majed Mitaab, sat silently among men paying their condolences in one of the partially destroyed houses. Mitaab said a U.S. soldier apologized to him through a translator.

Family members said they didn't understand why troops had raided the area, which they said had been clear of al Qaida in Iraq since residents had turned on the group earlier in the year. Three men were detained in the raid, they said. The U.S. also said three men were detained, though two were later released.

"We don't have weapons; we don't have anything," Hadil's mother, Suheila Hammad, said. "We said, 'Thank God things are getting better,' and now they are getting worse again."

Ali Abbass Ali, a local police officer who was doing the overnight shift at the police station about 60 yards away, said no one shot at the soldiers before they began shooting.

TLindaman said...

Getting that information from the Free Arab Voice? :-)

Anonymous said...

AMARA - About 40 people were killed and more than 125 wounded when three car bombs exploded in quick succession in the mainly Shi'ite southern Iraqi city of Amara on Wednesday, police and health officials said.

* BAGHDAD - U.S. forces killed 14 gunmen and detained 12 others during operations on Tuesday and Wednesday, in central Iraq, the U.S. military said.

* KIRKUK - Three people were wounded by a roadside bomb in northern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

LATIFIYA - The Iraqi army found the bullet-riddled bodies of two men from a Sunni Arab tribal council in the town of Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. The council opposes al Qaeda.

BAGHDAD - Four bodies were found in different districts in Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

BAGHDAD - A grenade thrown from a car wounded three Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint on Tuesday in Baghdad's Yarmouk district, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed a policeman and wounded two others in a drive-by shooting on Tuesday in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.