As crucial S.C. vote nears, Hillary Clinton goes elsewhere

Now that the South Carolina Democratic primary is only four days away, Sen. Hillary Clinton has high-tailed it out of that state for a few days. Say what?

Some see the strategy as a hedge against a loss there Saturday to Sen. Barack Obama, who's shown increasing strength in the African-American community, which makes up about half of that state's Democratic voters. After losing in New Hampshire and Nevada, South Carolina has become something of a must-win for Obama, as he eyes future votes in Georgia and Alabama, also with large black populations.

Clinton spokesmen deny they're conceding anything in South Carolina. In fact, they will have several surrogates in-state including....

the candidate's favorite attack dog, her husband Bill, and daughter Chelsea campaigning there all week. After an embarrassing snooze caught on camera during services for Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, the ex-president will begin work this morning having breakfast in Columbia at the Lizard's Thicket restaurant and hit Aiken and Greenville later.

His wife, meanwhile, left South Carolina immediately after Monday's heated debate for campaign appearances and fundraisers in Feb. 5 states, including town hall meetings in Salinas, Calif., and Arizona today and in New Jersey on Wednesday. Thursday, she'll return to South Carolina.

On Feb. 5, 1,678 Democratic delegates are at stake across the country compared with 45 in South Carolina, which is not winner-take-all. So even if Obama wins a large number of delegates there Saturday, Clinton can still pick up some as she tries to assemble a national victory.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[bacaangel]

Political candidates should be fined each and every time they intentionally distort an opponent's records and held accountable for this kind of unethical behavior. Example, Hillary's recent statement she made on Meet the Press in which she said: "Sen. Obama's chief strategist accuses me of playing a role in Benazir Bhutto's assassination.'' When in actuality David Axelrod never made such an accusation. He said former Prime Minister Bhutto's death will ''call into issue the judgment'' of ''taking the eye off the ball and making the wrong judgment in going into Iraq.'' That statement of her's is Outrageous! After all, we teach our children to play fair -- not to lie, steal and cheat! The leaders we elect to office should be held to a higher standard and should be people of high principal, moral character, honest and forthright.

Second: There is a time to be silent and a time to speak. Senator Obama had no choice other than to diplomatically confront the Clintons on their lies and misstatements. He cannot allow them to paint a picture of him that is NOT TRUE. The Clintons' tactics are old time party politics and should be a thing of the past as we move towards the 21st Century, towards cleaner air, cleaner water, cleaner politics, towards a more holistic way of living. It is a greater duty and in the best interest of the country for Barack Obama to continue to stay positive and hopeful while attempting to clear his record from these misstatements as he continues to try to bring this country together and lift it up from fear an a distrust of one another -- and to continue to show the American people and the world there is another way to run for office other than smear and fear. That is why Obama and Huckabee are so appealing. They are authentic and each in their own way are trying to lead the Americans away from dirty campaigning, lies and tricks. How can a country be blessed after all that ugly and dirty fighting, it can't be. And too we have to ask ourselves as a people, why do we allow this behavior to be acceptable and reward this kind of negative behavior, when we would not accept it in ourselves.

[smitty]

Of course she took off , she can't get the support like Calif. , loaded with Illegal Aliens she pandering too ! The Democrats want to MAKE SURE the rebate tax checks are given to those who pay no tax , only S.S and Medicare and we all know who they are ! It's the tax Illegal workers with phoney I.D.'s can't avoid. The Democrats are a DISGRACE , and Ms. Clinton is the worst ! Wait until Feb. and the President of Mexico is here < He'll be spending 25 million of the drug war money on T.V. ads to tell us how wonderful Illegal Aliens are for America ! We give them money to fight drugs and they use it to keep our borders OPEN !

[Fred]

He’s back: Sandy Berger now advising Hillary Clinton

This is raising eyebrows even among Clinton’s admirers.

“It shows poor judgment and a lack of regard for Berger’s serious misdeeds,” said law professor Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve University, who nonetheless called Clinton “by far the most impressive candidate in the Democratic field.”

Adler told The Examiner that it is “simply incomprehensible to me that a serious contender for the presidency would rely upon him as a key foreign policy advisor.”

He added: “If Senator Clinton becomes the Democratic nominee, at some point she will begin to receive national security briefings that will include sensitive information. At such a point, continuing to keep Berger on board as a key advisor, where he might have access to sensitive material, would be beyond incomprehensible.”

[Linda Timbs]

Give me a break, if someone says something about Obama, at least they are talking, John Edwards can't get a word in, for the black whining and the woman power. I for one don't care to hear another word from Obama, the more I read, real reports not made up nasty slander, I looked to make sure that what I found was true, but I find more and more of his statements to be half truths and pandering to whoever will listen, and naturally since the media is all over him, people are listening, but will they make sure he is held to the same scrutiny that everyone else is, Democrats or Republicans. I live in Atlanta, I can tell you that I was really upset to hear how Obama picked up the accent here, considering he was born in Hawaii, raised in Indonesia and educated in the north, where did that come from, then insinuating that the way to tell if Bill Clinton was a brother, was "could he dance" is that stereotype or what? Now let me see if Clinton had said that it would have been racial, right, but stating that a white man can't dance isn't, I am just wondering at what price do we all pay when that is allowed. I can't understand what Obama's message is," This is not about race, but I will say it everytime I get a chance" come on do they really think we are all that stupid.

[tish jamieson]

S. Carolina debates---It was obvious during the S. Carolina debate that Obama was determined to attack Clinton from the outset. Hillary had every right to respond forcefully to his cheap shots and aggressive tactics. He claims that he was only trying to "clarify" the record and state the "facts" when in fact his record is quite slippery:

1. He has voted "present" numerous times (in the state legislature), thus dodging the difficult task and responsibility of casting an up or down vote on important issues. (It is hypocritical of him to then cast aspersions at Clinton's and Edward's actual votes on difficult issues.) Many would find this pattern of voting suspicious.

2. He twisted Pres. Clintons' remarks about Obama's evolution on his stance on the war, falsely claiming that Clinton characterized Obama's running for presidency as a "fairytale," thus suggesting that Clinton made a racial slur against him. The fact is that Obama's rhetoric against the war does not match up with his votes to fund the war--and it is very fair to call attention to it! (Kucinich, in fact, is the only candidate who has been consistent about the war and his votes!) Obama is trying to play it both ways(!)--he was against the war before he voted funding it.

3. He was obviously pandering to Republicans by implicitly praising Reagan and the Republicans as "the party of ideas over the last 15 years." if you read the entire quote, his remarks are especially slippery because they are deliberately construed in an ambiguous manner. He doesn't say that Reagan and the Republican ideas were bad for America, but rather leaves this statement and those that precede it open for interpretation. In the context of this interview, these comments were meant to ingratiate himself to Republicans. But without explicitly clarifying his remarks, he leaves himself lots of wiggle room to play it both ways! Indeed, during the S.C. debate, he changed is tune and conveniently distanced himself from his pandering remarks by saying that he "didn't say [ those Republican ideas] were good ones."

If Obama leaves himself open to interpretation or dodges difficult choices then he can't be surprised when others interpret his words or criticize his dodging of responsibility. Also, if he can't take on the heated politics of the primaries, then he won't be able to take on the Republican machine if he is the Democratic nominee.

[Karen]

I live in Chicago and the newspapers here have been covering for a year the relationship between Barack Obama and Tony Rekzo. In the debate Hillary mentioned that name and it amazes me that not a single news group
outiside Illinois has discussed this. Patrick Fitzgerald is trying Rekzos in a federal corruption case which will begin at the end of February. In the papers here in Chicago we learned this weekend that Obama's name has surfaced in
this trial.. What Hillary mentioned is the tip of the iceberg for Obama and yet he continues to get a pass on this story. Many lawyers in Chicago say this will be his Whitewater. Why is this story just a Chicago story?

(Actually, it's not a Chicago story. It's been published in many places, including by the LA Times. Though obviously not to the degree that Chicago covers it. But then the Chicago papers probably didn't do much with the Compton corruption trials out in L.A. either.)

[understanding]

Hillary Clinton is a joke. She's going around as well as her husband promoting a "first woman as president" She has often claim she has done so much for women- Yeah, sure you have- You consorted with your husband to abuse (sexually and socially) women. You stood by knowing your husband is a rapist (Juanita Broaddrick) Hillary later threated this woman to shut up, a sexually predator-Monica Lewinski- Remember the famous point of the finger- "I did not have sexual intercourse with that woman". Let's not forget Jennifer Flowers, and Paula and countless of other women. All of these woman cannot be lying. And Bill had to ADMIT he lied. He paid millions of dollars out to these women. Hell, he was even IMPEACHED. The congress was at a stand still because of Bill's reckless behaviour. Do you really want to go back to that. Hillary knew Bill was sexaully assaulting these women and she did NOthing but blame the woman and not her perverted over sex husband. Shame on YOU Hillary. All you can think about is POWER! Hell No- We want go back to THAT. Just say NO to Hillary and Bill's 3rd term.