Clinton camp roots out a rogue element

A work week partly consumed by an uproar sparked by controversial remarks by one of Hillary Clinton's high-profile supporters -- Geraldine Ferraro -- ended, at least at the presidential candidate's Philadelphia field office, with a minor flap caused by an anonymous backer.

The Times' Peter Nicholas was observing Clinton's grassroots operation in the City of Brotherly Love when a man who had been making calls at a phone bank on her behalf walked over, unbidden, to explain what motivated him.

"I'm supporting Hillary because I love the Lord and I don't want a person named Al-Barack Hussein Obama to be our next president,'' he said.

Told that Barack Obama is a practicing member of the Christian faith, the man said he believed Clinton's rival to be Muslim.

He went on to say that Obama "would be detrimental to the church.''

Nicholas relates that word of the incident ...

quickly spread through the suite of offices. And in short order, another campaign worker came over as the man was about to make another call and grabbed the campaign-issued cellphone out of his hand. The worker then escorted the man, who said he was 55 years old, out of the room.

A spokesman for Clinton's Pennsylvania campaign, Mark Nevins, who was in another office at the time, told Nicholas afterward: "That guy's not going to be making phone calls for us anymore. Sometimes people have their own agenda. And that's not what our campaign is all about.''

The ill-informed worker, however, was not immediately drummed out of the corps. Asked a little later what became of the man, Nevins told Nicholas that he was assembling Clinton yard signs. He added that other campaign aides planned to talk to him.

"I don't think we want someone like that associated with the campaign,'' Nevins said.

Nicholas on Thursday night had visited Obama's campaign's field office in Doylestown, Pa., about an hour north of Philadelphia, and was allowed free access to roam without an escort. But he found the Clinton office more buttoned-down; a campaign volunteer shadowed him throughout his visit.

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[James Duouglas]

Religion has always had a place in politics going back to the Romans and their requirement that everyone bow down to the Sun God. What the real issue is is that there is no place for politics in religion. Yet churches elect their leaders on the basis of the standards their leaders will require them to follow.

Want an easy time of it then elect a leader that will give you an easy time. No wonder people have no respect for religion or anything you tell them you believe.

[FAHQUE]

LA TIMES:

"If you are under 13 years of age you may read this message board, but you may not participate."

REALITY:

Alot of Hillary and Obamer supporters have a sub-13 year old mentality based on the type of posts I've seen here.

[Jean Chevreille]

Guess no faith has captured the market on prejudice. If I had to decide which fanatical group within faiths (muslim and christian) is a greater threat to our way of life, I'd be hard pressed. My only consolation is that said fanatical groups make up but a small proportion of either faith.

[Jim]

From 1988-92 a Bush was President. From 1992-2000 a Clinton was President. From 2000-08 another Bush has been President. If we elect Hillary, we'll have been led by only two families for nearly a quarter century....or more if Hillary got re-elected. This is NOT safe for democracy or the stability of our government. We should not be a country of dynasties or kings and queens. We talk of the dangers of Chavez holding power for too long. Castro had a stranglehold on his nation of Cuba for far too long. I do not advocate for either of these men, but I think there is a similarity to our own government. Castro and Chavez both have held elections. When they keep their power, we criticize their election process and deem it rigged. And yet, when two families hold power in this country for three decades, we don't even blink an eyelash? Shame on all of us. My vote is for Barack Hussein Obama. I'm a white male, mid-30s, and from rural America. I believe what I always believed as a child: Anybody should be able to grow up and become president someday. His resume is just fine with me. Our current president never once ran a successful business despite multiple investments in his life. And yet now he's laying blame of our souring economy on the president who came before him. I want a president which a fresh prospective. I want a president who doesn't infringe our civil liberties. 'Give me liberty or give me death'....if we aren't prepared to suffer the latter part of that popular quote, then we don't deserve its reward. Never sacrifice liberty for safety.

[rob]

Yikes - so much anger and contempt. I call on those who make hateful comments such as "Obama, like some blacks, is racist" or "he's muslim and hates america" to either provide PROOF for your statement or shut up. The people of this country have become incredibly rude and hateful in the last 10 years or so - it seems like there are too many that would like to fight and argue rather than provide intellegent, substantial debate on issues important to our future (i.e., Iraq, Economy/Poverty, Education, etc.). I support Barack Hussein Obama (and yes, I will use his God-given middle name because it doesn't scare me and he's not related to Sadam Hussein) for President because he has the experience, vision, and hope so desperately needed in this country - my proof is the uglyness exhibited in this blog and by the Clinton campaign and supporters. Take care with what you say - the universe is listening.

[mason]

anyone here know if either candidate has a detailed plan to save our nations people from the economic chaos (that most of us did not cause)? do they have a plan to improve education? social services? access to health care? getting our troops out of harms way? I'm sure they have experts drawing them up for them. So why focus on this he said she said crap? Why is the Mainstream Media offering this gossipy topic instead of real issues? We deserve a an educated and extensive discussion. Who benefits by focusing our attention on this non-issue?
I think our media industry needs some new blood. Or at least we need the current members to prove they can bleed as we do. Certainly at this point they do not represent American people, they are representing a silent group of vested interests. Report these vested parties, expose their interest in selling the lie.

[John Ronson]

Why is Obama supposedly Muslim? Because of his name? He certainly did not attend a Muslim school as a child. So is it okay to assume that Clinton is Wiccan? I mean, she's a woman, right? It's amazing what irrational garbage people will believe. Silly...

[Kirk Muse]

Who and where would Hilary be if she had not married Bill Clinton? Certainly not a US Senator for New York and certainly not a presidential candidate.

I have no problem voting for a woman for President, jut not this woman or Laura Bush.

[Judith]

I too,am very tired of dirty ploitics, and we see a lot of it from the clinton camp. It is issues that we should vote for and a change in Washington. Clinton is NOT the best for America.

Why would anyone make people buy health insurance that CAN NOT afford it now? Her idea of ending the war is to leave troops in Iraq on bases for another ten or more years, not getting ALL our troops out there.

Right now the best we can do for America is to vote for Change first. Clinton is the same old Washington, and far too much like Bush, for my liking... I vote Obama, and hope he puts Edwards on the ticket with him..... It's time we had a team in the White house working for America...

[mond]

How come no-one talks about the fact that Barrack Obama's first name is Jewish - it is an old testament name. His father was Kenyan - his tribe Luo. The Luo are not muslim. No one converts to Islam in Kenya, you have to have been born one. Among the Luo you will also find people who are not scottish descendants named McDonald, McObama. In Kenya your first name is the "tell" - his grandmother had naming rights and she chose a name from the bible - Barrack. Our middlenames belong to our deceased relations. I have a friend who had to change her name because her parents named her Queenie because she was born during Queen Elizabeth's coronation, my poor dad was named after King George.

[Tom]

I just love it when the Dems can't get along about race, gender or faith. Just goes to show you that they are as biggoted as they have always claimed ther Reps are.

Dems have always been Victims! Now we have female victims claiming a younger man is passing their candidate by and black groups saying once again a white person gets their job.

The Democratic nod will go to the person who makes the case that they are a bigger victim.

[Patrick Monroe]

I would like to see a cross party ticket. Say McCain / Obama! This would signal to me that America is changing for the best. This would show that we're working together for our country and the world at large while sidestepping the normal bi-partisian garbage. But, why does this sound so distant an idea? As an African American I have to say that I'd be much more impressed with this kind of union. This would signal real change.

P Monroe

[Diana Manwaring]

I can't say that I'm surprised this happened, given how low the Clinton campaign has sunk, with all the attacks against Senator Obama. First they accused him of having close ties with Rezko, and that backfired on Hillary after it was revealed that she and President Clinton knew Rezko long ago, and there were pictures to prove it.

Then there were accusations of Senator Obama not having enough experience, even though legislatively, he far outshines her in that regard. Being first lady doesn't count, and Hillary does not have state legislative experience similar to what Senator Obama has.

Speaking of the inexperience accusations, Hillary contradicted herself when she recently claimed to be considering Senator Obama as her running mate. Why would she do that if she thought he didn't have enough experience to lead the country? Gmab!

If Hillary truly wanted to make a statement, she would have insisted that this character be let go from the campaign immediately. Don't let him do any lawn signs, leaflets, or whatever.

The fact that they are allowing him to remain as a volunteer and that they didn't even outright condemn Ferraro's remarks shows how low the Clinton campaign is willing to go. Do we really need someone like THAT in the White House? Absolutely not!

[Tariq Shah]

Where is the outrage from Americans? Why dont more Americans speak up against this intolerance towards muslims by bigoted Christians who think hatred is a Christian way?

You Americans love to blame Muslims and ask why we dont speak up against Al Qaeda, and then your own leaders are supported openly by religious bigots, McCain the scumbag is another racist KKK in hiding. He is supported by bigots and haters otherwise known as republicans.

Why cant a Muslim American run for President in America? because in reality Americans and christians are intolerant people who do not condemn racist remarks against Muslims, these elections will expose Americans hatred and xenophobia against muslims for the entire world to see and that will be the best part.

You have your own Christian Al Qaeda and Taliban in your ranks and the world is not stupid, we hear you loud and clear, you hate Obama because he has a Muslim middle name even though he is a self professed and practicing Christian, you are evil all of you who support this racism, and bigotry, I guess nothing changed in respect to racism and intolerance in America over the past 100 years, it just went underground.

[Ken Bley]

Congratulations to the Clinton campaign for its skill at tossing political grenades. If anyone still doubts that Geraldine Ferraro intended to inject the politics of race into this campaign, they need only peruse reader comments on newspaper blogs around the nation. The criticisms of Ferraro's remarks unloosed a retaliatory flood of the angry hate rarely equaled since since white supremacists hurled invective at black school children walking to formerly white only schools.

The sad reality is that those who are predisposed to hate Barak Obama because he is a black man will fabricate excuses to vote against him. True Americans can only hope that the haters are are a smaller percentage of the American electorate than they are of the readers who posted comments to yesterday's editorial in the Chicago Tribune.

[larry]

Obama did have a racist pastor but that doesn't mean he is racist and for you people that call him racist maybe you should look in the mirror. As a black man I take offence for someone calling all blacks or most blacks racist if we are guess where we got it from? Look in the mirror. As a child growing up in the south I remember the whites only drinking fountains....so before you want to call us racist ask yourself where and why are we racist. I'm not a racist but I don't like all white people but i don't hate them all either.

[mike hunt]

This is a sad state of affairs when you have shrilery stooping to these levels. Barack is the best choice winning the last 12 out of 14 contests....he is the best one and everyone knows it. She needs to drop out and unite the party not stay in a divide it....

[Adam]

It seems to me when reading this that there are many woefully uneducated people in this world that base way too much of their opinions of candidates on the mythological crap they may or may not agree to believe in, the arbitrary color of their skin, what they have hanging between their legs, and how their parents chose to spell their name.

It's such a shame that moronic squabbling over such nonsense is what is really going to decide the next election.

[Odeh Odeh]

It is not enough for the Clinton’s campaign to rout out a rogue whose name as of now is anonymous to the public. In my candid opinion the campaign and Hilary Clinton show publicly denounced such very narrow-minded and malicious comment and reiterate before the American people the urgency and necessity to appreciate without doubt the religion of Obama, his belief and conviction and also the love he has for the country as evident by his affirmative actions culminating in the book titled “The Audacity of Hope”.

This anonymous Clinton supporter is not acting in isolation nor ignorantly, on the contrary had this not been the nefarious campaign tactics of the Clintons which is sustained and perpetuated by negativism, distortion, fallacies and in most cases racial division? These very ugly antecedents will not benefit the American people or the country at all. As a mater of fact, it deprived the citizens the opportunity to make the right choice, which should have been based on the right judgment. How do you rightly judge a situation that has been falsely presented as an authentic scenario?

I am very glad that the ABC News and its network took the pain to bring to the American knowledge comments made by the renowned social crusader and pastor of Obama’s church for so many reasons; First the ABC through it’s actions (whether intended for the good or bad of Obama is inconsequential) have lay to rest the argument about Obama’s religion and religious and patriotic beliefs. It is now a known fact that Obama is a Christian and also love his country of which he is representing as a federal Senator.
Secondly, as evident from his actions, Obama to a very great extent is not influenced by negativism and sentiments or opinions that are unpatriotic and defies logical conclusion.
Thirdly, Obama has once more manifested why he can be the kind of leader we are in dire need of; compassionate, patient, kind, benevolent, transparent, humane, and optimistic and look for possibilities and not frustrations.

The press have been playing hide and seek with the Obama people’s movement for hope and change, by trading authenticity for fallacy without an iota of regret or injustice. When one consider the scenario surrounding the comments by Geraldine Ferraro and those made by the Rev. Wright, it is factually correct to differentiate the two as not in any way related or intended for the same purposes.
Rev. Wright is from a generation that saw first hand the inhumanity of Americans against fellow Americans of minority population. The ugliness of slavery, lynching, unwarranted killing of innocent blacks and other forms of detrimental actions that was at the time an accepted norm by some of the whites and was even hardly initially condemned by the law of the day. These kinds of viciousness and cruelty on the people of color must have informed his statements, which are not excusable, anyway.
Forward to the current political dispensation and try to imagine the comment by Ms Ferraro; the black people have suffered untold punishment, hatred for their color, injustice, slavery and all kinds of brutality, heartlessness and cold-bloodedness and yet, we have the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Rev. Jesse Jackson, Mayor Andy Young, and host of other black personality that have to risk all they have to ensure that and importantly too, through the help of the very articulate, objective and understanding whites canvass for freedom from both the stereotyped image and the kind of bondage the black man was going through on a daily basis in a country that champion the call for freedom, justice and equality elsewhere in the world.
Was Ferraro not aware of the fact that it is almost ten times difficult for a black man to get the job that he has the same qualification as a white man?

This the kind of politics Obama so passionately referred to as taking place during the “silly season of politics.” The young and old that have been voting for Obama across all racial class are no fools nor are they disillusioned by the rhetoric of the Illinois Senator.
We have to get this campaign back to the issues that concern Americans and those are the economy, the war in Iraq, how to deal with allies and enemies alike and most importantly, how to improve the image of America among the international community.

Moreover, the United States of America cannot afford to act in isolation or unilaterally anymore for the sake of globalization without having to compromise its integrity, sovereignty and interest. We need the world as much as the world need us and it is very important to emphatically tell the world and people at home by our action that we have in fact come of age and for sure we can elect a minority candidate if he is qualify and able to lead the country in a positive and progressive direction.

Enough of the Clinton inimical tactics of exploiting the differences that abound in the country and capitalizing on the ignorant of some of us, especially in context of our level of exposure and open-mindedness to world affairs and tolerance of other people’s color and style of living. She must from now henceforth stop her divisive strategy and face the issues that affect the American people.

In the opinion of many and me included, Obama has the innate capability and the require judgment to lead this country in a different direction that will quickly restore the confidence among its people and the international community.

[David]

Unfortunately, candidates are guilty of association, and Obama's pastor is about as controversial as they come. Now I understand why Michel Obama said that she had never been proud to be an American. After listening to Rev. Wright year after year, I would probably feel the same way. This pretty well finishes off Obama's chances to win the nomination. The superdelegates are looking at these clips of Wright (God damn America; Hillery ain't ever been a nigger; America is run by rich white people; Bill did to us what he did to Monica Lewinsky), and thinking to themselves that if he is the nominee, we will lose in November. The Republicans and 527 groups will use these tapes of Wright against Obama that will make the Swiftboat ads look like childsplay. If Obama is the nominee, John McCain will become President. That's a sure thing!

[Kay]

Frank, if you're going to cite facts, get them right. Senator Obama's parents were not Muslim and religion played no role in his upbringing. His father was an atheist and his mother does not appear to have followed any particular faith, though she was raised Christian. The Senator did live in Indonesia for a few years after his mother fell in love with an Indonesian exchange student and followed him home. And his parents did not want to give him a Muslim education. Just the opposite: although his family continued to live in Indonesia, he was sent back to the States to live with his mother's parents when he was 10 so that he could have a good American education.

Your argument that we can doubt Obama's Chistianity because he was "raised Muslim" is contrary to both fact and logic. As you say, only Obama knows the truth ot his beliefs - but you have no basis for doubting his word unless he ACTS contrary to his professed beliefs. (Even then, I would give him the benefit of the doubt given the way most so-called Christians act.)

The only way we can judge another is by their actions. So far, Obama is the only candidate whose actions match his words.

[hillary08]

I perfer someone focused on reality instead of possibilities. Sometimes bad and negative is reality. And lets not forget change can sometimes be bad and negative.

I wonder what the public outcry would be like if Clinton or McCain were associated with a racist / radical preacher for twenty years. Please don't tell me Obama didn't know or never heard the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Chris racist, hateful sermons.

Barack Hussein Obama is the typical politician with an excuse for everything, selective memory, a slogan of "hope and change" similar to the Bush campaign of "a uniter not a divider", All we're missing now is the swift boat attacks.

[Jude]

To Frank:
Clearly you don't have the facts. Obama's parents were not Muslims - his mother was a white Kansan and an amazing woman - check out the link from the NYT story about his mother - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/us/politics/14obama.html?em&ex=1205726400&en=7c86d1bf8cf11784&ei=5087%0A
his father was Kenyan but left the family when Obama was 2. His mother remarried and moved to Indonesia when her new husband was called back home as a result of the Indonesian revolution. Obama NEVER went to a Muslim school - those are the facts -- go to this link debunking that lie -
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/
Obama was not raised in any specific religion. He was called to Christianity as he searched for an answer to life's great questions.

I'm all for folks having legitimate questions about any candidate but yours have no basis in fact but in bias despite your protestations otherwise.

I remain hopeful that despite all this smoke and mirrors the Clinton campaign and the media are propagating that most decent people with half a brain will see through the BS and understand that Hillary and John McCain are both a vote for a third term for George Bush -- they both take loads of money from lobbyists for corporatons, they both supported the Iraq War; they both will do anything to win.

As my father-in-law likes to remind me when people speak negatively of him or anyone else, "they talked about Jesus Christ."

And I bet that if Christ himself were running in this election, many of you supposed "Christians" who are running around making an issue of this would denounce and reject him too, just like Peter did 3 times before the cock's crow.

So peace unto you all.
Love your neighbor as thyself.
And stop spreading lies and hate.

Remember WWJD (What would Jesus do?)

That's more important to me than you voting for Obama.

Jude
Upper Macungie
OBAMA '08
YES WE CAN!

[Rachael]

"Obama does not read blogs (he's said so); so it's hard to believe he cares what his vaunted youth core of supporters think."

I do not think that is a very good argument. Yes, some people may blog about things, but there are many people Obama listens to everyday and they speak to him directly. He actually meets people face to face and asks really inquisitive questions that go straight to the important issues. Just because he doesn't read blogs has no bearing on whether or not he cares about what his supporters think.

[Jack]

Hey everyone. Lets remember this is not a christian country, this is not a white country. It is a country with a government by, of and for the people who live in it. Do not make your decisions on white or black, male or female. Experience? What is that? Being tortured for 5 years? Being married to Bill Clinton? Being the head of Harvard Law Review? None of that matters. Who shares your concept of a fair and equitable government? Who wants personal liberty more than gestapo police state living? Who wants government to help people, not oppress them and make them scared? Who has judgment that is cool and level headed and not provinicially retarded like GW Bush? Well, I know who I am voting for. Most of you bicker like you were friggin Tucker Carlson or Glenn Beck. Shame on you. Vote with some intellect please.