Obama Plays Blame Game

[red states rule]

It seems when Sen Obama is caught doing what he accuses others of doing - he blames others

Why not fess up? This is politics and he taking one of the dirtiest players in the game - Hillary

Obama blames staff for memo
By Christina Bellantoni
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 19, 2007


Sen. Barack Obama yesterday blamed his campaign staff for crafting an opposition research document aimed at rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a memo that prompted accusations he is practicing the kind of negative campaigning he regularly assails.
It's the latest in a string of incidents in which the Illinois Democrat has distanced himself from actions taken by his staff, while his opponents say Mr. Obama's campaign is obviously employing tactics that top campaign officials and the candidate himself have said they wouldn't use.
The memo -- given to reporters Thursday -- outlined some of the disclosures filed on financial forms for Mrs. Clinton, New York Democrat, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and highlighted the couple's ties to India and Indian-Americans.
The memo "was a screw-up on the part of our research team," Mr. Obama told the Des Moines Register yesterday. "It wasn't anything I had seen or my senior staff had seen."
The Obama campaign declined to comment further, but the senator issued a statement yesterday addressed to the Indian-American community, whose leaders took offense at the contents of the memo. Mr. Obama apologized and said he considers himself responsible.
"Our campaign made a mistake. Although I was not aware of the contents of the memo prior to its distribution, I consider the entire campaign -- and in particular myself -- responsible for the mistake. We have taken appropriate action to prevent errors like this from happening in the future," Mr. Obama said in the statement.
"Your concerns with the memo are justified," Mr. Obama said, adding it "did not reflect my own views on the importance of America's relationship with India" and noting its "caustic tone" was "potentially hurtful and, as such, unacceptable."
The initial memo, an opposition research document, referred to Mrs. Clinton as "D-Punjab," a twist on a joke she made in March 2006 that she has such a good relationship with the Indian community that she could be elected as the senator from the Indian state. The memo also suggested the Clintons are too closely tied to companies that outsource to India.
The document was first given out by Obama staffers only on background as from a "rival campaign." A Clinton staffer got a copy of the memo and sent it to reporters, forcing the Obama campaign to acknowledge its origin
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070619-121829-1752r.htm

 

[SolarEnergy1]

It seems when Sen Obama is caught doing what he accuses others of doing - he blames others

Why not fess up? This is politics and he taking one of the dirtiest players in the game - Hillary

Obama blames staff for memo
By Christina Bellantoni
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 19, 2007


Sen. Barack Obama yesterday blamed his campaign staff for crafting an opposition research document aimed at rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a memo that prompted accusations he is practicing the kind of negative campaigning he regularly assails.
It's the latest in a string of incidents in which the Illinois Democrat has distanced himself from actions taken by his staff, while his opponents say Mr. Obama's campaign is obviously employing tactics that top campaign officials and the candidate himself have said they wouldn't use.
The memo -- given to reporters Thursday -- outlined some of the disclosures filed on financial forms for Mrs. Clinton, New York Democrat, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and highlighted the couple's ties to India and Indian-Americans.
The memo "was a screw-up on the part of our research team," Mr. Obama told the Des Moines Register yesterday. "It wasn't anything I had seen or my senior staff had seen."
The Obama campaign declined to comment further, but the senator issued a statement yesterday addressed to the Indian-American community, whose leaders took offense at the contents of the memo. Mr. Obama apologized and said he considers himself responsible.
"Our campaign made a mistake. Although I was not aware of the contents of the memo prior to its distribution, I consider the entire campaign -- and in particular myself -- responsible for the mistake. We have taken appropriate action to prevent errors like this from happening in the future," Mr. Obama said in the statement.
"Your concerns with the memo are justified," Mr. Obama said, adding it "did not reflect my own views on the importance of America's relationship with India" and noting its "caustic tone" was "potentially hurtful and, as such, unacceptable."
The initial memo, an opposition research document, referred to Mrs. Clinton as "D-Punjab," a twist on a joke she made in March 2006 that she has such a good relationship with the Indian community that she could be elected as the senator from the Indian state. The memo also suggested the Clintons are too closely tied to companies that outsource to India.
The document was first given out by Obama staffers only on background as from a "rival campaign." A Clinton staffer got a copy of the memo and sent it to reporters, forcing the Obama campaign to acknowledge its origin
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070619-121829-1752r.htm

Well he's got to save some room to suck up to hilary when she wins the nomination, he's going to want to be VP, so he cant be slinging too much mud.

 

[Edward]

It seems when Sen Obama is caught doing what he accuses others of doing - he blames others

Why not fess up? This is politics and he taking one of the dirtiest players in the game - Hillary

I take it that you think saying, "Our campaign made a mistake. Although I was not aware of the contents of the memo prior to its distribution, I consider the entire campaign -- and in particular myself -- responsible for the mistake. We have taken appropriate action to prevent errors like this from happening in the future," is blaming others. If this is the case than it is quite apparent that you are a retarded moron who can't grasp the English language.

Indeed, it seems apparent that Barack Obama is accepting the blame and personally accepting responsibility for the memo. How you arrive at your conclusion is beyond me but I suspect that it is due to you being retarded. Also, I find it interesting that Ms. Bellantoni chose to title her article, "Obama blames staff for memo" when it could just as easily been titled, "Obama accepts responsibility for memo" and would have been a more accurate title for the article because not only did he personally accept responsibility but he accepted responbility for his entire campaign and staff. If more people would simply acknowledge that they are in fact responsible for the actions of those who work on their campaigns than our political system would be more honest and open but I doubt that honesty is a trademark of certain people including you because you have chosen to mis-direct and mis-lead people as has Ms. Bellantoni.

 

[red states rule]

Well he's got to save some room to suck up to hilary when she wins the nomination, he's going to want to be VP, so he cant be slinging too much mud.

She will win the nomination and she will crash and burn in Nov 08

Obama will be another liberal loser - his supporters will blame the racists in America for his loss

 

[red states rule]

I take it that you think saying, "Our campaign made a mistake. Although I was not aware of the contents of the memo prior to its distribution, I consider the entire campaign -- and in particular myself -- responsible for the mistake. We have taken appropriate action to prevent errors like this from happening in the future," is blaming others. If this is the case than it is quite apparent that you are a retarded moron who can't grasp the English language.

Indeed, it seems apparent that Barack Obama is accepting the blame and personally accepting responsibility for the memo. How you arrive at your conclusion is beyond me but I suspect that it is due to you being retarded. Also, I find it interesting that Ms. Bellantoni chose to title her article, "Obama blames staff for memo" when it could just as easily been titled, "Obama accepts responsibility for memo" and would have been a more accurate title for the article because not only did he personally accept responsibility but he accepted responbility for his entire campaign and staff. If more people would simply acknowledge that they are in fact responsible for the actions of those who work on their campaigns than our political system would be more honest and open but I doubt that honesty is a trademark of certain people including you because you have chosen to mis-direct and mis-lead people as has Ms. Bellantoni.

Covering 'Punjab-gate', Media Forget Hillary's 'Gandhi', Biden's 'Dunkin' Donut' Gaffes
Posted by Ken Shepherd on June 19, 2007 - 14:21.
As we've documented at NewsBusters, last year the media, particularly the Washington Post, raked then-Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) over the coals for his infamous "macaca" insult, and his ensuing profuse apologies for same. We've also documented that Democratic politicians' jokes about India and Indian-Americans have been largely ignored (see below the jump).

The latest racial incident kicking up dust on the 2008 campaign trail is yet another Democratic gaffe, dubbed by some, "Punjab-gate," after an Obama presidential campaign research memo cheekily described rival Hillary Clinton as a Democrat from Punjab, a province in India.

Of course, as the oppo memo itself notes, and as John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune reported in the Trib's "The Swamp" blog, Obama's staff were referring to another "lame attempt at humor" (my emphasis, see below jump) by the junior senator from the Empire State about her electoral chances were she to decide to relocate to India:

The (D-Punjab) reference had sought to make fun of a Clinton statement from last year when she had jokingly suggested that her strong ties to the Indian community would allow her to "certainly run for the Senate seat in Punjab and win easily."

Copies of the documents were later obtained by Clinton’s campaign, which then provided them to the Tribune and other news organizations. Obama’s campaign has confirmed their authenticity.

One of the documents included the claim that former President Bill Clinton had accepted $300,000 in speaking fees from Cisco Systems, a company the Illinois Democrat's campaign said has moved American jobs to India.

Of course, you won't find that dollar figure nor Hillary's original joke reported in today's Washington Post (page A7 by Ann Kornblut), nor today's print edition of the New York Times (a brief paragraph on page A17 by reporter Jeff Zeleny).

http://newsbusters.org/node/13577