is putting a negative spin on her very innocent comments about Dr. Martin Luther King and LBJ?

Shifting the blame in this situation doesn't make Clinton appear presidential. It makes her appear petty. She never acknowledges that the way she framed things as at least as much to do with what's happening in the media as anything so-called Obama supporters are doing.

Is this why so many paranoid posters yesterday asked about "agent sabateurs" among Obama supporters? When confronted with independent responses to her remarks, she can only say "hmmmm" as if they aren't really independent. This you're with us or you're against us campaign posture isn't going to sell her among those with constructive criticism of her remarks or of her campaign. Or maybe with Clinton every criticism is a failure of loyalty.

blech.

Russert tried his usual tactic of bludgeoning his "guest" (almost always a Dem)w/ truncated and out of context clips and quotes. Clinton promptly and effectively made him eat it. This is why I'm considering supporting her. She has been in the trenches and know what it takes to push back against the Right Wing Slime Machine. I don't see her taking any guff at all from the swine . . . Obama, however at this point is un-tested at this level. His background (union organizer) lends me to beleive that this shouldn't be an issue, but . . .

At any rate, she manhandled Timmy, answered what needed to be answered and got her message out.

Clinton 1, Russert 0

Dave Galloway

Grand Ridge, FL

Hillary is honest, capable and can handle the incompetent press who should attempt to give you 1/4th the slang they give Obama.

Thanks for this opportunity

I thought Hillary held her own. Voters seem to be finally noticing how bad the Washington media has become and how much they hate Hillary. So, in regards to the truncated clip of Bill I would have preferred she be more assertive with Russert such as saying something to the effect of, "Tim, you do your viewers and the voters a disservice when you show a partial clip. You must show Bill's full response and then anyone can see he was discussing the Iraq war and not Sen. Obama's campaign." There were a couple of other times Hillary let Russert off the hook with his shabby "journalism" when a more assertive stance would have served her better.

Sorry, my previous comment should have read "the press should attempt to give Hillary 1/4th the slack they give Obama.

Thanks-MSM, see how easy it is to correct your mistakes.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/01/13/574170.aspx

I think the vast majority of voters who, after all have known the Clintons for the last 16+ years, will shrug and discount the seriousness of these charges of, what?, insensitivity???

If this bruhaha continues much longer or grows unpleasant in tone, they will be turned off, generally and specifically, and I think overall the negativity will fall on Team Obama ...

As I said yesterday, I think there are too many people vaguely speaking "for" TeamObama and I think Candidate Obama needs to step up and weigh in and "set the tone"

I dislike and distrust both Clintons ... but I think these "incidents" were much ado about very little and have been blown out of all proportion... and, importantly, they have both now publicly "faced the music" and been accountable. I'm not sure what Candidate Obama thinks or feels about any of this, and I don't think "staying above the fray" is a desirable posture.

ymmv.

The first 35 minutes was on the two topics of contention that have framed the only thing Obama has going against Hillary. She defended and very clearly so, both her words and Bill's. Afro-American folks are hyper sensitive because they thought Hillary's campaign would collapse after Iowa and they can see she is not ever going to give in.

The Clintons have a great record of lifetimes spent supporting black issues. The Right hates her because she has always fought alongside and produced results for Afro-Americans.

Hillary and Bill may be abandoned in favor of a " native son" who has a chance, but they will never let go of their convictions no matter how much this issue is misused against them.

Obama and his campaign only have this issue. She is beating him to the public with real proposals and responding to all comers with answers to issues that cry out for solutions.

History will write this as the most thoughtful and yet most emotional fight for a nomination in our lifetimes. I think Hillary handled Russert and the "got you" stuff easily for the entire hour.

It's telling that Tim Russert omitted the first part of Bill Clinton's "fairy tale" remarks, which made it clear that he was talking about Obama's record on the Iraq War, and not his entire candidacy. Selective clips like these -- a particular specialty of Russert -- are probably what led Clyburn and Brazile to say what they did. Or, perhaps it was selective memories -- surely they know there's not an ounce of racism in either Clinton, which should have led them, like it did me, to search for the wider context in which these words were uttered. If anyone is being political and opportunistic, it may not be the Clintons; it may be those in the media who cut and paste people's words, and those in the black community and beyond who believe what they hear rather than what they know.

"So I think it's important to set the record straight. Clearly, we know from media reports that the Obama campaign is deliberately distorting this."

We do? What media reports? Is she referring to The State article that said African-Americans were angry?

"They've been putting out talking points, they've been making this, they've been telling people in a very selective way what the facts are."

They have? When? Where?

"I don't think either of us want to inject race or gender in this campaign."

"No women are illegal," "buddy system," and all that notwithstanding, Didn't Clinton specifically say, in the Manchester debate, that she embodied change because she'd be the "first woman president"?

And wasn't her campaign the first one to try to go Willie Horton, with the soft-on-mandatory-minimums ploy?

It's the "vast right-wing conspiracy" strategy turned on its dime, against a fellow Democrat.

The Clintons have shamed their legacy.