Letters to the Editor
-
@Wombat
Wombat: "I can only wish to think as clearly and write as well as Debra Dickerson. Nope, I am not she."
Hey Wombat, thank you for your response. I don't know if you're still reading this thread (it has scrolled down a bit) but if you are, let me say this: I thought Dickerson was a terrific writer. When I say that, I want to emphasize the word writer, because I didn't think she was very good at reasoning through her argument in a crystal-clear and consistent manner. But she was a fine wordsmith. I do tend to wonder what has happened to her on Salon (I have heard some things from some peole I know who are connected to the Salon staff, but they're pretty vague, and Salon has actually deleted a few of my posts referencing Dickerson's employment at the website -- which is interesting since Salon hardly ever deletes my posts).
I also remember seeing you in the threads for Dickerson's articles. I thought it was interesting that you tended to support her and write nearly as well as her, and I theorized that you might be Dickerson. Sorry for being conspiratorial there.
Wombat: "I just now read her essay published in Salon last year and she says it all -- and concludes electing Obama would be good for the nation."
You didn't "just now" read her essay from last year! You were writing about it back then! I have a very good memory, you know. A mind like a steel pile of rubble. Anyway, I do remember Dickerson's conclusion, which was a little bit unearned and abrupt after the rest of her article, but it was at least an attempt to not be negative, and I appreciated it. I think Dickerson had some good points but she pushed just a little too hard, and to the extent that she took it too far, she invited criticism.
Wombat: "I can only hope so, as he artfully dodges policy discussions amid this race controversy that he knows is helping him avoid the hard questions that directly relate to leading this nation and the world."
I am hoping -- no, praying -- that Obama continues to do his homework so that his artful dodges will stay artful but become non-dodges. I think Obama is an exquisitely talented speaker and organizer, and as long as he maintains his focus and stays on the ball (which must be a very, very tiring thing to do -- he has his work cut out for him) he will be a terrific leader.
If this campaign is hard, just wait till he has to run the country.
-
@Xrandadu Hutman
Q. "Do you think that Obama is a terrorist?" A. Probably Not.
Get the idea? This isn't parsing words. Obama told that reporter that Clinton could very well have been responsible for the dirty campaign tactics, with no reliable knowledge at all that she had done so. This was presuming that she had made a racist attack trying to make him look "foreign" and "Muslim". If he had said "Of course she is capable of this", he would have been required to back up that statement with further examples and the whole thing would have unwound.
The premise of the article is that Obama used charges of racism. I gave solid examples of how the very top of his campaign used or supported charges that Clinton was racist. I didn't use the TNR article as a source for the first two - just for quotes from the 3rd. (The fourth isn't actually relevant, but threatening black people with removal from office for not voting the way you want is not hardball, it's the sleaziest kind of politics - remember the outrage when Congress did this?"
If Clinton has been using sexism, you can surely find a few examples of it off the top of your head. You shouldn't need a news article. But you won't be able to, because Clinton has been running on her qualifications and her oppositions lack of qualifications. In other words... a clean campaign.
-
@jeb
jeb: "Q. "Do you think that Obama is a terrorist?" A. Probably Not. Get the idea?"
Hardly a parallel. The Drudge Report, though unreliable, has an established relationship with Clinton (I posted the link to a New York Times article about this). He reported that the photo was being circulated by Clinton staff. So there was actually something to go on, unlike in your example.
jeb: "Obama told that reporter that Clinton could very well have been responsible for the dirty campaign tactics, with no reliable knowledge at all that she had done so."
Obama wasn't the only one who suspected Clinton -- so did the media, and so did most people observing. The fact that the Clinton campaign's denials were sort of half-assed and inconclusive didn't help either. Nor did the fact that this came on the heels of a different Clinton attack, from a different angle, each day.
jeb: "This was presuming that she had made a racist attack trying to make him look "foreign" and "Muslim". If he had said "Of course she is capable of this", he would have been required to back up that statement with further examples and the whole thing would have unwound."
We still don't know for certain that the photo didn't originally come from some Clinton staffers, or even from the campaign (outside of Hillary's knowledge). I am not sure what your point is about if Obama had said "she's capable of this," since he didn't say that.
jeb:
-
@Xrandadu Hutman
The only "established relationship" that Drudge has with Clinton is that he hates her guts and hits her whenever he can. Anybody who claims otherwise is either lying or delusional. An "established relationship" implies some kind of alliance, not just a staff member leaking information to the media. Drudge's attitude toward Clinton makes it quite clear that he does not consider her an ally and he has a history of putting fake information on his site. Stop spinning, distorting, and ignoring facts and tell me how Clinton has attacked Obama for being sexist. If you can. I'm betting you can't, because you, like so many other Clinton attackers, specialize in vague references and lack facts to back up your claims.