Hillary
Clinton's Dirty Tricks Clinton 'agents' planting rumors
There is little doubt that top Hillary campaign officials have quietly -
and not so quietly - waged a smear campaign against Barack Obama. The
record winds its way like a snake back through the months of this
presidential campaign.
In
mid-November 2007, long before Obama became a formidable challenger,
columnist Robert Novak reported in his syndicated weekend column that "agents" of the
Clinton campaign have been "spreading the word in Democratic
circles that she has scandalous information about her principal
opponent." Novak did not offer any further details about the
allegedly negative information.
The Obama campaign lashed out at the report, saying it is
"devoid of facts, but heavy on innuendo and insinuation of the
sort to which we've become all too accustomed in our politics these
past two decades."
This was reported in the Washington
Post by Anne Kornblut on November 18, 2007.
"Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in
Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her
principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen.
Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it.
"This word-of-mouth among Democrats makes Obama look
vulnerable and Clinton look prudent," Novak said, in the
three-paragraph item.
Robert Novak claims that Hillary has something on Barack
This is from the Sunday morning Fox &
Friends on 11-18-07, in a roundtable discussion with Doug Schoen,
Democratic Strategist, and Margaret Hoover, Republican Strategist,
regarding Robert Novak's claims that Hillary Clinton has dirt on
Barack Obama.
Obama responds to Novak story
Politico blogger Ben Smith added, on Dec. 12, 2007:
"Two sources tell me his column, which runs tomorrow, will
report that the "scandalous information" in question arrived
in the form of the attack
on Obama's PAC as a "slush fund" for its contributions to
early-state politicians.
"This was a fairly sharp criticism of Obama's interpretation
of election law, and was the subject of a couple pretty harsh Washington
Post pieces. But I don't think many of Novak's reader had election
law in mind."
The Obama campaign in that instance was quick to challenge the
Hillary campaign to either put up or shut up. She backed off, at least
publicly.
Novak has
continued to stick to his story that the Clinton campaign was behind
the story:
"This is very similar to the kind of trick that Richard Nixon
used to pull, where he would say, 'I know some very bad information
about the communists supporting George McGovern, but I can't put that
out because it wouldn't be right, but I'm just too good of a guy,'
" Novak said.
A message left seeking comment from a Clinton campaign spokesman
was not immediately returned.
Novak also said he still had no proof that there really is
scandalous information about Obama, only that he's certain that
Clinton's campaign told well-connected Democrats that they had such
information.
"Now whether there is any such scandalous information, I
don’t' know, but what I know is I'm confident in my sources, who I
trust. We're told this by Clinton people that there was such
information out."
Obama responded angrily after Novak's column was published,
challenging Clinton's campaign to come forward with the information,
if it exists.
"Sen. Clinton should either make public any and all
information referred to in the item, or concede the truth: that there
is none. She of all people, having complained so often about the
politics of personal destruction, should move quickly to either stand
by or renounce these tactics."
He also denounced the attacks as reminiscent of the "Swift
boat" campaign against Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 presidential
race, in which his supporters say his military record was attacked
with unsubstantiated reports by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
group.
Clinton's campaign has denied any knowledge of the story, and
suggested that Republicans might be behind the report. Novak is a
conservative columnist.
Clinton spokesman Jay Carson said Saturday that Obama was
"walking right into a Republican trap."
But Novak said the claims of Republican involvement are
unsubstantiated.
"The whole method of the Clinton campaign is when anything
derogatory comes up, they say the Republicans are spreading it. But
there was no Republicans involved in any of my reporting on
this," Novak said Monday.
Novak also suggested that Obama could use the information to his
advantage, especially in the heated primary battle in Iowa, where
Obama and Clinton were statistically tied in polls last week.
"Senator Obama's only hope is to portray Sen. Clinton as a
manipulative, almost Nixonian-type of candidate who would do anything
to win and can't be trusted. Obviously, Senator Obama is in a
different position — he must win in Iowa," Novak said, but,
"Iowa caucus-goers might be put off by any kind of allegation of
dirty tricks on the part of the Clinton campaign." (SOURCE: Fox
News, Nov. 19, 2007)
The latest chapter has been smoldering for some time - and center's
around claims that Obama is a womanizer, a homosexual and a recent crack
cocaine user. What a contradiction - a womanizer AND a homosexual?
At the same time Obama was demanding the resignation of Samantha
Power for her statement that Hillary was "a monster", the Globe
and National Enquirer tabloids hit the markets with the story of
Larry Sinclair, an ex-con whose YouTube video claims that he had oral
sex and shared crack cocaine with Obama in the back of a car. The
YouTube videos have climbed to nearly a million hits, yet it has been
yet another charge that Obama's handlers have chosen to ignore.
"What the tabloid's readers, in politics and out, may not know
is that a key owner of the Enquirer is a prominent New York investment
banker and one of Hillary Clinton's key backers, Roger Altman. Altman
was an official in the first Clinton administration, and his name is
often mentioned as a possible Clinton Treasury Secretary."
"The investment boutique which Altman founded and chairs,
Evercore Partners, bought a controlling stake in American Media, which
publishes the Enquirer, in 1999, which it still holds with a partner.
Evercore's president, Austin Beutner, sits on American Media's Board of
Directors, according to Evercore's website.
"A spokesman for American Media, Richard Valvo, said in an email
that Altman has "no involvement in editorial, ever." He said
that Evercore owns 20 percent of the company through an investment
fund. Altman didn't respond to an email seeking comment or to a message
left with his secretary.
Both the Globe and National Enquirer are owned by
American Media, Inc.
Before Obama became "a threat" to Clinton, John Edwards was
pressing her hard. Guess what? The National Enquirer also ran a
lengthy series of articles detailing John Edward's alleged sex scandals,
claiming he had impregnated a young lady whose production company was
shooting a campaign video. The video then vanished - and not too long
after Edwards pulled out of the race ("suspended" his
campaign, he said), but interestingly has held on to his delegates (27,
according to CBS News), and could be in a powerful position as a
potential kingmaker in a deadlocked convention.
The Globe is claiming that Obama has several "gay
flings" as a college student, and that Larry Sinclair is claiming
"Obama wants me dead" for his claims of oral sex and cocaine
use. The National Enquirer is charging that Obama has close
friendships with terrorists, that he made a fortune with mobster Tony
Rezko on trial in Chicago, and that Obama and Michelle have engaged in
"screaming matches over other women."
Now that the sordid Sinclair allegations are spilling over into the
more "mainstream" arena (Bill O'Reilly may have tiptoed around
the subject in one of his broadcasts with Tony Snow) after festering for months on YouTube,
Obama may find it much harder to refute. The latest media assault places
him on the defensive - and any good strategist knows "the best
defense is a good offense."
"What the tabloid's readers, in politics and out, may not know
is that a key owner of the Enquirer is a prominent New York investment
banker and one of Hillary Clinton's key backers, Roger Altman. Altman
was an official in the first Clinton administration, and his name is
often mentioned as a possible Clinton Treasury Secretary."