Hillary's Camp Turns On Joe Andrew In A Heartbeat

There was no well-wishing to ex-supporter and ex-DNC Chair Joe Andrew from the Clinton campaign. Within hours he was minimized and ostracized. He even had to defend the fact that he is from Indiana. Howard Wolfson actually accused him of not being from his own state. Meanwhile....um, where is Clinton from? Illinois? Arkansas? New York? Or perhaps just another one from inside the beltway?

Who Ya Calling A Plagiarist?

As Hillary Clinton's campaign loses steam and continues to lose caucuses and elections, it is inevitable that the lust to win will bring about dirty tricks. One of the worst so far already surfaced this week when her spokesman Wolfson claimed Obama plagiarized his supporter and Governor Devall Patrick (D-MA). Of course Patrick, being a friend of Obama's called this whole thing nonsense and so are many people outside of the Hillary and Republican camps. As the problem gets stomped out on Barack's side, Hillary better watch out on her end, because starting fires like tend to blow embers everywhere.

From The Huffington Post:

"For six long years, they have all been invisible," she told a crowd in Manchester. "Well, they're not invisible to us. And they're certainly not invisible to me. And when we retake the White House, they will no longer be invisible to the president of the United States. And we will begin to make progress together again."

Clinton's first television advertisement of the race -- titled "Invisible" -- took up the same theme. The line had a provocative and emotional touch and helped the New York Senator find her political legs on the campaign trail.

But was it original? Not entirely.

Clinton's "Invisible Americans" line echoes an anecdote that her husband, Bill Clinton, has included in speeches of his own for years. As far back as October 2002, the former president has repeatedly closed his talks around the world with an anecdote that pivots off his experiences in Africa to highlight the swaths of population that are "invisible" or have gone "ignored" by the governments of the world.

"When people meet each other on trails, one will say 'hello' or 'good morning' or 'how are you?' Bill Clinton said, describing the greeting of a Central African tribe a few months after his wife's Manchester address. "And the answer is not 'hello' or 'I'm fine' or 'how are you?' The answer, translated into English, is simple: 'I see you.' Think of how many people we never see, or we never see fully, because they're part of the Other or they're just invisible. Somebody's going to have to come in here and clean up after us today. Will they be seen? What about the people who are of different faiths and different politics and live in different places? Do we ever really see them?"

In March 2006, Bill Clinton told an audience, "it's obvious that all of us, as we become more diverse, these societies, we have people among us who are invisible to us, we don't have a clue what's in their real heads, what's in their real hearts and whether they feel like they're part of our communities."

Oh my! Hillary is a plagiarist too! Will her husband sue her? Will it end in their divorce?

Why doesn't everyone just drop this plagiarism bullshit and get back to basics and issues. Hillary needs to control her people and stop these childish attacks. It is just as ridiculous to say she plagiarized Bill as Barack did to his friend Devall Patrick. The only difference is that the Obama campaign isn't spreading this crap, it is all on Clinton's side.

So Hillary, wipe those beads of desperation from your brow and start trying to convince people to vote for you based on you and not these baseless character attacks.

Clinton's Wolfson Reaches For Low Blows Against Obama

President's Day may be slow for the sake of generating news, but that is no reason to go negative over ridiculous accusations by the Clinton camp. Unfortunately spokesman Howard Wolfson did just that, claiming that Obama plagarized his supporter and Massachusetts' Governor Devall Patrick. Not only is this a non-issue, it is hypocritical of Wolfson to claim that Obama plagarizes by using similar language as Patrick while Hillary frequently rips off words from Barack himself.

From The Huffington Post:

Obama: "Don't tell me words don't matter. 'I have a dream' -- just words? 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal' -- just words? 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself' -- just words? Just speeches?"

Patrick: "'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal' -- just words? Just words? 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself' -- just words? 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.' Just words? 'I have a dream' -- just words?"

The Obama campaign denied anything nefarious, noting that the two men are friends and political supporters of each other and that the line was, in fact, ad-libbed.

The Clinton camp, however, jumped right on the issue arguing that the use of someone else's language was telling for a candidate who leans so heavily on his oratory. The debate - aided, in part, by a relatively slow news day - culminated in dueling conference calls at 11 am on Monday morning.

"The issue whether or not there is approval is immaterial. The public did not know that the words had come from Gov. Patrick," said Clinton's spokesperson Howard Wolfson. We need a president, added Massachussetts Rep. Jim McGovern who is "not just someone who can copy someone's homework."

Moments later, Wolfson, in a separate interview with Politico, described Obama use of Patrick's earlier speech as "plagiarism."

In response to the charges, the Obama camp took a two-prong approach: downplaying the political significance of the language lifting and making the case that Sen. Hillary Clinton, herself, had borrowed lines from Obama.

Again, this is a ridiculous thing for Clinton or any of her people to bring up. Please focus on the issues and pay attention to the voters of Wisconsin and Hawaii. Oh wait, that is, if you are even going to bother staying in the state to listen to tomorrow's voters.