OUCH! Edwards camp gets all Bob Dole with Obama.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

On of the most famous political sound-bytes is Bob Dole in 1988, when asked by a TV reporter whether he had anything to say to GHW Bush, replied, "Yeah. Tell him to stop lying about my record." (It was a big gaffe, of the accidental candor variety, and did not help Dole at all.)

History repeats itself.

"When read these remarks by CBS's Aaron Lewis, John Edwards's spokesman, Mark Kornblau, said: "Barack Obama should stop lying to Iowans about John Edwards's record. Really.""

The "L" word is so rare in politics, but I guess the Edwards folks are getting feisty.

______________

Here are the Obama comments Kornblau was responding to:

"If you are then choosing between Edwards and myself, then I would say this. He is a fine person, with a beautiful family who's run a very good campaign. But I would say that if you look at the track records of who has really brought about change when then were in a position to do it, then I can make a claim that you can trust, that you can count on. When I was in the senate I fought and got the power of lobbyists reduced, that’s not something that John has invested in, even though he’s talking about it now."
"When I talk about getting troops out of Iraq, I was opposed to the war at the start when it was unpopular to be against the war. John was for it. When I talk about trade, and that we should have environmental agreements in out trade agreements. I didn’t support NAFTA, didn’t vote for permanent trade relations for China, John did."

"When I talk about the hardships of working families and some of them for no fault of their own because they got sick become bankrupt and there were laws passed pushed by the credit card companies that made it harder to get out of bankruptcy and John voted for that provision. I had rejected similar provisions."

"I am saying this only because you have to look at where somebody has been to know where they are going. He says now that those were mistakes and I have no reason to doubt that he believes that but I guess the point I am making is in my gut, there is a consistency of who I am fighting for, what I believe in, choices I have made in my life that can give you some assurance of when I get into the White House. I am going to be fighting for you and I am not going to be different as time goes on."

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/12/edwards_spox_asks_obama_to_sto.php

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. Hillary Is Locked In At Least The Two Position... This Infighting Can Ensure She Ends Up First

What made the Dole charge so poignant was the candidate himself called Bush Pere a liar and did it on live television...

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

6. Yes, the difference between surrogates and candidates is vast

But I'm surprised any political professional wouldn't have that phrase walled off in his mind... unless it was quite intentional. Maybe they feel ready to assault Obama frontally on his goody-two-shoes image.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. Somehow If Somebody Like Reagan Delivered That Line I Think It Would Have Been A Winner

The lying charge fit into the frame that Dole was mean...

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

13. Did he really insist on calling Pete DuPont by his real name, Pierre? I can't remeber if that was

real or just something Dan Ackroyd made up in his killer Dole impression.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. That Was Actually The Patrician George Bush Calling Pete Dupont Pierre

Ha ha ha...

[BootinUp]

21. Sure, but Reagan was an actor

he could deliver lines better than the average politician. His writer sucked though. lol.

[Tellurian]

12. Yep, A Diligent Hillary Clinton Keeps Her Head Down

I couldn't be happier with the tempo and placement of her campaign...

DES MOINES -- Hillary Clinton will close out nearly a year of campaigning in Iowa with a New Year's Eve rally in downtown Des Moines late Monday night. It will be glitzy and splashy and will feature her most significant surrogate, her husband the former president.

But what is striking about the final days of one of the most fascinating campaigns any of us have witnessed here in Iowa is how Clinton has avoided becoming the focus of attention. The national front-runner has become, if not invisible, virtually ignored -- and that seems just the way she wants it.

Barack Obama and John Edwards have zeroed in on one another. Joe Biden, Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd hunger for attention. Clinton is methodically moving around the state, saying the same thing at virtually every stop. She has given a few interviews, but made little news.

The style is classic Hillary Clinton, the girl with the responsibility gene, the always-prepared student who never skips her homework. Her final days in Iowa are as disciplined as they are unexceptional -- except perhaps where it counts, in reaching out to Iowa voters. (But that we will not know until Thursday night.)

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/12/31/a_diligent_clinton_keeps_her_h.html

[AndreaCG]

2. Since Obama was a state legislator at the time

We have no way of knowing how he would have voted re Iraq, given false information by the Bush administration.

As for NAFTA, I doubt he was even a politician at that point, in his early 30s.

[Bluebear]

10. Obama has had no trouble in continuing to fund the war, has he?

[sandnsea]

3. Nobody has been lied about more than Barack Obama

He speaks the truth, and once again, others have to lie to slander him. Disgusting.

[DemPopulist]

7. Except he doesn't speak the truth

See my other post.

[Tellurian]

4. Ouch, seconded!

[DemPopulist]

5. It's news to me that Edwards supported NAFTA

He wasn't even in politics then and he spoke out against it in the '04 campaign.

[AndreaCG]

9. Hmmm, a fabrication then.

So much for running a clean campaign.

[sandnsea]

15. It says he voted for China trade status

And he did. And Edwards says it was a mistake, like his ENTIRE SENATE RECORD - almost the whole thing was a big fucking mistake. That's what you guys are voting for. It's crazy.

[DemPopulist]

19. Can you point to where Obama opposed the China trade agreement?

I don't remember the Illinois state senate voting on that.

[flpoljunkie]

8. "Lying about Edwards' record?" You must be kidding! The record speaks for itself. Ouch!

[sandnsea]

17. And Edwards says most of it was all a mistake

They're voting for a candidate who didn't get anything right during his Senate tenure and now wants us to trust that he figured it all out on Nov 4 2004. What-Ever.

[ThatPoetGuy]

16. Here is Obama, lying about Edwards.

“the issues he is taking on now are not the issues or the things that he said four years ago, which always causes problems in general elections,” Obama said at a rally in an elementary school gymnasium in Keokuk, Iowa.

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2007/12/obama_questions_edwards_credib.html#more

Four years ago, Edwards spoke again and again about "Two Americas" -- one for the rich, and one for the rest of us. He wanted to help the rest of us. That was the theme of his campaign in 2003.

It is the theme of his campaign now.

[Jane Austin]

18. He's not lying and he doesn't have to.

Edwards's voting record speaks for itself - and it's not even moderate.

It's anti-consumer, pro-business and pro-war.

I'll give him this - he's really good if he can make people think he has anything but a conservative Senate voting record.

[KennedyGuy]

20. K & R