Obama says Clinton not attacking him but attacking his supporters

Transcript of the NBC Nightly News report

LEE COWAN reporting:

Well, good evening, Lester.

There's a subtle new argument that Barack Obama has been using on the campaign trail now, not only here in Ohio but also in Texas, that's starting to get some traction. He says it's not so much what Hillary Clinton says about him by way of criticism but what she's implying about his supporters that he says should get them pretty riled up.

Senator BARACK OBAMA (Democrat, Presidential Candidate): All right, next. So here's where we cut it, huh?

COWAN: At a wallboard plant outside Cleveland this morning, it was all about economic specifics for Barack Obama, especially NAFTA and whom he thinks is to blame.

Sen. OBAMA: But let's be clear, it was her husband who got NAFTA passed. In her own book, Senator Clinton called NAFTA one of Bill's successes and legislative victories.

COWAN: Using her own words against her has proven fertile ground for him of late, especially as he tries to rebut Hillary Clinton's claim that he's all talk and no action.

Senator HILLARY CLINTON (Democrat, Presidential Candidate): It's time that we moved from good words to good works, from sound bites to sound solutions.

COWAN: The Illinois senator has now tried to argue that it's not so much an attack on him as it is his supporters. He first tried it out at the debate Tuesday night in Austin.

Sen. OBAMA: And the implication is is that, you know, the people who have been voting for me or involved in my campaign are somehow delusional.

COWAN: And now it's found a home in his stump speech, as well.

Sen. OBAMA: Some of these folks make fun of y'all. They say, `Oh, look at these folks that are being duped.'

COWAN: The attacks on Obama's supporters are hardly subtle. At a Hillary Clinton event in Ohio this week, one of her supporters went on almost a tirade.

Mr. TOM BUFFENGARGER (Machinists Union): I've got news for all the latte drinking, Prius driving, Birkenstock wearing, trust fund babies crowding in to hear him speak. This guy won't last a round against the Republican attack machine. He's a poet not a fighter.

Group of People: (In unison) We want change! We want change!

COWAN: The characterization that his supporters are blindly following the Illinois senator has even gotten attention overseas, with one newspaper (the tabloid The Sun)suggesting the crowds are almost "cult-like."

Now however they're characterized, they are certainly energetic. And the more they are criticized for that enthusiasm, Lester, the more it just seems to galvanize their cause.

HOLT: NBC's Lee Cowan tonight. Lee, thank you.

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So it's not the press who have been fanning these flames ....er rather....uh they don't mention that now do they?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4749723&mesg_id=4749723

She is not only dissing his message of hope but the millions who are supporting him. It stinks.

With such comments as "The republican party was the party of ideas for the last 10-15 years".

Let's be fair.

He was making an observation about the politics of the late 80s and early 90s - never said it was good or bad. Using that sentence in quotes to prove fairness? You should try to do better than that.

It was the year Bill Clinton too office.

Typically being the "party of ideas" would be considered to be a good thing.

The reason you hillary people keep bringing up petty garbage is because you have nothing to slam obama with but silliness..and that is what it is.

Its time to grow up for the good of the country. Get back to substance, not juvenile attacks.

Secondly, claiming that an attack on a candidate also attacks their supporters is just as unintelligent.

The difference is, I am not running for President.

you provide a link to it. And as kos and many others pointed out, that's standard political fare; recognizing that the repukes put a whole lot of resources into think tanks in the 80's and into churning out ideas They were bad ideas, but the dems seemed to cede that battle to them, and did not put forth much in the way of new ideas in that period of time, or fight for the mantle of being the party of ideas. and obama was not trying to say they were good ideas. he was simply stating a commonly accepted school of political thought.

Obama's campaign is the one that is training activists in states across the country.

He is the one working to rebuild the Democratic Party.

and doing everything possible to split it up.

feel safe from harm & hide behind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jockstrap

a voice. Empowering people.

He mustn't be criticized! It's HURTING the party!

LEAVE OBAMA ALONE!!!!

Okay it could have been the Hillary camp or the RNC/McCain camp but the media ran with it and are still using this type of report to keep this meme out there and going. Joe Klein was the first that I knew of who used the "cult" line and now all of the established DC press (Krugman even) have used it and mostly, IMHO, because they don't know how to talk about a black candidate. They are lilywhite and scared to death of being called racist so they hide behind this nonsense.

On and one more thing- hiding behind the victimization thing about the media being against her smacks of the rightwing "liberal media" lie and makes about as much sense (to anyone who pays attention to the media).