Smear, Scapegoat, Repeat
The word scapegoat comes from a historical practice in Judaism where a priest symbolically laid the sins of the people on a goat at Yom Kippur. The goat was then driven away into the wilderness. So it is with Billy Shaheen, who dredged up old news about Barack Obama and attempted a smear job yesterday.
New Hampshire pol, husband of former Gov. Jeanne, quits NH co-chair position over Wednesday’s drug comment about Obama.
“I made a mistake and in light of what happened, I have made the personal decision that I will step down
Obama adviser Axelrod on the resignation: “It was the right thing to do. What he did yesterday was the wrong thing to do. Every campaign ought to send a signal that there’s not going to be a wink and a nod to this kind of activity.”
Maybe sacrificial goat is the right term. Because you can bet your bottom dollar that this was scripted right from the start. The important thing was to get the smear out there, just as Howard Wolfson launched a smear in the very last seconds of Face the Nation. The Clinton campaign had this little dance choreographed right from the get go, so she could 'apologize' while still getting the smear planted.
Like I said earlier. I think this is going to hurt her in the long run, whether she gets the nomination or not.
Other Links to this Post
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Public Secrets: from the files of the Irishspy — December 13, 2007 @ 5:57 pm
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Chuck Adkins » Memo to Bill Shaheen and the Hillary camp: WTF?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!???!?!?!? — December 13, 2007 @ 11:43 pm
By Maggie, December 13, 2007 @ 5:41 pm
Yeah, the Clinton M.O. :
1) Surround yourself with expendable people
2) Have them do/say whatever the hell YOU want
3) Toss said expendable person under the bus
4) Roll away over the bump in the road and act like your crap don’t stink