The Democrats’ Smear Machine Gearing Up
April 18th, 2008 at 12:50pm Matt Margolis
Listening to Hillary and Obama on the campaign, there have been plenty of debate over who will be ready in the general election campaign to not only face McCain, but to handle everything “the Republican throw at them.” They act all high and mighty, claiming to care about the issues and not attacks against their opponents. Well, according to this story from The Hill, it appears the Democrats are much interested in digging up dirt for ammunition than they are in debating the issues.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) filed a number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with Cabinet-level agencies and inter-agency departments looking for opposition research to use against presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).
In early February, there was a sharp uptick in the number of FOIA requests from the DNC with McCain as a specific target. February was about the same time McCain emerged as the front-runner and likely nominee.
A review of FOIA requests and independent confirmations obtained by The Hill turned up requests from the DNC at at least three agencies – the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of the Interior (DOI), the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Commerce Department.
According to one filing, Alicia McClintock, a DNC operative, wrote DOI asking for “any and all records of communication (including but not limited to letters, written requests, reports, telephone records, electronic communication) between your agency and John McCain or his offices/staff from 1999 to present during which period he has been a United States Senator.”
Despite their posturing, it is obvious the Democrats have a win-at-all-costs attitude about elections, and smearing their opponents is undoubtedly the biggest and most important part of their game plan. In public, they’ll say that the voters don’t fall for such attacks, but behind closed doors they work hard to engineer the worst of the worst attacks against anyone who stands in their way.
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008, Democrats
20 Comments
1. Thrower | April 18th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Just got this one in my email last night from a friend who sent it to everyone in her address book. I’ll let you know when the Democratic slime starts flowing.
LET ME SEE IF I HAVE THIS STRAIGHT:
HIS FATHER WAS A KENYAN, MOSLEM, BLACK-
WE HAVE SEEN PICTURES OF HIS AFRICAN “FAMILY”
HIS MOTHER IS A KANSAN, ATHIEST, WHITE- WHERE ARE
THE PICTURES OF HIS KANSAN, WHITE MOTHER
AND
THE WHITE GRANDPARENTS WHO RAISED HIM?
HIS FATHER DESERTED HIS MOTHER AND HIM,
WHEN HE WAS VERY YOUNG,
AND
WENT BACK TO HIS FAMILY IN KENYA
HIS MOTHER THEN MARRIED AN INDONESIAN MOSLEM,
AND TOOK HIM TO JAKARTA,
WHERE HE WAS SCHOOLED
IN A MOSLEM SCHOOL
HIS MOTHER RETURNED TO HAWAII,
AND
HE WAS RAISED BY HIS WHITE
KANSAN GRANDPARENTS
HE LATER WENT TO THE BEST HIGH DOLLAR SCHOOLS,
HOW?
HE LIVES IN A $1.4 MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE
THAT HE ACQUIRED THROUGH A DEAL
WITH A WEALTHY FUND RAISER.
HOW?
HE “WORKED” AS A CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST IN CHICAGO-
HAS NEVER HELD A PRODUCTIVE JOB.
THE PRESIDENCY IS NOT A CIVIL RIGHTS POST,
NOR IS IT SUBJECT TO
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
SET ASIDES
HE ENTERED POLITICS AT THE STATE LEVEL
THEN JUMPED TO THE NATIONAL LEVEL
WHERE HE HAS MINIMAL EXPERIENCE
HE IS PROUD OF HIS “AFRICAN HERITAGE” BUT IT SEEMS
THAT HIS ONLY AFRICAN CONNECTION IS, THAT HIS
AFRICAN FATHER GOT A WHITE GIRL PREGNANT
AND DESERTED HER.
I DIDN’T KNOW THAT SPERM CARRIED A “CULTURAL” GENE.
WHERE IS THE PRIDE IN HIS WHITE CULTURE?
HE GOES TO AN “AFROCENTRIC” CHURCH THAT HATES
WHITES, HATES JEWS, AND BLAMES AMERICA FOR
ALL THE WORLDS PERCEIVED FAULTS
AND
THEN REPEATEDLY COVERS UP FOR THE
PASTOR AND THE CHURCH
HE CLAIMS THAT HE COULD NOT COFRONT HIS PASTOR,
BUT HE WANTS US TO BELIEVE THAT HE CAN
CONFRONT NORTH KOREA AND IRAN,
RIGHT!!!
NO, I DO NOT SEE HOW HE COULD BE A UNITER AND BRING US TOGETHER,
I THINK THE HOPE IS THAT HE HOPES NO ONE WILL PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER.
Pass this around, everybody should wake up and see
the DISASTER, that appears just over the Horizon !!!!
2. Joe | April 18th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Matt, what did you guys say when the Dems complained about the illegal wiretapping… er… I mean Terrorist Suvelience Program?
You guys said… if you don’t have anything to hide, why do you care if the Govt listens to your calls.
Well………
3. Tractatus | April 18th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
So opposition research = “smearing” and “dirty tricks.” Good to know.
This is stupid even for you, Margolis.
PS: Go change your pants, Thrower. Clearly, you just pissed them in terror.
4. OhioOrrin | April 18th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
please sing along w the bouncing curser to the lyrics of…
“Aint no smear machine like a RightWing smear machine” (sung to the tune of gilligan’s island)
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale
The tale of Swiftboat trips,
That started from the blogosphere, aboard these tiny ships.
The mate was a web meister, the skipper brave and sure,
Five Swifties set sail that day for a three month tour,
A three month tour
The weather started getting rough,
The Swiftboat was tossed
If not for the courage of the fearless crew,
The Swiftboat would be lost.
The Swiftboat would be lost.
so join us here each week my friend
you’re sure to get a smile…
from 7 stranded Swifties
here on Swiftboat Isle!!
5. Diana Powe | April 18th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Matt has engaged in more right wing self-parody. The Democrats are making use of the Freedom of Information Act (the horror!) to get official government records (lies! all lies!) about Senator John McCain’s acts as a public employee (oh, the humanity!).
I mean, really. Where have we arrived at as a nation when such low-life tactics would be countenanced? This is just despicable. Everybody knows that what you’re supposed to do is to have telephone push-polling asking voter’s reactions to Senator McCain’s “illegitimate black baby”. Right, Matt?
6. BARRASSO | April 18th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
This whole site is a spoof, right? Looking at McCain’s government service record is a bad thing? How delusional do you have to be to support Bush as a ‘conservative’ when he has spent more money than all of the rest of our presidents combined?
7. Sunny | April 18th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Matt, the Republicans set the bar during the last election when the Swiftboaters smeared John Kerry. I don’t believe that John McCain will allow this to happen with his candidacy if he has any way to stop the independent groups from smearing the Democratic candidate. That really isn’t his thing, unlike Bush who never spoke out against such ads. When the Republicans will slime their own (i.e. the illigetimate black baby fathered by John McCain) you know they will slime the opposition. So we all know that we are going to see tons of ads showing the good Rev. Wright, the “bitter” statement and anything else that can and will be taken out of context and really doesn’t address the REAL issues that the majority of Americans care about. I hope that everyone will listen to where the candidates stand on the issues and not put up with such ads. The Republican Party set the bar and for any of them to whine about the Democratic slime machine they need to take a good look in the mirror. It is sorta like what General Powel said before we invaded Iraq - you break it you bought it. Same principle here. So, I suggest you suck it up Matt and deal with it. Thanks to the Republican Party I am sure there will be those who will want to do the same to John McCain. Honestly, he doesn’t deserve it.
8. js | April 18th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Swiftboaters?
you mean these guys?
http://www.swiftvets.com/index.php
they are not the republican party….they were fellow servicemembers of kerry in vietnam for the most part….
so how can you expect to present us with “real” issues when you dont even tell the “real” truth?
telling the truth isnt “smearing” anyone
9. OhioOrrin | April 18th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
sunny - au contraire, character assassination is the issue since the entrenched & ever-growing bureaucrats run the fed govt (insert screams).
diana powe - since I lust ur style, this is 4 u. u musta noticed maureen dowd’s recent column in which she described Obama as Wonder Boy.
“Boy” oh my…wait, I know - she’s talking ’bout her prodigal son, right? No ,no, no can’t be tho, cause obama professes to a white GRANDmother…u know, the one who passes repulsive and smelly noises!
hummm…”boy”, whatever could maureen have meant?
I’m tellin ya, Diana that I smell a smelly smell that smells smelly.
10. Diana Powe | April 18th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
js,
Well, exactly. Of course, in the case of the swift boat veterans, only one was someone who ever served with Senator Kerry on his boat and he was not present during any of the combat for which Kerry was decorated. Also, all other living members of his crew supported his run for president. So, it’s important to consider the actual legitimacy of the source…say, for instance, actual government records obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests.
Right, js?
11. NeoClown | April 18th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Deleted - off topic.
12. Kahn | April 18th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
OK liberals. I thought it was time fore change???
No huh?
OK then - Sunny, liberal icon Ted Kennedy murdered his date. Diana, name one thing the Swift Boat vets actually said that you can prove was wrong? How about the way Kerry claimed Americans acted like Genghis Kahn etc.? How about the memories seared into his mind about Nixon sending him to Cambodia? But of course he didn’t serve under Nixon and his boat never went to Cambodia. How about those medals he threw over the Capital fence? Give me a break.
Change apparently means removal and destruction of an opposition party. How quaint. Kind of makes me remember what the 2nd Amendment is REALLY for.
13. js | April 18th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
10. Diana Powe
oh, you mean like going in front of congress and claiming that all the soldiers in ‘nam were killing babies….no…only kerry did that…take a look at the picture on the site….you really dont thing that just one of those guys were involved do you….maybe you should also check the FAQ there…the part where it says “Overall, more than 250 Swift boat veterans are on the record questioning Kerry’s fitness to serve as Commander-in-Chief. That list includes his entire chain of command — every single officer Kerry served under in Vietnam. The Kerry game plan is to ignore all this and pretend that the 13 veterans his campaign jets around the country and puts up in 5-star hotels really represent the truth about his short, controversial combat tour.”…
one?
no…you must be thinking about kerrys IQ
14. Greengrass | April 18th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I will have to agree with Matt on this one. Republicans would never stoop to using the FOIA to gain information on your opponent. Conservatives simply make up the smear. To them it is easier and cost effective- thus the “business” of swift-boating was born.
15. js | April 18th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
the hard part about all the liberal evasion is that its easier to say what you dont have to prove than it is not saying what you cant prove
its the liberal way of justice
16. LiberalNitemare | April 19th, 2008 at 12:23 am
The best thing about this thread is watching the liberals whine about how evil the rethuglicans be, while at the same time, blissfully ignoring the fact that the two democratic candidates have been doing the same thing to each other for nearly three months.
More please!
17. Kahn | April 19th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Greengrass, or get the court to open a mans divorce records to stomp his campaign. Hmmm, whatever happened to that guy Obama beat to get into the Senate?
18. Mark Noonan | April 19th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Diana,
You just don’t get it - the Swifties didn’t arise out of some mythical Republican attack machine…in one form or another, they have been dogging Kerry ever since he got up in the Senate and told a series of bald-faced lies about the behaviour of American troops in Vietnam.
If Kerry had never done that nauseating act, he never would have heard of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Now, as to the subject of the thread - you can pretend this doesn’t matter, but you know full well what is happening - Democrats are looking for any connections they can find to tie McCain to corruption…given that both parts of HillBama are neck deep in questionable connections, the Democrats are hoping to change the subject. All is fair in love, war and politics - but a party which thinks its got the better man (or woman) and the better plan doesn’t stoop to character assasination.
19. Diana Powe | April 19th, 2008 at 3:46 am
Mark,
Please don’t assault everyone’s intelligence with the notion that somehow Republicans don’t engage in character assassination. That dog definitely won’t hunt. However, I must say that I’m amused by the conceit that a close examination of Senator McCain’s record of his performance as a public servant would constitute assassinating his character. You must not have much confidence in what’s he’s actually done while being a member of the Senate of the United States.
20. FmrMarine | April 20th, 2008 at 10:58 am
thrower;
I LIKE your post.
It appears EVERYTHING you posted about earbama was correct.
Ohio — go here
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue9711/req15.htm
and here
http://www.kerrystreason.com/index.html