Dear Sen. Obama, Campaign Staff, and Your Media Cohorts: Have You No Shame? [Video Update]

[The VIDEO UPDATE from Brother Barack is below the fold ... and in that video he's usin' some line about Hillary actin' like Annie Oakley. Damndest coincidence, that is. Isn't it. That Barack would use the "Annie Oakley" line, and here we see a photo of Annie Oakley herself smack on the front page of HuffPo. Uncanny, it is. Simply uncanny.]

We noticed an odd similarity in two front pages this afternoon: HUGE headlines about Hillary and guns. First, there was the Huffington Post’s front page (click to see larger image):

Then there was Talking Points Memo’s front page (click to see larger image):

By susanunpc

And then it all made sense. I opened Mark Halperin’s The Page blog for Time magazine, and saw these blaring headlines:

After remaining silent all day Sunday, Obama lashes out against Clinton in Steelton, Pennsylvania.

“She knows better. Shame on her. Shame on her.”

Insists he does relate to small-town Americans, and mocks Clinton’s sudden vocal support for gun rights:

“Hillary Clinton is out there like she’s on the duck blind every Sunday. She’s packing a six-shooter. Come on, she knows better. That’s some politics being played by Hillary Clinton.”

VIDEO UPDATE: Brother Barack on “there’s some politics goin’ on …” and “that’s some politics bein’ played by Hillary Clinton … you know … come on …” — via Ben Smith’s Politico blog.

Brother Barack was in Steelton, Pennsylvania this afternoon. And he’s still lying to the people about not taking money from big lobbyists. Check all of our stories on the big-time lobbyists he’s raking in the big dollars from.

Special thanks to Brother Patrick Henry for sending me the video link.
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Back to the Original: This is not the first time we’ve noticed strikingly similar headlines and stories on pro-Obama sites like Huffington Post and Talking Point Memo. Halperin’s big red headlines — about Hillary Clinton “on the duck blind every Sunday” and that she’s “packing a six-shooter” — come straight from Obama’s mouth, quoted in a Fox News article.

The similarities cannot be overlooked: Have you also noticed how that the anti-Hillary and pro-Obama stories leading the Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo are exactly the same?  We are not just talking a mere coincidence.  Day after day both sites appear to parrot the same “talking points”? For those who are at least 50 years old this comes across like an American version of Pravda and Izvestia.  For you youngsters, Pravda and Izvestia were the “news” outlets for the Soviet Union.  They functioned pure and simple as propaganda machine.

I think the Izvestia and Pravda comparison does not really fit either the Huffington Post or Talking Point Memo.  But their collective behavior and cheer leading does call to mind the writings of Lewis Carroll and the antics of Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

Here are some more questions:

• Although both websites have different editors, how close are they to David Axelrod, the Obama campaign’s media message manipulator?
• How do they receive the Obama campaign talking points–via email or on a phone conference or both?
• And why do both sites so cavalierly dismiss Barack’s claim that “folks in Pennsylvania, frustrated by the economies of Bill Clinton and George Bush’ are bitter and seek solace in religion, guns or bigotry?”  Why do both find it so easy to excuse words like this that, if uttered by Hillary, would in their view justify a political lynching?

Could it be the money? Consider the possibility that a big Obama money bundler, Ken Lehrer, also happens to be a major investor in Huffington Post.  Hmmm.  Coincidence? Would you be shocked to learn that another big Obama bundler, Reed Hundt — we hear in whispered discussions — is a close confidant of Josh Marshall?

I do not challenge the right of either Arianna Huffington or Josh Marshall to put up what they want.  That’s the beauty of having their own blog.  But I do think it is important to disclose any close political contacts with the Obama or Clinton campaign if you are shilling for them.  Here at No Quarter, we do monitor pro-Hillary blogs.  But we have no connection whatsoever to the campaign.  And this blog’s owner, Larry Johnson, has made it quite clear that he is not seeking nor will he accept a position in a Clinton Administration if Hillary is elected.

Perhaps we should give Obama’s campaign credit for having a better machine for manipulating the blogosphere and the press.  What bothers me is the depth of political manipulation directed against Hillary and the willingness of the media to participate in the print equivalent of mob violence.  Even someone like Mark Halperin appears to have snagged a cup of kool aid today.  He links to The Page byFox News, which quotes Barack Obama’s outburst today:

Clinton called Obama’s claim that economically depressed Pennsylvania voters cling to God and guns “elitist” and “demeaning,” and talked about her duck-hunting experience in Arkansas. Obama sounded skeptical. “She’s running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen. How she’s, she’s valuing the second amendment,” he said mockingly. “She’s talking like she’s Annie Oakley. Hillary Clinton’s out there in a duck blind every Sunday. She’s packing a six shooter. Come on!”

Now where did I hear that before?

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By the way, I do not get guidance from top Clinton campaign staffers. However, a few weeks ago, I finally got around to calling the Clinton press office, and they kindly signed me up to receive their press releases. Anyone can sign up to get their releases to the media. Here is tonight’s:

Response to Sen. Obama’s Outburst

Phil Singer, Deputy Communications Director, issued the following statement tonight:

For months, Barack Obama and his campaign have relentlessly attacked Hillary Clinton’s character and integrity by using Republican talking points from the 1990s. The shame is his.

Sen. Clinton does know better — she knows better than to condescend and talk down to voters like Senator Obama did. Senator Obama’s outburst won’t change the fact that he has embraced his characterization of the millions of Americans who live in small towns.

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