Hypocrite, Thy Name is Axelrod

Wow. I have to admit my jaw hit the coffee table and nearly knocked my mug off when I heard David Axelrod on Face the Nation this morning.

Bob Schieffer asked him about some recent missteps by President Clinton as he stumped for his wife on the campaign trail. What we heard this morning was the nice-guy version of David Axelrod. The cameras were running and pointed straight at him, so of course he was going to pretend he couldn’t possibly know what was in Bill’s head — or heart — when it came to the things he said on behalf of Hillary.

Here’s the transcript from what I could type out - take a look…

Schieffer: What do you think about it, Mr. Axelrod? Do you think any of this has been calculated or is he just making mistakes or…?

Axelrod: Well I can’t climb into President Clinton’s head and explain why he said some of the things he said - and some of them have been regrettable. But let me say this - his wife is running for President of the United States and he is working very, very hard to try and get her elected President and to some degree that’s understandable. And, uh, maybe some of these indiscrete remarks can be written off to the passion he feels about trying to get his wife elected president so, uh, I think it should be seen in that perspective.

I do think it’s important for everybody in the process whether they’re surrogates or the candidates themselves to be thoughtful about the things that they say because — words do have meaning and they can be disruptive and divisive and we don’t need that as a party and frankly we don’t need that as a country.

Here’s the video link; the segment starts at about 2:00: Face the Nation video.

Turn off the cameras — put Axelrod in his war room back in Chicago — and we get a totally different story.

Hmmm… thoughtful. Yeah - thoughtful as in the way his campaign’s gone out - of - its - way to paint Hillary and Bill as racists whenever it suits their purposes? That kind of thoughtful?

And they don’t just do it now and then — they make a point of turning up the noise to deafening levels in the lead-up to a primary in a state with a large African American population. It’s so deafening that it drowns out all common sense or any attempt to discuss things that might actually help voters - like jobs, fixing the economy and healthcare reform.

Some of you might recall a little memo put out by the Press Secretary in Obama’s South Carolina campaign back in January. Huffington Post posted that memo, where we see how it maps out their strategy in all its divisive and ugly glory. Take a look…

Subject: MUST READ: Key S.C. figure takes issue with Clintons

Clinton Supporter Andrew Cuomo, Referring To Obama, Said “You Can’t Shuck And Jive At A Press Conference.

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Clinton, Criticizing Obama For Promising “False Hope” Said That While MLK Jr. Spoke On Behalf Of Civil Rights, President Lyndon Johnson Was The One Who Got Legislation Passed: “It Took A President To Get It Done.”

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Clinton Introducer Said JFK Gave Hope, But Was Assassinated. Clinton introducer: “If you look back, some people have been comparing one of the other candidates to JFK and he was a wonderful leader, he gave us a lot of hope but he was assassinated and Lyndon Baines Johnson actually did all his work and got the republicans to pass all those measures.”

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Bill Clinton Implied Hillary Clinton Is Stronger Than Nelson Mandela. “I have been blessed in my life to know some of the greatest figures of the last hundred years. [...] I go to Nelson Mandela’s birthday party every year and we’re still very close. [...] But if you said to me, ‘You’ve got one last job for your country but it’s hazardous and you may not get out with life and limb intact and you have to do it alone except I’ll let you take one other person, and I had to pick one person whom I knew who would never blink, who would never turn back, who would make great decisions [...] I would pick Hillary.’”

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Clinton’s NH Campaign Chair Raised The Youthful Drug Use Of Obama And Said It Would “Open The Door To Further Queries On The Matter.” Clinton’s Campaign Issued A Statement Distancing Themselves From Shaheen’s Comments And Shaheen Issued A Statement Saying That He “Deeply Regret[s] The Comments.”

snip< Donna Brazile Lashed Into Bill Clinton For Comparing Obama To A "Fairy Tale" And Said "It's An Insult...

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Amaya Smith
South Carolina Press Secretary
Obama for America

FOR THE RECORD: Here’s what Bill actually said when they attacked him over that fairy tale comment. It wasn’t about BO as a black American candidate — it was about his multiple stands on the Iraq war and the fact that the press and the media were giving him a free ride it all…

“It is wrong that Senator Obama got to go through 15 debates trumpeting his superior judgment and how he had been against the war in every year,” said Clinton, “and never got asked one time, not once, ‘Well, how could you say, that when you said in 2004 you didn’t know how you would have voted on the resolution? You said in 2004 there was no difference between you and George Bush on the war and you took that speech you’re now running on off your website in 2004 and there’s no difference in your voting record and Hillary’s ever since?’ Give me a break.

“This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen…”

He didn’t call Obama or his historic run for the presidency a fairy tale — he called the way the press were dealing with him with kid gloves a fairy tale and rightly so, dammit.

This memo was brought up by Russert in the debate in Las Vegas a few months back — Take a look…

RUSSERT: In terms of accountability, Senator Obama, Senator Clinton on Sunday told me that the Obama campaign had been pushing this storyline. And, true enough, your press secretary in South Carolina — four pages of alleged comments made by the Clinton people about the issue of race.

In hindsight, do you regret pushing this story?

OBAMA: Well, not only in hindsight, but going forward. I think that, as Hillary said, our supporters, our staff get overzealous. They start saying things that I would not say. And it is my responsibility to make sure that we’re setting a clear tone in our campaign, and I take that responsibility very seriously, which is why I spoke yesterday and sent a message in case people were not clear that what we want to do is make sure that we focus on the issues.

Now, there are going to be significant issues that we debate, and some serious differences that we have.

OBAMA: And I’m sure those will be on display today.

What I am absolutely convinced of is that everybody here is committed to racial equality — has been historically.

So if he took his responsibility to quash that sort of overzealousness back then — WHY are his friends still pushing the idea that Hillary and Bill are racists?

HMMMMM????

I guess some of them just haven’t gotten that memo yet, because months after the edict went out from on high, Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC & # 3 in the House leadership) claims that Hillary’s only staying in the race to scuttle BO’s chances at winning, to clear the way for herself in 2012. He had this to say recently…

“I heard something, the first time yesterday (in South Carolina), and I heard it on the (House) floor today, which is telling me there are African Americans who have reached the decision that the Clintons know that she can’t win this. But they’re hell-bound to make it impossible for Obama to win” in November, Clyburn told Reuters in an interview.

Clyburn has yet to endorse someone but I think we all know which side his bread is buttered on. He pulled this same kind of dishonest maneuver in the lead up to the primaries in his own state.

Craig Crawford had this to say recently…

Once again, a racial dispute over Bill Clinton’s words erupts in advance of a Deep South primary where African-American voters are crucial. And once again, Rep. James E. Clyburn, D-S.C., is at the forefront of attacks against his party’s former president.

Seizing upon Clinton’s assertion last week that Barack Obama’s camp “played the race card on me” in January before the South Carolina primary, Clyburn is leveraging his status as the highest-ranking black leader in Congress to stir the pot in advance of North Carolina’s May 6 primary.

Somebody remind me again… what states are coming up next? Indiana and… ?

David Axelrod is the biggest hypocrite going guys. For him to pretend he can’t or doesn’t want to get inside Bill’s head is the biggest load of bullshit anyone has ever tried to shovel in this campaign to date.

I think we all know what he’s said and done once the cameras were turned off. He’s made every effort to paint two good and decent Democrats as racists. It’s sickening - absolutely sickening that he would then turn around and go on Face the Nation and pretend he’s a good guy in all this. In front of millions of people.

The thing is - we’ve seen how the guy operates and it’s in no way what he pretended to be this morning.

Maybe it’s time for him to find another job because he’s becoming more and more obvious with every day that passes.