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First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC Political Researcher



'Barack Hussein Obama' robocall

Posted: Saturday, January 19, 2008 5:24 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: ,

From NBC's Andy Merten
The Obama campaign has provided NBC News with a recording of robocall that a Nevadan received. The call, first reported by the Politico, repeats the Illinois senator’s middle name, Hussein and attacks his relations with “Washington lobbyists” and “special interest groups.” It makes no mention of Clinton or Edwards.

It's unclear how many Nevadans heard it. The Politico mentions just one who did.

Here's a full transcript of the roughly 30-second call is below: “Hi, I'm calling with some information about Barack Hussein Obama that you don't know. Barack Hussein Obama says he doesn't take money from Washington lobbyists or special interest groups, but the record is clear. He does. In fact, Barack Hussein Obama has taken millions of dollars from federal lobbying firms, Wall Street fat cats, big oil and pharmaceutical companies. It's all there on the record, the facts are clear.  We just can't take a chance on Barrack Hussein Obama.”

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I couldn't agree more!
First Read "You're a Little Late"

On to South Carolina
Isn't there some way to track these calls? It is easy to say that the political opposition would send these messages but it just as easily could be some unknown group..or any candidate trying to get sympathy. In this case Obama but next week it could be Clinton or Edwards supporters. I would say that unless the caller identifies themselves, the caller is a liar and all content should be discounted. It's the issues, folks. Focus on the issues.
Typical Hillary Clinton slime tactics.  She's nothing more than Republican "Lite" and will either unite the Republicans against her in the fall or, if by some miracle, wins the White House, won't really give anything other than more of the same war, corrpution, and lack of leadership we've had for the past seven years...
Obama is arrogant and childish.

He stomps out of Nevada and goes home to IL?  He doesn't give a concession speech?  

After the Culinary went to the mat for Obama he can't give a concession speech and thank them and the rest of his supporters?

No doubt Obama's surrogates will play the race card hard and Obama's infamous "junior staffers" will have their daggers out for CLinton.
OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA   OBAMA   OBAMA   OBAMMA  
There is a very good reason why it's always the Clinton supporters, who the poor innocent Clintons can't control, getting caught pushing Obama's early drug use, his middle name, the false story about his being an infiltrating Muslim.  It's what they do.  

The only difference between Bush/Rove and Clinton/Penn is party affiliation.  Why aren't we hearing stories of Obama supporters spreading the same kind of garbage about Hillary Clinton?  Anybody who thinks Hillary Clinton will bring any change besides putting a nasty corporate Dem in the White House instead of a nasty corporate Republican is deluded.  

And why is Bill constantly frothing at the mouth over (non-existent) dirty tricks against Hillary in states she wins?  Every time he appears on TV he sounds crazier and meaner than the last time.  

What a disgusting  campaign.  And here's one for a robo-call.  Penn, HRC's primary adviser is the CEO of the company hired to clean up the image of Blackwater along with other corporate bad actors. Maybe it's time for Obama "supporters" to start putting that and anything else they can find out there.  If they are counting on the Clintons to locate some shame and REALLY put a stop to this filth, they're going to be waiting until hell freezes over because the Clinton are sharks.  
"We can't take a chance..."?  Gee, that sounds a lot like some of the Clinton campaign's talking points.

The American people and the Democratic party need to stop rewarding Bill and Hillary for their disgusting campaign tactics and for lying to us for the last 16 years.
Enough of this First Read. It is time to change the face on your delegate count. 37 and 37, a tie, but Hillary won the popular vote. Come on, change the face. It is time to be real and truthful with the fact.  As for the robocall...could it be possible that is came from the Republican dudes? That wouldn't be "newsworthy" as far as your concerned though.

Way to rock Hillary!
Barack Hussein Obama will be the next President of the United States, so go ahead and get your heads right! :)

If Senator Clinton has to throw this much mud to hang on to the Democratic nomination, how in the world does she plan to win the General Election?

Here's hoping we never find out . . .

Obama '08

Dirty tricks by the Clintons.

I'll stay out of voting if she becomes the nominee.

Disugsting.
It's his middle name, no? If using HIS middle name is so damaging to him, how can he ever win anything? If using HIS middle name is a smear, he stands NO chance of winning anything. If the Obamanites and Big Media try to depict using HIS middle name as RACIST, they can prepare to be laughed out of the race. You can't cry foul every time you lose, and you can't expect to win the GE from the republicans, who will DROP his FIRST NAME!

Where was Bill?
Democratic Party must reconsider reviewing its party’s constitution and/or by-laws. I’m sorry to see people within Democratic Party showing unfriendly signs—this is going to hurt the reputation long-built by the founders of the Part. Blame-games will have no room after this election.
It is clear that the Clinton campaign is up to dirty politics, and Bill & Hillary are up to the same old tired tricks.  That's why we need a new trend in the White House to put us back on track to do great things.  Hillary's experience is second-hand at best, that's not what I want.
Hilary's Experience

Lets start at the beginning. Hillary headed the Young Republicans at Wellesley College and was a self described Goldwater girl. For those who don’t remember, Senator Goldwater was one of only six Republican Senators who joined Southern Democratic segregationists opposing the historic voting rights act of 1964 inspired by Martin Luther King.

Wal-Mart

Hillary Clinton served on Wal-Mart's board of directors for six years when her husband was governor of Arkansas. Also, the infamous Rose Law Firm where she was a partner handled many of the company's legal affairs.

Hillary Clinton was paid $1,500 for each Wal-Mart meeting she attended and accumulated at least $100,000 in Wal-Mart stock, according to Clinton's past federal financial disclosure forms.

Hillary Clinton had kind words for Wal-Mart as recently as 2004, when she told an audience at the convention of the National Retail Federation that her time on the board "was a great experience in every respect."
Of course Hilary Clinton now claim she used her position to urge the company to improve its gender and racial diversity, but neither she nor Wal-Mart will release minutes of the company's board meetings during her tenure.

“There's no evidence she did anything to improve the status of women or make it a very different place in ways Mrs. Clinton's Democratic base would care about," said Liza Featherstone, author of “Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Worker's Rights at Wal-Mart."

Hillary Clinton takes credit for the Bill Clinton Administration’s accomplishments when touting her experience advantage over her rival Obama.

OK, lets list the important ones that had long lasting affects:

N.A.F.T.A. and the W.T.O. - Clinton championed and passed these disastrous trade deals that have destroyed our middle class and sent our good paying blue-collar jobs away.

H1B Visa. - Clinton championed this program that allowed U.S. corporations to import high skilled foreign workers to replace American people for a fraction of the pay. Clinton allowed in hundreds of thousands of these replacement workers to the great benefit of a few superrich contributors.

Ballistic Missile Technology to China. – Clinton reversed the ban the State Department had imposed on the transfer of this dangerous technology, signing a waiver to allow just one company to do it. The Loral Corporation. Coincidentally that company is run by CEO Bernard Schwartz who had been the biggest contributor to Bill Clintons reelection campaign.

I won’t mention any of the ridiculous scandals that also plagued the last Clinton Administration. The Clintons directly led to the Republican takeovers of the Presidency and both Houses of Congress with their shenanigans.

Hillary has Terry McAuliffe running her campaign. This is the sleazy guy who walked away with several MILLION DOLLARS of UNION PENSION MONEY. Court documents show McAuliffe put up only $100 for the purchase, while the IBEW pension fund put up $39 million. McAuliffe received a generous 50% stake in the partnership and emerged with $2.45 million from his original $100 investment. The pension fund lost money.

McAuliffe also ended up with several million dollars from the Global Crossing fiasco that left thousands of honest peoples life savings gone.

As I tell my children, “you can tell a lot about a person by the people they associate with.”

The Clinton's take credit for the economy of the late 1990s. That was of course because of the Internet boom that started in 1995 and went bust in 2000. We all made a ton of money. Everybody paid income tax on that money. That influx to the treasury also led to an income bubble for the Government. At least on paper, we had a short-term balanced budget. BIG DEAL!! That was a fluke the Clintons had nothing to do with.

The Clinton's have proven to be a disaster for working people because of their policies.

This workingman believes its time for change, not a return to past failures!!!!
This has all the characteristics of a  Clinton campaign attempt to smear Obama, using any means necessary to win.  The campaign will deny any involvement of course, but no voter should forget that the Clinton campaign is famous for its "opposition research" and that it has already threatened to release some "incriminating" reports about Obama.  Former Sen. Bob Kerry--a Clinton supporter--has already used this tactic before.  He apologized after he had already done the damage, of course, just like the lame apology we got after the not so veiled references to Obama's drug use.  We deserve better than this.
Just proves we need a president who can lessen the polarizing, dirty politics of Karl Rove and his ilk, including the more subtle version practiced by Clinton operatives.
As for the name: I dare say there were grown men in America named Adolf after WWII.  Someone gave Obama his name long before Hussein was such a reviled enemy of the State.  As for his record: Which of the candidates hasn't remade their record into something that matches the current demands of voters?
What a surprise:  People can't beat Obama on the ideas and issues, so they have to resort to attacks based in manipulation and fear.  Shame on ALL OF US if we continue to fall for it!!!
Unfortunately, America isn't ready- not ready for change, not ready for difference, not ready for better

-Fear still plagues us as a people, fear of the unknown, fear of difference

-And unfortunately, when people react out of fear, bad decisions are made that will affect us as a people for years to come

-We as a people have to overcome our fear- that's the only way we be able to achieve the greatness that is just within our grasp
I want Hillary to win. Bill was always good for the country!
All I have to say to Hillary is, "you go girl".
Bill and Hillary will do anything to win.  I can not and will not support these tactics if she wins the nomination.  If she does I'm voting for Bloomberg.
"Unelectable", is his middle name...
Obama's parents are part in this dirty smear for giving him his middle name. Since his campaign is going to play these robo calls to the media, they should also release a copy of his birth certificate to show how far the Clintons will go.
America must wake up and rise above these petty political games. The rest of the world is catching, while we hide under the banner of the so called democracy that we so cherish. Go out and vote people!! We are at cross-roads: things must change.
WHY I'M I NOT SURPRISED....CAN WE GET SOME FBI INVESTIGATION GOING ON HERE....THIS NEEDS TO BE EXPOSED.....
Karl Rove planted a bug and then "found it" in his campaign office.  The media ran with the fabricated story and claimed that the democratic opponent must have been spying on the republicans.  Later, the FBI released that ROVE planted the bug!!!
I would not be surprised if Obama is taking a page out of the Republican (Reagan Fan) play book.
-Obama played the race card, and now I would not put it past them to have made this call so the media and public would blame it on Hillary!!!!

-Karl Rove plays being used by Obama!
Karl Rove planted a bug and then "found it" in his campaign office.  The media ran with the fabricated story and claimed that the democratic opponent must have been spying on the republicans.  Later, the FBI released that ROVE planted the bug!!!
I would not be surprised if Obama is taking a page out of the Republican (Reagan Fan) play book.
-Obama played the race card, and now I would not put it past them to have made this call so the media and public would blame it on Hillary!!!!

-Karl Rove plays being used by Obama!
   Really, there is not a politician out there that has not taken some sort of gratuity from someone. (Not saying that the above is true of the Senator)  You have to be really naive if you think otherwise.  The other two above named candidates were not mentioned because they were behind it, maybe
Obama said he'd run a clean campaign and that's what Hilary's counting on.  She's no different than the lying devil we have in the White House now! A vote for the Clinton's is another vote for dirty politics.
You don't get Hilary without Bill the sex monger!
Obama , professional whiner, crying again.

BOO_HOO, Obama had to make up a robo call to excuse his loss
It seems very likely that the call was made by the Obama campaign.
The Obama campaign alleges that that it was recorded by (JUST) one Nevadan. It is more probable that they made the call to themselves and turned it over to the press so they ccould accuse their opponents of mud slinging.
I don't deny that the Clintons would be willing to go negative but they are to smart to be this obvious about it.
It is very sad, and the persons responsible for it should be found and if not punished - sleaze isn't illegal, unfortunately - held up to the light so the world can know just who they are.
Give me break all of you.  I don't see any of you mentioning the radio spot by the hispanics against Hilary.  Of course that was done by Obama.  He is such a cry baby.  If he and his campaign get this upset against a democrat then he will have a stroke if he wins the nomination and the republicans get ahold of him.  They will show everyone the end of his speeches where he never says God bless America or anyone and how he never mentions God at all.  They will crucify him.  So to all of you ...grow up...do you think this is tindly winks?  Hussein is his middle name PERIOD!!!  If he was going to cry over anyone finding out....he should have changed it long ago.  
For unless Clinton knows he earns respect.

Read just the first letters of each word above and you'll know the truth.
THE CLINTONS ARE ONLY DOING WHAT THEY ARE BEST AT..BILL DID IT NOW HILLARY IS...USING PEOPLE ESPECIALLY AFRICAN-AMERICANS.....NO ONE IS BETTER AT IT.
whine whine whine...This was reported heard by 1 and I repeat ONE person. Stop whining. The Clinton's play politics brilliantly and cleverly...and wouldn't waste time on 1 phone call.  Of course those hundreds of Spanish phone calls saying Hillary was trying to supress the latino vote (and were not condemned by the oh so "high-road" Obama) weren't negative political "tactics"?  It didn't work either...latinos saw through that because of HIllary's long term work for civil rights all around.  Actions speak louder than words!
The sort of corruptions that went today during the caucus in Nevada----I'm not surprised about this development. My question is---will the MSM report it?  They are aware of what the Clintons are capable of doing, and yet the MSM relax and watch it unfold. It's amazing the number of people in America who are still satisfied with the status quo.
Gee, it's Howard Dean's flame out all over again.

Why do you think that the "scream" sound bite - a 5 second part of a long concession and "fight" speech for the Dean faithful -  was the ONLY part of the speech heard on the air of every major media organization for weeks?  Because the Clinton's and the  old school Democratic party used their influence to peddle it as the "story" to the media.  Not to mention their own leaning on donors and party faithful to push Dean into the cold.

The Clinton's represent the "old" democratic party.  Obama represents the "new" democratic party.  And the Clinton's aren't ready to give up their power just yet.  Whether or not they were involved in this call or not, they are pulling every string and calling in every favor they can to win this election.  And THAT right there should scare the @#$# out of anyone in this country that wants true change.  35 years or whatever of experience means there are a LOT of favors out there that the Clinton's have to fulfill.

We do not want another dynasty.  It's time to take this country in another direction. And that direction does not include Clinton.
Hillary is too cold and headstrong. She will not be able to get things done if she wins.  I truly believe its her way or not at all.  I had more respect for Bill even after his disgraceful sex scandal as President; but with the teary eyes of Hillary, remarks regarding MLK, civil rights overall and most of all this is a angry woman.  Of course there was only hints regarding Hillary and her extra marital romance(s), when they were being investigated.  The Clintons have too much baggage and drama to try and lead us Americans. My moma always said clean your own closet out before you attemp to clean someone else's.
She will not get my vote in Feb or Nov 2008.
If the Repub were the culprits in this robocall, that begs a person to ask why.  Could it be that they are foaming at the mouth to go against Hillary, and scared as hell to go against Barack?  I think so.
Obama still has a shot if switches parties to republican
This shows Hillary's experience well.  Her and the Clinton electioneering schemes and tactics.  Funny how you can't get elected on your own merits.  You need to drag your competition into the mud.  I was disgusted by the South Carolina tactics against McCain in 2004, this only shows that Hillary might just be a closer relative of George Bush than we would expect.  After all, she used to be a republican.
"We can't take a chance..."? is a very familiar phrase said with a frightened spooky voice in ad after ad promoting Republican candidates in the 2006 elections. So to me either this could open a possibility that this is Republican sponsored who admittedly are "afraid" of taking on Obama in the GE and more comfortable because they know where all the hot buttons and bodies are buried on Clinton...or as someone else said there is little to choose from a Clinton or a Bush in the white house. Take your pick. But let's get real here. The candidates are exausted and have to jump right in to the next primary, plane schedules I'm sure had much more to do with Obama taking off without an exit speech. It seems rather silly to take offense, he came from 20% behind to pull off a scant few percentage points,and received almost the same amount of delegates. Hardly an impetus to intentionally slight his supporters in Nevada. Let's try to stay a little realistic anyway. As far as Obamarama is concerned, the whole emphasis on the middle name issue is a reminder of all those associations and outright slurs against Obama that have been in the media and coasting on the internet that he "trained in an al-quaida camp" and that he is really muslim both of which have been shown to be laughable misinformation. Unfortunately, while we all should be wise and don't buy any information where the source is anonymous and is unsubstantiated, the majority of us have grown up with the adage "where there is smoke there is fire and it is bound to have an effect" Personally, I can't think of any other reason that there was that last minute erosion of his support from the Hispanic than the mischaracterizations and questionable tactics by the Clintons. As Chris Matthews said Hillary is a "great politician", give me an honest and honorable man any day...that is more in accord with my viewpoints than a co-opted jaded political animal who happens to be a fellow woman.
I am an Obama supporter, and I caucused for him this morning. I will reserve judgment on the call, and would not be totally shocked if it came from an affiliated union (could even be, for example, the Steel Workers affiliated with Edwards). Things have been pretty chippy between the groups supporting different candidates. I do wish, however, that serious investigation would be undertaken to find out who funded the calls.
I"m a republican. Why, I don't know...But the way Bush and the other Republicans have treated our need to resolve the AMT Tax issue has me fuming... If Hilary isn't the Dem option in November, I'm voting Democratic. At least for the President.
Seriously, a call that used his full name? oooooo

Hillary Rodham Clinton...She's frequently introduced with her full name.

George W Bush...again-we know his middle name...

Obama's getting his panties in a wad because a robocall used his full name...And that's why he lost???

Yawn. No concession speech by a Obama. What a sport!

Go Hillary!!! You have the support of MOST of the nation's democrats...we'll get you the nomination AND the election.
Dirty venonous Clinton tactics !!!
By the way congrats to Slick Willy and Monica Lewinsky on their  10th Anniversary !!!
Slick Willy better quit trying to attack ,it could come back to bite him in the cigar !!!


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