TIM RUSSERT AMPLIFIES "ANTI-ISRAEL" SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST OBAMA

Posted by Ari Berman at 02/27/2008 @ 11:22am | Email This Post

RUSSERT AMPLIFIES "ANTI-ISRAEL" SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST OBAMA ...

In her 2000 race for the US Senate, Hillary Clinton was repeatedly smeared for a 1999 trip to Ramallah, where she kissed Palestinian First Lady Suha Arafat and listened as Arafat denounced Israel. Pictures of "the kiss" were repeatedly slapped across the cover of the New York Post, in TV ads and invoked by the campaigns of Rudy Giuliani and Rick Lazio. The flap almost derailed Clinton's campaign.

This time around, Barack Obama has been a victim of an even dirtier smear campaign, with conservative Jews and conservative Christians, rival campaign operatives and fringe conspiracy theorists in the gutter press, like Free Republic, WorldNetDaily and NewsMax, circulating blatantly false emails and articles portraying Obama as a radical Black Israel-hating, terrorist-loving Muslim.

In last night's Democratic debate, Tim Russert amplified the smear campaign by asking Obama about his "endorsement" by Louis Farrakhan, which Obama didn't ask for and who he has repeatedly denounced.

"I have been very clear in my denunciation of Minister Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments," Obama said last night. But Russert wouldn't let the issue die, repeatedly pressing Obama to "reject" Farrakhan. Russert then invoked Obama's pastor and asked, "What do you do to assure Jewish-Americans that, whether it's Farrakhan's support or the activities of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, your pastor, you are consistent with issues regarding Israel and not in any way suggesting that Farrakhan epitomizes greatness?"

Obama never suggested any such thing. "Tim, I have some of the strongest support from the Jewish community in my hometown of Chicago and in this presidential campaign," Obama said. "And the reason that I have such strong support is because they know that not only would I not tolerate anti-Semitism in any form, but also because of the fact that what I want to do is rebuild what I consider to be a historic relationship between the African-American community and the Jewish community."

At the end of Obama's answer, Clinton said "I just want to add something here, because I faced a similar situation when I ran for the Senate in 2000 in New York." I thought Clinton would use the opportunity to defend Obama, noting the parallels of their smear campaigns. But she did precisely the opposite, bragging about how she denounced the New York Independence Party back in 2000, when it was led by Pat Buchanan and accused of anti-semitism. In his book, "Hillary's Turn," journalist Mike Tomasky called Clinton's denunciation of the Independence Party "a courage born of convenience."

RUSSERT: Are you suggesting Senator Obama is not standing on principle?

CLINTON: No. I'm just saying that you asked specifically if he would reject it. And there's a difference between denouncing and rejecting.

OBAMA: Tim, I have to say I don't see a difference between denouncing and rejecting. There's no formal offer of help from Minister Farrakhan that would involve me rejecting it. But if the word "reject" Senator Clinton feels is stronger than the word "denounce," then I'm happy to concede the point, and I would reject and denounce.

It was a smart response by Obama, although these smears will continue to linger and grow louder if he becomes the Democratic nominee. But it was undoubtedly a low point for Russert, and a moment when Clinton chose convenience over courage