I am shocked at the audacity of Hillary Clinton to decry Donald Trump as a birther because her campaign not only pushed that item in a bid to discredit Barack Obama, but mounted a sustained campaign attack Obama on a broad array of issues. How do I know? I was part of that effort and was in regular email and phone coordination with Sidney Blumenthal. Sidney was the conduit who fed damaging material to me that I subsequently posted on my blog.
In some cases Sid Blumenthal actually provided a draft piece that I would slightly modify and publish under my name. Most of the time, however, Sid provided background information and researched material that I would use to craft pieces. How many? I am providing the links to 63 blog articles that I posted (and in one case was posted by Susan Hudgens, who assisted with the blog) between January 2008 and June 30, 2008.
Here is simple summary of material (in writing or through a verbal briefing) that I received from Sid?
- Information surrounding the corrupt business relationship between Barack Obama and Tony Rezko.
- Information about Barack Obama’s ties to Palestinian radicals.
- Information concerning Barack Obama’s longstanding ties to the American terrorist, Bill Ayers.
- Information concerning Barack Obama’s close ties to radical clerics-i.e., Jeremiah Wright and Father Michael Pfleger.
- Information concerning allegations that Barack Obama was not a natural born citizen.
- Information concerning Barack Obama being adopted by Indonesian Muslim Lolo Soetoro.
The big Kahuna of the anti-Obama dump was the allegation that Republicans had a tape of Michelle Obama in which she used the disparaging term “Whitey.” I published that after being told about the “tape” by Sid Blumenthal. (I learned a few weeks later that the story of the tape actually originated with Media Matter’s David Brock and he confirmed its existence to me in person).
Here are the links to the articles I wrote regarding the Whitey allegation:
Listening to Hillary Clinton cry crocodile tears over Trump’s questioning Obama’s birth place and eligibility to be President in 2011 as a “racist” attack is the ultimate example that Hillary is cynical and dishonest. Yes, it is true that the words, “Obama is a muslim” or “Obama is not a natural born American” never passed her lips. But it is also true that that people very close to her, such as Sidney Blumenthal, were pushing those stories and trying desperately to promote those memes.
Hillary knew about all of these lines of attack on Obama. In fact I was told by Sid on one occasion in the summer of 2008 that the Big Dog (Bill of course) was very pleased with the pieces going up at NoQuarterUSA and thought they were helping Hillary.
Here is one more irony-the Birth Certificate issue was not pushed hot and heavy by Sid to me. Yet I was “credited” (or blamed) by lefties at Daily Kos and the King of Right Wing Media, Rush Limbaugh, as the originator of the birther claim.
Here’s what Rush said about me on air on 7 April 2011:
RUSH: I think you’d have a tough time finding anybody who has spent more time, who’s talked more about Obama’s lack of records and his lack of school transcripts. The fact that he’s not written anything as president of law review at Harvard, that’s just unbelievable. A law review head honcho who doesn’t write, who hasn’t been published? His medical records? Every other normal document? Obama is clearly a very secretive person. He likes to make up stories about his life, as we just mentioned again today. He says he went out and pumped gas. His own! He didn’t do it for a living, but he says it in such a way as to make it look like he had a job pumping gas. He never did. But you gotta understand, too:
The original claim that Obama was not legally qualified to be president was started by Democrat operatives, which is one of the things that made me suspicious about it. The claim got started by a guy named Larry Johnson, who’s been a spokesman for the Democrat Party. He’s the same lunatic who wrote a New York Times op-ed claiming we had no reason to worry about Islamic terrorists. This is about a month before 9/11. The guy who started the Obama birth certificate rumor, Larry Johnson, is the same guy who claimed he had tapes of Michelle Obama calling people “whitey.” Now, this has not deterred me. The last time I got in trouble on this subject was (chuckles) I had a guy on the phone talking about Obama and “the messiah” and all this stuff.
I said, “Well, wait a minute. Don’t be too quick to condemn Obama as a messiah because he’s got a lot in common with God. God doesn’t have a birth certificate, either.” Well, I caught hell on the leftist blogs for that, if you will recall. You remember that? Yeah, “God doesn’t have a birth certificate, either.” So where is all this coming from that I have been a lapdog on all this? I have studied the issue. “Dear Rush…” I got an e-mail here during the break. “Dear Rush: What’s it like? I can’t imagine what it’s like getting nagged from a woman on the radio that I wasn’t married to. I’m very impressed at your composure. Gregory Kaplowitz.” (laughing) Patience is my middle name — and Kindness. I’m probably the politest host in the history of talk radio. I take great pride in that.
My rebuttal appeared on NoQuarter four days later:
WRONG!! I never argued or wrote that Barack Obama was not legally qualified. Never. Ever. Just the opposite. I am on the record that he is legally qualified to be President. The first time I ever wrote about the birth certificate controversy was 12 June 2008, “What Does an Authentic Hawaiian Birth Certificate Look Like?“. In July 2008 I was very clear that BARACK WAS NOT BORN IN KENYA:
It is true that I once believed Hillary was qualified by virtue of experience to be President. I was wrong and have written about my error in judgment. Her dishonesty and the incompetence she demonstrated while Secretary of State have convinced me beyond any doubt that she cannot be trusted with the power of that office. That does not mean I trust Donald Trump, but my focus here is in exposing the cynical propaganda that Hillary Clinton is trying to foist on the uninformed voter.
Here are the 63 articles I wrote between January and the end of June 2008. If you search the blog during that timeframe you will see there were at least 8 other people who were also Hillary supporters writing pieces attacking Obama. These included Pat Racimora, Susan Hudgens, Pagan Power, Lisa B and others.
I also note that Susan Hudgens was in email contact with Sid as well. He fed her material and she wrote it up. I cannot comment on other aspects of the Hillary Clinton information operation against Barack Obama. I can only comment about my dealings with Sid and the pieces we crafted and posted at NoQuarter.
Let me leave you with one anecdote. Sometime in February of 2008 I got an excited call from Sid and then the link to a video. He said it showed Barack Obama smoking marijuana. I checked it out and quickly determined that it was a hoax. I don’t recall at this time where it came from, but it was clear that it was not some old tape of Barack doing Puff the Magic Dragon.
As I have gone back and reviewed the material I put up on NoQuarter at the time I only regret getting played on the Whitey Tape. The rest of the information was on target-Barack Obama, by virtue of his associations and friendships, was a terrible choice to be President. I can say now, with the benefit of 8 years of hindsight, that my concerns about his incompetence and ignorance have been confirmed and validated.
That said, I cannot stomach Hillary pretending like she had no role in attack Barack Obama on a host of issues that many would consider “racist” if pursued by Donald Trump or any other Republican.
LIST OF BLOG PIECES SUPPORTING HILLARY AND ATTACKING OBAMA: