Cafferty has it exactly right. Joe at AMERICAblog and Kos also note that what we're seeing now is pretty clear evidence that the Clinton campaign has adopted race-baiting as a conscious campaign strategy. There have just been too many too obvious comments to deny it anymore. Clinton has defended herself from these charges before by claiming that, if Obama can't learn to parry these strikes from her, then how can he handle the Republican slime machine? This also protects her from the charge that, in her stubborn insistence on continuing to joust this windmill, she endangers the party's chances in November by sandbagging Obama while McCain fires his slings and arrows unmolested. Josh Marshall, however, explains the problem with that argument:
It is insufficient to say that Republicans will do this in the fall so there's nothing to be lost in hearing it now from Democrats. Because by doing this now, as a Democratic campaign, they are mainstreaming the message. If Obama is the nominee, when this emerges again, no doubt in a harsher, more rancid incarnation, it will come pre-approved by dint of a Democratic campaign's imprimatur.
This race-baiting via refusal to "reject and denounce" Ferraro is damaging Clinton in a big way in the media and netroots. As you can see, I've noted exceedingly critical, even condemnatory posts from at least 3 major bloggers (2 of whom have taken no side in the race and one who runs the biggest blog on the web) plus Jack Cafferty. And here comes a big one: a scolding special comment from liberal darling Keith Olbermann:
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