An op-ed from the Clinton campaign
In an op-ed published in the Washington Post, Clinton strategist Geoff Garin defends his campaign, and asserts that it has been the Obama camp that has fought dirty in this election. After providing some examples, Garin concludes the following:
The bottom line is that one campaign really has engaged in a mean-spirited, unfair character attack on the other candidate -- but it has been Obama's campaign, not ours. You would be hard-pressed to find significant analogues from our candidate, our senior campaign officials or our advertising to the direct personal statements that the Obama campaign has made about Clinton.
The problem is that the Obama campaign holds itself to a different standard than the one to which it holds us -- and sometimes the media do, too.
While I'm not excusing Clinton for any dirty tactics, it should be noted that Obama has had his campaign surrogates say some pretty nasty and character-damning things about his opponent, too. (In one Obama mailing, Clinton was called the "master of a broken system." Obama strategist David Plouffe has also called her "one of the most secretive politicians in America today"). A sufficient answer to why the media hasn't made a big deal about this may depend on whom you support.
Read more here, you be the judge.
Obama, Clinton, negative campaign
