Todd, regardless of whose website it is, don't you think Obama should make a statement denouncing such egregious hate speech? Does it help him to stay silent?

Thanks Todd. Hope some of the diarists who railed about this are reading.

Thank you for announcing this fact.

Much appreciated Todd.  It's a very important distinction to make, because punishing the candidate for the things that individual users do will just cause the candidates to make their sites less interactive for the public in the future.

Thank you, Todd.  Kudos for intellectual honesty.

Can you imagine if MyDD were held personally responsible for every ranting diary here?  They'd have to hire a full-time apologist.

Randi Rhodes has clearly demonstrated some terrible judgement, but I'm pretty sure the event was actually a fundraiser for the radio station, Green 960, not for Obama...

Just one correction, the Dean "campaign" had nothing to do with paying BlueState Digital an untold amount of dollars to develop the DNC site known as Party Builder. Lets not confuse something built by the DNC and then provided to the Obama campaign with things that were done by Dean's presidential campaign.

On Randi, how dare you have such "stunningly poor judgement" by having an opinion.  My poor virigin ears!  I have never heard such outrageous sailor talk!  Oh, dear!  I am about to faint!

Please.

Stop grousing and crying about a little bit of rough talk done in a nightclub among adults.  This is not "hate speech," this is criticism of public officials.  These were not "ad hominem" attacks, as Air America's management claimed, they were explosions of frustration against the horrible actions of politicians.

You're allowed to be insulted by it, to not like it, to complain about it, to call Randi whatever names you like in return.  But muzzling Randi, taking her off her radio for opinions expressed outside her radio show, is going way overboard.

Of course BO is not responsible for his supporters just like HRC is not responsible for Ferraro's comments.  Fair enough.

But when i watched that tape the thing that really caught my eye was not just RR statements but how the crowd cheered her on.  A room filled with BO supporters cheering these attacks on HRC.  And the sad thing is these BO supporters would cheer just as load if RR did the same thing tonight.

david

You and Jerome and Jonathan are ALL accountable for every thing posted here.  We ALL hold you accountable!  Didn't you know that?

/snark

Being Barack Obama is never having to say you're sorry!

R. Rhodes already lost all credibility when she reported to be mugged by a Bushie when really the crazy drunk just fell down.  I'm sure she was drunk when she gave that speech, too.  I expect she will apologize and head off to rehab soon.  But if Imus got the boot for what he said (and Obama was cool with that, remember) she should get the boot as well.

I am cutting and pasting a link to Obama's government website as well as several phrases that appear there:

http://obama.senate.gov/news/050626-when _it_c

"Obama acknowledges, with no small irony, that he benefits from his race.

If he were white, he once bluntly noted, he would simply be one of nine freshmen senators, almost certainly without a multimillion-dollar book deal and a shred of celebrity. Or would he have been elected at all?"

A teachable moment occurs each time an unpleasant subject which may be at the core of America's ills bubbles to the surface.

If we are to forgive Reverend Wright and G-D America and see he's comments as understandable (by some irrational thought process that I confess aludes me), can we hold Geraldine to a higher standard for simply repeating Senator Obama's words?  Is she the first person to have pointed this out to him?

So the next time you feel tempted to take a shot at Gerri Ferraro, do -- as you say -- a little research.

It's his complete silence on the subject.  Senator Obama was justifiably outraged by the comments made by the radio host Don Imus.  He immediately called for Imus to be dismissed when Imus voiced vile, disgusting comments about the Rutgers Women's basketball team.  However, now when faced with a situation where one of his supporters is voicing vile, disgusting comments at an Obama endorsed fundraiser then Senator Obama is completely silent.  Of course he is not responsible for the comments that were made, but his "outrage" over the Imus comments rings hallow with his lack of "outrage" when someone calls the first viable female Presidential candidate, "f*%king whore".  

Just like his "courageous" race speech, Senator Obama speaks out when it's politically expedient for him.  That within itself speaks to the hypocrisy of Senator Obama.

Okay.  Now I understand why people are leaving this website.  If you don't like a comment, you just erase it.  Sorry.  It won't be like that in November.  So, as for me, I pick Democracy.  Counting all of the votes.  I leave you to your fantasy world and certainly won't intrude again.  I certainly am not going to waste time here to bump up your traffic and keep this pitiable effort alive.

(with a bow)

This was an Obama fundraiser event, in which a supporter and radio host disgustingly desparaged and slandered public figures.  Obama has consistently called out any poor behaviors from supporters and surrogates on the other side and swore to do the same from his, let alone a fundraiswer where a HARD PUSHING SUPPORTER who also carries her bias to our public aiwaves no less, show the lowest form of poor conduct, and Obama stays silent?  He was there for Imus and Imus had nothing to do with being a supporter.

And that is not being disengenuous.

This is his typical modus operandi. He gives a new meaning to the word "hypocrite". He has split the Democratic party and driving old time Democrats like me out of the party.

I am now convinced that Obama's strategy is to drive baby boomers out of the party because he does not want to pay their social security. The only people he wants are people under 40.

I could almost buy this, were it not for the fact that Randi has been making hate speech for some time now, and Obama wears the inspiration hat.  Unfortunately there has been a pattern of hate speech against Hillary that has in fact been inspired by Obama, and it's tainted his hope message and ruined any chance he might have had to 'unite' the country.  Winning on hate is not the way to go if you want to unite. It's time for Obama to speak for himself, and say what he thinks about the smears that are repeated by his supporters.  Without this, whether he sanctioned the fund raiser or didn't matters not.   he's inspired this hate and he needs to own it and apologize, not hide behind some technicality of whether it's his own words or the words of those he inspires.  

Thanks Todd.  Truth prevails.

it continues to amaze, the hatred spewed by the 'hope' crowd.  The disgusting comments about the Clintons by MSNBC and the rest of Obama's supporters seem to know no bounds.  I mistakenly thought the 'pimping out'  comment was the lowest, yet these people keep sinking lower

If the Obama campaigns sponsors that board, then they have some responsibilities. If the Republicans sponsor a similar board, and a bunch of frat boys organize an overtly racist fundraiser against Obama, I'd expect McCain to apologize for it.

We expected McCain to say something about the woman who asked him how he was going to beat the bitch, but we don't expect Obama to distance himself from "Hillary Clinton is a fucking whore".

Does this mean we expect better behavior out of Republicans than the Obama campaign? Seriously - I'm starting to wonder.

So, when Obama gets the benefit from this open sourced style of campaigning, when it nets him money, volunteers, and votes, that's just hunky dory, and, in fact, shows how cool, cutting edge and innovative he is.

But, when Obama supporters use the tools that Obama has provided them to organize attendance at a show that beneifits a radio station that endorses Obama, with futher support provided by several Obama groups, and where a prominent Obama supporter calls Senator Clinton and Geraldin Ferraro "whores," Obama has nothing to do with it and nothing to answer for.

With all due respect, Todd, you are not running for President. One would think that Obama has an obligation to monitor these devises, that have provided him with so much support, in a much more rigorous manner than the owner-operators of a general political discussion board, like MyDD. This is an official Obama website that we are talking about here, not MyDD, not Daily Kos, not even Hillaryis44, not a "community blog." And, in any event, to some extent, the owner/operators of every blog ARE responsible for its content, even that of user posts. That's why there are rules about what can and can't be posted, and why posts that violate these rules are deleted.

You want to give Obama credit for the sunshine (his wonderful "bottom up people powered" style), but, when it rains, it's all somebody else's fault.

What would it have cost Obama to dissociate himself from this disgusting display? What would it have cost him to make a special announcement to the users of "My Barack Obama" (what a creepy name, by the way) that it should not be used in any way that insults his opponent, or anyone else? Nothing, but Obama seems to lack the ability to apologize for anything, to ever admit that anything associated with his campaign is ever, even just a teensy bit, his fault.

Exactly!! Thank you Todd.

You aren't vindicated. You've come down on the side of a campaign that allows the tools it provides to it's supproters to be used to call an esteemed Democratic candidate a fucking whore - that's what side you're on. You're on the side that uses the campaign to engage in sexist bigotry against a woman who is actually making history.

Congrats on that.

And this was an event at a website called myhillary or something like that, and instead of saying f-ing whore they said f-ing n-word?

Would all of you Obama supporters be saying, no problem, it's not the official campaign of Hillary, just some of her supporters getting together to raise some money?

I know the answer to the question, but you need to look in the mirror and realize that Obama's supporters are sometimes REALLY REALLY NASTY and do things that are totally contrary to the candidates words, and presumably his beliefs.

This is what will bring this "movement" down, not the message but the messengers, because they are turning millions of people off.

with Obama supporters.  They take anything, first calling Hillary a monster, now calling her a "fucking whore" and say, "yea that's not that bad", BUT, if you used the N-word, it would be different....

Obama himself will likely say he thinks RR's comments are offensive and outrageous, if he is asked.  But the fact that his supporters ALWAYS support the people slinging slurs is why many Clinton supporters, and I'm sure people in the middle in the GE if Obama gets the nomination, are offended and don't want to vote for Obama.  I can't see the undecided's being able to stomach another 7 months of you guys, when the GE campaign starts.  They will likely be repulsed, as I have been and go for McCain.

After 8 years of GWB I am amazed that I am really looking at the possibility of sitting the election out if Obama is the nominee, although I may just write in Hillary.

I'm concerned about the judgment of Obama supporters. Seems there are more than a few that are Rovian. That does reflect on Obama does it not?

Being obnoxious and over the top has been Rhandi Rhodes routine for as long as she has been on the air. Democrats have never been responsible for her ravings even when she was raving in favor of the Clintons or other Democrats. She speaks for no one but herself. I would not expect Hillary to apologize for the lunatics on Hillary44 or even some of the rantings posted here. She is not responsible for every a-hole that has a soap box and neither is Obama. When asked about outrageous comments they reject them but they have no responsibility to pro actively answer for every moron who supports them.

Ferraro was not a fringe radio personality who makes her living being outrageous with no connection to the campaign. She was a vice presidential candidate and congresswomen who held an official position with the campaign. So comparisons between Rhodes and Ferraro do not hold water.

Obama supporters should quit nitpicking the details. Why doesn't your candidate just come out and condemn the language that was used by a public figure supporting him?  If Rhodes had said something racist against Obama at a public event in support of Hillary, what would you be saying?  I think it would take Hillary about 2 seconds to condemn a remark like that made by a public person in support of her. You guys have such a double standard.

Obama may not have an obligation to denounce this particular event, but he does have an obligation to denounce the outrageous gender and class bigotry that has played such a large and ugly part in this campaign season's dynamics.

He must make a speech that demonstrates he takes these issues as seriously as he took the issues raised by the controversy over Rev. Wright. He must show that his concerns about bigotry and social injustice aren't simply self-interested or race limited.

I fear that the reason he doesn't do so is because he thinks doing so will offer some kind of advantage to or defense of his opponent. Or, worse, because he believes that this state of affairs works to his benefit.

If that is the way he thinks it is short-sighted, and perhaps revealing of a lack of depth and understanding -- the kind of understanding that will be needed to make his "unity" theme more than empty rhetoric.

Hillary doesn't require his defense. But her supporters and the principles of equal representation and political participation  -- far from being achieved and in danger of being set back by the Democratic party's complacent acceptance of the gender hostility aimed at both the first "viable" female candidate and her supporters -- do require his commitment. He can not afford to be lukewarm on these issues (toward which he has so far been very cool) -- he needs to show passion, understanding and genuine commitment to the women who have kept this party viable, and whose votes any democrat will need to win in November.