MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (CNN) – More tit-for-tat on the campaign trail – only this time, it’s between Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
After losing the caucus tally in Nevada, the Obama campaign took aim at Bill Clinton and the comments he made during his many campaign stops in that state on behalf of his wife, Hillary Clinton.
Now the Illinois senator himself is taking on the former president, telling Good Morning America that he feels as if he’s running against both Clintons.
In the interview, Obama said that the former president has been misrepresenting both “my record of opposition to the war in Iraq” and “our approach to organizing in Las Vegas,” as the controversy over Saturday’s Nevada caucus vote continues to grow.
Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod did not back away from the remarks after they became public Sunday night, telling CNN the Clintons “have a good cop, bad cop thing going” in which “he comes with a negative message she stays positive.”
Axelrod accuses the former President of “doing slash and burn stuff,” and slams the Clinton campaign, saying “there’s a philosophy of saying and doing anything it takes.”
“It’s very clear that Bill Clinton is playing fast and loose with the facts,” says Axelrod, and unbecoming of a former president: “It’s been a little crass, as someone who supported him and respects him, I think it’s disappointing.”
And Axelrod vows Obama will continue to hit back. “As long as he’s out there, we aren’t going to let him distort the record,” he says. “We’ll aggressively challenge him when he misrepresents the facts.”
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He also calls on the former president to stop distorting Obama’s record. “If he wants to help his wife, just be honest — don’t parse words, don’t truncate quotes to make your case.”
Source: politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com via politisite
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