88 Comments - VanillaMan - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 2:36 pm: It is silly, but Obama’s claim that he wasn’t interested in being president is just as silly. The press release should have stopped at Obama’s political career moves. Taking it into grade school is freaky and worrisome. Just how much oppositional research has the Clinton team done? Anything about Obama in utero? - Greg - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 2:42 pm: The next release will be that in fifth grade he was teacher’s pet –therefore part of the establishment– thus undermining Obama’s status as the agent of change. - it gets worse - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 2:50 pm: i have heard reports that he may have eaten a booger sometime between 1st and 4th grade. my god is primary season too long. - zatoichi - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 2:51 pm: This came right before he announced he wanted to be a 007 agent to save the world after seeing Goldfinger, Obama..Barack Obama. I read he talked back to his mother when he was 7. She spanked him and made him stay in his room. He skipped church once too. What a rebel! How could such a man be president? Thank God the Clinton camp is getting the real in depth research. - redbeard - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 2:52 pm: Rich- BO has been making an issue of the plan that Bill and Hillary made so that they would both become president. This is the exact same thing. You are so so biased. EVERYONE is talking about how bad your coverage is. - bored now - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 2:54 pm: actually, redbeard, it isn’t even close to being the same thing. who did barack cut a deal with to become president in kindergarten? i hope that wasn’t too subtle. but this is something that most children do, write an essay about why they would like to be president of the united states. both my kids did this, and we still have one of them in our lockbox. it just goes to show how out of touch the former first lady is with what happens in america and our kindergarten rooms… - SO ILL - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 2:55 pm: What no interview with the prenatal doctor describing Obama’s inutero ambitions for the White House?! I love that the Clinton Camp has totally lost it. - Sacks Romana - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 2:55 pm: Obama’s age and relative lack of experience as a five-year-old may lead some swing voters to negatively view his ability to lead the other children to, and from, recess. - Anon - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 2:55 pm: Rich, it does sound like you favor BO…. - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 2:55 pm: ===EVERYONE is talking about how bad your coverage is.=== LOL. Whatever. Keep talking. It’s good for business. - GoBearsss - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 2:55 pm: I once wrote an “essay” in second grade titled, “I want to become a poster on the the Capital Facts.” Like Nostradamus, I stand by my original prediction, with slight interpretation. - redbeard - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:00 pm: OK, just one question…Simon and Schuster, Doubleday, Random House? Seriously, who do you have a contract with to publish your book if BO wins? - redbeard - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:02 pm: I will also add, that it is amazing that you have not broken one story about Barack. Nothing about Rezko, nothing about Allison Davis, just nothing. Yet, you probably have the best contacts to really break Obama stories. Do your job dude…at least put aup a link on the website for anonymous tips so it looks like you care. - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:03 pm: Somebody else made that allegation last week. Y’all getting together on this one? The answer is: I am planning no book on Obama. What a ridiculous notion. Please remove all tinfoil hats before commenting on this blog. Thanks. - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:04 pm: Redbeard, bite me. Seriously. You can’t logically defend this goofy attack so you come after me. Don’t you have better things to do at CNA? - GoBearsss - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:05 pm: redbeard - I think we all found out Rich’s home state bias when the first Obamobile picture graced the front page. But with regard to him posting this article - no bias is needed. This Clinton press release is the worst press release I have ever seen. When I first saw it, I thought it was an Onion article. I can’t decide, though, whether it is Clinton being out-of-touch with kindergarten classrooms everywhere, or it is Clinton’s uber-ambition that leads to her staff digging up her opponent’s kindergarten records. Both take the cake. - GoBearsss - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:08 pm: And redbeard - Rich did indeed cover all of those stories you mentioned. Just because he doesn’t regurgitate them over and over doesn’t mean he is evil. There are far more interesting things to cover in Springfield, and he doesn’t always want to get a tongue-lashing from all the posters here for focusing on national issues. - nobody sent - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:10 pm: Shouldn’t the clinton campaign have pointed out that Obama made this statement while attending a terrorist madrassa in an islamofascist country? - GoBearsss - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:12 pm: Good point “nobody sent”. Given where he was, he obviously meant he wanted to be an ayatollah, with someday Rich Miller as his Minister of the Fax. - Man of the World - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:15 pm: Hey folks, just an observation: the quote was in an AP article from January, so the Hillary ‘08 people didn’t talk to his teacher. All they had to do was read the newswire. - Anonymous - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:16 pm: There is no such thing as bad publicity… particulary for a full-time blogger - blagoman - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:18 pm: It was damage control time with all that going wrong in the land of Clinton. Bill re-writing history with the war support on the campaigh trail and the impeachment on CSpan. The pollings looking bad. Miss O coming to campaign trail. Bill who has a problem telling the truth vs. O who is the most loved TV person. Feel the love. - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:20 pm: Good point, MOTW, except that she actually used that quote in a press release, and did it in all seriousness. We’re talking Oberweis territory here. - OneManBlog - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:20 pm: I still think if we able to write an essay in an language he was just learning in kindergarten he may be uniquely qualified to be president. FYI, tomorrow the Clinton Campaign is releasing pictures showing a 6 year old Hillary beating an Easy Bake Oven with a copy of the Feminine Mystique. They will also have photos of Obama playing with Old School GI Joe (none of this UN movie GI Stuff) - Robbie - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:22 pm: That story is awesome! Miller, you are suck a hack! Everyone has been talking about it recently. Every time I get groceries now I get stuck talking about the Cap Fax bias for Obama when I am standing in the check out line! I would appreciate some unbiased coverage so I can buy my cucumbers in peace! - Niles Township - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:23 pm: This is what happens when war room rapid response politics overtakes the old style of campaigning. You get idiotic statements like Clinton’s (I’m not for Hilary or Obama). But it’s ok, in thsi rapid fire world we’ll be on to the next sound bite in about 10 seconds. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:27 pm: redbeard - CapitolFax didn’t break the Whitewater story either, nor have we discussed it since then. But it did cover the Rezko story from Day One. And Rich isn’t writing a book about Obama because Miller’s own autobiography is much more interesting. - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:29 pm: Redbeard isn’t the issue here. Pure, partisan empty rhetoric. Let’s not get sidetracked. It’s much more fun to discuss this ridiculous press release. - Man of the World - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:30 pm: Hey Rich, follow-up question… What do you mean when you say “Oberweis territory?” I’m a bit new to this Illinois politics thing, and it’s taking me some time to figure out what people are talking about. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:30 pm: Robbie - LOL. Which part of the Clinton campaign do you work for? And what planet do you grocery shop on, where everyone not only reads CapitolFax, but talks about it in the check-out line? Can’t wait until Rich runs the IP address on that post. Looks like the Clinton campaign has hired a new “Blog Squad.” - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:31 pm: I think Robbie was joking. - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:32 pm: MotW, Mr. Oberweis is known for saying and proposing some very goofy things. Just google Oberweis and “helicopter” or “straws.” - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:34 pm: i hope so. When is someone going to invent punctuation to denote sarcasm? Probably not until some lobbyist figures out how to make billions off of government contracts to replace all computer keyboards. - That Changes Everything - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:35 pm: “Hey folks, just an observation: the quote was in an AP article from January, so the Hillary ‘08 people didn’t talk to his teacher. All they had to do was read the newswire.” Oh, well that changes everything then! Does anyone else find it a little odd that these teachers remember Obama saying/writing that he wanted to run for President? Teachers, perhaps you could help us out here. Do you remember every essay your K or 3rd grade student ever wrote? I not suggesting anything sinister on their part, quite to the contrary. If a reporter calls me up and says “You taught Barack Obama 40 years ago, do you remember anything about him?” You don’t think the teacher might embellish the story a little bit? To use that kind of stuff in a press release? I thought the McCain camp was imploding! - A Citizen - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:37 pm: How does Oberweis stand in the polls as a probable VP candidate with Hillary? I know Obama is going to have Oprah - I read it on CapFax . . . right after I posted it. So it is definitely possible. - Louis G. Atsaves - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:38 pm: So Hillary took off the gloves and went back to Obama’s grade school. Isn’t this more like taking off mittens? This lemonade stand stuff has no place in politics! - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:38 pm: ===Rich isn’t writing a book about Obama because Miller’s own autobiography is much more interesting.=== That will be placed on a posthumous publishing schedule. - Greg - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:38 pm: YDD, The fact that you didn’t get Robbie’s comment (which I loved, btw) is probably more a reflection of how removed you are from the general public’s level of discourse. Only the truest political junkie could imagine such a world. That is not meant to be an insult. - Robbie - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:44 pm: it was indeed sarcasm. my apologies. it often doesn’t go over well on the internet. perhaps i should add a /sarcasm to denote the end of sarcastic comments or phrases. ironically, i am currently discussing this over IM with a fellow I know that is a consultant for the Clinton campaign. he is trying his hardest to justify the little kid comments. - Fan of the Game - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:46 pm: A kindergarten student’s dream is what gets passed as political discourse in this country. Sad times in which we live. Almost makes me want to denounce my optimistic nature. - Crossfire RIP - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:47 pm: I can’t believe people don’t realize that this is the Bob Novak-reported dirt the Clinton campaign has on Obama that they were holding back on. I had to run some errands but thought this would have been in the first five posts at the very least. Yikes. - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:50 pm: LOL - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:52 pm: Obama’s kindergarten essays will likely surface long before we get the Hillary documents from Bill’s Presidential library. Hey, maybe that’s Clinton’s next news release?/ “Obama Refuses to Release Presidential Plans”/ - Ghost - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 3:55 pm: The women who wants to leave nuclear weapons on the table as an option to deal with terrorists in pakistan, the seasoned leader with a firm control of leadership, viewed this information and press release as a good idea!!! If this is her decisions making at work we are in big trouble if Obama does not prevail. - A Citizen - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:00 pm: There indeed appears to be an evil ruthlessness to the Clinton campaign. The cynical nature of their web spinning is calculated to cast a shadow of doubt or the seeds thereof and let them fester until they manifest the damage intended. They are becoming visible in the high level of desperation they are experiencing. I sense they are in a state of abject disbelief that a relative novice upstart could be beating them in the polls and likely in the primaries. - rich's beard - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:03 pm: Rich Is it also good business to try to out annon posters? You may be annoyed by redbeard, but hamhandedly trying to out her when you provide annon posting is lame. Anyway, the press release is goofy. But Bo is reading his clippings a tad too much if he is seriously claiming he just us answering the masses call against his will. The dude has had a plan since, well, a long time ago. - Rod's Brush - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:05 pm: It’s head scratchers like these that make me wonder if an actual kindergartner would make a better president than some of the people running now. - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:07 pm: I don’t think there was anything hamhanded about it. And why do you assume it’s a “her”? - Arthur Andersen - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:17 pm: Hey Rich, maybe it’s because she/he? couldn’t tell a Cadillac from an Oldsmobile, for pete’s sake. - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:21 pm: Huh? - bluedog demo - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:28 pm: The irony is that I asked a wee tike the other day if the teachers even asks if a student wants to become President someday. His answer. No ! So this is how far we’ve sunk in our feeling toward political leadership ! - Crossfire RIP - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:30 pm: Rich: Off-topic due to no other relevant posts: How was McGuinn on Saturday? When is the promised Iris Martinez article coming out? - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:32 pm: I didn’t make it to the show. I’ll have more on Iris as things develop. - so-called "Austin Mayor" - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:33 pm: Rich, In an effort to secure your credibility with an anti-Obama scoop: I have it on good authority that, in the early 60’s, Barack Obama frequently pooed in his pantaloons. In addition, while American soldiers were fighting and dying in Vietnam, Barack Obama was living the life on a Pacific island. And records show that Obama didn’t file income tax returns during the entire decade of the 60’s. There is just so much dirt on this guy, if you’re willing to dig deep enough. – SCAM - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:35 pm: Fascinating. - kimsch - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:36 pm: Who wrote essays in kindergarten 40 years ago? I remember learning abc’s and 123’s and playing duck, duck, goose, and doing fine and gross motor tasks, and naptime. That was in Evanston 40 years ago. Barack went to kindergarten a year earlier… - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:37 pm: He must’ve been pretty advanced. I was playing with fingerpaint at my kindergarten. - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:39 pm: I vaguely remember a visit from a fireman on one of those “What does your daddy do?” days. But no essays. - Crossfire RIP - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:41 pm: Kimsch has a point… Hillary presumably also went to Kindergarten in Suburban Cook County, albeit 15 years earlier. I wonder if she wrote any essays then. - GoBearsss - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:46 pm: So, what you are saying Rich, is that not only did the Clinton camp try to smear Mr. Obama with something he wrote in kindergarten, he may not have even wrote it at all! Nobody writes “essays” in kindergarten - they made it all up! /hyperbole More evidence that they are out of touch. :) - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:46 pm: Just a quick point. Nobody ever remembers the stuff you write that contradicts their strongly held beliefs. From my Sun-Times column last April… ===Speaking of Obama, it might be interesting to watch what the presidential candidate does in next year’s primary. Obama refused to endorse any of the insurgent candidates this year, sticking with the Daley Machine and openly endorsing faded hack Ald. Tillman in her losing race to Pat Dowell, who is truly a breath of fresh air. It’s more than a little ironic that a self-styled “new politics” guy like Obama has no strong ties to the newly elected aldermen who seem to share so many of his self-professed political values. He’s just lucky that no national political reporter has covered this hypocrisy angle yet. === - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 4:54 pm: Rich, those who can’t handle the truth always want to blame the messenger. That said, I have noticed a certain bias in your writing. You seem to be “for” common sense, honesty and public service and “against” nonsense, hypocrisy, and self-service. O yeah, public officials who follow the law and the Constitution tend to get a big thumbs up from you too. I guess some folks just don’t like the way that blade cuts. - GoBearsss - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 5:01 pm: YDD - I sense your own bias in your assigning of bias to Rich. And my discovery of that bias reveals my own bias. wow - now I am dizzy. - phocion - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 5:18 pm: I actually like Hillary, but this press release is LAME. Makes her look scared, toothless, flailing about. Who cares what Barry Obama did in kindergarten, in high school, undergrad, or even at Harvard Law? Keep focused, Hill, or you really will lose it. - Unspun - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 5:33 pm: Rich/Crossfire: I also apologize for digressing from the posted subject, but the Iris Martinez situation is fascinating. There are some seriously heavy hitters working on both sides, with very interesting strategic dynamics. I am really looking forward to a Capfax piece; this particular election has not received the attention (to date) that it is due. Its results have big implications that only begin in the Senate. I think Redbeard’s smoking some tainted oregano. - Beancounter - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 5:36 pm: Hey, Rich–this could lead to a terrific QOTD for the post(if it ever ends)-session, pre-election doldrums–What is YOUR fondest kindergarten memory (LOL)! - Arthur Andersen - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 6:09 pm: Sorry Rich, I flamed the wrong poster. Hey, it’s Monday. GoBearsss would be the one who kinda misidentified the “Obamallac.” redbeard - I think we all found out Rich’s home state bias when the first Obamobile picture graced the front page. I don’t know about Beancounter’s QOTD idea; between the ones you’ll have to delete and the ones that will be, uh, “tmi”, you might not end up with many good posts. - GoBearsss - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 6:17 pm: Sorry Arthur Anderson. You are right - Obamallac - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 6:22 pm: For whatever reason, he only put one “L” in Obamalac. I try not to talk to my father too much about his car except when I’m teasing him. It’s a bit weird, to say the least. - Arthur Andersen - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 6:41 pm: Rich-coulda been worse. AA’s dad bought a 1962 Ford Falcon station wagon “Falcon Squire” with fake wood on the sides and drove that pig until I was well into adolescence. Almost had to run away from home to get that thing out of the garage. As a result, AA Jr. and sister have some nice rides. - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 6:44 pm: LOL. My dad got rid of his 64 Falcon well before I reached adolescence. - DeepFriedOnAStick - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 6:52 pm: Here’s another point to consider: If Barack Obama believed, either in kindergarten or in third grade (depending on the report), that he would like to someday be president, he certainly adopted that notion from a parent, teacher or other mentor. It’s safe to say that Obama, at the age of five or eight, did not decide in a vacuum, completely out of the blue, that he would someday like to be president. It’s safe to say that little Barack was not phoning little David Axelrod and little Bill Daley and little Robert Gibbs (not yet conceived), and setting the groundwork for his presidential race. No, more likely than not, he had this thought because a leader in his life taught him to think that way. (Raise your hand if you had a grade school teacher who told every kid in the room that they all could be president. Yes, I see all the hands.) So the question for Hillary becomes: Should parents, teachers and other mentors be discouraged from planting in kids’ minds the notion that they may someday be leader of the free world? Should they stop teaching kids to reach for the stars? It seriously comes down to just that. It’s perfectly logical. And if you can grasp that, you must ask yourself: Did anybody at the Hillary camp actually think this through or are they losing their minds amid manic desperation? - 47th Ward - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 7:57 pm: When he maxed out his credit card after taking a 2nd mortgage to finance his long-shot (in 2003) senate race, he was planning his future law career. As late as January, 2004, Obama was thinking about saving his own house, not running for the Whitehouse. On the other hand, while she was defending her husband on 60 Minutes, she was executing her planned future presidential campaign. And her indignation at the charge that she’s a calculating politician? Priceless. The original Obama quote that caused this ridiculously revealing press release? He had the audacity to allege that his campaign wasn’t the reslut of 20 years of planning. When I first read that, I thought he was referring to Biden or Dodd as much as Clinton. But she was the only one who freaked out. Very telling. - snidely whiplash - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 8:07 pm: is it not every small child’s dream to be president, to be able to make the world a better place, while they are largely unaffected by the greed and materialism that encircles us? Of course it is natural, as natural as it is for small children to believe in Santa Claus. And she maligns Obama for his simple childhood ambition. What a useless shrew. - Atomic #5 - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 8:46 pm: Geez, I thought that was meant as a funny by the Clinton folks when I saw it. I can’t believe someone’s here actually defending that. Must be some sort of disgruntled former Obama supporters or something. - Gregor - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 9:11 pm: I have it on authority thru a back-channel source a 5-year-old Obama once ate paste on a dare. Is this the man we want with his finger on the nuclear button!?!?!? OMG Eleventy!!! Too bad the writer’s strike means this press release will likely never wind up as a bit on The Daily Show… it would have been a good one…. - anon - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 9:38 pm: Obama should have known better. Great plan he had all along… goes to Harvard (real easy to get accepted)and arrives in chicago, palmer runs for congress after mel goes to jail and obama appointed and then runs for state senate, just warming up for the u.s. senate by running against rush and losing. Turns around and runs for u.s. senate (which is what he wanted to do all along) against machine guy and rich man. wins primary and doesn’t have a opponent until after September (a nasty divorce comes back to bite Ryan), then Allen Keyes?, and the rest is history. If he can plan all this, forget politics…the next time I see him is to ask him about the Mega millions numbers. Well I made a pack with all my former schools to have my grades sealed for 30 years after my presidency. Obama should have done the same! - anon - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 9:40 pm: next Clinton will be report on obama’s points per game in high school - Loop Lady - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 9:56 pm: I agree Rich that you are totally biased in BO’s favor…he is very, very ambitious and forgets who helped him realize his Senate seat…look at the delegate slates he has chosen…not very diverse, are they Rich? so much for his bringing America together…bring on NH and SC so the real primary season can start… - so-called "Austin Mayor" - Monday, Dec 3, 07 @ 10:53 pm: Rich, I feel your Obamalac pain. My father mounts a congressional candidate’s giant signs — the kind intended for the side of barns — on both sides of the box of his one-ton truck. The most embarrassing part is that he has absolutely no connection to the campaign and has never asked the candidate for any favors. He’s just supporting the best candidate. Like I said — it’s embarrassing. – SCAM - amy - Tuesday, Dec 4, 07 @ 12:40 am: rich, the least you could have done is publish the entire Clinton statement, which includes comments from those close to Obama in his adult years re his desire to be president and puts the younger years of Obama at the end of the release. she’s been on a big stage for a long time but Obama’s ambition is longstanding. just because Obama says he has no ambition does not make it true. read the entire release. - Patriot - Tuesday, Dec 4, 07 @ 7:31 am: I think the Clinton folks have been “inhaling.” - Loop Lady - Tuesday, Dec 4, 07 @ 7:56 am: patriot: and the obama folks are drinking the koolaid, they’re both POLITICIANS…let’s stop the messianic crap with obama…his hands are dirty just like most of the folks in the game… - Greg - Tuesday, Dec 4, 07 @ 8:07 am: Wow, now it’s the Drudge headline. Maybe Robbie will actually hear about it when he’s buying cucumbers… - JSF - Tuesday, Dec 4, 07 @ 8:13 am: You’re probably right, LoopLady. I’ve heard his hands were covered in fingerpaints before cookie time, and he only ran them quickly under water - no soap! - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Dec 4, 07 @ 9:31 am: If you can’t admit this was a blunder, then you are probably way too far gone to bother debating with. - GEB123 - Tuesday, Dec 4, 07 @ 1:19 pm: Ignoring the real issues My guess is the Obama people had to make fun of the comment because of the serious issues Clinton raised about his passing votes in the Illnois Senate. When he had a chance to stand up for and with women, he accepted the easy way out. Maybe we should examine who traded off who in order to have a clean record from which to run. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Dec 4, 07 @ 1:20 pm: Wrong again. I’m working on a post on that topic. Planned Parenthood, which devised the strategy, backs him up all the way. You Hillary people are something. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.