March 24, 2008

Just When You Thought Jeremiah Wright’s Crack About “Semen Stains” Was An Isolated Incident…

…along comes Gordon Fischer:

Obama supporter references Bill Clinton and ‘blue dress’

(CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton’s aides blasted Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign Monday after a major Obama supporter referenced the blue dress at the heart of former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment scandal.

Gordon Fischer, a former chair of the Iowa Democratic Party and part of Obama’s Iowa support team, also compared Bill Clinton unfavorably to Joe McCarthy.

McCarthy was a senator who was known for leveling accusations that people were Communists or spying for the Russians in the 1950s.

“When Joe McCarthy questioned others’ patriotism, McCarthy (1) actually believed, at least aparently (sic), the questions were genuine, and (2) he did so in order to build up, not tear down, his own party, the GOP,” Fischer, wrote on his blog.

“Bill Clinton cannot possibly seriously believe Obama is not a patriot, and cannot possibly be said to be helping — instead he is hurting — his own party. B. [Bill] Clinton should never be forgiven. Period. This is a stain on his legacy, much worse, much deeper, than the one on Monica’s blue dress.”

. . .

Fischer, who endorsed Obama last fall, later removed the post from his blog and replaced it with an apology.

“I sincerely apologize for a tasteless and gratituous [sic] comment I made here about President Clinton. It was unnecessary and wrong,” he wrote.

In a conference call with reporters Monday, Clinton aides said Fischer’s decision to attack the New York senator reflected “gutter tactics that [the Obama] campaign is now deploying.”

“This is now the Obama campaign’s primary message to the American people,” said spokesman Howard Wolfson. “Not to build him up, but to tear Sen. Clinton down.”

He also dismissed Fischer’s apology. “In my opinion the remarks of Gordon Fischer are very much in keeping with the campaign Sen. Obama is running. So I don’t know why he would apologize.”