Intellectual Property Law

Did the Clinton Campaign Doctor Obama Footage to Make Him 'Blacker'?

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

Tensions are running high in Democratic circles between the supporters of senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- and nowhere is that more evident than on the internet.

Some of the more explosive blog posts making the rounds today concern a charge from a couple of diarists on the Daily Kos that the Clinton campaign deliberately darkened Obama's skin color in a recent television ad.

"Troutnut," who made the recommended blog post today, is an Obama supporter. A myDD diarist named "Hunter Thompson," a Clinton supporter, blasts the entry as "the dumbest diary in blog history."

Asked about the assertion made in the Kos blog post, Clinton campaign spokesman Jay Carson said that "the ad capture on Kos is not a capture of our original ad and this entire assertion is ridiculous."

Yet the video below, and the screen grab above, is taken from the Clinton campaign's own footage of their ad posted on YouTube.

Who's doing the race-baiting here?

However you want to interpret this assertion, this kind of ugly infighting is probably the kind of thing that troubles the leaders of the Democratic party as this race drags on in its inconclusive manner.

I've included the two videos below.

See Also:

• Hillary's Rapid Responders
• Is the Obama Campaign Really Different?
• Clinton and Obama's Rhetoric Heats Up Over the Weekend
• Obama Sweeps Three States; Clinton Raises $9 Million Online
• Hillary Clinton Takes California
• Youthful Hillary Clinton Supporters Strike Back at Obamamaniacs
• When Domain Names Attack
• Clinton Volunteer Forwards Nasty Obama Email, Asked to Leave
• Comedian Starts a Wiki To Track Attacks on Obama

Full post as published by Threat Level on March 04, 2008 (boomark / email).