Obama's appearance on GMA that morning generated half a million views for the "Proud" video over the next few days. And their outrage over the video was silly - the video used clips from two speeches given by Michelle Obama on the campaign trail - campaign speeches before large audiences.
Her "proud of my country for the first time" comment had already generated a lot of criticism and commentary weeks earlier. All the TN GOP video did was remind people of what she said publicly and poke fun at it.
As for the "Anti-Semites for Obama" release, there are a few things readers should know about it.
The first is that some of the people mentioned in the release became controversial and a problem for Obama later in the campaign (for example, his foreign policy adviser Robert Malley, whom Obama tossed under the campaign bus after it became known that Malley had engaged in secret talks with the terrorist group Hamas.)
The release - which started life as a fund-raising letter that went out before it was handed to me to also issue as a news release - also took issue with Obama's affiliation with admitted terrorist Bill Ayers, and the anti-Israel Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi (who in the past has been a spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization). Obama's associations with Ayers and Khalidi became issues for Obama later in the campaign.
Those associations as described in the press release are beyond dispute - Obama has many advisers who are quite obviously anti-Israel - but unfortunately that information in the release was obscured by the TN GOP's decision to include a controversial photo with the release and to use Obama's middle name a single time in the opening paragraph.

Yeah but the anti-Israel advisors are balanced out because Rahm Emanuel is a double-agent for Mossad.

So the Obama's don't care for the treatment Michelle is receiving? Well then she needs to learn to keep her controversial mouth shut. This is American free-Republic style politics where opinions are openly and freely voiced, and counter-opinions have the same liberties.
If the ever fragile First Lady and her Chicago political machine hubby can't stand scrutiny then she needs to stay out of the limelight and stuff a sock in that trap.
Jeff Parris
Franklin, Tennessee

From factcheck.org -
Responding to a McCain ad during the campaign.
" It is true that recently released records show half a dozen or so more meetings between the two men than were previously known, but Obama never denied working with Ayers."
"Other claims are seriously misleading. The education project described in the Web ad, far from being "radical," had the support of the Republican governor and was run by a board that included prominent local leaders, including one Republican who has donated $1,500 to McCain's campaign this year. The project is described by Education Week as reflecting "mainstream thinking" about school reform."
"Despite the newly released records, there's still no evidence of a deep or strong "friendship" with Ayers, . . ."
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/he_lied_about_bill_ayers.html
If I were black and my husband had just been elected as the first black president of the U.S, I'd probably make the same kind of statement. You cannot expect a people who have been disenfranchised for over a century to be too "proud" to be an American. Other achievements probably pale in comparison.
Racism is racism is racism - no matter how thinly (and stupidly) it is described.
The following is a very long list of racist slurs leveled against the President for the past year.
http://parsleyspics.blogspot.com/2010/01/racial-slurs-during-obamas-first-year.html

"So the Obama's don't care for the treatment Michelle is receiving? Well then she needs to learn to keep her controversial mouth shut. This is American free-Republic style politics where opinions are openly and freely voiced, and counter-opinions have the same liberties."
What a typical racist and HYPOCRITICAL comment from a chicken Anon. You can "openly and freely" voice your ignorant vitrol but if someone disagrees with you, they can't? Typical un-American right-wing thinking.

"So the Obama's don't care for the treatment Michelle is receiving? Well then she needs to learn to keep her controversial mouth shut."
What has she said since the "proud" comment that is so controversial? And to turn Bill Hobbs statement that the reaction from Obama supporters was "silly," I believe the whole comment was completely overblown by the GOP. What has she said that makes it okay to compare her to a chimp? It has become obvious that this is more about her race than anything else. Jeff Parris from Franklin would have never said anything like "stuffing a sock in that trap" if the first lady was Laura Bush.

Correction: "described" should be "disguised."

Well, well maybe not Ayers but there are plenty of others to go to. Also consider the sources here. Factcheck, please.
Anyway, there's always the Rev Wright, the real biggie. 20 yrs of that. Hell, the list is long.

Should the POTUS expect personal attacks? Of course. It goes without saying that anyone in political life should expect a constant barrage of attacks that can seem quite personal at times.
Is it fair game to attack their spouses? Fair or not it seem to be part of the mores of our society. If President Obama did not want his wife exposed to attack, he should have stayed out of politics.
All that being said, I am pleased that President Obama became President Obama.
Attacks that are racist in nature are outside of what the larger part of our society will willingly accept; thank goodness. Those attacks tend to expose and humiliate the attacker more so than the intended victim.
So, for the idiots who made the racial attacks and then lost jobs - you have none of my pity. For those who defend racial attacks on one side because of other racial attacks - you might want to move beyond school playground morality.

"If they think that they're gonna try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful," he said, fairly growling.
Oh really now. Wha'cha gonna do big boy, shut off my food stamps? There's damn little you can do aside from that, fortunately. Your socialism has not yet flowered and borne real fruit. The standard socialist ruling class position that you know what is best for me whether or not I agree has not yet become the law of the land. I will make Michelle an issue whenever and wherever I damn well please. And you can put that in your damn pipe and smoke it. Inhale while you're at it.
If Michelle can't stand the heat – well you know.

Shut it Bill. Nobody cares what you think.

Is this thing working?
Anyway...these kinds of Republicans are still a huge embarrassment to this state.
Try and imagine Howard Baker, Winfield Dunn or Lamar Alexander pulling such an act.
Impossible.

Bill Hobbs knows what to do with a mouthy wife.

Careful, pilgrim. Bill Hobbs IS someone's mouthy wife.

Back under the rock, Hobbs. The "Proud" ad was a "low-class" smear that took Michelle's comments out of context.
The "Anti-Semites" ad was a guilt by association smear. You also inferred a negative connotation with being Muslim in that ad. You were fired for belittling Muslims, weren't you Hobbs?
Look, nobody gives a damn if you die a low-life disgrace but don't involve Tennessee in your demise.

Did Bill Hobbs REALLY just try AGAIN to defend putting Barack Obama in Muslim headdress as part of a press release from the Tennessee Republican Party? Did that really just happen? And he thinks it's ok because of the publicity?
Bill - no, it's not ok. It's not ok. It's NEVER your job to lower our political discourse. If you love this country, and you really care about making Tennessee strong and prosperous, you won't lower our political discourse in this way.
It's not ok.
It's never ok.

As for Jeff Parris... sir, you are a prime example of why I'm not surprised that a Franklin man is charged with killing his wife at an I-40 rest area last night. No, it's not ok to speak ill of a man's wife. And Michelle Obama is far from controversial, unless you've got a problem with reducing childhood obesity.

What is interesting about this is that Bill--now liberated from having to toe the party line-- is saying that he did not design or approve the initial (and particularly nasty) version of the press release and photo, which was taken off the state GOP web site and replaced with a tamer version (without the photo) a day or two later. Bill has always been blamed for this incident ---see Jeff's story above. Since it wasn't Bill, wonder who it was?

What's interesting about this discussion is that Bill, who has always been blamed for the initial version of that infamous press release and photo, is now free to tell us that, in fact, he never saw it before it was issued. I wonder who did?

Or maybe this is self-serving revisionist history from Hobbs. In any event, he was the communications director. If he had a problem with it, he should have quit. Since he didn't, he ought to keep his mouth shut now.