Obama campaign using video of Berlin speech in campaign emails – complete with “DONATE” button

What was that they were saying again about how he was going overseas as a “Senator and not a presidential candidate”? Uh huh.  Here’s an mass email sent out tonight by the campaign:

Dear [Sister Toldjah] —

As you may have heard, Barack has been in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia this week.

Today, he spoke in Berlin, Germany.

In a city where a wall once divided the free from the oppressed, he talked about tearing down the walls that divide all peoples so we can address our common problems — the threats of terrorism and nuclear weapons, global warming and genocide, AIDS and poverty.

Watch Barack’s historic speech and share it with your friends:

http://my.barackobama.com/berlinvideo

Please forward this email to your friends, family, and colleagues.

Thanks,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

Donate

And there you have it.

Earlier this week:

“He is going to talk about the issues as an individual … not as a candidate, but as an individual, as a senator” the [Obama] adviser added.


[…]

For days, campaign advisers have attempted to present the trip as a listening tour with key leaders who Obama said he expects to forge relationships with for years to come. But the extent of the stagecraft and planning makes it hard to ignore that the campaign, long intent on positioning Obama as commander-in-chief material, has its eye on a much broader audience.

Yet, a campaign aide at the briefing said the Berlin speech “is not for campaign purposes.”

“I don’t think the fact that large numbers of people gather to hear a speech makes it a campaign speech” the aide said. “The substance of what he addresses is what’s important. And what he is addressing has nothing to do with campaigns. It has to do with his view of where we are today in the world.”

Just words? Just speeches?

Another rhetorical question: Does he know how to be upfront about anything?

Update: I see Jake Tapper was all over this earlier on. Check out the lame excuse the Obama campaign emailed him about the “Donate” button:

UPDATE: The Obama campaign takes issue with my description of its email with its big, red “DONATE” button as a “fundraising soliciation.” The campaign, which has raised more money through the internet than any other campaign in world history, says the purpose of this email, the “DONATE” button notwithstanding, was for folks to see the speech and share it with their friends.

(When you click on that DONATE button, I might add, you’re taken to this webage which reads: “Make your donation online…Make your donation using the secure form below…$25 $100 $500 $2,300
$50 $250 $1,000 Other: $ …Credit Card: Visa MasterCard American Express Discover…Donating Offline: If you would prefer to contribute by mail, send a check to: Obama for America, P.O. Box 802798, Chicago, IL 60680…Donating Monthly: Click here to make a recurring donation….Americans Abroad: Click here to make a donation.)

The campaign calls the above blog entry “misleading.” You be the judge.

LOL. Obama and his campaign made a concerted effort at painting this as a Senatorial trip not one of a presidential candidate, yet admitted earlier that it was being funded by campaign money, and has now been caught soliciting for campaign cash in an email that includes the full video, yet it’s Tapper who is being misleading?!

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