Bill Clinton Bristles Anew Over Questions About ‘Race Card’
Former President Bill Clinton had a testy encounter Tuesday with reporters who questioned his remarks in a radio interview in which he accused Barack Obama’s campaign of unfairly playing the race card on him.
“You always follow me around and play these little games,” Clinton shot back at an ABC News reporter who questioned him about a phone interview with Philadelphia public radio station WHYY.
On Monday, an audibly irritated Clinton railed against the Obama campaign for what he described as an effort to twist comments made in South Carolina on Jan. 26, the Palmetto State’s presidential primary election day.
In the remarks that sparked the furor, Clinton compared Obama’s campaign to that of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson.
“Jesse Jackson won in South Carolina twice in ‘84 and’88, and he ran a good campaign, and Senator Obama has run a good campaign. He has run a good campaign everywhere. He’s got a good — He is a good candidate with a good organization,” Clinton said.
Obama supporters said the remarks were meant to belittle Obama by comparing him with a black candidate whose appeal was more narrow. Obama called the remarks hallmarks of the politics of racism.
Asked Monday if he regretted the comment, Clinton responded: “No, I think that they played the race card on me, and we now know from memos in the campaign and everything that they planned to do it all along.
“Do I regret saying it? No. Do I regret that it was used that way? I certainly do. But you’ve really got to go some (distance) to portray me as a racist,” Clinton said, adding that he has an office in Harlem, and Jackson told him personally he was not offended.
“I called him and asked him if he found anything offensive. And he just laughed and he said, ‘Of course I don’t. We all know what’s going on,’ ” Clinton said.
Clinton told WHYY that he has “conceded that this was used against me, but this was a conversation that occurred early in the morning. We didn’t even know what the vote was going to be at the time. We were all sitting around, drinking coffee — we just finished breakfast — and we were starting, we were talking about South Carolina political history.
“And this was used out of context, and this was twisted for political purposes by the Obama campaign to try to breed resentment elsewhere.”
The former president added a more colorful remark at the end of an interview when he appeared to think he was off-mic.
“I don’t think I should take any sh** from anybody on that, do you?” he apparently asked someone in the room.
A reporter on Tuesday asked Clinton what he meant when he said the Obama campaign was playing the race card on him.
Clinton responded: “No, no, no, that’s not what I said. … You always follow me around and play these little games. And I am not going to play your games today. This is a day about Election Day. Go back and see what the question was, and what my answer was. You have mischaracterized it just to get another cheap story to divert the American people from the real urgent issues before us, and I choose not to play your game today.”
Faced with questions about the former president’s remarks, Obama said he simply didn’t understand Clinton’s point.
“So hold on a second,” Obama told reporters with a chuckle. “So former President Clinton dismissed my victory in South Carolina as being similar to Jesse Jackson and he is suggesting that somehow I had something to do with it? OK, well, you better ask him what he meant by that.”
His campaign spokesman dismissed it with more glee.
“The secret memo? Where we put the idea in his head to say what he said so he can blame us for having said it?” spokesman Robert Gibbs said with a wink. “That would be pretty good if we could do that.”
Hillary Clinton sidestepped questions at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania about her husband’s remarks.
“I think we’re going to stay focused on what voters are focused on,” she said.
Clinton’s recollection of the Jan. 26 comment is a problem his wife has had to deal with throughout her campaign. While Clinton recalls the comments coming over coffee, the specific remark most people refer to came during an impromptu television interview with an ABC reporter. No breakfast or coffee was immediately visible in video of the interview that was given outdoors.
Click here to hear Bill Clinton’s WHYY interview on YouTube.
Click here to see an ABC video clip of Obama responding to the remarks and Clinton’s comments.
Obama is way too sensitive
Who a person stands for will always come out when the mic-is OFF! That just proves to me that this is who he really is - it don’t surprise me!!!!!!!!!!!!
On one except the Obama camp has played the race card in this campaign. The black community as well as the white and Hispanics are in for a rude awakening if Obama wins the White House. He will give racisum a whole new meaning. Bill Clinton has nothing to hang his head over. Before we elect unknown like Obama we be better check him out alot more than we have to date.
I wondered when the Clinton campaign would slip up and say something racist on-mic. “The hallmarks of the politics of racism.” Good quote.
It is just so sad that Hillary has somehow forced or caused Bill to stoop as low as he has. Mr. President, please just let it go. Stop bringing up all these negatives. What has that woman got on you?
You are very near to ruining your legacy. You left the office beloved. Even those that didn’t side with you politically, had to attest to your positive standing with the American people, and reputation in the world.
Now, you are becoming Hillary’s clown. Your ratings are so low. Please go back to what you do best, and work with the people, be a positive influence outside of politics. Stop participating in Hillary’s career. There’s nothing you can do anyways, she’s a sinking ship, don’t go down with it.
Please!
Typical Clintons…They can say whatever, about whomever and do whatever…But, don’t be a meany to the Clintons or they might start crying. They can twist anything ever said, better than anybody who’s ever gotten out of bed…If you see the rhyme…give me the reason to vote for these people…2 term limit’s is more than enough for one family to soak this Country
How many times will a Clinton not remember the past correctly? There is a pattern here. Wake up Clintonites. They always remember the past to serve them well. Remember White Water?
I do not believe Bill CLinton remarks were racist.I do believe Obama camp will try to make people believe it was.
Bill spoke the truth.
That is only threatening to folks who cling to illusion rather than fact.
isn’t it funny that only one person has mentioned how gov. rendell as praised the nation of islam. the organization that farrakhan runs. dan abrams mentioned this last night. news networks are frightened to mention anything about this. how can clinton and rendell say one thing and do another. hyprocrites come to mind.