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.
I would like to know what history book Howard reads, WWI - Wilson Dem, WWII Roosevelt -Dem, Korea - Truman Dem, Viet Nam - Kennedy or Johnson, take your pick Dem, I guess history just started with the first Iraq war.
I keep saying it, the American people are tired of the Clintons. We want rid of them, they are the worst tempered people to have ever occupied the White House. The press rales against Sen. McCains temper but I don’t think there is any tape with him swearing and being so condesending. I know of some one that was in the White House when Mrs. Clinton went off over a trivial matter. Her comments were harsh, mean and very angry. It’s a way of life for these two. Why so much anger??? They have now made their fortune. Now they can leave the rest of us alone and enjoy themselves and we’ll do the same.
The way I feel about the Clinton’s is negative all around. Former President Bill Clinton sleep listing to a message at a MLK function. Hillary Clinton standing with this old black lady on one of her ads really making fun of Africian Americans. If Hilliary gets the president seat watch how many Africian Americans hand she will shake, how many ads you will see with Africian Americans in them. We are in proverty now. We will stay in proverty if she gets the seat. Like Obama said we need change. We don’t need the same old mess going into the White House. We need some one like Obama
First, this Independent voter prays nightly for Obama’s being the Dem’s nominee because I hope earnestly that will send the Clintons packing into retirement from national. IMO the Clintons have been a blight on their party.
Second, Sen. Clinton’s claim she is tested and ready is specious. Mr. Clinton was lambasted in the first year of his Presidency for his co-presidency with his Mrs. Eight years as First Lady makes her no more qualified to re-occupy the White House than its Chef.
Third, I find her sense of entitlement to the Presidency shameful. This Presidential election is still about the Dems’ rabid, hard feelings over their loss in 2000 to Bush. It’s really all about the Clintons wanting another co-presidency. But I believe the American people, as does this voter, have had enough of the Clintons. It’s long past their time to go quietly into the long night.
A little history lesson is needed. A prior post mentioned that almost every war the United States has been involved in was started by or entered into by a Republican. Ignorance is bliss! Wilson (D) entered WWI; FDR (D) entered WWII; Truman (D) dropped the bombs on Japan and entered Korea; Vietnam was entered/escalated under JFK(D) and LBJ(D). Get your facts straight before making uninformed comments.
Howard’s comment shows a colossal ignorance of history. The most stunning ignorance, I have ever seen in print. The US entered the following wars under Democratic Presidents: World War I, World War II, The Korean War, and the The Vietnam War. What wars is he talking about started by Republicans? Perhaps the Civil War? I guess he regrets that Lincoln (R-IL) sent in the troops to save the Union and free the slaves in the slave states.
Howard:
If you check into the facts, i believe you will find Roosevelt was in office during ww2 and JFK and Johnson initiated the Vietnam war. Nixon a republican ended it!
I like Bill Clinton, and it is great to see that he has such passion on issues like race. He was a good president, and I think, eventhough he had a lasps in judgement during his term, he had America’s best intrest at heart. I feel that Hillary has America’s best intrest at heart also. Obama, on the other hand has yet to show he has AMERCIA’s best intrest at heart. I really do not think that he knows Amercia.
In response to Howard’s assertion that nearly all of our wars have been started with a Republican in office - that is factually incorrect. WWII, Korean conflict, Viet Nam War, Bosnia were all begun with Democrats in office. The Gulf War and Irag were started with Republicans. I also fail to see the relevence of his comments to the current topic.
Comment in response to Howard—–You may be right, but in your scenario it is very possible that Iraq would have been here!!!