"Insists, 'I Am Not a Racist,' Despite Anger Over His S.C. Comments"

"Insists" is one step short of "falsely claims."

No doubt the "Path to 9/11" team is working up a new, insightful, and fairminded documentary on this topic right now.

That the media folk want to help themselves (be less toxic) or that the Obama folk are working at all to undo what they've done.

Does it go well with Clamato?

The damage done to Bill Clinton is damage to the Democratic legacy and message. It’s another moral obligation of Obama and the party to work far harder than they have to undo it.

I have a very clear impression that Obama and his campaign want to cut themselves off from this legacy. (And not only the Democratic legacy, but the legacy of progressive activism in this country such as the antiwar movement.)

He's working for the idea that he is doing something radically new that's never been tried before. All previous efforts were flawed and failed and there is nothing he can learn from them except what not to do.

He's deliberately cutting his "movement" off at the roots. I don't think that there will be any effort to "undo the damage" because this is not "damage" from his point of view, but part of the plan.

...and they all exhibit an extreme level of amnesia. No mention of the false "fairy tale is racist" crap, and no mention of what Clyburn did that pissed Clinton off (saying that Hillary's LBJ/MLK remarks denigrated MLK).

Then I won't be racist or sexist! Who knew?

Reminds me of that moment in Notting Hill where Hugh Grant finds out about Julia Roberts's other boyfriend from a tabloid and says, "My whole life ruined because I don't read "Hello Magazine.""

"I don’t think that there will be any effort to “undo the damage” because this is not “damage” from his point of view, but part of the plan."

As Microsoft might say "It's not a bug, it's a feature".

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Around these parts we call cucumber slices circle bites

told Clyburn to pound sand. Good for him.

...when President Clinton was under attack and said:
"To imply that President Clinton is a racist is absurd. No one has done more to bring this country together and tear down racial barriers than President Clinton. So I want this nonsense to stop right now. This isn't good for the Democrat party to be attacking one of our party's most prominent leaders with this baseless slander."

But Dean didn't do that, and the reason why he didn't do it is because he was complicit. He wanted to take down the Clintons and he was active in making sure that all the rules were tilted in Obama's favor. Dean made sure that Obama would "win" and that the Clintons would be destroyed. It's what he wanted.

How the Hell can someone who touts his "50 state strategy" for years, go and take away the voice of two entire states? Seriously?
Especially Florida!

makes you a racist too.

That's what it says in the Obama rules.

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“But hysteria is all the rage these days, I guess” - gqm

Good for Bill, fight back with the truth!

Barack's campaign calling Bill out on racism is not only wrong but hypocritical when the Obama proposals on helping African Americans are so thin over the ground and Bill actually did so much over 8 years--and doesn't his Foundation still do things too? Isn't that the GOP strategy of attack where you are weakest? I mean, according to Obama's Father's Day sermon, all those black fathers should just pull themselves up. I love the people who are African-American who are following Obama around now and asking him what he's doing for African Americans (which they say is nothing.)

(Sorry no time for linky goodness right now--all easily found though by googling news and recent discussions.)

Isn’t that the GOP strategy of attack where you are weakest?

Karl Rove's strategy was to attack an opponent's strength. I think that's what you mean, right?

The insane part is that if Obama wins it'll be because of Clinton's legacy, in terms of competence and especially the economy, the latter of which he specifically trashed in PA, saying it was no better than Bush I. Better yet, Obama made a not too subtle dig at HRC when he said, "President Clinton's not on the ballot." I wonder if McCain will turn his trashing of the Clinton economy and that quote against him? I mean, when the only "D" legacy you can even claim, by association no less, is that of Pelosi, Dean, and Reid, you're in trouble.

To witness a day when Bill Clinton of all people has to declare that he isn't a racist is beyond depressing. To realize it's because of disgusting smears by fellow Democrats is simply surreal, like a damn out of body experience.

From the same ABC article Lambert links to:

But Clinton says that he has no hard feelings towards Obama, the man who defeated his wife.

"I'm not and never was mad at Senator Obama," Clinton said.

Well, good gosh and golly. Bill Clinton isn't mad at Obama, never has been and isn't now. Pretty clear about that, but who does Bill blame?

"The only thing I ever got mad about was people in your line of work [the media] pretending that she somehow started the negative stuff. It's a contact sport," Clinton said.

Bill Clinton thinks that the MSM (and some bloggers, no doubt) are at fault for misrepresenting what was happening. And he doesn't blame Obama.

But will he show some support for Obama, demonstrate without question to one and all that there are no hard feelings?

More significant is the likelihood that both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton will have prominent speaking roles at the Democratic convention later this month, where Obama will be nominated to be the party's presidential nominee.

Far more significant than this continued drumbeat by the media to try and divide the Democratic Party and progressives, apparently with fair success in some quarters.

Bill and Hillary aren't unhappy with Obama. Whatever happened in the campaign that was untoward they blame on the media, not Obama. And who does the MSM work for? The corporatist Plutocrats, the people who want to continue Republican rule. What is their agenda? Divide the Democrats, denigrate the Democratic candidate, keep the presidency in Republican hands.

I find myself in agreement with Bill and Hillary Clinton on both matters here before us; first, that the principle if not the complete blame for allegations of racism should be laid at the media while Obama should be held blameless and second, the most important task at hand is the defeat of the Republican Party in November - especially with regard to the presidency.

It was MSM media manipulation then, and it is MSM media manipulation now - by Kate Snow and Jake Tapper here, Kate Seelye elsewhere, Politico again, the same people from the same organizations beating the same propaganda drums, divide and conquor. For myself, I refuse to dance to their tune.

It was the far left bloggers, who took their cue from Obama's campaign, who smeared the Clintons as racists, then the anti-Clinton media was all too happy to take the ball and run with it.
It was Obama who got the ball rolling. Then it was Josh Marshall, John Aravosis, Arianna Huffington, Matthew Iglesias, et. al., who took their cue from Obama's campaign and sifted through every word President Clinton said to see which words they could take out of context and smear him as a racist with. Then the media buried the hatchet right into President Clinton's back, with glee.

Ha ha ha ha. Thanks so much for doing just that!

What gets me the most is here is Obama going around repeatedly saying he wants to be like RONALD REAGAN, who did the horrible racist dogwhistle of starting his campaign in Philadelphia, MO, did his whole "states's rights" routine, which was a clear symbol at times for supporting prejudice, and who did his racist "welfare queen" routine, etc.--and Obama doesn't mention or disavow any of this Reagan behavior but lets his campaign call BILL CLINTON a racist?

perspective? to my mind, white folks and black folks, for once i am going to not put those terms in quote, seem to me to have very, very different understandings of what "racist" means. so i can understand a 'far left' or 'radical' critique of clinton, his years in power and his treatment of the programs and policies that affected non-whites the most, and understand why someone very harsh and unforgiving could call him a 'racist.' holding him to the highest standard, he failed to help those in need the most when they were attacked by purely racist motives and actors. the welfare act crap is one example, and the embargo against iraqis who had no control over their dictator's actions, could be said to be another.

furthermore, there are some radicals who believe that all white people in america are more or less racist, and that it is a simple matter of degree. that is, our culture is soaked in racist discourse, the privliges of whites so great, the oppression of nonwhite so normalized in our gov't, economic sphere, etc., that it's only possible with the greatest amount of education and action for a white person to "prove" that they are not racist. and even then, reversion back to the standard norm of white behavior is always a possibility.

now, i am not a person who endorses those kinds of views, and Common Sense Dyke agrees with lambert's basic point: it's ridiculous that Bill Clinton would have to go on national teevee to "prove" he's "not a racist." as far as powerful white men go, few have done more to show affinity to, and personal love for, nonwhites than Bill.

however, i do want to say that this "event" is reason # 4953975395877 that i believe that we're eventually going to have to just give up this whole category of race, all of us. all. of. us. and accept that we're a human family. because race is a "no win" game. and it always hurts someone, in the end, who like Bill, at least tried to do something about the impact of american racism against the nonwhite. for the stupidest of reasons. and that reason is because americans would rather talk about the latest "controversy of race" rather than the issues that, you know, actually have an impact upon their lives. that's a luxury for wealthy, powerful nations, and soon, we won't be at least one of those.

Of course Bill Clinton is going to say that he doesn't blame Obama a few weeks before the Democratic Convention. What's he supposed to say? To peddle that as proof positive that he and his wife really do not put any blame on the Obamas is either naive or disengenuous.

But let's look at the historical record that I was able to Google in the short time I have away from RL stuff -

Here's the Obama campaign pushing the deliberate distortion of Hillary's MLK remarks and Hillary herself specifically attributing it to the Obama campaign and not just low level supporters - here:

“I was personally offended at the approach taken that was not only misleading but unnecessarily hurtful,” said Mrs. Clinton, Democrat of New York. “And I have made that clear to many people in the last several days.”

Asked to whom she was referring, Mrs. Clinton responded, “I think it clearly came from Senator Obama’s campaign, and I don’t think it was the kind of debate we should be having in this campaign.”

A spokesman for the Obama campaign, Bill Burton, did not back away from its original criticism of Mrs. Clinton.

“People were offended at her words, and she can explain them however she’d like,” Mr. Burton said. “However, I think that Congressman Clyburn and other leaders across the country would take great offense at the suggestion that their response was somehow engineered by this campaign.”

Prominent black supporters of Mr. Obama, Democrat of Illinois, have been criticizing Mrs. Clinton over her remarks last week that some have interpreted as giving President Lyndon B. Johnson more credit than Dr. King for civil rights law.

Pretty clear. Hillary Clinton blames the Obama campaign for misrepresenting her remarks as denigrating MLK (part of the broader racism smear) and the Obama campaign continues to push the smear.

Here's Bill Clinton complaining that "they" played the race card on me. Here's what he said:

I think that they played the race card on me. We now know, from memos from the campaign that they planned to do it along.

Does that sound like he's talking about the media?

Or perhaps it completely went unnoticed by the Big Dog that one of the people lying about his fairytale remarks was Michelle Obama. Here's what she said:

Sometimes we feel it's better not to try at all than to try and fail. These are complicated emotions, left in our heads and hearts from years of struggle, emotions we must face if we're going to overcome as a community if we want to lift ourselves up. We must do it in the face of those who will attempt to play on those emotions for our own purposes, to discourage us from believing what is possible...to dismiss this moment as an illusion, as a fairytale.

A complete distortion of what Bill Clinton said about Obama's Iraq War record and turning it into a statement that Obama himself was a fairytale, which you may recall was one of the first things, along with the MLK remarks, that pushed the racist meme on the Clintons personally. But, hey, I'm sure Bill Clinton doesn't blame her at all for the things she personally said.

The Clintons know damn well what was done to them. Look at how angry he is at Jim Clyburn in that interview. Now, do you believe or think Bill Clinton believes that Jim Clyburn, Donna Brazile, and Jesse Jackson, Jr., and all those other Obama supporters just happened to go out there and misconstrue things Bill and Hillary Clinton said to make them look racist? That's just the work of some low level staffer? Give me a fucking break.

let's make "race" and "racism" and "race identity" and all the rest of the stuff that starts with "race" out of the arsenal. let's make it as meaningful as the arguments that people used to kill each other over, like "anabaptist" or "heugonot." or "hatfield" and "mccoy." a thing to shake our heads over, laugh about, and wonder what the heck was wrong with foolish people in the past who couldn't see that sheet, oreo or spade, words and social constructions have no meaning except that which we choose to give them. obviously i think that last word is the operative one.

Racial tensions roil Democratic race
By BEN SMITH | 1/11/08 3:04 PM EST Updated: 1/11/08 6:41 PM EST

Comments from the Clintons and Clinton supporters are spurring a racial backlash.
Photo: AP

A series of comments from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, her husband and her supporters are spurring a racial backlash and adding a divisive edge to the presidential primary as the candidates head south to heavily African-American South Carolina.

The comments, which ranged from the New York senator appearing to diminish the role of Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights movement — an aide later said she misspoke — to Bill Clinton dismissing Sen. Barack Obama’s image in the media as a “fairy tale” — generated outrage on black radio, black blogs and cable television. And now they've drawn the attention of prominent African-American politicians.

“A cross-section of voters are alarmed at the tenor of some of these statements,” said Obama spokeswoman Candice Tolliver, who said that Clinton would have to decide whether she owed anyone an apology.

“There’s a groundswell of reaction to these comments — and not just these latest comments but really a pattern, or a series of comments that we’ve heard for several months,” she said. “Folks are beginning to wonder: Is this really an isolated situation, or is there something bigger behind all of this?”

where Obama personally pushed the smear that the Clinton campaign had been pushing the photo, when Kevin Drum admitted it was a Limbaugh slander that he fell for. Still waiting for a retraction on that one, but I've looked, and never found one.

about how Obama, his blogger minions and the media accused President Clinton of racism. I remember the 1990s very well. I remember how great I felt about the country because under President Clinton's leadership, this country seemed to be finally becoming colorblind. Of course, I liked alot of things that President Clinton was doing, from economic, fiscal, open government, competency. But the thing that really made me feel great was how we were coming together as one nation, appreciating the contributions that all of us have given to the country.
Then Bush and the Repubs came around and did their best to try and undo all the good works.
Then to add insult to injury, Obama had the audacity to direct his campaign to smear the Clintons as racists. And yes, Obama did it. His fingerprints are all over it.
This is the biggest gripe I have and one I am nowhere even close to letting go of.
We were coming together and Obama deliberately, for his own selfish reasons divided us.
Yes, I'm still cheesed off because for the first time in my 46 years, I have been called a racist by anonymous Obama thugs, but that I will get over.
Obama, on the other hand has to do a hell of alot to get my forgiveness.

http://www.correntewire.com/its_time_for...

"It’s not wise for them to challenge a black Democrat for governor."

Obama slams smear photo
By: Mike Allen
February 25, 2008 11:42 AM EST

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe accused the Clinton campaign Monday of "shameful offensive fear-mongering" by circulating a photo as an attempted smear.
...

Plouffe said in a statement: “On the very day that Senator Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign has engaged in the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we’ve seen from either party in this election. This is part of a disturbing pattern that led her county chairs to resign in Iowa, her campaign chairman to resign in New Hampshire, and it’s exactly the kind of divisive politics that turns away Americans of all parties and diminishes respect for America in the world," said Plouffe.

At a rally in Jackson with an audience of 9,000, Obama painted Clinton as part of the past Washington establishment. The nation does not need "the same old folks doing the same old things, talking the same old stuff," he said.

He (Obama)also accused Clinton's campaign of leaking a photograph of him wearing African garb, including a turban, during a visit to Kenya in 2006. That was "straight out of the Republican playbook," Obama said. "That's not real change."

But Obama's campaign shit it.

I would like to hear every one of the frauds who called Bill Clinton a racist tell me how many black children's lives in Africa they have saved. I suspect they won't have a lot to say.

I used to get that "Link" crap way back in the day when I had just finished cleaning some Repub's clock.
Thanks for bringing back the memories.
Here's what I used to do then.
I used to say something like "copy and paste" the follwing:

"He also accused Clinton’s campaign of leaking a photograph of him wearing African garb, including a turban, during a visit to Kenya in 2006. That was “straight out of the Republican playbook,” Obama said. “That’s not real change.”"

Then paste it into Google and click "search".

Seriously, why do you need a link? Are you saying you really do not know how to use a search engine? I'm not trying to be a prick either. You asked for proof. I wasted some of my time and gave you plenty of proof...proof that most people could have dug up in a short period of time.
I stopped posting links awhile ago when I figured that if I was posting whole segments of articles, everyone who is blogging and posting comments knows how to find the source with ease.