“Slick Willy” busy extracting foot from mouth
Bill Clinton was at the centre of a race storm last night after he was accused of denigrating Barack Obama.
The former president allegedly claimed during the hard-fought Democratic primary race: ‘A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.’
He is said to have made the racist remark in a phone call entreating Senator Teddy Kennedy, the party’s vastly influential elder statesman, to endorse his wife, Hillary, in the delicately balanced 2008 nomination battle.
But the call so offended Senator Kennedy that it backfired and helped make up the veteran Washington power broker’s mind to throw his complete support behind Mr Obama’s historic bid for the White House, according to a new book.
Mr Clinton was once lauded by African-American admirers as America’s ‘first black president’.
But the ‘coffee’ controversy has opened old wounds from the campaign trail when Mr Clinton was accused of being racially dismissive about the underdog who went on to derail his wife’s White House dreams.
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Joe Says:
When the only tool you have is a hammer every problem becomes a nail. Put another way, “To a racist everything is racism”. I remain NOT a fan of Bubba but this nonsense has got to stop. What he said has so many ways of being interpreted that to view it only through the “racism” filter is more than a little disingenuous.
Posted on January 10th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
ward Says:
Far easier to make this into a racist “steppin fetchit” quote than it is to take Joe Wilsons comment “you lie” in Congress in response to the fact Barrack Obama was in fact lying.
But that did not stop Maureen Dowd from adding the non existant “boy” to the end of Wilsons quote turning it into ”you lie boy”! . And that column and assertation got some serious play.
I doubt Clintons column was racist, but much like when a dog craps on the rug, rubbing his nose in it is a good cure. Dems need their noses rubbed in this racist garbage and rubbed hard.
Posted on January 10th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Undecided Voter Says:
Sometimes politicians say things in the heat of the moment without thinking it through. I remember once when Bush referred to Pakistanies as “Packies” not realizing it is quite offensive to them.
I dont think he meant anything by it.
Posted on January 10th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
ward Says:
Should have said “Clintons comment”
Posted on January 10th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Pat Says:
The race card is the tool of the racist. When Blacks are congratulating themselves on getting a Black elected, is that not racist. That someone is good because they’re black? Screw ‘em!! There are different races and most prefer the company of their own race. Such is life.
Posted on January 10th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Cynapse Says:
People of any substance or value don’t judge others by appearance alone. The idea of a “race card” was not invented by the all-purpose “reverse racists” that right-wingers speak of – it is a concept invented by the right to counter-label those who call the right out on its racial tendencies – charges that cannot possibly be refuted.
Blacks have the right to be happy that a black got elected (and statistically it would have happened if 0% of blacks voted for Obama) because they live in a country where lots of people similar in mind to some of the posters in this thread see blacks as nothing more than low IQ criminal monkeys. Catholics were happy when Kennedy got elected because they also got shit on prior to that – didn’t see anyone complaining then.
Posted on January 10th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Cynapse Says:
And Pat, you’ve tried to justify racism in two separate threads in one day. Is there something you want to tell us?
Posted on January 10th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
CRB Says:
Cynapse – wrong again! The ‘Big O’ would not have been elected without the black vote! The reason being 95% of Blacks voted for Obama. Had that vote been taken out of the equation, Obama would have run a very poor second. Funny thing though, – it is not racist for the Black population to vote for the Black candidate whereas it is unquestionably racist for the non-black voters to support the non-black candidate.
Hmmmmmm…
Posted on January 10th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Cynapse Says:
Well CRB let’s do the math:
-Black are 13% of the population
-Black voter turnout was 65%
-The traditional black support for Democrats is roughly 91% (4% less than Obama received)
-72% of Americans are voting age
So black “racism” accounts for…
65% * 4% * 72% = 1.8% of the swing by volume
Stunning.
Of course America is not a direct democracy so you also have to consider the seat distribution. Most black voters are Urbanized and vote strictly democrat. Obviously these urban seats aren’t enough to promote Democrats to the white house permanently, since Kerry and Gore didn’t make the cut.
But you want us to believe that a 1.8% vote swing along elected Obama to office?
Want to try again?
Posted on January 10th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Cynapse Says:
And let’s not forget what the Republican supporters were bringing to the table for the 2008 election.
The real question should be “what the heck happened to the other 5%?”
Posted on January 10th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
CRB Says:
So you are trying to tell me that 13% of the population voting 95% in favor of the TOTUS only accounted for 1.8% of the total vote?
You’re s___ing me right? You’re s____ing yourself, unfortunately/fortunately!
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 12:06 am
Cynapse Says:
I think you need a refresher in Mathematics
You can’t say that 95% of blacks voted for Obama just because he was black. Apart from being obnoxiously racist, that assertion ignores the fact that Democrats vote 90%+ for Democrats no matter who is in charge. Thus, you can’t really claim more than 4-5% of the black vote is purely based on race. Moreover, nearly 50% of your 13% is ineligible for voting due to age or incarceration.
Very few blacks are going to vote for John McCain, who voted against declaring MLK’s birthday a holiday, and Sarah Palin, who manged to unearth a pre civil rights horde of monkey-doll brandishing paleo-conservatives.
Moreover, you probably can’t explain why, if blacks only vote based on race, the following fully black (not half) American (not schooled foreign) didn’t even beat their own party nomination:
-Al Sharpton
-Jesse Jackson
-Ezola Foster (not a Democrat)
-Alan Keyes (not a Democrat; Blacks still voted for Gore)
Did blacks discover racism in 2008?
I think you want to see Obama’s election as some kind of black voting conspiracy because you cannot accept that a (half) black man could be voted in as president simply because people like him.
Why did it take nearly a year for conservatives here to come out of the woodwork with their true hostilities?
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 12:12 am
John Luft Says:
Who says it was a racist remark? It could just as easily have been a comment to indicate that Obama had no real experience in anything and was incompetent. In that context, the comment is entirely valid and accurate.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 10:15 am
beentheredonethat Says:
That’s exactly what it sounded like to me John but because the subject is non white the comment must be racist. There simply cannot be any other reason or explanation. The verdict is in, just look at the comments above. That’s just the FUBAR state our guilt ridden western society is in these days.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Joe Says:
Who let Cynapse the Racist out again. His racist rantings are really wearisome.
“Sarah Palin, who manged to unearth a pre civil rights horde of monkey-doll brandishing paleo-conservatives.” is some of the most loathsome crap I’ve heard on any blog. Were it against anyone else it would fit right on a neo-nazi web site.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Cy Says:
Or it could be that 50 years ago blacks were relegated to menial labour jobs and some people refuse to see them as being worthy of anything else, BTDT.
Incidentally, I don’t believe that’s what Clinton meant but if someone here had made the comment …
What’s always fascinated me about Conservative boards is how when racial topics come up, roughly 70% of you swear up and down that racism doesn’t exist except by leftists against whites, while the remaining 30% make comments even worse thant he subject matter. My question to you: does group A not notice that group B is doing exactly what they claim doesn’t happen?
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Cy Says:
“Sarah Palin, who manged to unearth a pre civil rights horde of monkey-doll brandishing paleo-conservatives.” is some of the most loathsome crap I’ve heard on any blog. Were it against anyone else it would fit right on a neo-nazi web site.
Sarah Palin is a race? Paleo-Conservatives are a race?
The monkey doll was loathsome. But I bet you didn’t complain then, did you Joe?
This is another example of people just returning an accusation because they have no defense.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Cy Says:
Hey Joe, look at this and you tell me who’s the racist
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
Undecided Voter Says:
Cy - Joe should look in the mirror.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
nomdeblog Says:
The Reid remark isn’t racist. It in no way infers Obama is inferior because of race.
The GOP should get off this subject and start focusing on real problems such as terrorism and the insane spending in Washington. Moreover , they should actually start by getting a leader pronto.
Spending time on this race subject is like our Liberals trying to distract voters from their lack of conviction on real issues so they obfuscate and rant on about proroguing, the process; when they have no idea how to take action they just whine about process, that’s the progressive thing to do. However the GOP isn’t much better these days than the progressives.
Finally, race is a word that is so misused that it has lost all meaning. Let’s leave it alone and get focused on trying to fix the ills in our society.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Undecided Voter Says:
Well Nom, race is a nice word when its used at the RACEtrack.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Cy Says:
nom, that issue hasn’t really bubbled north yet.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
CRB Says:
Cynapse, you will glean whatever you want from ‘Your Numbers’, and very likely they will have very little to do with reality! Go ahead and have fun!
And leave the stats to the Adults.
Now bugger off, I’m busy!
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Cy Says:
A guy who thinks children and felons can swing the vote don’t get to lecture what should be left to adults, since he couldn’t be a fully functioning adult himself. Even your fellow ‘phobe’ Fjordmann backed off on the “Obama won only because of black people” theory because the numbers don’t work.
You can bugger off with your Negro conspiracy theories.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
beentheredonethat Says:
The GOP should get off this subject and start focusing on real problems such as terrorism and the insane spending in Washington. Moreover , they should actually start by getting a leader pronto.
Exactly.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Cy Says:
Clinton, Reid, Blago … 3 liberals make utterly stupid and ideologically hypocritical comments within 1 week and, judging by this thread, they will get away with it because their opposition is so obnoxious about this topic that it makes the liberal faux pas seem palatable by comparison. Were I a Karl Rove type I’d be pulling my remaining hair out at the loss of this golden opportunity to beat the shine off the Dems.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Joe Says:
Sarah Palin, who manged to unearth a pre civil rights horde of monkey-doll brandishing paleo-conservatives
Where did you dig that crap up? I went to a reunion with a bunch of “ pre civil rights horde of monkey-doll brandishing paleo-conservatives”. Of course there were plenty of urban meterosexuals as well. One fellow brought his gay lover to the reunion. The only people who treated the couple like they were real people were conservative Christians. The urban sophisticates studiously ignored them. One young woman brought her Native American fiance to the reunion. The only people who treated the couple as human beings were conservative Christians. The urban metersexuals did their level best to pretend the young couple didn’t exist.
Your complete lack of understanding reminds me of a young black football player from the southern states who came to play football in Edmonton. His new friends asked him to go to a party. The young fellow became more and more agitated as they party goers drove out to a local bush patch. They all spent the night having a good time and on the way home the young black man said that he was really scared of all these white folks driving him, a black man, out into the bush. He associated bush parties with lynch mobs. Not that he had ever seen or heard of one directly but southern black lore. . .
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Cy Says:
Speaking of Sarah Palin, she just got a job …
The young man in your story was from the South. I assume you have some historical knowledge of the south and can probably understand why he’d be apprehensive. Alberta is hit and miss in that regard, but on the whole Canada is free from that level of active malice, owing as much to our passive nature as anything else. I’ve been to Georgia – depending on what county you go to, it IS a different world. Americans generally know nothing about Canada because they don’t think they have to.
That said, I’ve been a rural house party with a great big confederate flag. The hosts of the party had some views that the strangers who drove me there were unaware of. Suddenly the story changed, from “we picked them up” to “they jumped on our truck and we were unable to do anything about it”. Things could have gone very wrong from that point, so you must understand that, even if you don’t have the nasty inclination, many of your mates do and that is the legacy for certain demographics (not ethnically, but also in terms of location, religion and ideology). This won’t be purged overnight.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Joe Says:
Cy you are stereotyping a demographic again. BTW by most people that’s a form of racism. Grow up.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Cynapse Says:
Racism apply to races
Sexism applies to sex
etc
These are all things we are born with, so the chance that all X behave a certain way is minimal. If I were doing that, then you could rightly tell me to grow up.
But what I’m criticizing is a learned behaviour and voluntary association. Nobody is born a leftist or a conservative – they choose that. When you decide to join any group -from the boy scouts to the KKK- you inherit their legacy. You could leave the group if you don’t agree with its principles. You could move from an area if their way of thinking offends you.
If you can’t assume someone’s beliefs by their voluntary labels and associations, then what the hell are they worth?
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 8:00 pm