Clyburn Compares Benghazi Probe To Jim Crow South

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

CAITLIN MACNEAL – MAY 22, 2014, 12:02 PM EDT

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) on Wednesday suggested that House Republicans are using the Benghazi select committee to target President Obama due to his race.

NewsOne Now host Roland Martin asked Clyburn, a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, if he saw "similarities in terms of where we are as a country" now to what he experienced in the Jim Crow South.

“I would not be all that concerned, for instance, about this new Benghazi select committee that we just put in place," Clyburn responded, as recorded by Mediaite. "One of the reasons I’ve been very critical of doing this is because I know that they are not out there to try to find what may or may not have happened."

The Democratic congressman said that there have been eight different studies on Benghazi, and that there's no way Republicans have yet to find the answers they need.

-snip-

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/clyburn-benghazi-obama-reconstruction

[cosmicone]

1. Rep. Clyburn is damn right. It has always been about race. n/t

[BlueCaliDem]

2. He should compare the ENTIRE Republican Party to the Jim Crowe South.

And he'd be SPOT. ON.

I've never seen so much racism so openly and unabashedly on display in this country - from both sides of the political spectrum - until President Obama was elected. At least, not in my lifetime. And then it escalated when he got re-elected. That thin veneer of civility and "color-blindness" after the civil rights fight had been ripped off with a vengeance and all the ugliness of ingrained racism and bigotry in the American people was exposed for all to gawk at.

[Mz Pip]

3. I think this is more about smearing Hillary.

Obama can't run again and the GOP is looking to the future. Hillary will win in 2016 if she runs and they are trying to weaken her anyway they can.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. I agree.

In their simple little minds, this is a pre-emptive strike against the suspected democratic nominee. If they can smear Obama in the process, it is just icing on the cake for them. Most think the republicans can't be so forward thinking and, in most cases, that is correct, but it is why they have strategists who can do the "forward" thinking for the rest of the body politic and its mindless drone followers.

[Bill USA]

4. I wish the Dems would refer to it as another McCarthy hearing. A witch hunt invoking the

...demonic spirit of Joe McCarthy....

[freshwest]

9. That is exactly what it is~

[AverageJoe90]

6. Unfortunately, there *is* some truth to this.

Of course, it certainly makes it far worse, in their minds, that our President isn't just black, but is a liberal Democrat who was fairly elected to his seat, twice, by a genuinely diverse coalition of people across the color line(including a plurality of white folks!), both genders, and many different cultures.

It seems to me that even Colin Powell, who is also an African-American, probably wouldn't have received as much nastiness as Obama has, and he's a Republican who's about as moderate as you can get on many issues.

[Mz Pip]

7. Its not that he's Black

It's that he won. Twice. I remember the nastiness and hate directed at Bill Clinton. Whitewater, the Lewinsky scandal, Paula Jones.

The GOP hate losing and will work overtime seeking revenge on those who win.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Bill Clinton never had someone yell out while speaking to a joint session of Congress

or had elected officials call him a n*****r.