Bill Clinton says, ‘We’re all mixed-race people." Disses Obama

[Luminous Animal]

The former president downplayed President Obama’s historic presidency, telling a Memphis crowd Friday everyone has some African ancestry.

“Unless your ancestors, every one of you, are 100 percent, 100 percent from sub-Saharan Africa, we are all mixed-race people,” he said, according to reports.The former president downplayed President Obama’s historic presidency, telling a Memphis crowd Friday everyone has some African ancestry.

….

Clinton credited Obama for doing “a better job than he has gotten credit for,” but chided the current president for doing little to end Washington gridlock.

“A lot of people say you don’t understand — it’s rigged now,” he said. “Yeah, it’s rigged now because you don’t have a president that’s a change-maker.”

http://nypost.com/2016/02/14/bill-clinton-downplays-obama-were-all-mixed-race-people/

[Fearless]

1. So will Hillary fans follow his lead and throw the president under the bus now??

Based on his race?!!?

[Hydra]

16. Ya, pass me some of that!

I'm sure this will go over SO well...

[AllTooEasy]

75. Hasn't Bernie and his supporters Routinely criticized Obama...

...for not creating enough change? For not fighting congressional Repukes hard enough to further liberal causes? Isn't Obama's White House part of the "status quo" that Bernie and his supporters so passionately revolt against?!

I see, it's okay for Bernie and especially his liberal supporters to criticize the Black president, but not Clinton. That's hypocrisy.

BTW, we ARE all part African! What's wrong with stating this undeniable truth, especially from a White man's lips? More White people should do it, not less. Do you honestly believe that Bernie disagees?

[shawn703]

76. As long as we have and understanding that both candidates can criticize Obama we are fine.

Might want to pass the memo around the rest of Camp Weathervane though.

[Fearless]

84. Criticism is to be expected of ANY politician.

It's the name of the game. Race baiting and race-belittling however are NOT acceptable.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Pass the popcorn

should be fun

[yourpaljoey]

6. I brought root beer and diet cola

with red cups and ice and straws.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Thankee

I will bring in the sugar free drinks for the diabetics in the mix

[roguevalley]

36. god this man is hopeless. He's so mad he can't claim

first black president. Given the shit storm Obama endured, this is impossibly bullshit. Bill Clinton is a clown. I guess living in a racist state growing up, it seeped in anyway. This is the second time he has diminished the President, 2008 and 2016. I wish he would just go the hell home.

[yourpaljoey]

9. We will need more popcorn, butter and salt

I better get poppin.'

[1monster]

83. And I brought the Red Solo Cup song...

https://m.

[Arazi]

47. Remember what DUers did to you but nary a word from them here

to condemn Bill Clinton

Shameful attacks and smear jobs saying you and other mixed race/minority DUers aren't really mixed race/minority yet here's Bill Clinton saying "everyone" is mixed race cuz Africa, truly dissing Obama, and...

Crickets

[Senator Tankerbell]

3. Wow.

[senz]

64. But Bill's main diss is to Obama's performance as president -- contrasted w/Hillary.

“A lot of people say you don’t understand — it’s rigged now,” he said. “Yeah, it’s rigged now because you don’t have a president that’s a change-maker.”

He praised Hillary Clinton for being “the best change-maker I’ve ever known.”

He rips President Obama and says Hill would do a better job. (Of course, he doesn't name one "change" for the better that she's ever made.)

But the point is: Bill Clinton is now criticizing Obama's performance as president.

Looks like he didn't get the memo.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. That's not a dog whistle, it's a dog trombone.

Meaning everybody can hear it.

[nc4bo]

14. God lord! AND she has the audacity to trot him out on the campaign trail

AND doesnt expect people to take a harder look at Bill's behaviors AND doesn't expect at least some backlash.



Excuse me Velveteen Ocelot....cover your ears.

FUCK YOU BILL!

[6chars]

5. So who is a change-maker?

A lot of people say you don’t understand — it’s rigged now,” he said. “Yeah, it’s rigged now because you don’t have a president that’s a change-maker.”

He praised Hillary Clinton for being “the best change-maker I’ve ever known.”

“She’s always making something good happen,” he added.

[roguevalley]

38. mostly edited due to fury passing

He's a disaster for her.

[Carolina]

46. WTF

She's always making something good happen?!

When? Where? Votes for IWR, bankruptcy bill, Patriot Act; leaving Honduras, Libya, Syria a mess in her wake as SOS!

WTF has he been smoking... clearly he did inhale

[Bucky]

53. (deleted post)

[dsc]

7. An article from a Murdock owned paper with no quotes or citation

but other than that a tremendously good source.

[Autumn]

21. Here.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/government/bill-clinton-makes-memphis-stop-for-wifes-campaign-2b822367-7dc6-3729-e053-0100007f0adf-368546981.html

[dsc]

28. nothing not a damn word about the mixed race stuff

not a single solitary word, not a letter, not a word. try again.

[Autumn]

34. The reporter paraphrased. But I'm done ignore it or look for a video

The former president said science has shown that people are genetically 99.5 percent the same, but some people are "fixated" on the 0.5 percent that makes people different. "So what we need now is to say: 'How can we act like we're all 99.5 percent the same?'"

[dsc]

35. that isn't even close to what is said in the OP

first there isn't a word about Obama in that, not one. Second, there is nothing at all about us all having African blood, not a word about that either. Again, I want a non Fox source for this. I didn't post an OP making Clinton sound like some sort of Obama hating nut.

[Autumn]

37. Here's the video You said there was nothing about mixed race, he said it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511231225#post13

"Yeah, it's rigged, because you don't have a president who's a change-maker,

That's in the Memphis paper I linked to you . As far as I know Obama is the President

[dsc]

43. of course the part about the Congress was left out of your slice and dice

wonder why. And as to the genetic material thing, it has been stated for years that humans share that percent of DNA WIHOUT REGARD TO RACE. That point has nothing at all to do with race. It would be like saying that someone saying we share over 90 percent of our DNA with chimps is saying we are all engaging in beastiality.

[Autumn]

62. Bill said it, you got the link. Move the goalposts all you want.

[loyalsister]

41. Problems with the colorblind approach

This is just another Clinton embodiment of the worst of the US.

Racism? Strong words, yes, but let's look the issue straight in its partially unseeing eye. In a colorblind society, White people, who are unlikely to experience disadvantages due to race, can effectively ignore racism in American life, justify the current social order, and feel more comfortable with their relatively privileged standing in society (Fryberg, 2010). Most minorities, however, who regularly encounter difficulties due to race, experience colorblind ideologies quite differently. Colorblindness creates a society that denies their negative racial experiences, rejects their cultural heritage, and invalidates their unique perspectives.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/culturally-speaking/201112/colorblind-ideology-is-form-racism

[dsc]

44. except for the fact he said nothing of the sort

the OP is bring you a right wing lie and you are just lapping it up.

[loyalsister]

48. Direct quote: "We are all mixed race people"

That is exactly the colorblind ideology noted in the article I posted. Denial of important ethnic experience in any context is racist. To do it to gain political points with both racists and people who reject it is particularly ugly.

He is using discoveries from the human genome to support his claim. In the real world that is saying "but I don't encounter racism and I'm part black" as if people make it up.

[cherokeeprogressive]

49. How about you hear it from the Horse's Mouth?

[senz]

65. ^^^ Video clip of the "race" part of the speech ^^^

But the other part was worse because it directly undermined President Obama.

[bigdarryl]

10. I don't believe shit coming from right wing NY Post

Until I see the full interview I'm reservin judgment.

[LiberalAndProud]

13. Video.

Not an interview, a speech. Not a full interview but a short clip and the sound quality is horrid. But there it is.

[bigdarryl]

52. BUSTED!!! just what I though the video was edited

To make Big dog look bad.http://www.mediaite.com/tv/busted-msnbc-butchers-bill-clinton-mid-quote-to-make-him-slam-obama/

[cherokeeprogressive]

79. Your post has nothing whatsoever to do with the OP and Bubba's comment about mixed race.

[potone]

11. I find this to be outrageous.

Obama's election was historic and to claim otherwise is simply to be dishonest. Clinton knows better, and he also knows the kind of Congress that Obama had to work with and that he inherited disasters on all fronts. That was not the case when Clinton began his presidency.

[tularetom]

12. My opinion of Bill Clinton is lower than whale shit, but he is correct

Obama, by his own admission, is not a change maker. He was a change talker, but very little of that resulted in any actual change.

Clinton, on the other hand was a definite change maker - for the worse. Arguably he did more than any other president to wipe out the gains that the Democratic party fought for from the 30's util the 70's.

And Clinton's wife has already more or less stated that she will not be a change maker, she intends to continue and build on "Obama's legacy".

What Clinton said there is true, but I'm not really sure what this amounts to except cheap campaign rhetoric.

[treestar]

15. this has been debunked

It was covered disingenuously.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/busted-msnbc-butchers-bill-clinton-mid-quote-to-make-him-slam-obama/

[Luminous Animal]

23. I don't find the full quote much better. Bill seems to be saying that Hillary, given the

same Congress, would be sill be a change-maker though Obama was not.

[LuvLoogie]

33. Bzzzzt. Back to zero.

[Bucky]

59. Thank you!

[restorefreedom]

17. show of hands...is he TRYING to sandbag her?

because if he is,he is doing a nearly flawless job....

[yourpaljoey]

19. Lashing out at allies -- a very bad sign

Hillary sees the shit storm ahead; this is called fetchin' and steppin'
where I come from

[restorefreedom]

24. interesting terminology..bobbing and weaving, i have heard.....nt

[cherokeeprogressive]

80. No way does he want her to be President. He doesn't want to share the limelight and attention.

Or the accomplishment.

I'd bet my bottom dollar he's as torn over a Clinton other than him sitting in the Oval Office as he's ever been about anything.

[restorefreedom]

82. yup. big egos don't like to share nt

[Doctor_J]

18. I think Meryl Streep just got blasted for saying this

A bizarre utterance from the big dog

[Merryland]

20. Is he trying to undermine her candidacy? (dimestore Freud thought)

I would imagine being married to Hillary you'd repress a lot of anger...that might account for f'ing around with such comments.

[amborin]

22. more here on Bill Clinton and blacks:

Clinton co-opted civil rights themes and figures and distorted their meaning for his political advancement and survival. Whether it’s his telling blacks how disappointed “Dr. King would be [in them] if he were alive today,” because of black on black crime or his attorney comparing him to Abraham Lincoln during the impeachment hearings ? Clinton was an expert at playing the race card.

All the while, his policies and attitude on due process, equal protection and equal treatment, or civil rights (rights guaranteed to all), were horrible. A couple examples of his racial hypocrisy come to mind.

One was his initiative requiring citizens, mostly black, in public housing to surrender their Fourth Amendment or privacy rights. Another was the “one strike and you’re out” policy under which public housing residents convicted of a crime, along with anyone who lives with them, are evicted without consideration of their due process rights.

snip

Southern politician Clinton has always played the race-crime game to perfection. In his first presidential race Governor Clinton ran for office supporting the death penalty at a time when the country was split almost down the middle on the issue. Then for good measure, he rushed back to Arkansas to oversee the execution of convicted killer Ricky Ray Rector, a brain-damaged black man. For years after his 1st election, I kept a picture of Clinton and then-Georgia Senator Sam Nunn posing in front of a phalanx of black inmates in white prison suits taken at Stone Mountain, Georgia. Historians generally give Pulaski, Tennessee the dubious honor as the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan. But Stone Mountain is hailed as the Klan 2nd home. The picture appeared in newspapers all across the south the day of the southern primaries in 1992. That picture is what Clinton has always represented to me.

So, the fact that Clinton left behind a larger — mostly black — prison population than when he took office should come as no surprise. Black incarceration rates during the Clinton years surpassed Ronald Reagan’s eight years. The incarceration rates for blacks increased from around 3,000 per 100,000 to 3,620 per 100,000 people during his administration. That he did nothing about mandatory minimum sentences ? no surprise. That he did nothing to change the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine that disproportionately affects African Americans ? no surprise. That he successfully stumped for “three strikes and you’re out in the crime bill, for restrictions on the right of habeas corpus and expansion of the federal death penalty ? no surprise. When he came into office one in four black men were involved in the criminal justice system in some way; when he left it was one in three. In many states ex-felons are denied the right to vote, a factor that had a direct impact on the 2000 presidential vote in Florida. Again, no surprise.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2002/12/07/soul-brother-clinton-and-black-americans/

[Luminous Animal]

26. Good article.

[mikehiggins]

25. Not me. My family is pure white since the first one dropped in Ireland

That would be back when there were dragons and giants ruled the earth.

Yep. Absolutly pure.

Well, except maybe for them Picts but we don't talk about them, actually.

What Bill said was not as obnoxious as what the NYPOST claimed but how much of a surprise is that?

He makes a good point, not only down south but everywhere. We all have genes that can be traced back to that prototypical woman in Africa. Maybe, like Sanders says, we should try to get along. We're all one.

[global1]

27. So Hillary Is Embracing Obama And Bill Is Slamming Him? .....

Did I get this right?

[6chars]

39. If Bill was a skilled politician, I might think this was on purpose

[californiabernin]

29. So Bill Clinton is implicitly endorsing Sanders now. Interesting. Nt

[uponit7771]

30. One araint statement from Clinton doesn't cover years of over crtiical bashing by Sanders

[Ichingcarpenter]

31. When I hear ''the change maker'' I think of a 90s Mentos commercial

''The Freshmaker''..Mentos....Which was ridiculed by everyone as a totally insincere and crass commercial trying to be hip


.... Its not a very modern meme from their campaign......I think Bill thought of it because he was the first one to say and push it....... Hey Bill.. the 90s called and wants your reputation back.

[Ed Suspicious]

78. Clinton fresh and full of life!

[mgmaggiemg]

32. we all came out of africa people

we are the cosmic human race...lets not fall for it

[MelSC]

40. Smelling desperation from the Bernie Bros

And the right wing plants among us...

What a stupid condescending argument and post.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

55. Well, I wouldn't have called Bill Clinton a BernieBro, but maybe you're right.

After that speech, he might well be one.

[senz]

69. Bernie Bros smells a hellava lot better than this crap:

[m-lekktor]

42. Not only does Clinton's politics SUCK, he is also a raging asshole! nt

[Arazi]

45. calling AA DUers to this thread

Hello?!

Or are you only faux outraged when you think something can only be used against Sanders?

[Carolina]

57. Not so

I'm AA, I posted up thread and I have been outraged by the Clintons since the 2008 campaign.

I staunchly supported HIM in the 1990s because of all the repuke attacks. He was the man from Hope who would end the Reagan-Bush reign of wrong. He was comfortable around black people, knew the words to the Negro National anthem (Lift Every Voice) and peopled his cabinet with folk like Ron Brown, Alexis Herman, etc.

In fact, it was in part the unbridled loathing of him by repukes that made blacks support him. We understood the hatred of the racist GOP, we understood unjust accusations and relentless persecution (and prosecution). He was our guy... until he showed his true colors in that 2008 campaign right here in SC.

Now in hindsight, we also see how his policies hurt us all -- white and black.

[Arazi]

60. Thank you!

[nc4bo]

66. Cosigning!! nt

[Bucky]

50. Oh good heavens, yes, every human has African ancestors. Race is cultural not genetic

I don't think this matters if you're 75% white and still can't get a housing loan b/c of your appearance.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

51. Who exactly is Bill working to elect, again?

Cause it sure as hell seems like he's doing his damndest to hurt Hillary's chances of winning.

[Beacool]

54. The NY Post???

Read this, instead:

Busted: MSNBC Butchers Bill Clinton Mid-Quote to Make Him ‘Slam’ Obama

When they’re not relentlessly promoting Donald Trump‘s presidential candidacy, MSNBC spends much of the rest of their time slashing at the tendons of Hillary Clinton‘s bid. That second hobby was on not-so-brilliant display Friday night on the network’s primetime All In with Chris Hayes broadcast.

All day Friday, the anti-Hillary internet was abuzz over former President Bill Clinton‘s slam on President Obama at a rally in Memphis Thursday night, a damaging narrative given the herculean effort the Clintons have made to repair the rift with Obama coalition voters, particularly black voters, that was created during the 2008 campaign. Holding the president close has also become particularly important in view of the upcoming South Carolina Democratic primary.

-------

The “slam,” in case you missed it, is that by extension, President Clinton must be saying that Barack Obama is not a change-maker. He must be. Mustn’t he be? I mean, it can’t be that MSNBC cut him off in mid-sentence right before he was about to get the crowd to deliver a huge ovation for President Obama, could it? Not in mid sentence!

She’s always making something good happen. She’s the best change maker I’ve ever known. A lot of people say, you don’t understand. It’s different now. It’s rigged. Yeah, it’s rigged because you don’t have a president who is a change maker with a Congress who will work with him. But the president has done a better job than he has gotten credit for. And don’t you forget it!

(Applause so huge Bill has to wait for it to die down, then continue talking because it won’t)

Don’t you forget it! Don’t you forget it! I’ve been there, and we shared the same feeling. We only had a Democratic Congress for two years. And then we lost it. And yet some of the loudest voices in my party said, it’s unbelievable, said “Well the only reason we had it for two years is that President Obama isn’t liberal enough!”

Is there one soul in this crowd that believes that?

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/busted-msnbc-butchers-bill-clinton-mid-quote-to-make-him-slam-obama/

Anything to slam the Clintons, right? Talk about character assassination....

[Bohemianwriter]

56. ...And Bill lives with the delusion...

...That his wife is that change-maker?

[bigdarryl]

58. That quote was edited as I though

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/busted-msnbc-butchers-bill-clinton-mid-quote-to-make-him-slam-obama/

[TwilightGardener]

61. WTF?

[Skwmom]

63. He's upset he lost his "first Black President" label. n/t

[senz]

67. Hill campaign has already done a massive cleanup on the reporting of this speech.

The important part of the speech, where Bill says Obama is not a change-maker, has been rewritten already in several reports.

The Clinton campaign wasted no time in cleaning this up.

This story has been changed to clarify a quote in the 10th and 11th paragraphs.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/government/bill-clinton-makes-memphis-stop-for-wifes-campaign-2b822367-7dc6-3729-e053-0100007f0adf-368546981.html

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that former President Clinton was mocking President Obama ironically.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/269379-bill-clinton-obama-not-a-change-maker

Here is the actual clip:

An attempt has already been made to discredit the clip itself.

[nc4bo]

68. Let Bill be Bill. nt.

[senz]

73. Strategically, this was a very telling blunder.

Hill has been pretending to be an Obama champion and Bill just blew that lie open. He wouldn't feel comfortable dissing Obama performance if they didn't do it at home.

It matters because Hill needs the AA vote in the South if she is to have any hope of winning the nom.

The "mixed race" aspects of Bill's comments were harmless and are not the point.

[nadinbrzezinski]

70. WOW they keep forgetting that there is video these days

[jfern]

71. It's time for a #ClintonSoBlack hashtag

[jfern]

72. This part is also concerning

"but chided the current president for doing little to end Washington gridlock."

So Obama hasn't capitulated to Republicans enough for the "best Republican President we ever had"?

[malletgirl02]

74. Link about this story from The Guardian

Here is a link from the Guardian on this story if people have a problem with the NY Post.

[link:http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/14/bill-clinton-we-are-all-mixed-race-tennessee-rally|

[vdogg]

77. My issue here

Is that Bill attacks the president for not being a change maker when he knows damn well why that is. I do not, however, take issue with his stance on race. What he said is scientifically and technically accurate. None of us are pure, sub-saharan, African.

[hobbit709]

81. Technically humans have at least 3 and possibly 4 distinct hominid strains in our DNA.