Newsweek- Will Clinton's Martin Luther King comment cost her black support...?

[JackORoses]

http://www.newsweek.com/id/94527

Suddenly race is the hot topic of the Democratic presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton got it started—unwittingly, it seems—with a remark about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that seemed to diminish the role of activists in the civil rights movement. "Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964," Clinton said last week. "It took a president to get it done." Realizing, perhaps, that her statement might cause offense, Clinton emphasized King's vital role and sacrifice in subsequent appearances. But a backlash had already begun. Clinton later criticized the Obama campaign for "deliberately distorting" her comments. And on Sunday, Obama shot back that "Senator Clinton made an unfortunate remark, an ill-advised remark … But the notion that somehow this is our doing is ludicrous."

The exchange comes as all sides prepare for South Carolina's Democratic primary on Jan. 26—the first real test of the African-American vote. How will the controversy affect voting in the state, where roughly 50 percent of the Democratic electorate is black? Cleveland Sellers, who heads the department of African-American studies at the University of South Carolina, is an Obama supporter. He's also a veteran of the civil rights movement. Now 63, he helped organize sit-ins in 1960, he participated in the March on Washington in 1963, and he was wounded during the 1968 "Orangeburg massacre," in which police opened fire on student protesters, killing three and wounding 27. Clinton's recent comments were "insensitive," Sellers says, and he believes that most civil rights veterans will agree. He spoke to NEWSWEEK's Jeffrey Bartholet about the controversy, and about the upcoming contest in South Carolina.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/94527

[Double T]

1. Not Again!

[Cha]

28. That's right..

]

[Double T]

42. Yep.

[Cha]

51. Ya can't recognize Bullshit if

ya got yur ears covered, yur eyes shut and a clothes pin over yur nose..and that's a fact.

[rodeodance]

2. Obama has belatedly that it was NOT racial. Now he has the moral obligation

to make sure his remarks are heard.

[JackORoses]

3. Just because it was not Racial does not mean that it wasn't offensive.

Her comments were not racist, they were disrespectful.

They served to diminish the accomplishments of a great man.

They don't have to be racist to be a big mistake.

[aquart]

16. They were nothing of the kind.

Stop playing follow your leader and try to actually THINK.

[JackORoses]

27. ok, then what did she mean by "It took a President to get it done."

MLK's Dream was not realized by LBJ.

It was realized by the People of this Nation.

Stop swallowing the Hillarite talking points and read what she said.

[Cha]

32. Stop being an ostrich

and get yur head outta the fucking sand.

[Essene]

15. it was BAITING a racial dialog as part of the smear campaign

[aquart]

19. From Obama's campaign. Exactly.

[JackORoses]

29. these words came directly out of Hillary's piehole

you cannot blame them and their resultant voter repulsion on Obama
try as you might

[Cha]

30. And hillary has the "moral obligation"

to do shite because evidently she doesn't have any.

[cali]

31. He has no moral obligation and there's nothing belated about

his comments. The Clintons are screwing themselves with black voters due to their surrogates making endless comments. Either the clintons have no control over all these people or they want them saying this stupid shit. Either way it reflects very, very poorly on them.

[vee]

45. Should he schedule a one on one with every Black American man woman and child?

not to mention booking some personal time with every other ethnicity that was offended by HILLARY'S comments?

[napi21]

4. Not to those rational enough to think! No matter how great a

leader MLK was, and no matter how well he was able to motivate people, he wasn't a legislator. He, as well as any leader, needs a strong enough legislator/President to push the laws through. Anyone who can't understand that just isn't thinking.

[ellacott]

5. I doubt you understand why some were disappointed

[JackORoses]

11. you know exactly what Hillary implies with this

Obama like King is a great leader and speaker,
but he just can't get the Big Job done.

That's why we need LBJ/Hillary to do the heavy lifting.

[ellacott]

13. That's how I interpreted it

And many others saw it this way.

[aquart]

23. So you're going with imagined implication rather than actual statement?

AH! No wonder you got your feathers all fluffy.

[ellacott]

26. Say what you want

It was imagined implication for you all to keep saying that the Clintons were being accused of being racists. What feathers are you referring to?

Please leave the snark for someone else.

[JackORoses]

33. you know the context in which she said it, yet you feign ignorance

She accused Obama of inciting False Hopes

Obama asked,"Did JFK inspire false hope by saying we could go to the moon?
Did MLK inspire False Hope by having a Dream?"

Hillary retorted that MLK's Dream could only have been realized by LBJ.

She was trying to say that the Dreamers aren't the ones who get things done.
She was trying to be clever. She failed.

[Cha]

35. Aren't you choked on red herrings

yet?

[Cha]

34. Obama will get the big job

done when he's President unlike the clintons who were too busy triangulating in their strangulating cover up of bushit 1.

[Kahuna]

55. So what. I don't get the connection. Obama is running for president

not civil rights leader. If he's president he will have the power to enact the same as Hillary would. Does she think Obama incapable of signing his name???

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. Obama Has Already Driven Her African American Support Into The Twenties

I'm glad you are happy to see race injected into a Democratic primary...

Rush , Sean, Michael, and Neil are happy too...

[JackORoses]

7. see post 3... Comments don't have to be racist to be disrespectful

[ellacott]

9. This is what people don't understand n/t

[Kahuna]

54. Bingo! They have said some really odious things about him that

would make anybody cringe. Calling him a kid. Saying he's not ready to lead. Saying if he wins the terrorists will get us. That is some really odious kkrap. Then all the crap from their surrogates. On and on and on. I've just never seen any candidate getting treated this badly in my entire life. And I've been around for a while.

[Cha]

36. Yeah, hillary echoer..blame it on Obama

when hillary starts shit..poor poor fucking little hillary.

[cali]

52. It started with Shaheen and moved to other Hll supporters

She either can't control the message her surrogates are sending out or she wants that message sent out. Take your choice. It started with her side and it hasn't stopped. Her buddy Johnson made more offensive comments today and Rangel got involved last night.

[Kahuna]

53. Obama didn't do it. The Clintons did it. We're not stupid you know.

We know racist code <wink wink> language when we hear it. And this has nothing to do with the MLK dust-up.

[BenDavid]

8. as long as the mediawhores keep reporting the story and the

mediawhores I fault for giving this story as much air time because any right minded person would know there was nothing racial and intended racial in either of the clintons comments.....I think maybe the media is trying to play both ends against the middle and have the obama campaign become the black candidate and hrc become the white candidate and the mediawhores keep pushing mccain in a postive way and in hopes that both obama and clinton are too damaged to win in nov.

[SaveElmer]

10. Should read: "Will Obama Camps distortion of Hillary's MLK Comments cost her black support...?

eom

[Essene]

17. Or "Will Democrats be suckered by race baiting from a scared establishment candidate?"

[SaveElmer]

20. Except that would be a lie...nt

[JackORoses]

22. what is the distortion?

Her exact quote is above. It is offensive.

She basically said,"MLK was great and all, but only LBJ got the job done"

That isn't racist.
It is disrespectful to the Legacy of MLK.

[Cha]

38. And with Martin Luther King's Birthday

today and the celebrations next Monday the 21st of January..hillary steps in her own shit.

Edit~ Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King!

[OHdem10]

12. If you believe there is a racist behind every tree, then you

are suspicious enough to parce racial meanings into every utterence.

[Cha]

40. It was Newsweek's article..

hillary's statement was stupid at best.

[Essene]

14. It wasnt racist. It was race BAITING.

See sig for an extensive analysis.


This shouldnt core her "black voters." This should cost her all voters who care about the integrity of the party and it's message.

[Cha]

46. Thanks for your analysis, Essene..

Very much appreciated.

Signs that the clintons were going off the deep end were evident in hillary's early years as senator from New York if anyone cared to notice.

[papau]

18. Of course - that was the point of letting the media run with the mis-interpretation/lies

not that Obama needed more votes as the swing to Obama had already occurred with the fact of his viability as shown by Iowa - but it seems he did not want Hillary to get more than 35% of the black vote. Now she will be in the 20's as she loses SC.

His timing is perfect, however - after now locking down black women, he makes peace tonight so as to not go into Jesse Jackson mode for the big state 2/5 contests - he will be back as a man of all the people :-) He is good. I like it!

[suston96]

21. Way too funny...all those new polls are out so, out come the race baiters...Hillary moving up?

[JackORoses]

24. you mean the polls that show Obama ahead in NV and SC?

I enjoyed them as well. ;)

[Carrieyazel]

25. This foolish squabble does not bode well for November. What the hell are we doing?

Instead of talking about the future, we're talking about 1964??? One civil rights leader who was close to both LBJ and MLK said that this dispute is "nonsense." Exactly.

Clinton and Obama need to STOP THIS NOW!

[Cha]

47. Obama was the first to put a damper

on it after hillary started it..so please don't try and shift the blame to Obama when it rests squarely on the clintons.

[AtomicKitten]

37. That would be the karmic response to the vile game she is playing with race.

[David Zephyr]

39. Every indicator shows the American people disapproved of the Clinton's race card against Barack.

It has hurt her and it will hurt her and Bill.

[HERVEPA]

41. Right. The Clintons have suddenly become racist, because

they would prefer that Hillary lose the African-American.
Give me a friggin break!

[Cha]

49. clintons are idiots and desperate ones at that..

nothing they do is not calculated to test..this one tanked.

[suston96]

43. The only voters Hillary will lose are those who buy into the race baiting or....

....cannot read or understand plain English.

BTW, this from another DUer just a few minutes ago:

The Clinton's commitment to civil rights...

Edited on Tue Jan-15-08 08:26 PM by SaveElmer
From two of their prominent biographers...

Carl Bernstein...

“If there is a single defining thread of Hillary’s political, religious and social development, it is her belief and determination, from her teenage years onward, that the tragedy of race in America must be made right.”


And David Maraniss, who chronicled Bill Clinton’s life before becoming president in “First in His Class,”

“Clinton was the house liberal on civil rights — ‘a Martin Luther King man, through and through,’ Jim Moore called him. He had memorized King’s famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and when the mood struck he might recite whole stanzas right there during dessert.”

[HERVEPA]

48. Unfortunately, too many Americans lack the ability ...

to read analytically and think clearly.

[Lorien]

44. This is one of the most pathetic MSM manufactured "controversies" yet

Hell, I'm not a big fan of either candidate and I can easily call "BULLSHIT"! on this whole non-issue!

For shame, Mainstream Media. :argh:

[Perry Logan]

50. Is this part of the truce we had this morning?