OOPS! Hillary's MLK Day Screw Up

[Drbio]

First, the dems forget to send out an MLK email to the listserv.....now this? What has happened to Bill Clinton's "Party of the black man"?

Sharpton and black leaders upset at Hillary's use of "Plantation"

(CBS) NEW YORK The Martin Luther King Day celebration at Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network is a rite of passage in an election year. And with so many big races this year, candidates and controversy were the order of the day.

“Candidate for governor Tom "Swazee''s" here,” said Rev. Sharpton, completely mangling the Nassau County Executive’s name. So Nassau county executive Tom Suozzi had his name mangled. Then he was called on the carpet.

Charged Bertha Lewis of the ACORN housing group: “Nassau County is the third most segregated county in this country and you sir are the county executive.”

But Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who like Suozzi, wants to be governor, didn't get off any easier. He was asked to support the reinstatement of Tawana Brawley lawyer Alton Maddox's law license.

And there was this question:

“There are at least 12 political prisoners in New York State who were members of the black liberation army and the black party for 30 years. . .Are you open to reviewing their cases?"

There were tough questions to politicians who feel they must attend the event as much to pay homage to Sharpton as to celebrate Dr. King's legacy.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, who had launched into an impassioned attack on the Bush administration.

“We have a culture of corruption, we have cronyism we have incompetence I predict to you that this administration will go down on history as one of the worst that has ever governed out country.”

Clinton actually got an easy question. “I need you to tell us what distinguishes Democrats from Republicans right now,” she was asked.

Clinton's answer was provocative.

Said Clinton, “When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation and you know what I'm talking about..."

Some House Republicans took immediate offense at Senator Clinton's choice of words.

Said Republican Congressman Peter King, of Long Island, "It's always wrong to play the race card for political gain by using a loaded word like plantation. But it is particularly wrong to do so on Martin Luther King Day."

[Drbio]

CNN ran a little blurb on this and said that Sharpton was asking for an apology.

[kg_veteran]

That's funny.

Hillary just wants to hide behind Ray Nagin right about now, I bet.

[Drbio]

Had it been a Bush staffer, this would be front page news above the fold. You will likely not hear more than a 8 second brush off because its Hillary.

[Mavdog]

Blacks back Clinton remark
Obama, others defend senator's comparison of House to a plantation



07:48 PM CST on Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Associated Press


WASHINGTON – Sen. Barack Obama and other black Democrats are defending Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's description of the U.S. House as a plantation. First lady Laura Bush says Mrs. Clinton's remark was "ridiculous."

Mrs. Clinton, D-N.Y., a potential presidential candidate for 2008, did not retreat from the remark, telling reporters that the term accurately describes the "top-down" way the GOP runs Congress. During a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in Harlem this week, Mrs. Clinton said the House "has been run like a plantation," in that "nobody with a contrary view has had a chance to present legislation, to make an argument, to be heard."

Mr. Obama said Wednesday that he felt her choice of words referred to a "consolidation of power" in Washington that squeezes out the voters.

The Illinois senator told CNN's American Morning he believed that Mrs. Clinton was merely expressing concern that special interests play such a large role in writing legislation that "the ordinary voter and even members of Congress who aren't in the majority party don't have much input."

"There's been a consolidation of power by the Republican Congress and this White House in which, if you are the ordinary voter, you don't have access," Mr. Obama said.

New York Rep. Gregory Meeks also defended Mrs. Clinton.

"There was no race card played here. If any card was played here it was a joker, because that's who seems to be running the House right now if you look at the leadership," said Mr. Meeks, a black Democrat.

Mrs. Bush, en route home from a visit to West Africa, criticized Mrs. Clinton. "It think it's ridiculous; it's a ridiculous comment," she said.

[dude1394]

The racism card just doesn't hunt anymore. Irrelevant.

[FishForLunch]

Yes the slaves in the house of Reps only have Steak dinner and Wine at dinner everyday so sad what suffering.

[Drbio]

You had to see this coming. First, blacks in the audience demand an apology. Then, they see the political backlash and flip their story. Now the comment is ok. MLK is probably turning in his grave. What a totally disrepectful thing to say on his memorial day.

[kg_veteran]

Obama's Star Falls


link

How pathetic:

Sen. Barack Obama and other black Democrats are defending Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's description of the House of Representatives as a "plantation." [snip]
The Illinois senator told CNN's "American Morning" he believed that Clinton was merely expressing concern that special interests play such a large role in writing legislation that "the ordinary voter and even members of Congress who aren't in the majority party don't have much input."


"There's been a consolidation of power by the Republican Congress and this White House in which, if you are the ordinary voter, you don't have access," Obama said. "That should be a source of concern for all of us."

Here's the full transcript. Notice that in the same interview Obama had no problem chastising a political lightweight like Ray Nagin for equally offensive remarks. Apparently, Obama's judgement on racial matters is governed by a mathematical equation: it decreases in direct proportion to his desire to be chosen as a vice presidential candidate. How truly disappointing.


Some of you might recall the brouhaha between Obama and Alan Keyes in 2004. Keyes, in classic fasion, ignited a firestorm by calling Obama's views on abortion the "slaveholder's position." Obama responded to the outrageous remark by saying that Keyes, "should look to members of his own party to see if that's appropriate if he's going to use that kind of language." So here we are, two years later, and Hillary Clinton has said something similarly outrageous on racial matters that should, by almost any measure of decency, require repudiation by fellow Democrats - and Barack Obama is out in front defending Clinton.

Of course, then there was Obama's rousing speech at the DNC, where he warned about those "who are preparing to divide us" and "who embrace the politics of anything goes." To rapturous applause, he continued:

Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America — there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.

Blah, blah, blah.


If I seem a bit overly disappointed by Obama's naked partisanship, it's only because way back when - long before most liberals had even heard of Obama - I expressed very high hopes for his future as a new type of leader for the African-American community. It's looking more and more like those hopes were unfounded.

[Usually Lurkin]

DaybyDay is hilarious.



Hey, if you contract "Hilary" and "centrist" do you get "hilarioust".