Clinton makes race an issue (AP)

[jefferson_dem]

ON DEADLINE: Clinton makes race an issue
By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer

Bill Clinton says race shouldn't be an issue in the Democratic presidential campaign. Well, then perhaps he should stop talking about it.

The caustic politics of race and gender took center stage in the Democratic race Wednesday as a combative Clinton campaigned on behalf of his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and lashed out at the rival Barack Obama campaign and the media for focusing on race.

But it was Clinton himself who dished on the topic when he told an audience in Charleston that he was proud of the Democratic Party for having a woman and a black candidate. In response to a question from a crowd member who asked about "race-baiting" by the media, Clinton said he understands why Obama is drawing support among blacks, who are expected to comprise at least half the primary turnout.

"As far as I can tell, neither Senator Obama nor Hillary have lost votes because of their race or gender. They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender — that's why people tell me Hillary doesn't have a chance of winning here," the former president said. "But that's understandable because people are proud when someone who they identify with emerges for the first time."

One of the best political strategist of his generation, Clinton may be hoping to lower expectations for Saturday's primary. He may have his sights on Feb. 5, when voters in 22 states take part in a national primary. It would likely work to Hillary Clinton's advantage to have the electorate polarized by race, given that most Feb. 5 voters will be white and Hispanic; she won the Hispanic vote overwhelmingly in last week's Nevada caucus.

Strategists working for the New York senator deny any intentional effort to make race an issue, but they concede privately that the former president is smart to put the issue on the table.

One Clinton supporter openly played the race card.

After fielding several questions from a crowd of about 200 in Kingstree, Bill Clinton called on a black man standing off to the side of the small stage. The man identified himself as a pastor and told Clinton that "black America is voting for Obama because he's black."

The man also said Democrats are in a "dangerous position" because if Obama wins the nomination, voters will put a Republican in the White House.

"They're not ready to for a black president," the man said.

Several black audience members nodded their heads. Several said in unison, "That's right!"

<SNIP>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_campaignplus/20080124/ap_ca/clinton_race_2&printer=1;_ylt=Ath4m2LBbsSbIPumGbMVzxBB5494

[Cha]

1. Ooooops! Somebody freakin' noticed

that bil keeps talkin' about race after he brought it up in the first place, besides us.

[1corona4u]

13. Well, it's a factor, and it always has been....

some people just chose to ignore it from the get-go. I notice the way the 'unity' candidate, and his supporters are so offended that people are talking about the fact that he is black, and that blacks will vote their race. We all know it's true, but I guess we're just not suppose to talk about it.....

Once it becomes very obvious that it is happening, like after SC, hopefully, white voters will start to vote their race more as well. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

[TwilightGardener]

24. "Hopefully white voters will start to vote their race more as well"--

is that a problem? Are there not enough white people voting for white office-holders, that whites need to vote for whites more often? I'm not getting this statement at all.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[1corona4u]

27. So,

are the blacks voting for Obama, because he's black, bigots too?

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[1corona4u]

29. Point out what I said that was racist...

[jackson_dem]

2. Michelle Obama a while ago: "black America will wake up" (and vote for Obama)

[jefferson_dem]

5. Call Fornier and demand he "stop the presses"!

AP has it all wrong, I'm sure.

[Sparkly]

11. This is NOT an AP NEWS article.

He's an AP writer, but this is an "occasional" column.

[Colobo]

3. The Clintons are being exposed.

[KennedyGuy]

8. Proof? any?

crickets chirping..

[JackORoses]

12. ain't it Grand

I told you they aren't used to the bright light that shines in the Youtube era.

No shadows for them to hide in.

[jefferson_dem]

31. Yes, they are.

It's very ugly.

[Abacus]

4. Thank you

for posting this. The media is finally figuring out or at least divulging who is at the root of this mess.

[KennedyGuy]

6. So..where's the evidence that Bill said this..

really now..can't you do any better than an annonymous supporter?
Could have been an Obama plant for all we know..

[Sparkly]

7. Not AP

This is NOT an AP article. Fournier is an AP writer, but "this is an occasional column."

[Barack_America]

15. That nice little link next to the title took me to AP. n/t

[Sparkly]

17. Okay -- it's not a AP NEWS article.

It's an opinion piece.

[Barack_America]

21. Then isn't your complaint with Yahoo News?

For posting it to their NEWS site? Shouldn't they have marked it as an opinion piece?

:shrug:

[Sparkly]

25. Where is it linked?

I don't see a link to it in the Politics News section. I think "On Deadline" is opinion.

[Barack_America]

9. Shameful.

Let's hope this story gets out.

Thanks for posting it.

[Sparkly]

10. Also.... Clinton "makes race an issue?"

But it was Clinton himself who dished on the topic when he told an audience in Charleston that he was proud of the Democratic Party for having a woman and a black candidate. In response to a question from a crowd member who asked about "race-baiting" by the media, Clinton said....

The "crowd member" asked the question. :shrug:

[Tom Rinaldo]

23. I guess the part about being proud of the Democratic Party

for having a woman and a black candidate was Clinton's shameful contribution to playing the race card. No one else has ever stooped so low as to claim to be proud of our Party running candidates who "look like America" before. How dare Bill Clinton imply that Democrats, as opposed to Republicans, are so obsessed with race that we actually have candidates representing more than one of them.

[joshcryer]

14. Ron Fournier is making race an issue. Good for him, he'll get his paycheck just as Clinton said.

[Barack_America]

16. Looks like the Seattle Times already picked this up....n/t

[Tom Rinaldo]

18. Mind Boggling Malicious 1984 Orwellian Media Double Speak

All the media wants to talk about when it comes to the South Carolina Primary is the role that race will play in the vote there. Seriously, they can not make a report about the South Carolina race without talking about a generational split between younger blacks and older blacks regarding backing Clinton or the African American candidate instead. They focus on what will Black Women do now when there is a gender sister and a racial brother asking for their support. They cover the Mayor of Atlanta making a speech in which he twisted Bill Clinton's words calling Obama's record of steady opposition to the Iraq War a "Fairy Tale" into Bill Clinton calling Obama's hope based appeal a "Fairy Tale".

And for crying out loud. Bill Clinton can't even take questions from Black people in the audiance without that being twisted into "Clinton Supporters openly playing the race card"?

The media can speculate about whether or not America is ready for a Black President. The media can write long pieces about how it changed Obama's prospects in South Carolina to win the caucus in overwhelmingly white Iowa because that reassured Black voters in South Carolina that maybe America was ready to elect a Black man president. But when Clinton calls on an audiance member to speak (seemingly a black man from the context of the artical but other Blacks are mentioned agreeing) and Black's volunteer uncertainty about the prospects of a Black being elected President, THAT becomes fodder for a hit piece on Bill Clinton making race an issue in this election!!!

Seems to me from the OP that Bill Clinton was having a real rather than pretend conversation with that at least largely Black audiance. Had he avoided any mention of the obvious reality maybe he could have artificially talked his way around the racial implications of the choices being made in South Carolina and seemed like an out of touch fool while trying to do so. But then the reporter would simply have nailed him anyway for comments from the "Clinton supporters".

[Dogmudgeon]

19. That's an interesting piece for at least one reason

Although Ron Fournier accuses Bill Clinton of "playing the race card," he has no evidence to support him. He had to cite the answer of an unidentified black voter.

"Shame on anybody who plays the race card," says Fournier, who wrote an article using that same card, and then blamed Bill Clinton for something he didn't do.

Believe it: if Bill Clinton were to play the race card at all, the Press, the GOP and the Obama campaign would be all over him like ugly on a gorilla -- in less than a second. So Fournier is disseminating a false story about Bill Clinton.

One of the Obama surrogates' "memes" is to state (without evidence) that the Clintons "will do anything to win". Then there is the unsupported assertion that they are liars. Projection is an interesting defense mechanism, indeed.

--p!
Hillary lies;
Obama merely misstates facts.

[KennedyGuy]

20. This post aptly demonstrates my point about screaming Faux Racism

when this is all over and people do not take real racism seriously, maybe you will see the damage this does.

[AtomicKitten]

22. To be fair he denied doing so a couple minutes later and then attacked Barack.

[Tom Rinaldo]

30. Let me kick this one. This story reads almost like an Onion Parody of an anti Clinton hit piece n/t

[AwesomeFreak]

32. The mainstream media hates the Clintons

Why do they hate them so much?

[VotesForWomen]

33. CLINTON should stop talking about it??? pot, kettle, you know... nt