Umm…Clinton May Not Have Said Racially-Charged “Getting Us Coffee” Quote

[kpete]

Umm…Clinton May Not Have Said Racially-Charged “Getting Us Coffee” Quote

Bill Clinton is catching a huge amount of flack for supposedly having belittled Barack Obama by telling Ted Kennedy something like, “A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.”

But it’s worth noting that there’s pretty good cause to believe he may not have said this.

The claim about Clinton’s explosive remarks came on page 218 of Game Change:

***The day after Iowa, he phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.

The remark is not in quotes. And the authors’ note from Mark Halperin and John Heilemann states explicitly their rationale for choosing not to put dialog in quotes:

Where dialog is not in quotes, it is paraphrased, reflecting only a lack of certainty on the part of our sources about precise wording, not about the nature of the statements.

This is kind of amazing. By the authors’ own stated guidelines, this might not have been the “precise wording” Clinton used. Yet it has been the basis for a huge amount of media discussion all the same, with some suggesting racism on Clinton’s part.

more:
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/umm-clinton-may-not-have-said-racially-charged-getting-us-coffee-quote/

[madinmaryland]

1. Why do I get the feeling there is a lot of paraphrasing in that book?

Someone heard someone who had heard someone repeat what someone had told them. That's what is in the book??

[leftynyc]

2. Gee, I'm stunned that.

the bottom feeders at politico would paraphrase something to cast the worst possible light on Bill Clinton. Stunned, I tell ya.

[stray cat]

3. The media spins it however they want regardless of how it is in the book -

but we all know Bill thought Obama was still wet behind the ears and not worthy to challenge Hillary. After all he implied McCain and Hillary were up for the job but not som much for Obama

[waiting]

8. That is exactly what it was

No racism involved. Just political elitism. He is a former president talking to a senator with decades of establishment experience, not to mention that he was the brother of a former president, and in the family that America considers political royalty.

[tandot]

4. It is really hard to believe that Clinton would have said such a thing

Someone is making shit up

[Dappleganger]

5. Why are people getting so hyped up about this book?

Seems to be that most of it is unsourced or hearsay.

[CTyankee]

19. We have to fight back, because it's being pushed as god's truth by the media.

Huge flackery going on to promote this thing. Many of us right here at DU have been pointing out the fact that the book is unsourced and hearsay but the media won't have it that way. It is being accepted as the truth by the media and there simply has to be a pushback...

[peacetalksforall]

6. Republicans hold no regard for truth or accuracy and they use implication for

the truth they need to push the buttons of gullible people who care even less about truth and accuracy.

Are these guys Republican heavy?

Clinton seems to have a life long reputation as a friend to Black Americans.

I don't think it is the kind of statement that anyone would voice to Ted Kennedy.

I prefer to doubt the authors, the editors, and the publisher and will remember them with a certain level of dirt. It should have been edited out.

The person who told them should step forward to support them, if they all still defend their accuracy.

This is the rotteness of this country updated to this very week.

[Karia]

7. I do not believe it

The "source" is supposedly an unnamed friend of Ted Kennedy (deceased). It is way too easy to make sh*t up when Ted Kennedy is not alive to say, "Hey! I never said that Bill said that!"

[malaise]

9. I wrote in another post that there is no way to verify that

horrific accusation since Kennedy is dead. ReTHUG hacks hate Bill Clinton and I honestly do not believe he said those words. The Clintons exposed their hypocritical asses and they have no plan of getting over that fact. Note I was never in the Hillary camp but enough of these non-stop BS attempts to destroy Dems by ReTHUG hacks.

Fugg this shit!

[GoCubsGo]

13. Why is nobody asking Mrs. Kennedy?

One would think that if anyone would know why her husband chose to back Mr. Obama, she would. I think the rethug media is afraid to do that, because if the truth comes out, they would have to find some other thing with which to bash the Dems.

I also question whether Bill Clinton used those words. If he did, it was political elitism, as others have suggested, not racism. I can imagine he would say the same of Sen. Franken.

[invictus]

10. Who was it who called Obama "the black candidate" after Obama won the S.Carolina primary?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/27/clinton-camp-says-obama-i_n_83451.html

[invictus]

11. .

[invictus]

12. Given Bill's record, it's very easy to believe he said it.

[nevergiveup]

14. Sometimes we say things in frustration/desperation that do not come from the heart.

I do not for a second believe Bill Clinton is a racist but it would not surprise me in the least if he said something approximating what is stated in the book.

[Vincardog]

15. I don't give a flying fig

[Hekate]

16. Bill Clinton is a lot of things, but racist is not one of them. He is competitive though...

... and has a temper behind all that charm.

Hekate

[Karmadillo]

17. For those with CDS, quotes, paraphrases, and imagined statements are all true.

nt

[Lilith Velkor]

18. Yup.

:popcorn:

[GeorgeGist]

20. What part of ...

"...nature of the statements." can you not understand?

[librechik]

21. The entire book is nothing but a bunch of gossip and inuendoes

unblemished by footnotes or identified sources. We should believe none of it, no matter how tempted (even the Palin stuff has to be taken with a grain of salt.)

[Scurrilous]

22. Thanks for posting this.

K & R :thumbsup: