MSNBC’s political director Chuck Todd on Bill Clinton’s “bitterness” over Barack Obama: “I’m told that Bill Clinton is not over this yet. Hillary Clinton is over this, to a point. Bill Clinton believes that he was turned into a racist and believes the Obama campaign did it to him, [he] believes that the Obama campaign has tarnished his legacy in the ’90s. That “turn the page” stuff is a way of saying the ’90s were a failure, not a success. The bitterness in Clinton world is in that Harlem office where President Clinton resides.” [MSNBC]
Grudge.
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Jack Jett
If you are a news junkie at all, you would know that Chuck Todd is a fucking homophobe.
Vomity Fair puts Bill Clinton in a corner by claiming (without any confirmed source) that he was fucking around on his wife. He then defends himself and calls the writer a “scumbag” and is
considered “angry”????? Fuck right, he has every right to be angry.
Bill Clinton being called a racist? Give me a fucking break. He is about as far from being a racist as Keith Boykin is. However, once the press has put that label on you, it is next to impossible to get rid of it.
Do I think the media and pussy pundits treated the Clinton’s like shit? Hell yeah.
I think most Clinton supporters are willing to let it go for the sake of unity. However, it would be nice if those dickweed frat boys/girls over at MSNBC would get off their ass and move on to another topic…like Tucker Carlson’s admited gay bashing, them using paid Pentagon propaganda
milatary to lie to us about the war, and the way MSNBC were the main cheerleaders for the war.
Even Tom Brokaw, who is Mr. NBC call them on this shit.
Bill Clinton has every right to be bitter about the urine soaked turds that work at MSNBC.
24play
I wish I coulda been there when Bubba read this quote from Bob Kerrey in yesterday’s Times:
“No doubt [Hillary]’s feeling the disappointment that all of us who have lost races feel…. She shouldn’t be too hard on herself. If Barack Obama had been born 10 years earlier and had been a candidate for the Democratic nomination in 1992, neither I nor Bill Clinton would have defeated him.”
Tom
Neither Bill or Hillary Clinton are racists in my view…no way, not today, not ever. With that said, Bill did do some things during the campaign that seemed below the standing of a former president. I think he wanted Hillary to win so badly, he lost perspective. And because of Obama’s race it is easy for some people to attribute Bill’s (and Hillary’s) rough-and-tumble campaign to race. Bill’s legacy did take some hits..no doubt; but in January 2009 when Obama is sworn in, all will be forgiven and all wounds healed. (I hope)
alan brickman
It’s sad that people had to trash a great president in hopes of getting a black one…
Tom
Just as it is easy for small-minded people to accuse the Clintons of racial bias, it is even easier for other small-minded people to think that the only reason Obama is where he is is because he is black. Obama won because he ran a better campaign…end of story. Thats how democracy works in this country, where the color of your skin does not preclude you from winning or delegate you to a desolate outback.
todd
I think it was jarring to see an ex-president go negative on the campaign trail. Bill is rightly associated with the peace and prosperity of the 1990s. He helped build a bridge the to the 21st century that was based on hope and optimism. So, when he becamee Hillary’s attack dog, it was too jarring and unacceptable. He should have played the jovial lovable ex-president and reminded us all of what was possible – not denigrate other people as fairy tales and what not.
24play
In animated form:
http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/opinion/walthandelsman/blog/2008/06/animation_the_hillarybarack_me.html
emb
Thank you for your reasonable voices, Tom and Todd. I don’t this is at all about Bill Clinton being or not being a racist; what did him in, as you point out, was his unstatesmanly, aggressively negative campaigning. That tarnished his image, that wounded his wife’s electability (once again, Bill hurt Hillary), and it hurt the ultimate nominee’s chances in the fall — a Clintonian trifecta. And, as is typical of Bill and all the Clintons, he is utterly incapable of taking responsibility for his own gaffes, mistakes, and political f**k-ups.
I’m intrigued, though: Chuck Todd is a homophobe?
Paul
Oh, so Chuck Todd took Obama’s dick out of his mouth long enough to take another swipe at the Clintons…..Wow! Big Suprise….
MSNBC and all their asshole “commentators” with the exception of Pat Buchanan and Joe Scarborough have been licking Obama’s balls for the past year!
I don’t know who likes to fuck him harder – Chris Matthews or Keith Olbermann…..they both just about come by just saying his name….pathetic….
Former Democrat for John McCain 2008!!!!!!
Kid A
It seemed earlier in the campaign, Chuck Todd was in the corner for Hillary, scarcely criticizing her. If his allegiance changed, it’s too bad that he was so transparent.
mark
95% of African American voters LEFT the Clintons around the South Carolina primary. African Americans were the MOST loyal constituency Bill had through Monica and his Impeachment. Bill shoved African Americans into Obama’s arms, when he minimized the SC win, comparing it to Jesse.
afrolito
Bill and Hillary are not racists. Despite everything but the kitchen sink being thrown at him by the republicans, he managed to preside over a prosperous nation, and a respected one in the world. Did he make mistakes in Hillarys’ race? Yes, but I have no doubt both he and Hillary will rise to the occasion, and support Barack with all the passion and intensity they used to fight him.
RPCV
Even though I think Clinton was a jerk, I do sympathize with him asserting that the Hussein campaign portrayed him as racist. Locating his office in Harlem was simply for legacy and political expediency purposes. Hope he moves it to Minot, North Dakota.
noah
It wasn’t that Bill Clinton was called a racist. However, he and the campaign engaged in race-baiting to win. When Hillary Clinton sicced Geraldine Ferraro to call Obama an Affirmative Action candidate things went from bad to horrific.
Had the Clinton campaigned not engaged in race-baiting Bill Clinton would not be in this situation. Period.
noah
RPCV,
The “Hussein campaign”? Wow, aren’t we just a little ethno-chauvinistic today?
Paul,
If you want to vote for McCain, who is blatantly anti-gay, then go ahead. There are always self-destructive people.
BTW,
Did anyone read the memo that was published that explained how the McCain campaign has set out to foment dissent amongst liberals online?
https://secure.wikileaks.org/wiki/John_McCain_US_Presidential_election_Clinton_strategy
MEMORANDUM
To: (redacted)
From: S. Schmidt
Date: May 15, 2008
Subject: Clinton Strategy
According to both internal polling and exit polls by independent news
organizations, the Democratic Party is becoming increasingly polarized along
certain segments of its base. The recent result in West Virginia, while generally
unsurprising and definitely unlikely to cause any real shift in the race,
highlights the growing bitterness between certain supporters of Clinton and
the Obama camp in general. This unique situation has created an opening that
could help depress the turnout of key Democratic demographics in November.
The specific group we are targeting is a cross-section of white, female voters
over the age of 40. Internal polling reveals that this group is the most likely to
support John McCain after Obama wins the nomination. However, we expect
Obama’s numbers to improve following Clinton’s drop. Our job is to make sure
that number stays as low as possible.
Our limited financial resources and the media’s attention on the Democratic
race, however, prevent us from reaching this group. Our aim is to point out
specific issues that we believe resonate well:
1. Sen. Obama’s connection to Rev. Wright
2. His inexperience
3. His links to the corrupt Chicago political machine
However, we cannot fully achieve this goal without a greater commitment on
the part of McCain’s fundraisers and our various media partners. In lieu of
that, we have developed a number of inexpensive ways to reach this audience.
We have already worked to reinforce the Clinton campaign’s narrative about
the unfair treatment that some networks, specifically MSNBC, have given her
camp. We are also planning to unroll a new campaign to highlight Obama’s
experience deficit.
Simultaneously, our team has been testing new lines of attack through
independent pro-Clinton communities on the Internet. Our hope is that our
message here will spread by word-of-mouth. Our local community organizing
has also been successful. We have organized dozens of “meet-ups” across the
country for Clinton supporters, and we have used that time to stress the
importance of punishing the DNC for choosing the undemocratically selected far-left Obama. At the moment, this is nothing more than a headache for the
Obama campaign. With a greater commitment on your part, I hope to see it
metastasize into something much more.
Let me know if you need more detail.
-S
mark
Whether the snarky comments like slum lord, bringing up Jesse Jackson, releasing the photo of Obama in African garb, Johnson of BET talking about Obama back in the neighborhood, Penn saying cocaine twice on Hardball, or Hillary’s backhanded comment “Obama’s not a Muslim …to my knowledge”…they were race-baiting. Darkening and broadening Obama’s face for a Clinton mailer…that was RACIST and with a forethought and with malicious intent.
I trust African Americans to judge what is offensive, whether it’s blatantly racist, or just going right up to the line without crossing it.
Overwhelmingly African Americans said, “NO” to Clinton.
RPCV
Hussein IS the affirmative action candidate. Thanks Noah for reminding me of that.
McCain ’08
mark
McCain 08
That’s his social security number
Nitesurf
I’m totally disapointed in the Clintons behavior during this campaign. Once Obama began to be a real threat, they showed their true colors and so did their supporters like that disgusting Geraldine Ferraro.
Mr C
Well lets put it like this I think every responsible adult especially in public life has to be CAREFUL what PROCEEDS out of their mouth it could haunt them forever.
As a Black American who supported The Clinton’s in the 90’s I was simply HORRIFIED at the comments towards Blacks By Bill, and others in the Clinton camp during this campaign.
He did show us that he can be defiant and a “DIXIECRAT” and I believe he has feelings of superiorism in him as well. But such as life.
He was a decent President with a fantastic CABINET that’s what made the difference in the Clinton years not him BUT THEM!
He just had “CHARISMA”
He ran Blacks away from his wife and that’s HIS FAULT! However,there were many that stayed loyal to Hillary in spite of.
And Alan Brickman you said: “It’s sad that people had to trash a great president in hopes of getting a black one…”
Well Alan it’s sad that a great president would trash a race of people who supported him in hopes of getting his wife elected.
This is a lesson learned for the both of them! Moreover Bill than Hillary.
OBAMA/CLINTON 08’
The CHANGE and EXPERIENCE we need!
mark
I have faith Michelle Obama will make sure Hillary won’t ever be veep. Michelle should have slapped Hillary (repeatedly) after the Bobby Kennedy comment.