Clinton's LBJ Comments Infuriated Ted Kennedy

Washington Post:

There's more to Sen. Edward Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama than meets the eye. Apparently, part of the reason why the liberal lion from Massachusetts embraced Obama was because of a perceived slight at the Kennedy family's civil rights legacy by the other Democratic presidential primary frontrunner, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Sources say Kennedy was privately furious at Clinton for her praise of President Lyndon Baines Johnson for getting the 1964 Civil Rights Act accomplished. Jealously guarding the legacy of the Kennedy family dynasty, Senator Kennedy felt Clinton's LBJ comments were an implicit slight of his brother, President John F. Kennedy, who first proposed the landmark civil rights initiative in a famous televised civil rights address in June 1963.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[dlkincaid]

11:40 PM on 01/31/2008

I lived thru this - JFK did not want King to march. ok TED WE REMEMBER... SOME OF US.

[BlackandProud]

08:24 PM on 01/31/2008

The Clinton's obvious racist views have always bothered Americans, but most were willing to look the other way for years.

Calling himself the first black president was offensive, as well as-

...His office meetings being known as the "all white boys club" by Dee Dee Myers because there was never a black face in the room.

Saying he remembers black church burnings in Arkansas as a child (even though their were no state records of any black church burnings in Arkansas since 4 years before he was born). He thinks blacks believe his lies.

Saying he rode segregated busses in elementery school, even though busses were no longer segregated at that time. Again, he lied to blacks to get votes, while biting his quivering bottom lip.

Not putting qualified minorities in higher positions (can you believe Bush has appointed more minorities to gov't positions than ant Democrat in history- that's ebarrassing).

Now his racism is coming out more, but there will always be supporters who follow this great white hope to his demise. Instead of stepping aside to promote change and support the possible (real) first black president...he calls it a fairytale and tries to destroy him.

Pathetic, but exactly what most of us expected.

[dr4Will]

08:07 PM on 01/31/2008

He should guard his big fat butt from Obama--get back in the cave Teddy Boy---call Larry Craig for company--think about your bridge experiences--take swimming lessons!!

[samandally]

05:53 PM on 01/31/2008

It may have influenced him, but not me.Will never vote for Oblah blah blahma! Big phoney poser!

[May2002]

05:25 PM on 01/31/2008

I don't believe a bit of what Senator Ewards' excuse why he supported Obama instead of Hillary.

If you really have conviction for someone, you would not switch your alligance so easily, just because someone said something, which was distorted by Obama supporters and blown out of proportion by the mainstream media.

I remember early Senator Edwards said (actually was on Huttingonpost), "If Kerry wants to enter this race, my loyalty is for Kerry first."

This indicates more than anything else that Hillary had never been Senator Edwards first choice to begin with.

I know Senator Edwards can be cunning and sleazy.

His support of Obama may be simply because he calculated that Obama is the winning bet.

But it is dishonest for him to blame Hillary whom he didn't want to support in the first place for why he doesn't support her actually.

Senator Edwards is simply not a real friend of Clintons. Real friend doesn't betray you at the very moment when you need him the most.

[sarainitaly]

05:09 PM on 01/31/2008

Some of the posts here are still outraged at the comment Hillary made, but I have a feeling that they still have not heard her entire quote (like Fedup).

Hillary did reference JKF. And she was stating historical fact.

"Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when he was able to get through Congress something that President Kennedy was hopeful to do, the president before had not even tried, but it took a president to get it done"

I also would ask, beg, all of you to watch this video. It is a telling of that time in history, by someone who was there, first hand.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/12267
(beware, this video has images of kkk and some disturbing acts....just in case someone doesn't want to see it.)

I also beg all of you to watch this video, for a laugh, as well as some insight as to how this *race* fight got so much traction.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=147886&title=the-race-card

[thedudeabides]

04:53 PM on 01/31/2008

hil was about 12 at the time, so not fully up to speed on contemporary political developments...and i am an irish catholic supporter of the kennedys, going back many years...the kudos go to lbj for his aggressive lobbying to get it passed, and sadly, the sympathy vote for the deceased jfk playing a part...

[Orikinla]

04:32 PM on 01/31/2008

Barack Obama is Black man kissing White arse for White votes.

[THISTLE]

04:28 PM on 01/31/2008

Senator Clinton was CORRECT, it took a President
in this case, President Johnson to get this
passed. MLK didn't get it passed, President
Johnson did. What's racist about that, it's
a FACT! Just as showing a tape of Obama
in his own words, suddenly Obama says, he
didn't say the thing he is clearly saying.
Does he have an evil twin brother?
Ted Kennedy is "infuriated" by what the facts?
Also when Ted Kennedy and Carolina Kennedy
endorsed John Kerry - it was a NON-STORY,
suddenly with St. Obama - it's the Second Coming. Now suddenly "turning the page," means
going back to the 60's with the Kennedy's!
Give me a break!

[fedup07]

03:36 PM on 01/31/2008

Good grief people, do you read history? Do you fact check? Do you use a reference library, use Google or Wikipedia??

JKK SENT THE BILL TO CONGRESS IN 1963 –LBJ SIGNED IT INTO LAW IN 1964!

It’s ludicrous to say that JFK is not responsible for the Civil Rights Act –he’s the one who sent it to Congress in the first place for fuck sake! Granted LBJ pushed and then signed it into law –but come on people!

Hillary Clinton was WRONG to not give credit to both men! And was certainly WRONG not to give credit or mention JFK when talking about Civil Rights!

The bill was introduced by President John F. Kennedy in his civil rights speech of June 11, 1963,in which he asked for legislation "giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public—hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments," as well as "greater protection for the right to vote."

President John F. Kennedy then sent a bill to Congress on June 19. Kennedy's civil rights bill included provisions to ban discrimination in public accommodations, and to enable the U.S. Attorney General to sue state governments which operated segregated school systems, among other provisions. THEN HE WAS ASSASSINATED IN NOVEMBER!!

The conference bill was passed by both houses of Congress, and was signed into law by President Johnson on July 2, 1964.

I’m so sick of this IGNORANT country with it’s IGNORANT people!

FACT CHECK ONCE IN A WHILE WILL YOU!

[Politiking]

01:48 PM on 01/31/2008

Ted "No Child Left Behind"
Kennedy?!

Ted Kennedy has been riding on the coattails of his brothers. He benefitted from JFK's presidency and is the 2nd longest running Senator (since 1962). He needs a history lesson. What a petty and pathetic way to endorse someone. If this is true, it validates the fact that he is olny concern about the his legacy than this country.

If you examine his political career and record, one would assess that he is not as influential and as effective as his brothers.

[AnnoyedCanuck]

12:49 PM on 01/31/2008

If this story is true, and this is open to question, the Kennedys need a reality check. The fact is, LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act and used his skills as a legislator to get it through Congress. That's fact. Hillary made a valid point: MLK created the civil rights agenda, but it took a enlightened president to make it law. What's controversial about that?

JFK's caution and hesitancy in regard to civil rights is well known. It's late in the day for the Kennedys to rewrite history.

[apresdeluge]

12:41 PM on 01/31/2008

So much for altruism.

[vegasobserver]

12:05 PM on 01/31/2008

I think that this is a lie, leaked by "sources" associated with Hillary's campaign, speaking for the Kennedys.

It makes it look like Ted Kennedy endorsed Obama out of sheer personal anger, rather than for policy and character reasons.

And it's not the sort of thing that Ted will come back and deny, because it's a small enough "nugget" of news to get lost in the noise, and it would seem to petty to make a big proclamation denying it -- it would call attention to the allegation and take some of the luster off of the endorsement.

Hillary's campaign surrogates leaked this, because they wanted to weaken the effect of Kennedy's endorsement of Obama and dilute its strength and sway over Democratic voters.

Typical Mark Penn campaign strategy.

[Svenson]

11:59 AM on 01/31/2008

By the way, i read and hear everywhere people calling McCain a war hero because he went to vietnam and was shot down and spend 5 years as POW.

In most countries, they call such a person a loser.

A war hero is someone who went to war, if you go to war as a pilot, you shoot down tens and hundreds of enemy warplanes. That is a hero.

To spend 5 years as POW and not able to find a way to escape .. that is pathetic.

The real heros are those Viet Veterans who killed the viet congs, who shot down the enemy planes, etc.. those are the heros.

To get shot down and spend 5 years and unable to find a way to escape .. that is a loser. Maybe he did not want to escape becos that means he has to go back and fight and get shot down again.