Spike Lee: Hillary And "Massuh" Clinton Would "Lie On A Stack Of Bibles"

Director Spike Lee was asked about his political leanings this season. He had kind words for Sen. Obama, even taking credit for his marriage to Michelle:

I'm riding my man Obama. I think he's a visionary. Actually, Barack told me the first date he took Michelle to was Do the Right Thing. I said, "Thank God I made it. Otherwise you would have taken her to Soul Man. Michelle would have been like, 'What's wrong with this brother?' "

However, Lee attacked the Clintons, calling them liars who drag along black politicians as subservients:

The Clintons, man, they would lie on a stack of Bibles. Snipers? That's not misspeaking; that's some pure bullshit. I voted for Clinton twice, but that's over with. These old black politicians say, "Ooh, Massuh Clinton was good to us, massuh hired a lot of us, massuh was good!" Hoo! Charlie Rangel, David Dinkins--they have to understand this is a new day. People ain't feelin' that stuff. It's like a tide, and the people who get in the way are just gonna get swept out into the ocean.

Read the whole interview here.

Comments

[bhobo]

Right on brother. Tell it like it is.

[meanguy]

i'm still waiting for someone, ANYONE, to explain to me why spike lee's views on ANYTHING are in any way relevant...it is truly disgusting that one of the by-products of this nasty campaign is that the clintons have been painted as a couple of bigots...and for what? the ambitions of an unqualified dissembler? there was a time that i actually had a great deal of respect for sen obama...it's been squandered by a devious campaing of playing the race card consistently throughout the campaign...the mud that his campaign has thrown at the clintons can never be washed off...for that i hold the candidate wholly responsible...he's beneath my contempt, and i will, for the first time in my life, deviate from supporting the democratic nominee-the party be damned; i have to look myself in the mirror...

[robXdion]

Read the full interview. His views are relevant because he makes films that influence public opinion and incite discourse. That's why.

[ohioangel]

Thank you, you said what I was going to say in so many words. Spike Lee has long been politically relevant and he never pulls punches he tells it just like it is. He says things that most people, black and white, are afraid to say.

[boombox]

they're not being painted as bigots, but rather as panderers, manipulative politicians who will say anything to various constituents to get a vote. they have played their black supporters very well and given them too little in return for them to assume they have them in the bag.

as to your mud-slinging claims, they are pure clinton-camp fantasies. never happened that way, nobody's buying it.

[Jimmyboyo]

Spike lee's relevance????

Are you serious?

He has tackled

- african american self racism ....lighter skined vs darker skinned etc
- interracial relationships when it was still not common to see in movies and on tv
- Bamboozeled, just the most underrated Spike Lee movie ever which delas with steriotypes
- A documentary on Katrina victims!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!! HUGE!!!

To not appreciate Spike Lee's relevance means you either live in a cabin cut off from the rest of the culture at large and or you are around 93 years old

[fabrom]

Damn! Another comment about being old. What is your, and many other Obama supporters, problem with older people? Being young isn't any kind of virtue. It just means you were born later than older folks. Maybe when you get older you'll get some wisdom tool

[vincie]

I agree with you. For the first time in my 72 year old life, if obama is the nominee, i will vote republican. i can't, with a good concience vote for obama, a man with little experience, played the race card on two people who did more for minorities than obama can ever dream of doing. In my opinion, he did more to set back race relations. It will take a life time to get over the blacks turning against the Clintons, for a man that never did anything, and i mean anything for the blacks. there voting for him because he is black. I will not turn over this country to man with such little experience, he'll skrew up and the democrats won't get in the white house for another 20 years.

[IRIE]

What have the Clinton's done for race relations besides;

Visiting black churches after the Monica Lewinsky ordeal

Playing saxaphone on Arsenio Hall

Although black people looked at Bill Clinton as a black president, he did less for black people than other presidents. They lost the safety net, under his administration. But his charisma, no one can take that away from Mr. Clinton. His ability to use language in many ways has attracted the hearts of black people. And the more the establishment beat up on him with his inappropriate behavior, the more black people understood his weakness, and forgave him, and came around him. I

[robXdion]

72 huh? So that explains your wildly racially tinged comments in ALL of your posts. Look Archie, no one cares about your issues with Obama. You wouldn't support him even if he donned a white sheet and rode around razing black churches. Sounds like you got mad at this blog and commented because Spike Lee was describing you.

[babybabybaby]

but you can in good concience vote for a war monger who has no qualms about "bomb bomb bomb" bombing iran?

your priorities are skewed at best.

[Aywaller]

You weren't going to vote for Obama anyway. "It will take a life time to get over the blacks turning against the Clintons. . .?" Really? For who? Just you or all white people? You speak for everyone? As a black woman, I've had some experience "getting over" real injustices, both racial and gender based. I guess it just takes a certain level of maturity and intelligence to not impute to an entire group of people the actions of some. But here's hope--even at 72, you still have a chance to grow up.

[GoreyFantod]

Your comment has illustrated Spike Lee's point marvelously. For example:

"It will take a life time to get over the blacks turning against the Clintons, for a man that never did anything, and i mean anything for the blacks. there voting for him because he is black."

Did it ever occur to you that, "the blacks," as you call us, are quite capable of making up our own minds about who best represents our interests? We also have critical thinking skills & can make reasoned decisions not solely dependent on identity politics.

I'm guessing you live a segregated personal life, otherwise you would know that a majority of African-Americans, including the majority of intellectual, spiritual & political "leaders," did NOT support Senator Obama in the beginning. Of course a "White" Southerner who didn't habitually denigrate people of Colour would have seemed like a revelation in the 1990's - we got used to the "Southern Strategy" coupled with being taken for granted by the Democrats.

"The blacks," are people, just like you. We bleed and die, we laugh & we cry. We worry about paying the bills & we seek to advance ourselves and the people we care about. We are no more monolithic in our thinking and our motivations than any other ethnic group. If you want to know what sets back, "race relations," it's people like you who think in stereotypes & condescending assumptions rather than opening your mind and getting to know people who aren't just like you.

[AntonBursch]

If you don't know why Spike Lee is relevant... then you are the one who is not relevant.

[joeinvt]

Just another indication of how much of a challenge BHO faces in bringing us all together. Shame on you Spike for playing the race card once again--while it may help BHO win the nomination, it's hard to see how it helps me govern in the long run. Next time do the right thing.

[ohioangel]

Spike's comments won't help Barack win the nomination. He's doing that on his own using candor, intellect and equality and most of all HOPE & CHANGE. Ain't no race card here, this is the truth card. Sorry that you don't see it that way.

[joeinvt]

Sorry massuh.

[fabrom]

What HOPE & CHANGE? Obama is just another politician. He plays the political game like any other politician. And, he's very good at it. He takes money from the same corporate interests that have, for too long, funded politicial campaigns and bought themselves influence in Washington. If he wins, I suspect many of you will realize that he's no different. He merely makes better speeches.

[deejsmom]

what race card? He's entitled to his opinion just like any other voter who supported the Clintons in the past - YOU are making this about race

[Biracial1]

The Governor of Pennsylvania plays the race card each time he opens his mouth. HRC and Bill are also playing the race card for the SD by basically saying that because of people like you (those who will never vote for a black man no matter what) BO cannot win the GE.

[JAsonMA]

Hahahahahaahahaha oh man that man talks fire

[ibsteve2u]

lolllll...not very "PC".

Maybe he should have said: "Those old style politicians have to understand that they must let go of the idea that the American people are only there for them to feed upon.".

[boombox]

Anyone who saw Do The Right Thing knows Spike Lee does not particularly care about being PC!

[PingMama]

That was so funny I about spit my coffee out onto my keyboard!!!

roflmao

[MPeter]

Yeah, Spike!!! Rangel, Dinkins and other so-called civil Rights old-guard have drank so much Clinton kool-aid, they would never muster the candor to call them on their lies. Yeah, I am down with that. It is a new day.

[Syco]

Oh my god I agree with Spike Lee.
The world must be ending.

[deejsmom]

that's funny!

[iPolitics]

Bill did lie on a stack of bibles that's why he was disbarred and impeached

[GAArmyWife]

Billary: PWN'D

[IslandGyal]

rotflmbao, "These old black politicians say, "Ooh, Massuh Clinton was good to us, massuh hired a lot of us, massuh was good!" Hoo!"

[Syco]

Rolling on the floor laughing your black ass off??????

[robXdion]

Oh Oh!......this is the YOUNG Spike Lee from the 80s. People, understand he is speaking on the dynamic of white supremacy within black culture that says blacks should ONLY lead blacks. So don't get your panties in a twist over the "race card". After the tactics to deploy said card in the primary, its about time someone points out the obvious. Preach SPIKE!

[IRIE]

How true!