Bill Clinton In ABC News Interview: "I Am Not A Racist"

Washinton Post:

Former president Bill Clinton has been trying to keep his political opinions in check in order to turn back to his international work.

Still, he got a little testy in an interview Sunday with ABC's Kate Snow, telling her he is "not a racist" even as he avoided delving into specifics about what happened in the Democratic presidential primary. The interview, taped in a quick stop in Liberia, will air Monday on "Good Morning America."

Read the whole story: Washinton Post

Comments

[Sarahjan]

Bill wants Obama to fail; Bill wants his wife to run again in 2012!

[abigail1]

he's probably not racist, but he is an ego maniac that doesn't seem to know youtube exists.

[MNmommy]

Why isn't this linking to the original material?

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=5506458

[jupitor]

Hillary Clinton could not have won this election over Mccain! Mccain had a pretty valid program made ready to go against her. You think Obama has it bad. Everything Bill Clinton said would have been throwen in Hillary Clintons face. His Foreign lobbying dealings with columbia and otheres would have come back in her face! Than he's in court with this Peter Paul crap! Didn't go after Ben Leden in pakistan when he had the chance to. Then both are mired down in wrong doings during his administration. The NAFTA and other programs she stood behind that failed this country. Than she really didn't get Florida or Michigan, because no one campagned their and you can't give it to either. She won by the skin of her teeth in Texas, he won the caucus. But its a Repub state, not Dem! Plus her stance onthe Iraq war, wouldn't have and didn't go over with millions. It's also time to understand their finance's were in the toilet, and no way to pull them out, because Obama peole wouln't support her! There was a less chance of her winning, than Obama. You HIlll people don't want to believe the trueth of it.

[ladeyday]

Hear, hear

[ThunderclapNewman]

He's right.

He's not a racist.
He never has been.

But he did show, in the primaries, a strong desire to play to the racial fears and prejudices of others to garner votes for Hill.ary.

That's actually worse than being a racist.

[rasthedestroyer]

I agree, he's not a racist..He's a politician

[ladeyday]

Point well taken. A racist doesn't know better (or refuses to). BCJ knew better & tried to make it work to his advantage (never mind what, in the end, was good for his candidate).

[closetodemfection]

He said O's simplistic plan or lack of one for getting out of Iraq was a fairy tale. That was twisted by O's campaign.

Playing that card and implying the C's were racists will cost him the election.

[debwarot]

When the spouse of your political opponent calls your plan a fairy tale, I think responding strongly is appropriate. To infer otherwise is absurd.

To malign Obama by inferring HE has played the race card is ridiculous.

[debwarot]

A great point. I agree wholeheartedly.

Who is worse - the person who truly believes in the superiority of one race over another or the person who uses these repugnant ideas for political purposes? The political user wins this contest - hands down.

[theHardTruthFairy]

Well, it's too bad, but that's the consequence of dabbling in the "Southern strategy."

The idea was to tap into the obvious block of voters in the South who still hold onto racial issues. The hope was that once Hillary won the nomination, they would send out their army of Blacks for Hillary (Charles Rangel, Magic Johnson, BET founder Robert Johnson, etc) to bring African Americans back into the fold. Obviously, some would be permanently turned off, but ultimately the racist white Southerners would outnumber the pissed off Blacks and it would be a net gain of votes for Clinton in the general election.

Obviously, this was foolish and they would never have the audacity to pull this with any other voting block (ie, Jews, Cuban Americans in Miami, etc) During the West Virginia primary, Hillary was in a position to make a great speech on race that would have gone a long way towards repairing relations with African Americans. She could have send racists are not welcome in the Democratic Party. The Clinton camp would have lost a few votes, but would have still won WV in a landslide. Instead, we got more coded messages like "hard working Americans, white Americans."

[frappe]

No, you are not a racist, Bill, but, from what I'm hearing, you are certainly acting like a sore loser. For God's sake, Bill, this election is absolutely critical. If the Democrats lose this one, we will have squandered an opportunity that is not likely to repeat itself for a generation or more. The country is in deep doodoo because of R_epublican inspired policies and gross mismanagement. Don't forget the American people in your bitterness and disappointment, please! Fight hard for a Democratic sweep and an O victory. Without a Democrat in the WH, we'll have to deal with yet more obstructionism from yet another miserable R_epublican president. God help us.

[ebanks84]

B i l l C l i n t o n may or may not be a racist. The point is he said some disturbing words that infuriated the black community and never apologized for doing that. He might not have meant those words as being racial, but they were portrayed as being so by the people who he so-called cared for. And to attribute that to O b a m a in any way is ridiculous because the people were more insulted than O b a m a probably were.

And to even bring up the "racist" word at this particular time in mcdaddy's campaign only keeps the issue of RACE in the media's mouths. They have more ammunition now to add to their ridiculous talking points.

The point is if RACE had not been introduced into this campaign by the republicans at all, we would have had no reason whatsoever to talk about it.
It's almost like the Clintons should be republicans. Their way of politicing is quite similar. They could very easily blend right into that party without changing a thing.

[debwarot]

All good points - thanks for sharing them.

No matter what his intentions were, the end result is that Bill Clinton made statements that seemed racist to many. Perception is what counts - not intention. If most people say something without malice but it is honestly taken another way, they apologize. If most people say something which hurts another, they accept responsibility and atone. Bill Clinton has not apologized - only denied culpability. Even at this point, his main concern seems to be voicing his innocence - so what if he is only reopening the who debacle - he is Bill Clinton.

[ApolloniaCreed]

Almost no on thinks B!ll is a r@cist... he just used r@ce baiting to help his wife in the primary.

He also in my opinion was blatantly disrespectful to BO in the primaries, and I don't think that had anything to do with r@ce. I believe it had more to do with the idea that the Cl!ntons ran the Democratic establishment, and they clearly wearnt ready to pass the proverbial torch.

[WFV]

I don't know whether or not he is a racist. I hope he isn't, and I never thought he was before the primaries.

He is a has-been, though, who has lost his magic touch with the public. He should retreat to his advocacy work and stay out of the public eye as much as possible, to avoid additional tarnishing of his infamous legacy.

[riverhouse]

Notice that he wasn't asked about this issue. He simply volunteered the denial in one of his famous blurt outs. I don't know if he's racist or not. He was raised to be one, probably was tempered by his '60s years as a young man, but he may well have to fight against inherent racism, given his early environment. In any case, he most certainly played the race card against O*bama during the primaries. He's tarnished his legacy and lost the respect of the black community and he clearly realizes that now.

[Piatt]

Thanks, Bubba, for injecting race into the campaign at just the right moment! In addition to self-pity, one of Bubba's strong suits has always been revisionist history. Remember the PA radio interview when he said, "I don't have to take that sh-t from anybody" and then denied that he'd said it the very next day.

I don't think he's a racist...just an unscrupulous liar (and convicted perjurer) who will do and say anything to get what he wants. It's time for Bubba to stop sulking, licking his wounds and trying to revise the immediate past. He should go make some million dollar speeches, pay off his wife's campaign debt, and let the rest of us get on with the business of electing a Democratic President and Congress.

[HallStyle]

Bill Clinton is not a Racist! He was just upset that his wife was losing. I understand. He may still be a little upset. He just needs to come on board and FULLY SUPPORT BARACK OBAMA.

[darthmaul]

Didn't you read what he said in another interview? He's going to stay quite, which I assume means not actively campaign for Obama until after the next election. He's a sore loser that only cares about his own aggrandizement.

[ebm]

Maybe he is or maybe he is not.

In any case he played the race card and it has backfired on him. Hil had most of the black vote in the begining and she could have sailed along but he chose to play that hand of cards and now has to live with it.

[Actionmac]

and so does she...

[barbwiregrrl]

That is your reply? oh Please...


Try having a discussion not one line retorts and maybe we as democrats get work these issues out.

[barbwiregrrl]

Ok let's be serious....let's talk about race and race dynamics with out the name calling and trying to "prove someone is racisit or someone is not racisit".

What can we do to re-educate America about race? Personally, My biggest issues with Barak Obama is not that him but rather his minions. To me....I have a right to discuss what I think are his positions on a host of topics...yet each time I try I get called racist.

How can one discuss the virtures or concerns one can have about a candidate if whenever a topic of concern is rased the word racist is thrown around.

When this all started earlier this year on a mailing list I was on there was discussion of the dissecting both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama....as soon as anyone said anything negative about a position of Senator Obama they were lectured about racism...even if the person was discussing say Roe V Wade....

How can we fix this and have true dialogue?

[KillgoreTrout43]

No, he didn't play the race card. The media played the race card, and always does. Nothing new here.

[260Parkway]

No, he may not be racist but as a white person he knew what people of that ilk wanted to hear from another white person to make them dislike the big black boogie man and they gave it to them. He was willing to do every and anything so that his wife would be the nominee and face facts Billy that didn't work in your favor.