Rangel Slams Clinton White Support Talk

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), among Hillary Clinton's top African-American supporters, was none too pleased with Clinton's comments this week to USA Today that she has broader appeal with white voters.

The statement was "the dumbest thing she could have said," Rangel told reporters before a Clinton fundraiser in a midtown hotel ballroom Saturday .

He called her statement "very poorly worded," but acknowledged there may be some truth to it.

"In any campaign, there are groups of people that you know that you have and groups of people that you don't," he said. "And I don't care what it is. White, black, Catholic, Protestant - pollsters and newspaper reporters, that's all they know and so they keep asking the same question over and over. I mean, this happens in campaigns."

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[MrKINOKO]

So Obama sits down at the Clinton dinner table next to a pig with one leg and 3 medals around his neck. "What's with the pig, Hillary?" he says. Hillary: "Well, he got those medals for heroics. 1st one was for saving Chelsea from an angry college mob. 2nd was for saving me from snipers in Bosnia. 3rd was for saving Bill from a WhiteHouse lynch mob". Barack says "But what's the wooden leg for?"....and Hillary says: "Well, Barack...with a pig as heroic as that, you can't just eat him all at once !!"
Wake up America...the Clintons couldn't care less about you. Vote for hope and change, not political cannibalism for 2008/2012.

[stepintothelight]

I think this is a good time to go vegetarian.

[PrObama29]

HRC is on opportunist. She uses whatever tools are available to further her her goals. Right now, Her goal is still the Whitehouse. So, she's attempting to break the Dem party into smaller pieces,using race as a way to wedge apart the ignorant white voting block from the rest of us.

It may or may not succed. However, one thing is crystal clear: The Clinton Dynasty is dead. They will never be able to wash away the filth they rolled themselves in during this campaign. They're tainted for the rest of their lives, as they deserve to be, for legitamizing every negative thing a Neo Con has said about them over the last sixteen years.

[DesertLight]

Don't be fooled, time has been kind to the Clintons. Think about What About Bob? "He won't go away, he never goes away" Dr Leo Marvin

[MrKINOKO]

Fantastic and apt post....I couldn't have said it better myself.

[Jazzcomedian]

If this were a movie it would be the elegant Sidney "They call me Mr. Tibbs" Poitier vs the indomitable Bette "Fasten your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy night" Davis.

[marc1antony]

Hillary has no shame or remorse for the dead because of her lack of judgment. Her fund raiser that was infiltrated by Code Pink, asked that she apologize for her Obliterate Iran. Her zombie supporters cheered her on, and she responded "I hope he didn't step on the cookies"... Her "let them eat cake" Moment -
See for yourselves

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/11/93213/5165/962/513634

[stepintothelight]

Were they chanting "No Ethics" .... It's all I heard

[MariaHopeful]

She deserves to be slammed for her blatant race-baiting for political reasons. She deserves to be slammed for her saber-rattling when she declared that she would OBLITERATE Iran. She deserves to be slammed for her stupid remarks about breaking up OPEC. No wonder the uneducated find her appealing because they wouldn't know that the US has no authority over OPEC and that her statement also betrays her arrogance in that she can just step in and dismantle an organization formed by sovereign countries. She deserves to be slammed for masking her desperation as toughness. But most of all it is the MEDIA that should be slammed for their failure to focus on the real issues and for cherry-picking what is scandal-worthy and what is not. Rev Wright is the biggest thing to have happened in this primary season according to the racist media and using the word "bitter" shows that you are an elite - that is if you are a black man. Everything else gets a pass "because we understand what she was saying."

[Inspire]

I find it refreshing to hear about the MAJORITY population........SO SO SO VERY TIRED of BLACK only!

AND, if we had any brains, we would not even use these terms of color...........

We are Americans of Polish descent
We are Americans of Italian descent
We are Americans of African descent, etc!

References to 'color' are linked to ancient characteristics NO LONGER VALID....pay attention to what the genome projects are all about!!!

[DesertLight]

You got that right and the Democratic Party is the one to always point out color and race while pointing the finger at the GOP calling them racist.

[jeffp26]

That's because the GOP is the party of rich white men. Who are most often dirty lowdown racist scumbags.

[DesertLight]

Take a look at both sides of the campaigns. Tell me who raised and spent more money, GOP or Demos?

[DesertLight]

Interesting comment. Funny too. It is not what Hillary pointed out. According to her "hard working, white, blue collar worker, Democratic workers" who are racist will NOT vote for a black man. The problem is folks like you have issues with handling the truth.

[Stew118]

wow did you just write that?

Was the modern-day republican party and it's pervasive dominance in southern states not built on a platform opposing integration?

[Flagal]

I am not sure that the Clintons are racists, however there is no doubt that they are trying to cause a racial divide within the democratic party........OK I guess they are racists.

[Mij13]

Using race as a way to try to get people to support your candidacy is racist. Period.

[DesertLight]

It's called "business as usual" in the Democratic Camp.

[marc1antony]

ditto, since you said it all for me

[tester]

Maybe Maya Angelou is racist too for supporting Hillary? Or so many other African-Americans who also support her? Or Harlem that voted for her?

It's sad too see that the Clintons' lifelong support for African-American causes is so easily being trashed for political gains. When Axelord talked about not caring really if working-class "whites" voted for the Democrats in November nobody noticed.

[adept2u]

Maya is a sexist not a racist, she is supporting Hillary because of her vagina. I wish Harlem had a chance to vote for Hillary again. She has thrown away her support from the African American Community, and these old style poverty pimp leaders of the black community will be next.

[Mij13]

She and her husband have used Obama's race to their advantage every chance they've had. This was an unfortunate statement, I can agree with that. But Geraldine Ferraro saying he wouldn't be given such a free ride if he wasn't black? Last time I checked, being black wasn't something that made it easier for someone to run for president in this country. And Bill Clinton saying "Jesse Jackson won S. Carolina." They're political animals and they know who they have to have on their side. Parading out all their black supporters now is the equivelent of saying what I think they really feel: "Some of our best friends are black. That doesn't mean we have to nominate one for president!"

[dawlishgal]

Has anybody checked with Ms. Angelou lately? I am guessing that a lot of prominent women are having second thoughts these days about having endorsed Hillary Clinton.

I wonder what would happen if there were to be a revote in Mass., Calif, NY and some of the other states who supported her before she derailed her own campaign with her peculiar and negative behavior.

[tester]

We tried extra hard to avoid a revote in FL and MI , why would we want a revote in CA, NY or MA?

[marc1antony]

90% of my family are from and still live in California. A lot of buyers remorse in that state. They tell me they feel like they were sold a "lemon", because they were all about "Bill" and a co-presidency - I told them, "OH WELL, you got played!!! "

[purplestategal]

One misworded comment from Clinton should not brand her a member of the Ku Klux Klan. But a lifelong history of involvement in civil rights causes does not exempt her from questions about the white vs. black, brown vs. black campaign strategy that she's waging. It's what we do when we have something to lose that reveals our true nature. So maybe it's not so much a question of racism but Clinton's character and therefore leadership flaws that's at issue here.

[Darnamell]

It is not one misstatement. And I would agree with you if it were. This goes back to even before Bill in South Carolina. Her campaign have been her proxies in attacking and denigrating their opponent, and his supporters, for many reasons, race being one of them.

She has repeatedly stood on stage, heard these comments and let them go without correction. Until she actually started saying the words herself, I would call it a glaring character and leadership fault. But hey, let's call it what it is after all these months.

[tester]

I agree that candidates often misspeak. But I strongly disagree that she is waging a racial campaign. Whites, blacks, latinos, or any other voting bloc for that matter, are important for a win in November and I don't see why in past elections candidates talked openly and campaigned hard to win the black, hispanic or white vote, or the catholic, protestant or evangelical vote, and it was OK but it's not OK now. Jesse Jackson talked about his "rainbow coalition". Recently, Bill Richardson was mentioned as a potential VP choice, " he may bring in the hispanic vote", and I don't see anything wrong with that. As long as the different groups are not pitted against each other. And I am very surprised that the Obama campaign got away so easily with Axelrod's comment poo-pooing the white working class vote.

Also, one has to look back to many Clinton comments that were, intentionally to my opinion, misconstrued and misquoted in order to show the Clintons' "character" flaws. From the "fairy-tale" and MLK-LBJ comments to "as far as I know" etc. I wouldn't be very surprised that If I check the full interview this time may also turn out to be another taken-out-of-context case.

[blindjester]

Michelle Obama was called unpatriotic for one misworded statement about finally being proud of America.

Barack was called elitist for pointing out that Americans vote identity politics based on religion or guns rather than economic self-interest--unwise to say as he did, but basically true.

Barack paid a political price for these minor infelicities, and Hillary joined in the chorus of people intentionally using them against him.

If she's going to jump on every word from him as proof of something, she needs to be held accountable for every word of her own.

Unless she wants to apologize for calling him an elitist?

[cmeans29]

"Being trashed for political gains"? As Charlie Rangel said, "It was a dumb thing to say."

[Flagal]

Just because someone is black and supports the Clintons doesnt mean Hillary isnt racist.
And lets not forget that Obama gets over 90% of the black vote since SC. Before SC Hillary was polling at 90% of black voters. Times change and so do people.

[JackieW]

I'm willing to concede that Hillary has the Klan vote.

[SouthernYankeeBelle]

Her and her husband will go down as being racist all for the sake of become president. She doesn't get it no matter what yea

[mjc]

No matter how it is said, if Clinton or any WHITE supporter analyzes the breakdown in voting patterns and suggests that Obama, saintly as he is, has a problem with a segment of the population, the white population, males, blue collar males....especially if the adjective "hard working" is attached, Clinton or the surrogate is a racist! This is the sickness of this country, trying to find racial degeneration in every statement that uses white or black. IT IS A FACT! The only time Obama didn't have a problem with white, blue collar males was in the Wisconsin primary. People who run campaigns need to have this information and be sure that unless Obama's advisers are quite stupid they DO know this and know that he needs to do something about that, either in the next primaries or in the general election. And, take my word for it, the break down of the West Virginia voting will definitely show this; have been listening to comments that indicate that calling into WVA. Why every black pundit or politican feels so insulted by such a statement is beyond me.

[Flagal]

Your post shows an ignorance of the big picture. Hillary's argument that Obama doesn't get white votes is patently ridiculous. First off the Black voting block is somewhere between 13 & 17%, yet he is ahead over 700,000 votes which don't take into consideration the caucus voters. He of course won the vast majority of caucasus. And what really makes Senator Clinton's argument moot is the reality that he will get the majority of those white democratic votes she has attained, unless of course her & Bill are able to cause such a racial divide leading up to the general that he doesn't get the majority. Even if this happens he will still get plenty of white votes as he already has, along with the majority of independents and new voters.
The Clinton argument is one of desperation, nothing more.

[teapartydude]

The racists usually vote Republican; so...what's the problem?

[mal0980]

Why doesn't Rangel and everyone else just flat out denounce her comments and say they are racist, instead of this half assed comment of saying it was stupid of her to say it, but then she is right. Just call it for what it is a racist comment and flat out reject it.

[mhopgood123]

As a puertorrican,I wrote to Mr Rangel a nice letter to urge him to support Obama after I watched him defend Obama onTV .He has defended Obama many times so why is he a Hillary supporter? I think it is because he is truly afraid of her like so many politicians who have worked with them and that is the reason why they are not coming forward in droves.................It is sad when politicians are afraid of the Clintons.

[cmeans29]

Clinton has earmarked money for Rangel's district during her tenure as Senator. $2 million for a building named after him and plenty more. He supports HRC because their from the same state and they need each other.

[ignorantwillyharper]

When one Look's a bear in the face, they know it's a bear, when one look's a Clinton in the face they know it's a liar and is criminal...so what's the problem?