Full Transcript of Hillary Claiming Sexism Worse than Racism in Campaign

In a published article by The Washington Post's Lois Romano, Hillary Clinton briefly hit "sexism" in media coverage of her campaign as "deeply offensive to millions of women," but she went much further, as a transcript of the entire interview now makes clear.

Clinton criticized the "vitriol" from "misogynists" and said that the race factor was often discussed but not gender, adding "[E]very poll I've seen show more people would be reluctant to vote for a woman to vote for an African American, which rarely gets reported on either." She expressed amazement "that we would have a presidential campaign in which so much of what has occurred that has been very sexist would be just shrugged off."

She is fresh off a landslide win in West Virginia in which surveys revealed that race played a key factor, and that appears to be true, as well, in the results from Kentucky.

While some of the quotes have already surfaced, here is a full transcript of the Sunday interview sent to E&P this afternoon:

Q. One of the stories that has been well documented over and over again is basically how you've been treated by the media. Can you talk about that a little bit, because I get the idea that it's really pissed off a lot of women.

A. "I think it has. I think it's been deeply offensive to millions of women. ... I believe this campaign has been a ground breaker in lots of ways, but it certainly has been challenging given some of the attitudes that have been forthcoming in the press, and I regret that because I think it's been really not worthy of the seriousness of this campaign and the historical nature of the two candidacies that we have here. But I don't really stop to worry about it because there's nothing I can do about it."

Q. Are women going to be upset if you don't get the nomination?

A. I have more voters now than my opponent. I have more popular vote, more people voting for me.

Q. Counting Michigan and Florida?

A. According to ABC, and I think it's a fair way to total it up because my name was on the ballot they voted for me. But in any event, it's one of the closest races we've ever had and I think that a lot of people are deeply invested in their candidates, so there will probably be disappointment no matter which of us gets the nomination. And then it will be up to us to unify the party and make sure we are victorious in November against McCain.

Q. What's the scenario by which you could still win the nomination?

A. If people start asking themselves who's the strongest candidate against John McCain, because I believe I am.

Q. Do you think he can win?

A. Sure. I think he can win--I think I will win.

Q. But short of a scandal on his part do you see people coming to that conclusion?

A. I don't know, that's why we're not going to quit. We're going forward. We're going to give the people in the remaining elections the chance to vote, which I think is absolutely fair. And we're going to resolve Michigan and Florida, which has to be done sooner instead of later. And then we'll see where we stand.

Q. Do you think this has been a particularly racist campaign?

A. I do not. I think this has been a positive, civil campaign. I think that both gender and race have been obviously a part of it because of who we are and every poll I've seen show more people would be reluctant to vote for a woman [than] to vote for an African American, which rarely gets reported on either. The manifestation of some of the sexism that has gone on in this campaign is somehow more respectable or at least more accepted. And I think there should be equal rejection of the sexism and the racism when and if it ever raises its ugly head. But it does seem as though the press at least is not as bothered by the incredible vitriol that has been engendered by comments and reactions of people who are nothing but misogynists.

Q. Isn't that how it's always been though.

A. Oppression of women and discrimination against women is universal. You can go to places in the world where there are no racial distinctions except everyone is joined together in their oppression of women. The treatment of women is the single biggest problem we have politically and socially in the world. If you look at the extremism and the fundamentalism, it is all about controlling women, at it's base. The idea that we would have a presidential campaign in which so much of what has occurred that has been very sexist would be just shrugged off I think is a very unfortunate commentary about the lack of seriousness that should be applied to any kind of discrimination or prejudice. I have spent my entire life trying to stand up for civil rights and women's rights and human rights and I abhor wherever it is discrimination is present.

Greg Mitchell is editor of Editor & Publisher. His new book is So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits -- and the President -- Failed on Iraq.

Comments

[mortrefuge]

Wait a minute. She is arguing that more people are reluctant to vote for a woman than for a Black man. Yet her argument is that she is more electable than Obama because of White working class voters? She really needs to get her story straight.

[Dorraj]

Hillary is unbelievable. She is doing everything in her power to put women versus blacks. It is comments like in this article this is so so frustrating to blacks. Obama campaign is getting bomb threats, they make him out to be a muslim, you have a nut in Georgia with Obama 08 t-shirts with Curious George eating a banana on it (and they are selling out!), and he is on the cover of the Rosewell Beacon with a rifle target on him just to name a few of his problem.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/northfulton/stories/2008/05/21/obama_0522.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

I mean c'mon! You still have pro-slavery flags hanging from state capitals and everywhere else from virginia to texas they openly support the confederacy with no stigmatism attach to it and you think she has it tough. People can complain all they want to about sexism dont nobody who isnt black wish they were. Some people actually want him dead. Also last time i checked there was more women than men in this country.

[STVoyager]

Is it just me or is arguing which group has it worse a tad weird? Shouldn"t we use this opportunity to try to rectify these problems? Sexism and Racism should not be tolerated, however, just by arguing which is worse, are we not then (in some form) perpetuating that which we rally against?

[Yola]

Senator Clinton,

Please tell me where ... "You can go to places in the world where there are no racial distinctions except everyone is joined together in their oppression of women."

I need to know because my bags would be packed and I would gladly go find a citizen of that country to marry in order to gain citizenship!

Is this place on Earth?

[YR]

Where do black women fit in Hillary's woman equation, a group of women by the way who are not voting for her? They are invisible to her and the media.

In addition to Obama's intelligence, his resonance as a change agent, it helps that he has marvelous charisma and is easy on the eyes! The last part is just icing on the cake and is not a qualification for office. But I'm going to enjoy watching him. Not meaning to objectify him... Props to Michelle!

[MrHHusseinMA]

Since Hillary Clinton will not give a national speech on sexism, I think this is an area that Senator Obama can lift up and address at the national level. Please give a speech on sexism, Barack. The speech can also be spiced up with guest talks by Oprah, Caroline Kennedy, Maria Shriver, Donna Brazile, Claire McCaskill, Kathleen Sebelius and the wonderful Michelle Obama. That would be a tremendous national event!

[Zogtastic]

I'd actually say just keep the speech to Michelle Obama. She's got the strong woman image to make that speech work. I think if Obama gave it, people wouldn't take it seriously like they would with Hillary. So if Hillary won't do it, Michelle should.

[BassMent]

I don't think we can answer the question, "What's worse, racism or sexism?" It's futile to go down that path.

What this whole race/gender discussion is lacking most of the time is an historical context. Sure, women have been discriminated against and people of color have been discriminated against, and this has been going on since our nation was founded.

But through the lens of history we can see that racial issues have driven a larger number of major historical events in our country.

The Civil War, the most costly war we've ever been involved in as far as loss of American lives, was fought over racial issues.

Think about the civil rights movement, the iconic images of dogs and water cannons and billy clubs being weilded against peaceful protesters, the marches in places like Selma, all against a backdrop of cross burnings, lynchings and murders.

And then there's Martin Luther King.

These are all parts of our history that are inextricably tied to the issue of race. And the fact is that gender issues in the USA have no equivalent historical touchstones. So it's not really surprising that issues of racism would be more prevalent in the perceptions of Americans than issues of sexism.

[Zogtastic]

Not only is that question of worse futile... it's counter-progressive!

[Venise Alstergren]

I've been having a grim time getting through to you today.
Hillary Clinton is a reminder to all women who, when desperate, fall back on the sexist card of 'We was robbed." To advance into hostile coutry with elegance and a hint of dry humour is far more classy that Shooting out your oppponist's knees.
You wouldn't see a male candidate making those vile facialist contortions; in horse termioglogy with the ears flat back and the bit between his teeth.
A candidate, is a candidate, is a candidate, men don't run as a male candidate, Barack Obama doesn't run as a black candidate. Why should a woman run as a female candidate?

[SoyAA]

True..Sen Clinton did not seem to have a problem with one of her supporters claiming she had the "testicular fortitude" and least we forget, according to James Carville she has spare male body parts that she can loan to Sen Obama.

Where was the uproar from her or her supporters over those remarks?

[AllaboutME]

Hillary is silly.

[Zogtastic]

She doesn't even know how to read a poll! Actually that's not true, Hillary's a smart person... she's read them... she just doesn't think you all have.

Lets go look at the most recent victory: Kentucky-

16% of voters claimed gender was important to their vote. OF THOSE PEOPLE, 79% voted for Clinton!

21% of voters claimed race was important to their vote. OF THOSE PEOPLE, 81%.... 81%!!!! Voted for Clinton!

Oh, but that's where she won, clearly there will be more sexism in Oregon right? Certainly in a huge loss like North Carolina, right??? Yeah, a little... but that overwhelming? No...

In Oregon, 17% said gender was important to their vote in some way and 56% of them voted for Hillary.
10% said race was... 52% voted for Obama.

In North Carolina, 21% said gender was important... 54% for Obama.
18% said race was... 64% for Obama.

Let's go to West Virginia: 18% said gender... 75% for Clinton. 22% said race... 82% for Clinton
Let's go back to Indiana: 16% said gender... 54% for Clinton. 16% said race... 53% for Clinton

Say what you want about the existence of sexism and racism in this election but DON'T YOU DARE imply one was more than the other!

[Zogtastic]

I'm on a roll... why stop there?

More Clinton victories:
CA: 23% said gender... 70% voted for Clinton. 17% said race... 61% voted for Clinton
NY: 25% said gender... 81% voted for Clinton. 18% said race... 56% voted for Clinton
MA: 20% said gender... 76% voted for Clinton. 16% said race... 51% voted for Clinton
PA: 20% said gender... 72% voted for Clinton. 19% said race... 59% voted for Clinton
OH: 17% said gender... 60% voted for Clinton. 20% said race... 59% voted for Clinton

How about more Obama victories:
SC: 15% said gender... 63% voted for Clinton. 13% said race... 50% voted for Obama
GA: 18% said gender... 54% voted for Obama. 21% said race... 72% voted for Obama
WI: 15% said gender... 63% voted for Clinton. 13% said race... 50% voted for Obama

Alright... I'm done...

My point: I don't see the polls IN ANY WAY saying sexism played a larger role than racism (at least not negatively) nor do I see the opposite.

[Philly4Obama]

Can you imagine if Obama had said "I appreciate the vote of hard working Americans, Black Americans." What the hell would have happened in the media?

[Philly4Obama]

Actions speak louder than words, unfortunately, and Clinton has not been abhorring any of the racist support she has gotten. In fact, she appreciates the vote of "hard working Americans, White Americans" from Appalachia.

[apoyo]

If she truly believes that people are more reluctant to vote for a women than an African-American then she should get out of the race.

[Philly4Obama]

I thought she had the WINNING COALITION. If people will vote less for a woman than for an African American, then she doesn't have a winning coalition. You can't have it both ways.

[KSH]

And if Obama came out and said that this campaign has been racist he would be skewed in the the media!

[vsign]

I will reward the one woman in my lifetime who has shown to me her willingness to WORK for me to be a role model for MY values. Hillary is like Cherry Ames the Army Nurse. She will get us health care or die trying. That's my kind of gal!

[citizenxyz]

vsign,
She dropped health care like a hot potato when she tried to negotiate it in the 90's and it became a political liability. If the political winds are not in her favor, she will drop it again. She is too divisive to work with others on this issue- that was a large part of her failure in the 90's as well. I am also very concerned about the lack of universal health care and... I feel that Obama has the best chance of getting something through Congress.

[Philly4Obama]

Yes, honor her by voting for her agenda - that is the Democratic candidate.