From The Road
April 4, 2008 1:39 PM

Clinton Chokes Up Recounting Death of MLK

By
Fernando Suarez
Topics
Hillary Clinton
(CBS)
From CBS News' Fernando Suarez:

MEMPHIS -- Hillary Clinton made a special visit to a Memphis church to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. Clinton, who took a red-eye flight from California to speak at the Mason Temple: Church of God in Christ, recalled the moment she found out about the death of Dr. King.

"Like many of you here who are of a certain age, I will never forget where I was when I heard Dr. King had been killed. I was junior in college and I remember hearing about it and just feeling such despair," Clinton said, pausing, her voice quivering.

"I walked into my dorm room and took my book bag and hurled it across the room. It felt like everything had been shattered, like we would never be able to put the pieces together again."

Clinton made a last-minute decision to attend the small conference of about 100 attendees, leaving some in the traveling press scratching their heads as to why Clinton flew 1,800 miles overnight to address the crowd. The original schedule had Clinton and the press staying the night in Los Angeles and heading for Portland, Oregon in the morning.

But, it's clear that Clinton felt compelled to share her thoughts on Dr. King. For months, she has had to do some damage control within the African American community, primarily due to some racially insensitive comments made by her husband around the time of the South Carolina primary where he said Barack Obama's Iraq views are "the biggest fairy tale" he'd ever seen. Hillary Clinton has also been under pressure from African Ameicans when she made a comment early in the campaign that some suggested discredited the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement.

This is not the first time Clinton has interrupted her campaign schedule to meet wiht African American leaders. In February, while Clinton was actively campaigning in Ohio and Texas she took time out of her busy schedule to fly from Ohio to Louisisana to address the "State of the Black Union." It was a state that had already voted for Obama.

Clinton admitted off camera that she essentially was there to repair her longstanding relationship with the black community. During the event in New Orleans Clinton apologized for her husband's comments saying, "Most of you here today who know him personally who know his heart, if anyone was offended by anything that was said whether it was meant or not, whether it was misinterpreted or not, then obviously I regret that."

Clinton is touring the National Civil Rights museum before resuming her campaign schedule with a trip to North Dakota.

Add a Comment See all 13 Comments
by debmood April 4, 2008 9:24 PM EDT
b-easy: Not to worry. Hillary will never get the black vote. The wounds the clintons made with black America is way too deep. If she wins the nomination, most of us will vote for McCain. At least McCain is not a phony. He shoots from the hip. I can appreciate that more than I can a phony like Bill and Hill.
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by debmood April 4, 2008 9:20 PM EDT
Hillary was not choked up. Hillary is a liar and we see her as nothing more than a multi-million dollar liar. The woman has cold dead eyes and she is indeed a poor actress. She stood there with those cold eyes trying to act human. Nobody there bought that choked up act. After that elaborate Bosnia liar I don''t even bother to listen to her anymore. She is repulsive!
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by latinovoter1 April 4, 2008 7:01 PM EDT
Ferraro, Ed Rendell, Bill and Don Imus got choked up as well.
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by nbd_sb April 4, 2008 6:52 PM EDT
Good for Hilary! She took the time to not only remember the death of Martin Luther King but she apologized for her husbands inconsiderate actions. You should not judge other based on the opinions of their partners not everyone has the same beliefs.
Reply to this comment
by nbd_sb April 4, 2008 6:52 PM EDT
Good for Hilary! She took the time to not only remember the death of Martin Luther King but she apologized for her husbands inconsiderate actions. You should not judge other based on the opinions of their partners not everyone has the same beliefs.
Reply to this comment
by nbd_sb April 4, 2008 6:49 PM EDT
Good for Hilary! She took the time to not only remember the death of Martin Luther King but she apologized for her husbands inconsiderate actions. You should not judge other based on the opinions of their partners not everyone has the same beliefs.
Reply to this comment
by nbd_sb April 4, 2008 6:47 PM EDT
Good for Hilary! She took the time to not only remember the death of Martin Luther King but she apologized for her husbands inconsiderate actions. You should judge other based on the opinions of their partners not everyone has the same beliefs.
Reply to this comment
by b-easy63 April 4, 2008 5:53 PM EDT
yes, we all know how Hillary is getting good at crying on demand, lately. Right up there with the Bosnian snipers, she should have cried when she told it.
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by b-easy63 April 4, 2008 5:52 PM EDT
Blacks should not forget how she ran this campaign, if they do not want black bogeyman and race bashing to be the norm for Dems like it is for Republicans, they should never reward the Clinton campaign with their votes--not this year--not any year in which the Clinton clan runs. A vote for Hillary means, that no matter what is said or done to blacks, they will roll over and vote for her anyway--if they say that with a vote then they can prepare for the race card divide continually being used by Dems and Repubs alike.
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by rowdytexan2 April 4, 2008 5:49 PM EDT
Good for Hillary. The Clinton support of civil rights issues stands tall!
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