Bill Clinton: "I Am Not A Racist"

Former President Denies He Made Racist Statements About Obama While Campaigning For Hillary During Primary Battle

(AP)  Former President Clinton acknowledges there are some things "I wish I hadn't said" during the Democratic presidential nomination fight, but denies he made racist statements about Barack Obama.

Clinton, who is in Rwanda attending to work he does with a private foundation to fight AIDS, charged that news organizations applied "a different standard" to his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. But when asked about it an interview broadcast Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America," the former president said that spending time on such recriminations "interferes with the issue, which is who should be elected in November."

"I bragged on Sen. Obama hundreds of times," he said. "Now, I will be glad, as soon as this election is over in January, to have this conversation with you and everybody else. I have very strong feelings about it."

Clinton cut a controversial profile throughout the Democratic delegate-selection process, championing his wife's cause and vehemently defending her on the campaign trail. But he also at times seemed an angry surrogate and he was harshly criticized for apparently disparaging Obama's early-season victory over his wife in the South Carolina primary. Clinton noted at the time that Jesse Jackson had won there 20 years earlier.

Asked in the interview whether he blames himself for his wife's loss, Clinton replied, "I've heard it from the press and I will not comment on it. ... There are things I wished I said. Things I wished I hadn't said, but I am not a racist. I never made a racist comment and I didn't attack him personally."

Nevertheless, Clinton did say he thought news organizations covered his wife more harshly than Obama. "A different standard was applied to the finest candidate I ever supported," he said. Clinton declined to comment on whether he thought Obama should put his wife on the ticket and he said he admires how she handled the loss. "She went right back to work," he said.

For example, he charged that news organizations were more likely to accuse Hillary than Obama of going negative.

"He hit her hard a couple times. And they hit us a few weeks before she ever responded in kind," he said. "The only thing I ever got mad about, people in your line of work pretending that she had started negative stuff. It's contact sport."

Sen. Clinton conceded to Obama in early June after the primary season concluded and he'd locked up sufficient Democratic National Convention delegates to become the party's standard-bearer against presumed Republican nominee Sen. John McCain this fall.

"I never was mad at Sen. Obama," the former president said. "I think everybody's got a right to run for president who qualifies under the Constitution. And I'd be the last person to begrudge anybody their ambition."

[michael0004]

Posted by jedi080808 at 10:49 PM : Aug 04, 2008

You demonstrate your absolute lack of credibility when you call Bill and Hillary Clinton racist. It does not say much of the value of your obviously favorable opinion of Obama. End of story.

[peterp111]

Reminds me of Nixon when he said:

" I am not a crook!"

[pr_boxer]

Whatever he said, he was President during the most peaceful, most prosperous years the US has had in this retirees lifetime!

[tbweb]

Posted by InTheShade at 06:33 PM : Aug 04, 2008

Actually, he was impeached. That was what all that media coverage was about in the late 90''''s. It was an impeachment.

Posted by jtyler271 at 07:31 PM : Aug 04, 2008,,,

Ironically when you look at the Republican sexx scandals recently with Vittner, Haggard, Craig, and Foley it makes you wonder why Bill Clinton was ever Impeached and why Republicans made such a big deal about Monica Lewinski with all the perverts they have, many who are still in office!

Republican link, Sexx scandals by year!

http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Republican_Sex_Scandals#2008

[i1marine69]

Bill o Bill

You didn''t make racial statements....
You know the facts about the Bosnia fire fights...
Hilary tells ya to shut up...
Oral *** is not ***...
Monica likes to smoke your cigars...

Ya Bill ... A fool is still a fool, even if he''s a multi-millionaire.

[allmymarbles]

Maybe you are not a racist, Mr. Clinton, but you denigrated Obama''s success in South Carolina on the basis of his being black. You may have done that for political reasons, but the effect was "racist."

[voltaire333]

In any rational universe, we would not even be having this conversation. It does not bode very well for the future of this country that we are so easily manipulated by the media into debating the absurd (whether Bill is a racist) while ignoring the very real problems this country faces. It''s astonishing when you think about it. Shame on CBS for publishing such a trashy, lowbrow, non-story.

The real story is the systematic way in which the republican party repeatedly attempts to disenfranchise black voters, year after year, but especially in the upcoming election. The republican party is the most racist organization on the face of the earth, and here''s the media carrying on about a man who has done more to advance the cause of racial equality in this country than any white man in recent history. Journalists in this country are nothing but disgusting leeches, it''s true, but it''s the ignorant and undiscerning public who make these leeches thrive. We could demand something better from CBS, CNN, etc. If Americans were more intelligent, our media would be investigating the ways in which republicans are right now plotting to keep blacks from voting in the upcoming election.

[pepperwood2]

The Inconvenient Truth - I am not a Racist! Where have we heard this before? There he goes again!

Sunday, November 18, 1973; Page A01

Orlando, Fla, Nov. 17 -- Declaring that "I am not a crook," President Nixon vigorously defended his record in the Watergate case tonight and said he had never profited from his public service.

"I have earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life I have never obstructed justice," Mr. Nixon said.

"People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I''m not a crook. I''ve earned everything I''ve got."

Well Mr. President and Bill Clinton is not a Racist! Trust Him. CACKLE CACKLE CACKLE

[jedi080808]

No, you fell for that main stream media/Obama b.s. It was the MSM with the help of Obama''''s organization that sabatage Hillary Clinton during her campaign.

Posted by michael0004 at 10:28 PM : Aug 04, 2008

Give me a break, the Media was in the tank for Hillary for the last two years. CBS news stands for Clinton Broadcast Network. Katie Courik has a huge lesbian crush on Hillary.

Hillary lost because she was an overratted canidate. If anyone else had been running the drive by media would of never fallen for the "first lady equals experience BS".
Bill and Hill have played the race card more times then the GOP has. That might be surprising to some but to anyone that knows about the Clintons and all their scandals, including rape and murder, it isn''t surprising.

Bill Is a racist and so is his wife Billary.
She will never get anywhere in the Dem party without the support of the black communitty and she has lost that support forever!!

[michael0004]

Bill Clinton seemed to be doing everything in his power to sabotage Hilary Clinton during her campaign. Now he is trying to sabotage Barack Obama by raising the race issue again right in the middle of his campaign for President. Bill Clinton, or Slick Willy as they call him, is sick. The biggest shortcoming of his time in office is that congress never had the courage to impeach him.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by InTheShade at 06:33 PM : Aug 04, 2008

No, you fell for that main stream media/Obama b.s. It was the MSM with the help of Obama''s organization that sabatage Hillary Clinton during her campaign.
The strategy was simple, first Obama and/or media victimize her and then when she complains, they lable her as playing the role of the "victim". The media echo chamber then repeats it and it goes on and on and on. And in the case of Bill Clinton, they accused him of playing the race card which was Obama and his strategy of playing the race card fully knowing that the main stream media would never dare to accuse the black candidate of using race as a weapon. John McCain learned from this use of the race card in the Democratic primaries. So at the first indication that Obama was going to do it to him, McCain struck first. The media, of course, predictably defended Obama, but that doesn''t change reality.

[voltaire333]

Voltaire333: Wow, all that bullyboy insulting name calling and profanity.
Posted by prudentvoter at 07:38 PM : Aug 04, 2008

Again with the lying, you are simply a liar and can''t STAND it when you are called on it. The truth hurts, don''t it? Boo, hoo, hoo, the Clintons have victimized you again! :-)

[libra127]

Since they have left the scene the whole election has moved up to a higher level. Discussion is now more polite and intellectual, and for the most part more focused on the issues.

Posted by jgunther7 at 06:27 PM : Aug 04, 2008

A higher level ? You must be joking. Invocations of Britany Spears and Paris Hilton in John McCain''s campaign ads are not what I consider a "higher level". McCain''s been fighting far dirtier and more negative than Sen. Clinton ever did. And certainly he has not been focused on intellectual issues !

[intheshade-2009]

If only those Clintons would go away. It would be just like them to try and throw the election, just so they could sit around and say I told you so. And we would be stuck with another four years of McBush, only worst. We should put the Clintons on a mule backwards and shoo them off back to Arkansas.

[prudentvoter]

Voltaire333: Wow, all that bullyboy insulting name calling and profanity. Obviously from the frustration of not having the intellect to express what you are tying to say. %u201CThose minority people have their place, and it is subservient to the Clintons%u201D seems to have struck a raw nerve and has you all in stew.

[jtyler271]

Posted by InTheShade at 06:33 PM : Aug 04, 2008

Actually, he was impeached. That was what all that media coverage was about in the late 90''s. It was an impeachment.

[thegoodtexan]

Convicted perjurer Bill Clinton is telling us "I am not a racist". The next thing he will be telling us is "I did not have *** with that women".

[voltaire333]

Those minority people have their place, and it is subservient to the Clintons.
Posted by prudentvoter at 06:17 PM : Aug 04, 2008

By the way, Alice Huffman, President of the California NAACP was an avid supporter of Hillary Clinton. Do you suppose Ms. Huffman was just trying to keep blacks down? In short, grow up. The Clintons are on the right side of the issues, and people like you are responsible for what''s wrong with government and politics today, way too many filthy liars like you.

[voltaire333]

However when one member of those minorities had the audacity to rise up and independently represent himself, the real Clinton viewpoint came to the fore. Those minority people have their place, and it is subservient to the Clintons.
Posted by prudentvoter at 06:17 PM : Aug 04, 2008

Oh, cry me a river. The republican party is the most racist organization on the face of the earth, and here you are carrying on about a man who has done more to advance the cause of racial equality in this country than any white man in recent history. Go stick your petty, simple-minded complaints about the Clintons where the sun don''t shine.

[intheshade-2009]

Bill Clinton seemed to be doing everything in his power to sabotage Hilary Clinton during her campaign. Now he is trying to sabotage Barack Obama by raising the race issue again right in the middle of his campaign for President. Bill Clinton, or Slick Willy as they call him, is sick. The biggest shortcoming of his time in office is that congress never had the courage to impeach him.

[jgunther7]

As an Obama supporter, I was appalled at the low life mud slinging that came out of the Clinton campaign. They evoked everything from race to religion, to the RFK assassination. Since they have left the scene the whole election has moved up to a higher level. Discussion is now more polite and intellectual, and for the most part more focused on the issues. However it was too good to last. We now get the return of stinky cigar Clinton. He is back on the scene and trying to bring the whole process down to his own level again. Here we are back in the gutter with Bill Clinton and family.