UPDATED 3X!!!!!: Bill Clinton's Jackson comment manufactured by media?
Submitted by Mike Pridmore on January 27, 2008 - 6:49pm.
Over at TPM, I ran across this comment about the now infamous statement by Bill Clinton:
I am outraged by this story. I saw the ORGINAL clip of the reporters question. He FIRST asked Bill whether Obama could win as a black candidate…then added the second part of the question. The media CUT the first part, then accused Bill of injecting ‘race’ (with Jesse Jackson) into this response. These tactics are increasingly alarming to me and show that the media is not only deliberately trying to “spin” again Bill Clinton, they are stealing the election from the American people. People need to stand up to this — it is WRONG!
I am in the process of trying to verify if this is true or not. If so, I think it is really big news.
Apologies for the short blog.
UPDATE: Sources tell me that Congressman Kendrick Meek appeared on MSNBC today and confirmed that there was another part to the question. President Clinton was asked to say something about historic black candidates. Am Am searching for a transcript and/or video of the MSNBC appearance. This is getting interesting!!
UPDATE 2: Called Meek's office again. This time they confirmed that he was on MSNBC at 2 eastern and that the host was Chris Jansing.
UPDATE 3: Jen found a clip of Meek at CNN.
Odds are it will be Romney, but still just the very notion of President Rudy sends shivers down my spine... more than a few republicans I know including a member of my own family say they support Rudy because "he'll do what needs to be done" I'm pretty sure I know what that means considering Rudy's big selling point is attacking Muslims...
But on the flip side Romney has reinvented himself so many times he may be just as willing to do all the things Rudy has advocated once faux starts drumming up support for Operation Iranian Freedom...
Rudy, Romney or Mac, whoever wins, we lose.
...then please send it to Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly. He was leaning Hillary until the Bill's Jackson comment.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_01/012979.php
"The Right always knows who its enemies are" Lance Mannion
...Taylor Marsh.
Someone should be able to rustle up the original unedited tape.
"The Right always knows who its enemies are" Lance Mannion
I was confused when I stumbled upon yet another rec'd Kos diary late last night with them all panting in a fury about the hateful racist Bill Clinton and what WAS he thinking? How COULD he say that?
He said "Jesse Jackson".
Which is obviously as clear an indicator of blatant racism as we have in this world. He said it. Said he won the SC Primary twice. That rat bas**rd!
I get sick seeing this stuff. OK, if it's two or three loonies we can dismiss it... but it's gotten to an entire large community... all feeding off each other.
I knew there was more to that story because, although not indicative of racism- it was an odd response to the Q. You've just answered the question for me. Thanks!
a lot of sturm und drang from both the media and from Obama supporters. Even some Clinton supporters harassed me today at dKos over it.
Fourth Estate Gone Wild!!
media assassination- the sequel
posted this at MyDD. RAte it up:
http://mydd.com/story/2008/1/27/174522/807
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
...maybe Susan from No Quarter will see it and check it out. She posts there
"The Right always knows who its enemies are" Lance Mannion
On the First-Read page there is additional transcript from that interview, but not what the person who says he saw the original says it was. But that doesn't mean the transcript is also partial...Looks like MSNBC is the place to get the rest of the interview tape.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/01/26/611927.aspx
"It takes two to speak the truth - one to speak and one to hear." - Henry David Thoreau
stamp on the video is from Fox News. Here is the Kerry question mentioned at your link:
http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/01/26/bill-clinton-refuses-kerrys-bait-about-abusing-the-truth/
And this was evidently at Spartanburg, South Carolina.
to Talk Left, current thread.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
says this:
You can't find it. I saw it YESTERDAY when it first aired. Now, the clip has been edited to try to paint Bill a biggot.
If Dems are trying to "dump" the Clintons by using these tactics (or endorsing them), we are not the part of "hope" that Obama promises. Anyone with 1/2 a brain can see that the response from Bill doesn't fit the later part of the question. And, why would he say he was being "baited" if the question was only the later part? I'm not willing to surrender the principle of fair play to jump on the Obama bandwagon. The Clintons deserve a fair election - as do all the candidates.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
MSNBC had a transcript, but the stamp on the video that I saw had "you decide 08" on it. That is a Fox News logo:
http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/01/26/bill-clinton-refuses-kerrys-bait-about-abusing-the-truth/
than one news organization filmed it.
"It takes two to speak the truth - one to speak and one to hear." - Henry David Thoreau
kilgore:
In his speech last night, Obama talked about 'distraction' and I believe that is exactly what is happening here. I saw the whole clip with Bill Clinton and he was led into the Jesse Jackson statement. But he still made it and he still implied that, of course Obama was going to win SC because he's black.
That makes me want to say, "So what?" So what if that's true? I certainly have seen lots of comments from women who are supporting Hillary because she's female. We've seen people vote or against candidates just because of where they're from. For example, I couldn't have voted happily for Howard Dean because for this Okie, he was too "Yankified." What bothered me? He talked faster than I can listen. (I like him as DNC chair, though, and has done a great job.) That's a lousy reason not to like a candidate, but I couldn't help it.
Every attribute of every candidate can be a reason to vote for or against him or her. Probably most of those attributes should be irrelevant, but in the complicated mix of reasons why people vote the way they do, these attributes do, in fact, sway people one way or another.
If blacks vote for Obama because he's black, all power to him. The African-American community is an important constituency. And to the extent that it's true that South Carolina blacks voted for Obama for that reason, it would be dishonest not to mention it in analyzing the South Carolina race (no pun intended).
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Make America All It Can Be!
you wouldn't believe the response that rational observation got at dKos though. It is a nuthouse these days.
that Hillary would get pilloried; we just didn't expect it to come from fellow democrats. I'm sort of hoping the sun will expand to red dwarf size soon.
Substance! What a concept!
Yes, I was thoroughly convinced she wouldn't even run, knowing what the radical regressives would do to her. Never even occurred to me it would be our own party doing it.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
Thanks, Mike. I didn't know if I was going to get pilloried or not for my comments.
The reason I've all but abandoned dKos is that rationality and dKos have nothing to do with each other.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Make America All It Can Be!
I haven't been to dKos in weeks but I have checked my state blog, RK. It used to be one of the first places I checked in the morning for the state political news. No more. The sane, reasonable, civilized and logical people who used to post there are gone and it is now populated solely by Obamaniacs. If you make any post at all with fact, you're trashed. There is no reasonable discussion of policies (could that be because we haven't heard any from Obama?), just more hope and change. Well, I hope they recognize that many of their former readers have changed what they read and which blogs they frequent. I have.
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE!!!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049366/trailers-screenplay-E14099-310
"This is the oddest thing I've ever heard of. Let's hope we don't catch it. I'd hate to wake up some morning and find out that ... you weren't you..."
Invasion of the Obama Snatchers... Coming Soon to a Blog Near You
It honestly makes no sense the way they have it. It starts out:
"What does it say about Barack Obama that it takes 2 of you to beat him?"
Bill starts out with a laugh and says, "That's just bait, too, Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice..."
He's not even addressing the question asked, so obviously they asked something else that was clipped.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
why Hillary's campaign doesn't have video cameras rolling at all events. She sure as heck can afford it.
Proud to be an American.
Why don't they? Cripes.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
Greenwald, Clemons, Marshall, Big Tent -- many others -- this particular episode has pushed them away from defending or supporting the Clintons. One simply can not underestimate what a powerful force the media is in this country..
what blows my mind is that so many in the left blogosphere are so willing to trust them. Amazing.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
After spending the last 7 years railing at what liars the media are, that so many progressives are now willing to accept whatever they put out as GOSPEL just blows my freaking mind. Seriously.
"As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular." - Oscar Wilde
has been kind of wishy washy lately. I will send Armando (BTD) an e-mail and see if I can get him involved.
I posted it on one of his threads, but he hasn't responded.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
Looking Glass Moment.
O'Reilly has this on-going theme about MSNBC annointing Obama as the "Chosen One" and then portraying Hillary as the "Evil One" He shows a lot of footage of Tweety, Keith, and some others
to prove his point. If O'Reilly could get hold of a Faux tape that contradicts the speil from MSNBC, I wonder if he'd do it.
I know this is a crazy thought, but Russert and his panel of Dowd and Chuck Todd were doing the usual thing today of saying how Bill Clinton was stirring up racial tension. Mentioned the Martin Luther King LBJ/Jessie Jackson stuff. It was infuriating.
So can I be crazy and think about O'Reilly catching MSNBC up to no good?
"Enemy of my Enemy is my friend" and all that? LoL
Oh yes, I've been watching more of Faux lately. I always like to see what they are up to. Allen Colms has been defending Hillary as well as O'Reilly.
not from any altruism, I'm sure, but because it fits into his slamming both KO and MSNBC theme.
But on this one, they DESERVE to get slammed, even if its by BillO.
"As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular." - Oscar Wilde
that this particular Jesse Jackson comment has also turned Thom Hartmann anti Clinton - and he has been consistently fair minded all this time.
He is reporting that Bill made the comment to a question that was unrelated, and then he - like the rest- has concluded it was his way to inject more racism into the picture.
If you have any verification of the MSNBC edit (I've not been able to follow developments closely) can somebody please call or email Thom at Air America. His voice is so important and he's the kind of broadcaster who WILL correct himself if he's made an error.
Thanks. :(
what program he was on? Hard to do searches with only the information he was on today.
ms in la, can't get Thom Hartmann's website to come up.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
The folks over at ABC have come up with what is supposedly a complete transcript of the whole thing. I think it is a fake, inasmuch as it does not contain what Meek said.
with the information we have so far. (The comments on the ABC blog, the video at YouTube, showing only the 2nd question, and this new information about Congressman Meeks.) Hope he'll look into it.
Honestly, how can anyone not see that Bill's response makes absolutely no sense if the only question asked was "What does it say about Barack Obama that it takes 2 of you to beat him?" Whereas if you add the question "Can Barack Obama win as a Black candidate?" his response makes perfect sense. He chuckes, and says "Well, that's just bait too. Jesse Jackson won South Caroline twice..."
Cripes.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
has a link to the entire transcript at Political Punch, and there is no question like that. Could they have edited the transcript as well?
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/064979.php
If we get the transcript of Congressman Meeks saying that on MSNBC, it will be his word against ABC. Guess who wins?
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
I sent a personal e-mail to him asking nicely if he had a transcript. I didn't see that he had posted this until this afternoon. But still no response in my inbox. Not a damn thing.
him not answering my e-mail. Getting a little sleep deprived I think. Need to take a break and eat and rest.
for today's appearance. Search for Jansing + Meeks only shows an item from 2004.
...How long before the transcripts are up?
"The Right always knows who its enemies are" Lance Mannion
Transcripts will be available within 24 hours of airing.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3719710/
I hope it shows up. I've emailed Thom Hartmann, Josh Marshall and Bob Somerby so far. And posted at the Political Punch which Josh links to in his latest post about this.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
near as far as I can throw him. That tells you how much confidence I have in that ABC transcript. I sent e-mails asking for such and got nothing back from them, including from Josh Marshall. If there was a full transcript out there, then where was it when we were all looking for it before? It wasn't there. I don't trust the provenance.
This really really sucks. They just showed the clip on NBC Nightly News (Andrea Mitchell story) with Bill talking about Jesse Jackson's win in SC and Obama's win.
Sargent and Josh Marshall of TPM.
Greg said:
"Jen, is the suggestion that the transcript that now exists is incomplete?"
and Josh said:
"If the transcript has really been faked that will certainly be a big deal. But I cannot think of any reason to believe that’s true."
I replied to both that we're awaiting the transcript of Congressman Meeks on MSNBC.
This is what I originally sent to them:
I realize you've posted the (supposed) entire transcript, showing that Bill Clinton does indeed bring up Jesse Jackson out of the blue in the interview in S.C.
Congressman Kendrick Meeks was on MSNBC today, 2pm Eastern time (host Chris Jansing) and confirmed that there was another part to the question -- President Clinton was asked to say something about historic black candidates.
We are awaiting the transcript, but why would he make something like that up?
I realize you may be sick of this episode of "Clinton's are racists" but if this was a media set-up, it is huge and needs to be exposed.
Sincerely,
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
this. Josh ignored my e-mail to him. :(
This gives me hope that he will follow up with the Meek comment.
I think it's up to us. I just used the link on the TPM homepage that says Send Comments and News Tips. Got 2 separate replies within 15 minutes.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
with Bill Clinton's staff for a comment from Bill. Also, don't they all have their own videographers following them around every second of the campaign?
Substance! What a concept!
http://yappadingding.blogspot.com/2008/01/correcting-record-too-little-too-late.html
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rating up the new update at MyDD:
I think they underestimate how much it is spreading around. I think their strategy is that it is better to ignore it and let it die than get into an argument with the press. If I argue with the press and by some miracle win, especially without their help, they will look better than if they got involved in a he said/he said back and forth with the press. That is how this is shaping up. Those of us who are working on this will have the Kendrick Meek comment and that will be weighed against the supposedly complete transcript. Obama supporters at dKos already preemptively attacked Meek's credibility just based on what he said today and nothing else.
My hope is that I can get something credible to pass on to other big name bloggers and the Clintons can stay above the fray. It is better sometimes to have others defend you than to defend yourself. At least that's how I'm looking at it.
Maybe send it to the facthub at the Clinton campaign. Perhaps they can get access to the video/transcript. 
He that plants trees loves others besides himself. ~English Proverb
OH NO, as I was typing and listening to my local NBC news just heard a commentary about SOTU:
Talking head woman said, about HRC:
"She looked bored, she looked devastated. She looked ALONE."
"On the other hand, you saw Barack Obama, laughing, giggling, having a good time with Ted Kennedy..."
Nahh.... there's not really any concerted media efforts to color this thing in one way or the other.
Watch it:
CNN
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
Josh, Greg Sargent, Thom Hartmann, and Talk Left. Plus posted at MyDD and Political Punch. Let's get this out there.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
and Mike for all your work on this today.
Hopefully some of them will be open minded enough to explore further. Is it so preposterous a notion after all that the media might be trying to paint the Clinton's in a poor light? Geez.
Hope they review it and start correcting the spin...
Thanks Jen and Mike for staying on this...Good Job!
I've also sent it to Taylor Marsh.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
to give us President Mitt Romney.