Bill Clinton Flashback: "All These Economically Insecure White People...Are Scared To Death"

[catgirl]

Huff Post:

As the rumination continues over Barack Obama's comments about economically-depressed small town voters, statements made by Bill Clinton on the same topic -- uttered while he was running for president in 1991 -- have now surfaced.

"The reason (George H. W. Bush's tactic) works so well now is that you have all these economically insecure white people who are scared to death," Clinton was quoted saying by the Los Angeles Times in September 1991.

A couple months later, Joe Klein, writing for the Sunday Times, reported that Clinton made the following remarks:

"You know, he wants to divide us over race. I'm from the South. I understand this. This quota deal they're gonna pull in the next election is the same old scam they've been pulling on us for decade after decade after decade. When their economic policies fail, when the country's coming apart rather than coming together, what do they do? They find the most economically insecure white men and scare the living daylights out of them. They know if they can keep us looking at each other across a racial divide, if I can look at Bobby Rush and think, Bobby wants my job, my promotion, then neither of us can look at George Bush and say, 'What happened to everybody's job? What happened to everybody's income? What ... have ... you ... done ... to ... our ... country?'"

Read on:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/13/bill-clinton-flashback-al_n_96433.html

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. Oops.

[Voice for Peace]

69. Oops is right. lol

[ORDem]

71. No oops about it. They calculate these things and rely on the MSM's laziness

to not follow up. Seems to work pretty well, unfortunately.

:dem:

[MidwestTransplant]

2. BC used to be a smart, sincere politician.

[dchill]

31. No, we used to BELIEVE that he was...

'cause that's what he wanted us to believe. Fool me once...

[MidwestTransplant]

44. I would like to think that is not the case but maybe you are right.

[dchill]

46. I really can't come up with any other way to look...

at it, try as I might. I defended him in '98 because he was a Democrat and he looked right at me (and everybody else) and said he didn't do it. Like I said, fool me once.

[redqueen]

68. Yup. (nt)

[Brigid]

57. Yeah.

Having Hillary running for president seems to have done somethng to him. Can't quite put my finger on what it is, though.

[BearSquirrel2]

63. Give him some more interns !!!

I think he's genuinely "reformed" on the sex thing so now he can only get it from Hillary. No sex for Bill makes him uptite.

He needs more interns, LOTS of them. Give him some booze and dope while he's at it. Then maybe we'll get old Bill back.

Hillary has been the conservative albatross around Bill's neck all along!!!!

[guyanakoolaid]

59. I think the temptation of more interns, without a Presidential schedule for him to keep up with,

was too much.

:loveya: :smoke:

[Yael]

3. Hillary lives in Opposite Land.

It doesn't matter what Obama says, or how it is framed, or what the core message is -- if he is for it, she is adamantly against it.

She will (for years) be a running fodder for late night teevee hosts. The Brittney Spears of politics.

[LaurenG]

4. Heh heh

Whoops!
:7

[KaptBunnyPants]

5. DId he just call all white men from the South insecure, racist cowards?

Bill Clinton is totally unelectable!!@!1!@?!

[bluestateguy]

6. Impacting...

....

[KittyWampus]

8. this could leave a mark.

[unblock]

7. i don't see scared people. that's not my experience. i see brave people!

[americanstranger]

39. And they're rolling up their sleeves!

Heh.

- as

[bigbrother05]

9. ...

:popcorn:

[mod mom]

10. He raised the issue and then once elected turned his back on them passed NAFTA & most favored trade

with China. It was all political opportunism w Clinton-imho.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Plus he sent his wife over to China to say "Bad bad China"

as a smoke and mirrors cover while she was shilling right along with him for MFN and NAFTA.

[mod mom]

21. A firm that has donated to the president's charity is accused of collaborating with the government..

"A firm that has donated to the president's charity is accused of collaborating with the government in its crackdown on Tibetan activists"

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-clintonchina13apr13,1,2958700.story

[BumRushDaShow]

28. Heard about that! n/t

[dchill]

32. Well, you weren't SUPPOSED to!

:shrug:

[catgirl]

45. and Hillary's trying to look like the hero

We need to demand that the Clinton's publicize the list of donors to
Bill's Foundation. Was this company one of those that was accidentally
leaked? I'd love to see the entire list.

[Liberal Veteran]

49. She was talking about the quality of her dinner service set, not the country.

[BearSquirrel2]

64. Wal-Mart led the way ...

All while Wal-Mart was putting blasting their "Made in the USA" ads, they were plotting on sourcing all their merchandise from China and reaping the windfalls. Hillary was definitely in on these discussions. She knew damn well what they planned on doing. No doubt she was in Bill's ear getting him to do it.

I wish he would just divorce that bitch and get it over with. Find yourself a nice hippy girl Bill.

[Lucky 13]

11. Sexist! When are you going to understand she has a difference of opinion than her husband?....

... when convenient. Like in this instance for example.

If Bill ever said or did something popular - she is for it and takes credit for his work.
If Bill ever said or did anything UNPOPULAR or something that is NOW politically inconvenient - then it's that sexist people can't separate her opinions from her husbands.

Lovely double standard they've created for themselves.

[mod mom]

22. Then she shouldn't have him drawing crowds with his stump speeches.

Can't have it both ways!

[Raine]

25. Then she should have him quit speaking for her...

once again he's back on the trail now mouthing off about this "issue".

Edit: corrected typo

[IronLionZion]

72. Sometimes I wonder if the false outrage might actually hurt women's rights as much as real sexism

other times I just know.

[quantass]

13. Hello!

[phrigndumass]

14. Kicked & Rec'd

Good on ya, catgirl!

:thumbsup:

[Raine]

15. Interesting...

THANKS for posting this.

[FrenchieCat]

16. Kicking in the name of hypocracy!

Hillary Clinton is married to an "elitist", it appears!

[LTR]

17. I wonder what would happen if Obama said that very same thing

Hell, I'll be willing to bet even Bill would tear him apart. With his wife's permission, of course.

[SwampG8r]

23. oh man

what a great trick to pull on hillypoo
and its been done to her before
i seem to remember during one of the early debates she was read a statement she decried and was all googly eyed when they told her bill said it

[Catherina]

18. Despicable n/t

[ampad]

19. WOW

What a bunch of hypocrites.

[Hope And Change]

20. Bill Clinton doesn`t count.

:sarcasm:

[DangerousRhythm]

24. SHOCK, HORROR. I'm so offended.

I hope more people see this. Nice find! :thumbsup:

[BeyondGeography]

26. It's something Bill has long acknowledged to be true...but let's knock the crap out of Obama anyway

even if it doesn't work this time, we might weaken him enough so we can come back AGAIN in 2012.

Let's hear it for Clinton-enabling Democrats.

[Raine]

27. Yup both Clintons know damn well

what Obama meant because they know what he says is true. I can't stand their hypocrisy. :mad:

edit: took out one word

[Forkboy]

29. Hey, cut him some slack. He thought they were typical white people.

;)

[Scurrilous]

30. K & R

:thumbsup:

[dchill]

33. Recommended.

and... :kick:

[Eric Condon]

34. I just rec'd this into next Tuesday. EVERY Hillary supporter should see this. nt

[george_maniakes]

36. is that Dodd wearing 3-d glasses? n/t

[Eric Condon]

50. It is indeed.

It's from this:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/16387/saturday-night-live-snl-digital-short-laser-cats-3#s-p1-so-i0

[Voice for Peace]

70. thanks for the snl link... that was pretty hilarious

[AspenRose]

38. Or not

All that will happen is that Obama will be accused of stealing Bill Clinton's ideas.

Just watch.

[anonymous171]

35. OMG ELITIST!

[Hippo_Tron]

37. Bill's allowed to say that because he's white

There I said it...

[AspenRose]

42. Yep

It isn't so much the message that is the problem as it is who is delivering the message. And it's sad to see people not vote in their best interest because of being blinded by prejudice.

PS-go look at the video on this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5485950

"I'm not going to vote for Barack Obama...but no, he spoke the truth"

:wtf:

[futureliveshere]

40. K&R

[TexasObserver]

41. Yes, but he was a white man saying it. The racist subtext drives the Obama bashing.

If Obama was white, we wouldn't be hearing all this phony indignation.

Like many of the Clinton poutrages, this one is about the uppity black man, and their attempts to exploit not-so-subtle racism among rural whites.

[progressoid]

43. ...

[TragedyandHope]

47. Oh no, he di'nt! n/t

[democracy1st]

48. Oh Yes he did

:kick:

[Usrename]

51. Good thing he didn't say anything that could be construed as elitist.

:rofl:

Or anything that might make him sound a little arrogant.

edit to add>:sarcasm:

[smiley_glad_hands]

52. They only care about progressive causes it seems when it suits them. eom

[Zachstar]

53. And their wallets in my view.

[scheming daemons]

54. Notice that not a SINGLE CLINTON SUPPORTER has responded in this thread....

..


Not fucking one.

[Zachstar]

55. Forget the Clinton supporters.

After Obama is the presumptive nominee and a week they will either adapt or if they disrupt after that they will be banned.


I got a big feeling that more than half of the remaining Clinton supporters here will leave at this rate sadly. I hope one day they decide the Obama is better than McCain.

[slinkerwink]

56. I noticed

[Romulox]

58. But Obama was supposed to be about "Change", not "more of the same", remember?

Sounds like he shares both Bill Clinton's support for neo-liberal trade policies and his disdain for working Americans to me. :eyes:

[JTFrog]

62. You just totally make shit up and plop in in a thread.

[Lakerstan]

60. K&R

[PATRICK]

61. Some smart ops

have noticed why Bill got away with this. He easily claimed his "Bubba" boy identity and could thus make those statements easily. Barack starts off differently and any attempt at identity might alienate those same voters. Hence the easy "elitist" attack to further take advantage of the racial and "not Bubba" subtext. When the smears leapfrog that means that want to skip the real meat of their attack- which is in the candidate identity relationship with the voters. That saves the direct race card for another day and they've already established Wright as a talking point.

The difference with Obama and why he has come so far is that he is beyond the talking point and sound bite theater that passes for political contest in fogbound America. It is not that these tactics don't work. They work as always to at the least dominate the MSM and distract the national mind. It is that Obama- with the core instinct of most voters behind him- plays his communication skills combined with impressive reasoning(full, not bites) right on top of the small stuff. Things that would have been gaffes or clever bites of his own shrink into the tsunami like flow of his words to the nation.

If politics itself is a test, a bastardized one at that, this is a good sign of overcoming all the other crap. People will sense and get behind that no matter how the small stuff is propped and works at present. Now Clinton had it a different way and rallied people behind him as someone who overcame the divide. With far greater reliance on his own words and person Obama has done far more. I hope he sees that and does not overlook the tumors on the body politic that he may shrink, the dogs that slip snarling
into the shadows, the fawning MSM praise for the "winner" that seeks to corrupt and defeat hope by any other means.

[BearSquirrel2]

65. I think Rachel Maddow calls this ...

I think Rachel Maddow calls this "Throwing Red Meat to the dopes". It's a well recognized strategy. The fact that she seems to be engaging in it tells me she is a true Republican at heart. Once a Goldwater Girl, ALWAYS a Goldwater Girl.

[indimuse]

66. ...

<<<snip>>>>

By Big Tent Democrat
Nico Pitney notes a Bill Clinton 1991 statement:

"The reason (George H. W. Bush's tactic) works so well now is that you have all these economically insecure white people who are scared to death," Clinton was quoted saying by the Los Angeles Times in September 1991.

Pitney thinks (Pitney clarifies that he takes no position on whether the statements are equivalent; of course others have taken that position when linking to Pitney) that is equivalent to what Barack Obama said about small town voters being bitter and clinging to their guns and their religion. I do not. Obama said:

So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Bill Clinton was critiquing Republicans, not voters. Obama's statement was construed, and not unfairly, as critiquing voters. But more importantly, this line of defense for Barack Obama is incredibly foolish. Bob Casey got it right. Express regrets and move on. I hope other Obama supporters catch up soon. They are hurting Obama now.

[Alcibiades]

67. Good point

We should also note that what Obama was trying to do was, in fact, to explain the opinions of small town America to a San Francisco audience. Oftentimes, we have seen people accuse those who disagree with them of acting in bad faith, or of being crazy, or both. Obama was explaining that people who support someone else are not pathological. They are looking for those things upon which they think they can rely.

[DevonRex]

73. Wow. Just wow. K&R

[happygoluckytoyou]

74. BITTER ISNT THE HALF OF HOW WE FEEL

WE ALREADY KNOW THE DANGER OF BOMB BOMB BOMB JOHN "THE REPUBLICAN" MCCAIN....

for the past several months i have advocated allowing Clinton and Obama to duke it out---
what does not kill us makes us stronger


BUT HILLARY HAS GONE INTO A "ME OR DIE" REPUBLICAN-LITE ATTACK FORMAT WHICH WILL NOW HAVE ME VOTING MCCAIN IF SHE IS OUR CANDIDATE.....
..................NEW YORK CAN KEEP THEIR SENATOR

BARACK IS "NOT IN TOUCH"??????

BARACK DIDN'T MAKE $110 MILLION DOLLARS LAST YEAR
BARACK JUST FINISHED PAYING OFF HIS STUDENT LOANS
BARACK GREW UP IN A LOWER MIDDLE CLASS ENVIRONMENT WITH THE CONSTANT STIGMA ASSIGNED TO PEOPLE OF HIS COLOR IN AMERICA

........ HILLARY... PLEASE READ THIS... GO HOME!!!!!

[L0oniX]

75. K&R