Subj : It's all racism! To : SEAN DENNIS From : BOB KLAHN Date : Mon May 30 2011 18:26:52 SD> Typical liberal politician: when all else fails, blame skin SD> color! Blame skin color for what? It would be absurd to deny there is some racial antagonism. ... SD> WASHINGTON — House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn, SD> the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, on SD> Wednesday blamed most of President Barack Obama's political SD> problems on racism. No, he didn't. I suggest you read the transcript. He did not specify political. If you read it, what he specifically references is not political at all. They are personal attacks. ************************************************************************** Clyburn protests article on Obama, race By JAMES ROSEN McClatchy Newspapers U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn objected Thursday to coverage of his views on the impact of President Barack Obama's race on assessments of the president's performance in the White House. ... In his letter, Clyburn noted his interview hadn't been arranged to discuss the influence of Obama's race as the first black president. 'there were four people in the room when McClatchy reporter Jim Rosen came to interview me regarding my position on the Vice President's deficit-reduction committee," Clyburn wrote in the letter. Clyburn answered questions about his role on that panel for 15 minutes. The interview then turned to several other issues, which he addressed without objection. Clyburn was asked for his views on Obama's re-election prospects. After saying "They're improving every day," Clyburn said Obama had "been a good president, a great commander in chief." Without any prompting or further questioning, Clyburn then brought up Obama's race. Clyburn said "the president's problems are in large measure because of his skin color." In his letter, Clyburn didn't retract or otherwise repudiate anything he was quoted as saying. "I do believe President Obama faces challenges other presidents have not due to the color of his skin," Clyburn wrote in his letter to the editor. "To think otherwise, I believe is naive and fails to consider our nation's historic struggle on the issue of race. But it's not the only issue that defines him, or the only issue for which I relate to him." *PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT* A transcript of the relevant portion of the McClatchy interview Wednesday with U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia: ... I'm 70 years old. And I can tell you; people don't like to deal with it, but the fact of the matter is, the president's problems are in large measure because of his skin color. All you got to do is look at all the signs they're carrying out there and look at the mail that I get. As I said, I'm 70 years old, I been going through this kind of stuff all my life. I know what kind of mail I get, I know what kind of phone calls I get, I know what people are saying who call the office. QUESTION: How does that relate to the president? CLYBURN: We have the same skin color; that's how it relates to him. QUESTION: So they're willing to say these things to you, you're a congressman, they're maybe not as willing to say them as directly to the president? CLYBURN: Well, who said that? I'll tell you about the president. The president can read. I read the (unintelligible), he can read the same (unintelligible) as I'm reading. When he sees his face being put on a chimpanzee's body, do you think he didn't see that? And I suspect they send the same faxes to his office they send to mine. QUESTION: Do you agree with his decision to release his full-form birth certificate? CLYBURN: Well, yeah, I agree with that. I don't know why anybody didn't ask for John McCain's. He wasn't even born in this country. Nobody asked for his birth certificate. © 2011 TheState.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thestate.com ************************************************************************** ... SD> Clyburn, who met his wife at a 1960 court hearing after SD> spending a night in jail for having engaged in a civil SD> rights protest in Orangeburg, S.C., then brought up Obama's SD> race as the first black president. SD> "You know, I'm 70 years old," he said. "And I can tell you; SD> people don't like to deal with it, but the fact of the SD> matter is, the president's problems are in large measure SD> because of the color of his skin." That portion is obviously taken out of context, as you can see above. ... SD> Marilyn Davenport, a member of the Orange County Republican SD> Central Committee in California, forwarded an email to SD> friends last month that displayed a photograph of a SD> chimpanzee with Obama's face superimposed on its head. SD> In response to the immediate uproar, Davenport apologized SD> but rebuffed demands from the California NAACP that she SD> resign her GOP post. SD> Clyburn suggested that the "birther" movement of Americans SD> who say Obama wasn't born in the United States is fueled by SD> racism. This is also clearly distorted. You can see, above. Rosen asked about the birth certificate. Clyburn did not even mention race. Though ascribing it all to race would not be far fetched either. George Romney was born in Mexico, not on a US military base, but nobody asked for his birth certificate when he tried running for president. SD> "I don't know why anybody didn't ask for John McCain's" SD> birth certificate, Clyburn said. "He wasn't even born in SD> this country." SD> The Republican senator from Arizona, whom Obama defeated in SD> the 2008 presidential election, was born at the Coco Solo SD> Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone, where his SD> father served as an officer who'd later become an admiral SD> and commander of the U.S. Pacific Command. Then authored the report that let Israel off the hook for the attack on the Liberty, but that's another matter. SD> White House spokesman Adam Abrams declined to comment on SD> Clyburn's remarks. SD> Clyburn said he agreed with the president's decision last SD> month to release his long-form birth certificate from And this is out of order. This came before the above remarks about Obama's birth certificate and McCain's. ... © 2011 TheState.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thestate.com BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn .... Race is an idea whose time has passed. --- Via Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg] * Origin: Since 1991 And Were Still Here! 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