Jake Tapper debunks a big one:
False Pushback from Clinton AlliesJanuary 28, 2008 1:19 PM
Some supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, are inaccurately saying that her husband's comparison of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, to Rev. Jesse Jackson came only because a reporter had asked the former president whether a black candidate can win South Carolina, thus raising the subject.
The larger charge is that reporters were falsely painting the president as race-baiting.
It's not true. Clinton brought up Jackson with no mention of Jackson by reporters, and with no mention of the subject of whether an African-American can win by reporters.
Here's the whole transcript:
It's crazy for the Clintons to argue they haven't been engaged in race-baiting.
The only thing they can do is apologize, and hope people accept their apology.
Five weeks after Bill Clinton's interview on The Charlie Rose show, it's useful to look back at what he said then. I think you can pretty clearly see that he outlined the strategy we are seeing today, starting with his dismissive claim that Barack Obama, "by his very nature," was just a symbol.
© Jed Lewison