A note for voters in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Indiana. As you listen to Hillary Clinton talk about her devotion to the middle class, perhaps you should consider this:
During the past week, Sen. Hillary Clinton has presented herself as a working class populist, the politician in touch with small town sentiments, compared to the elitism of her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama.
But a telling anecdote from her husband’s administration shows Hillary Clinton’s attitudes about the “lunch-bucket Democrats” are not exactly pristine.
In January 1995, as the Clintons were licking their wounds from the 1994 congressional elections, a debate emerged at a retreat at Camp David. Should the administration make overtures to working class white southerners who had all but forsaken the Democratic Party? The then-first lady took a less than inclusive approach.
“Screw ‘em,” she told her husband. “You don’t owe them a thing, Bill. They’re doing nothing for you; you don’t have to do anything for them.”
The statement — which author Benjamin Barber witnessed and wrote about in his book, “The Truth of Power: Intellectual Affairs in the Clinton White House” — was prompted by another speaker raising the difficulties of reaching “Reagan Democrats.” It stands in stark contrast to the attitude the New York Democrat has recently taken on the campaign trail, in which she has presented herself as the one candidate who understands the working-class needs.
That’s from Sam Stein at The Huffington Post, and it’s corroborated by Alan Wolfe, a first-hand witness writing at The New Republic:
Both Chris Orr and Michael Crowley have brought up Ben Barber’s recollection of how angry Hillary had been at a 1995 Camp David retreat that was attended by a number of intellectuals. “Screw ‘em” was the term of art she directed–shall I say bitterly?–against white working-class Southerners. Harry Boyte, who was there, has also chimed in, pointing out, along with Barber, that Bill, by contrast, talked about the need to reach out to them.
“So, you’ve got two guys we’ve barely heard of remembering a verbatim quote from 13 years ago?… Sounds totally and completely reliable,” responded Jay Carson from the Clinton campaign. Make that three. I was there. I hope people have heard of me. And Barber and Boyte have it right.
Now this should make for a fun little story going into the primary.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Hillary Clinton – Leadership You Can Almost Trust! On Southern working class whites: “Screw ‘em,” [Hillary] told her husband. “You don’t owe them a thing, Bill. They’re doing nothing for you; you don’t have to do anything for them.” -Hillary Clinton, 1995
Hillary, who, according to her only recently joined the middleclass, frames last night’s debate as if both she and Obama both said things that weren’t true. Barack says his words got mangled, it happens. Hillary says she out and out lied, it happens. We’re even. His was a faux pas, a social blunder, to which he admits. On the other hand she tells falsehoods, gets caught by (video) the most powerful evidence there is, next to DNA evidence, but continues to lie. Her husband gets into the act, by lying about the lying. Making them both big fat liars. She finally says okay, I lied. Although lost in the dialogue (bickering) is Hillary’s record of dishonesty. Hillary’s history of lies and unethical behavior goes back farther, goes deeper than anyone realizes: http://theseedsof9-11.com