Comments on: BET Founder Criticizes, Gets Rich Off Drug Use

By: Holly Won't

Holly Won't — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:47:07 +0000

Because Obama’s passages about his social service have given that book so much attention lately.

In any event, I’d like to play Mad Libs with what Johnson claimed he really meant to show how absurd this excuse is:

“Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues since Barack Obama was [community organizing] in the neighborhood — and I won’t say what [kind of volunteering] he was doing, but he [talked about his commitment to the community] in the book…”

By: C.

C. — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:53:01 +0000

I guess I was wrong to take things at face value. Live and learn, my bad, and all that.

By: The Oversneer

The Oversneer — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:19:16 +0000

So if Ross Perot came back the day after his disastrous 1992 “You people” gaffe at an NAACP event, and said he was really referring to white Americans, would you buy it for a second?

Or an even better example: If Trent Lott had come out the day after he appeared to approve of Strom Thurmond’s segregationist “Dixiecrat” past in 2002, and claimed that the bit about “all these problems over all these years” really referred to economic inflation … would anyone have bought that line?

I don’t think even Rush Limbaugh would have been able to stifle his laughter long enough to try.

By: Corey

Corey — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 03:55:18 +0000

This is the closest I could find:

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=5165

By: Simon Scowl

Simon Scowl — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 03:49:49 +0000

It’s called backpedalling.

By: Rocko

Rocko — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 03:42:43 +0000

“Johnson admitted under pressure from a journalist that he was referring to Obama’s community service which was also mentioned in the book. But of course, he phrased it very poorly with the hopes of saying it without needing to come out and say it.”

If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.

By: C.

C. — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 03:24:44 +0000

Jackson was being vague. I’m trying to find the link - it was on a feminism blog, I think Feministe! or Feministing but for the life of me I can’t find it - that had a follow-up interview with Jackson either admitting or changing his previous statement to mean community service.

By: Simon Scowl

Simon Scowl — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:42:12 +0000

Right, because you wouldn’t want to talk openly about somebody’s community service.

By: C.

C. — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:53:30 +0000

Johnson admitted under pressure from a journalist that he was referring to Obama’s community service which was also mentioned in the book. But of course, he phrased it very poorly with the hopes of saying it without needing to come out and say it.