How Bill Clinton cussed James Clyburn out at 2 am after Hillary lost SC in 2008.

[madfloridian]

James Clyburn is an intelligent man, a respected politician. He is far more forgiving than I would be.

In a new memoir, the South Carolina congressman recounts a late night tirade by the former president.

In a new memoir -- “Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black” -- due out this spring, Clyburn recounts how an irate Bill Clinton called him the early morning after the January primary at 2:15 a.m. to take him to task.

“If you bastards want a fight, you damn well will get one,” Clinton thundered.

As Clyburn tells it, the former president phoned to pin blame on the congressman, vent his frustration and seek an explanation on how his wife got whipped so badly.

Clyburn reminded Clinton he had pledged neutrality to the Democratic National Committee as a condition of them authorizing the South Carolina primary.

“I had kept that promise. I asked him to tell me why he felt otherwise. He exploded, used the word ‘bastard’ again, and accused me of causing her defeat and injecting race into the contest,” Clyburn writes.

In 2008 Clyburn also protested Bill Clinton's remarks strongly.

Black Leader in House Denounces Bill Clinton’s Remarks

In an interview with The New York Times late Thursday, Mr. Clyburn said Mr. Clinton’s conduct in this campaign had caused what might be an irreparable breach between Mr. Clinton and an African-American constituency that once revered him. “When he was going through his impeachment problems, it was the black community that bellied up to the bar,” Mr. Clyburn said. “I think black folks feel strongly that that this is a strange way for President Clinton to show his appreciation.”

Mr. Clyburn added that there appeared to be an almost “unanimous” view among African-Americans that Mr. and Mrs. Clinton were “committed to doing everything they possibly can to damage Obama to a point that he could never win.”

At one point before the South Carolina primary, Mr. Clyburn publicly urged Mr. Clinton to “chill a little bit.”

Clyburn has chosen to endorse Hillary Clinton. He is one of the politicians I have most admired, and I am sure he has his reasons.

[book_worm]

1. I'm assuming the reason is that he believes that she would be the best president

Otherwise a man of his integrity would not have endorsed her.

[madfloridian]

2. Could be.

Or maybe he thinks there are too many consequences for not doing so.

[lunamagica]

26. "My heart is with Hillary" I trust that he said that, because he means it

[HooptieWagon]

27. I'm guessing he didn't want to get on the enemies list.

[TeddyR]

3. Democrats

Disparaging and undermining other Democrats is so fucking irritating. But please, keep at it, and don't worry about the damage it is doing to the party.

[jeff47]

4. When the Clinton campaign starts being positive, we'll happily be positive too. (nt)

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. You need to talk to the CORRUPT DWS/DNC first, then you might have a valid point. n/t

[TeddyR]

10. My point is valid

Period. And your blame-shifting doesn't change that fact. And I'm a Bernie supporter, but that doesn't mean I support constant disparagement of other Democrats, the party itself or the DNC. And how, exactly (with specifics) is DWS/DNC corrupt? Corruption implies crime, so what did DWS/DNC do that is criminal (or even "corrupt&quot ?

[in_cog_ni_to]

18. No your point isn't valid and if you don't know how CORRUPT DWS and her DNC are, GOOGLE

is your friend. You obviously haven't been paying attention for the last 9 months and you must not have been on DU for the last 9 months.
Bernie and his supporters have been called Racist White Supremacist, he hates black people, so what if he has spent his life fighting for civil rights...it means nothing in 2016, he lives in Lily-White Vermont so he doesn't support blacks - he chose to live in Vermont because there's fewer black people and will never get the AA votes because he's an old white guy from Lily-White Vermont and he has funny hair..on and on and on with their nastiness.

DWS

Scheduled only 6 debates because that's what her candidate, Hillary, wanted. They were all scheduled on weekends, opposite championship football games, 6 days before Christmas when everyone would be out shopping and on weekends when no one would be watching...to minimize Clinton's gaffe exposure.

She hired former Clinton WH employee who owns the software company the DNC installed. He just HAPPENED TO WORK IN THE CLINTON WHITE HOUSE...NOTHING NEFARIOUS GOING ON AT ALL! They had numerous firewall breeches, reported to DWS by BERNIE'S IT PEOPLE and nothing was done about it until Bernie's IT guy found Clinton info on his computer...another firewall breech..he reported it and was accused of stealing Clinton data. Complete bullshit, but DWS shut down BERNIE'S CAMPAIGN DATA ACCESS AND WOULDN'T ALLOW THEM ACCESS TO WHAT THEY OWNED, until Bernie sued her and the DNC...she gave him his access back after he took her to court! AS far as I know, the lawsuit is still active against the DNC.

She REFUSED to have more than 6 debates because that's how few Clinton wanted..O'Malley and Bernie called for more debates, but because CLINTON didn't want more debates, they didn't get more....until Clinton was behind in the polls and wanted MORE debates to get her numbers up. THEN AND ONLY THEN did DWS agree to more debates..

DWS/DNC and Clinton's campaign SHARE AN OFFICE IN NEVADA. Conflict of interest when you're suppose to be a neutral player among the Democratic candidates. EVERYTHING DWS HAS DONE HAS BEEN TO BENEFIT CLINTON AND ONLY CLINTON. CORRUPT.

IF you want more corruption, Google it.

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[TeddyR]

29. None of what you cited is corruption

It is politics. The party wants Hillary to win so the party stacks the deck in Hillary's favor. I'm a Bernie supporter, but I'm also a realist who prefers to deal in facts and not conspiracy theories and specious allegations.

[AtomicKitten]

43. It's the party elite that want Hillary and are stacking the deck in her favor.

Just like the elite of some unions and other organizations who have endorsed Hillary are speaking only for themselves, not their membership whom they didn't bother to poll because they don't care what they think. A prime example is Howard Dean endorsing Hillary but DFA membership, an organization he founded, endorsing Bernie.

[madfloridian]

15. If someone called me at 2 am and called me a bastard....

I would be angry enough to fight back.

[madfloridian]

17. Why are people so accepting that a former president did this thing?

[oasis]

42. WWLBJD?

And he too, was a great president.

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. *sigh*

I've given up trying to figure out why some people endorse Clinton when they know it's against their own best interests.

We just have to beat her despite all the questionable endorsements.

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[MisterP]

9. besides the venal, righties, or the machine politicians, it seems that Clinton can do anything she

lieks and still get endorsed, from Planned Parenthood to Lewis and Clyburn

it seems to be deeper than just "Sanders won't retaliate for silence, Clinton will," they start badmouthing Sanders like it's someone else's voice coming out of their mouths

[in_cog_ni_to]

13. Yes,

I can only imagine the phone conversations going on. Now that we know what Bill actually does when he doesn't get his way, there has to be something nefarious going on behind the scenes - threats, blackmail, a future primary opponent, etc... Bill Clinton and David Brock are not to be trusted. The above Clyburn conversation proves that and with Brock in the mix, that makes it even worse.

I didn't hear Clyburn's endorsement. Did he go after Bernie too?

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[MisterP]

14. Clyburn just endorsed, and DU's waiting for the shoe to drop

Last edited Fri Feb 19, 2016, 12:40 AM - Edit history (1)

the endorsers aren't allowed to just endorse, they have to condemn the whole Dem program to show they're really loyal

and the DNC definitely has experience torpedoing primaries when things aren't going their way: they're perfectly happy letting a Pub win if the system continues--like how one Los Angeles poobah broke a strike for 20 cents an hour by paying the scabs 22

[in_cog_ni_to]

19. That's why Bloomberg is being held in the wings...they'd rather have a repub elected than have

Bernie expose all their corruption.

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[FarPoint]

6. When your true friends like James Clyburn an Bill Clinton are, and have been for Years...

Well, it's safe to let off a little verbal tension....Friendship as enduring as this bond will not easily be fractured.... See, the Hillary endorsement is a fine example.

[madfloridian]

16. Oh Lordy, I so disagree.

I'm not esp. concerned about who endorses who, nothing I can do about it. I'm just supporting Bernie.

I don't know of friendships I've had that would survive 2 am calls and being called a bastard.

[FloriTexan]

8. Kick!

[madfloridian]

20. Thanks for the kick.

[bigtree]

11. so bitter

...telling that this backbiting is the response to the endorsement.

[madfloridian]

12. I ceased caring how things come across...

Last edited Fri Feb 19, 2016, 03:00 AM - Edit history (1)

ever since BernieBros was the nicest thing we have been called.

I expect candidates to go after each other, but this one has chosen to make the Bernie supporters look like mental idiots who are too naive to tell their head from a hole in the wall.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

30. Come on...EVERYONE here knows madfloridian is an honest, open, stand-up person.

Don't attack her; you're going to want her to be on your side one day.

[MellowDem]

35. It's honest...

not backbiting. It's why so many distrust Hillary, many people think she will bulldozer over whoever to get what she wants, and stories like these confirm it, no matter whether people who have been bulldozed by her choose to endorse her. The entire Democratic Party has endorsed her, so it's not like it's much of a surprise.

[madfloridian]

37. Bitter might work. But not because of who he endorsed.

Now that I think about it. It just might describe how I feel when people say we who support Bernie are not real Democrats.

Do you realize that our former president blamed a congressman for his wife's loss...and he did it by name-calling at 2 in the morning.

The Democratic party is unrecognizable now, it's become a corporately inclined party on purpose, planned. Planned so they would not have to answer to those in the party who wanted them to stand for something.

They even put it into words:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/4397

Al From admits DLC decided in effect to make the Democratic party neutral.

One of the important things we had to do in 1992 was remove the obstacles that kept people from voting Democratic in the first place," he said.

That included addressing issues of welfare, fiscal discipline and crime. "As long as people thought we were going to take money form (from) people who worked and give it to people who didn't work, they didn't want to listen to anything else," he added.

More about how they didn't want to need to cater to the "people" of the party anymore:

Simon Rosenberg, the former field director for the DLC who directs the New Democrat Network, a spin-off political action committee, says, "We're trying to raise money to help them lessen their reliance on traditional interest groups in the Democratic Party. In that way," he adds, "they are ideologically freed, frankly, from taking positions that make it difficult for Democrats to win."

A Business-Led Party

Freeing Democrats from being, well, Democrats has been the Democratic Leadership Council's mission since its founding 16 years ago by Al Gore, Chuck Robb, and a handful of other conservative, mostly southern Dems as a rump faction of disaffected elected officials and party activists.

..."Privately funded and operating as an extraparty organization without official Democratic sanction, and calling themselves "New Democrats," the DLC sought nothing less than the miraculous: the transubstantiation of America's oldest political party. Though the DLC painted itself using the palette of the liberal left--as "an effort to revive the Democratic Party's progressive tradition," with New Democrats being the "trustees of the real tradition of the Democratic Party"--its mission was far more confrontational. With few resources, and taking heavy flak from the big guns of the Democratic left, the DLC proclaimed its intention, Mighty Mouse–style, to rescue the Democratic Party from the influence of 1960s-era activists and the AFL-CIO, to ease its identification with hot-button social issues, and, perhaps most centrally, to reinvent the party as one pledged to fiscal restraint, less government, and a probusiness, pro–free market outlook.

It's hard to argue that they haven't succeeded.
American Prospect article

So yeah, bigtree, I have been a Democrat since I first registered to vote. I have always supported the Democrats in the race. Lately I did not recognize the party I had always belonged to.

I see a former president yelling at the congressman who is so forgiving he forgets all about that to endorse the wife of the former president.

So it's a little bitterness that our party leaders have come down to this.

A former president can insult our candidate in public, he can yell at a congressman and blame him for his wife's loss in a primary......and I and other Bernie supporters are being talked down to and said not to be Democrats.

[DeeBunker]

21. DO WE

Really want Slick Willie & His Kind (Shillary C. ) back in the House Blanco. Poor Chelsea gettin' corrupted..

[DrDan]

23. yes

[DrDan]

22. because she would be the better President of the two?

[bigwillq]

24. The Clintons are disquisting.

They care only about power. I wish they would move to Mars lol


No more Clintons.

[thereismore]

25. Makes me wonder how Rep. Clyburn can endorse Hillary now. What did they do to him or

what did Washington DC do to him.

[HooptieWagon]

28. Possibly threats. Making the enemies list gets you primaried.

[Empowerer]

39. Or maybe he just doesn't agree with you

[HooptieWagon]

41. That could be.

Maybe he genuinely supports the candidate who supported a segregationist in 1964, rather than the candidate arrested for protesting segregation in 1963.
Or maybe he just doesn't want another 2am phone call from Bill.

[Empowerer]

44. Yes, that's right

Rep. James Clyburn, a black man who protested, fought for voting rights, was arrested and locked up in Southern jails in the 1960s, and went on to become the third highest ranking member of the House of Representatives, is being called a bullied coward and being second-guessed on his political decisions and commitment to civil rights because he is not supporting the great civil rights icon, Bernie Sanders.

And you wonder why a majority of black voters aren't feeling the Bern . . .

[benny05]

31. There Are a Couple of Theories I have

In watching the endorsement live this AM, i heard the words "good of the party" stand out. Which says to me "establishment, and you need to stick with us (DWS, DLC).

The second is that the Clintons are known for calling in favors. This is likely one of them.

In general, I think of Frank and Claire Underwood in House of Cards when I think of the Clinton campaign. All about personal enrichment and will do anything that gets in their way.

I hope Rep Clyburn can have some ease now that he made this announcement. Terrible things happen in politics, and he got caught up in it.

[jfern]

32. I guess he didn't want to lose any sleep at 2AM this time

[historylovr]

33. Kicking.

[madfloridian]

34. ....

Thanks for the kick. Finding it hard to accept that Bill Clinton did this. Or that Clyburn was treated that way.

[historylovr]

36. You're welcome. I was going to add something more,

but I'm still trying to process how anyone thinks this is okay behavior. Especially a former president. I'm just floored.

[Empowerer]

38. Apparently, Mr. Clyburn got over it. Maybe it's time that you did to . . .

[madfloridian]

40. You don't get it at all.

A former president I used to admire a lot called up a congressman at 2 am and blamed him and others of his black caucus because Hillary lost. He called him a bastard twice.

And yet James Clyburn is forgiving enough to put himself in the same position again. Will he get yelled at again if by some chance she doesn't win SC? She most likely will, but what if she doesn't?

Have things gotten to the point that it's okay with most people for Bill Clinton to do something like that? It's not okay with me.

And frankly I'm a little tired of being told that I'm not a good Democrat because I support Bernie Sanders. In fact a whole lot tired of it.

What Clinton did in support of his wife was not okay.

[Empowerer]

45. What Clinton did wasn't ok with you. Fine. Don't vote for her. But it's up to other people

to determine whether or not that is going to keep them from supporting Hillary Clinton. Apparently majority of black voters see it differently than you do. That does not mean that we're stupid or politically naive. It simply means we don't agree with you and lecturing us and insulting us the greatly admired Jim Clyburn only makes you appear tone-deaf and condescending.

I don't think you're not a good Democrat because you support Bernie Sanders. But your insistence on lecturing other Democrats on OUR choices - and telling black people that we should feel a certain way about Hillary Clinton because YOU do does call your judgment into question.

[madfloridian]

46. You are still getting it wrong. My post had nothing to do with race issues.

It had to do with the lousy way a former two-term president yelled at and blamed a congressman for his wife's loss in a primary.

It doesn't matter if the congressman he called a bastard is white or black or yellow...it simply does not matter.

What matters is the treatment by a former president.

I don't give a hoot who you vote for. I just don't want to see a leader of my party act like that.

If you got a lecture from my post then I would say you were looking really hard for it. I expressed surprise that Clyburn could be so forgiving after being treated like that.

It is very sad to me how race has been inserted into this primary. Neither candidate has a racist bone in their bodies.

This has been one of the most tragic primaries I have ever seen, and there will be lasting repercussions from it.

[Empowerer]

47. The numerous references to race in your OP made me think it had something to do with race

Oops. My bad...

[madfloridian]

48. Actually our former president brought that up.

When he blamed them for Hillary's loss there.