Bill Clinton's clash with protesters sparks CNN blowup

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/275711-bill-clintons-clash-with-protesters-sparks-cnn-blowup

Van Jones slammed Clinton for telling protesters at a campaign event: "You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter," his attempt to defend Hillary Clinton's controversial "super predator" comment during the '90s.
"That was horrible. It wasn’t just the tone of what he said. The content of what he said, that super predator tag was a racial dog whistle that did untold damage. He’s got to know that. He’s not a dummy.”

"This does not make any sense. Bill Clinton himself just months ago took this off the table. Hillary Clinton said that this was a bad thing. Bill Clinton, then under pressure, it turns out he thinks it’s a good thing to call children super predators," Jones said. "He defended the indefensible racially coated term super predators. We thought that had been taken off the campaign. They put it back in play.”

Jones also criticized Clinton for saying "I almost want to apologize" for the heated scene with protesters on Friday.

"You can't just give a straight apology? We’re triangulating an apology; they’re not even in the White House yet," Jones said.

Make sure to watch the video with the article.

[Hydra]

1. That was a 2 for one

Doubling down on a lethal dog whistle and reminding us that they are still against BLM, whom they they used so in such a cold-blooded fashion earlier in the primary.

[grasswire]

2. thank you so much for getting this up.

It was the most passionate few moments on CNN I have ever seen.

Beckel is an ass.

[dr60omg]

3. UGH the 90's

Why do people think it was so wonderful? I remember what happened both nationally and internationally and to me the Clintons have always been indefensible

The DLC ruined the democratic party it is time to make sure that it is wrested from their right wing, privileged hands ...

[Gwhittey]

4. Early 90s kinda sucked for me

I was in Persian Gulf off coast of Iraq then in Somalia and then year later back in Iraq.

[DVRacer]

5. Lucky

I was getting torn up in Bosnia in 95-96 the 90's weren't great for me after getting medically discharged and told we'll find something else work wise in a bubble economy that was to fall apart a few years later.

[MisterP]

6. punk peaked under Thatcher in Britain and under Clinton back over here

[Rosa Luxemburg]

7. Thatcher was horrible

[MelissaB]

8. I saw this last night.

It was a pretty amazing show.

[CentralCoaster]

9. I like Van Jones, but I don't know why he backs Hillary.

The loyalty that these folks show to the party baffles me.

[BernieforPres2016]

12. Does Van Jones back Hillary?

I have not seen where he has endorsed either candidate but he is usually the pro-Bernie guy on CNN panels.

[CentralCoaster]

13. Comments in that clip suggest that in the beginning he was excited, wanted Bill to get out there.

That sounds like he wanted Bill because he could help out the campaign.

Possibly, he just wanted to see Bill out there.

Comic relief, and all.

[hollowdweller]

10. Clinton was trying to cut into the white support for Bernie.

I've talked to a LOT of white people who have had the same opinion Clinton put forth.

I thought the crime bill was Clinton's way of taking the crime issue off the table.

The democratic party at the time was characterized by the GOP as soft on crime and this bill certainly helped dispel that.

It's hard to understand some of the things that Clinton did if you are looking thru a liberal lens, or looking at it from today's public viewpoint, which has changed considerably.

Now that I've said that in defense of Clinton I'll say that his defense of the bill to the BLM protestors was absolutely the wrong thing to say, nowdays unless he was trying to shift some of the white vote to Hillary.

He could have easily said that the was a huge public outcry over crime during his administration and that democrats, traditionally being characterized as being soft on crime needed to do something. He passed the bill and crime did indeed go down but that there were unintended consequences to the black community 20 year on down the line that need to be addressed. That he and Hillary were sorry that they did not understand the long run potential implications of some of the elements in the bill and she hoped to modify them once she was president.

Unfortunately he either made a political calculation to try to snag more whites for Hillary, or his southern upbringing got the better of him in his reply.

[noiretextatique]

14. Well...it was a strategy to win over white swing voters

Per Michelle Alexander. I remember that time well too...the Clintons infuriated me then, and now. The superpredator theory has been totally discredited since then, but I am not even sure it was respected back then. It was useful for the DLC's agenda

[Wilms]

11. ^

[azmom]

15. Kick

[Bread and Circus]

16. Right but this is AFTER the black Southern states voted...

Silly Van Jones, he doesn't know it's all different now.

Black Lives Only mattered for a while until Clinton used them up.