Republicans: Modern Day Slave Masters

This article was taken from: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/17/clinton.plantation/index.html

The comments in the [red brackets] are mine. This is mostly just a rant and not a long thought out debate.

Clinton's 'plantation' remark draws fire

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton drew criticism Tuesday for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech in which she told a mostly black audience at a Harlem church that Republican leaders have run the House "like a plantation" and the Bush administration will go down as "one of the worst" in U.S. history.

Responding to the speech, House Speaker Dennis Hastert called her remarks "a little bit over the top."

[Well of course he would think so. He's one of the one's she's talking about.]

"I've never run a plantation before. I'm not even sure of what kind of association she's trying to make," [That's because, like most republicans, he's not that bright.] said the speaker, a Republican from Illinois. "If she's trying to be racist, I think that's unfortunate, but I'm not going to comment any further on that." [Good! Try the art of 'shutting up' more often. Just because a reporter puts a microphone in your face, doesn't mean you have to open your mouth. Try saying "No comment" like all your little Republican friends that are in court for breaking the law.]

One of Clinton's Republican congressional colleagues from New York, Rep. Peter King, said the senator "should be ashamed." [Well too bad. She's not and I'm glad she said it. It should have been said a long time ago.]

"It's definitely using the race card. It definitely has racist connotations. She knows it," [Duh!] King said. "She knew the audience. She knew what she was trying to say, and it was wrong. And she should be ashamed."

[Of course she knew her audience. Isn't that the mark of a great speaker? And what she said was not wrong, nor should she be ashamed. The Republican Party should be ashamed of fostering a culture of corruption.]

However, the host of the event where Clinton made her remarks Monday, activist Al Sharpton, disagreed with the criticism.

"I absolutely defend her saying it because I said it through the '04 elections," he said.

[I agree with Al Sharpton but I don't like him because I saw him on a check cashing commercial selling out his own people.]

Defenders of Clinton also have pointed out comments made in 1994 by former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich, shortly before Republicans won a majority in the House, in which he said Democrats "think it's their job to run the plantation" and that "it shocks them that I'm actually willing to lead the slave rebellion."

[Where was the outrage about that comment?]

A spokesman for Clinton also defended the remarks, saying she was pointing out that the GOP House leadership has stifled substantive debate.

Unlike the Senate, where the rules allow the Democratic minority to extend debate and block legislation, House rules allow the GOP leadership to set limits on debate and dictate how legislation will be handled. In recent years, House Democrats have complained of Republicans running roughshod over them, although Democrats had the same power to control the agenda during the 40 years they held the House before GOP control.

In her speech Monday, Clinton, who has never served in the House, told the audience that "when you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation, and you know what I'm talking about."

Clinton, whose husband, former President Bill Clinton, was the second president in history to be impeached, also offered harsh criticism of President Bush.

"I predict to you that this administration will go down in history as one of the worst that has ever governed our country," she said. Clinton also apologized to a group of Hurricane Katrina evacuees in the audience "on behalf of a government that left you behind."

[Not if King George gets his hands on the crayon. He'll just re-write the history books.]

Asked about her comments, White House spokesman Scott McClellan, said they were "out of bounds."

[Shut the fuck up.]

"Sounds like the political season may be starting early," he said.

[And like usual, you and your people are behind.]

Polls put Clinton at the front of the pack of potential 2008 Democratic presidential nominees. She is running for re-election this year in New York.

CNN's Mary Snow and Candy Crowley contributed to this report.