Protesters interrupt Bill Clinton at rally for his wife

[webfact]

Protesters interrupt Bill Clinton at rally for his wife
By ERRIN HAINES WHACK

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton engaged in a heated exchange on Thursday with protesters upset about welfare reform and gun violence laws passed when he was in office 20 years ago.

Addressing supporters at a Hillary Clinton presidential rally in Philadelphia, Bill Clinton was interrupted by people in the crowd holding signs reading "Clinton crime bill destroyed our communities" and "Welfare reform increased poverty."

As first lady, Hillary Clinton said in a 1996 speech about the crime bill, "They are often the kinds of kids that are called super-predators." Some blacks have found the term "super-predators" offensive and have tried to hold her accountable during her presidential campaign. She was interrupted at a rally in Charleston, South Carolina, in February by an activist who wanted her to apologize for her remarks.

Critics of the 1994 anti-crime bill have tied it to mass incarceration disproportionately affecting blacks. Bill Clinton said he talked at the time to black groups, which endorsed the legislation, and he said the bill led to a decrease in crime and murders due to gun violence.

"I don't know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack and sent them out on the street to murder other African-American children," Bill Clinton told the crowd. "Maybe you thought they were good citizens. She didn't. You are defending the people who killed the lives you say matter. Tell the truth."

Clinton, a Democrat, said that the majority of people serving disparate sentences for crack cocaine are in state prisons and jails. He said that President Barack Obama, also a Democrat, is working to release federal prisoners serving unfairly lengthy sentences.

"Who do you think those lives were that mattered?" Clinton asked the protesters. "Whose lives were saved that mattered? Hillary didn't vote for that bill, because she wasn't in the Senate."

Hillary Clinton is battling Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination. Their contest, with accusations of lying, hustling for money and failed leadership, has taken a decidedly negative turn, and they recently have exchanged a series of barbs over qualifications for the presidency.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-04-08

[lannarebirth]

I'll bet he shook his finger at'em too to sell the BS and close the deal. Love him or hate him, I don't think there's any question he has got the greatest political skill of any politician in the past 50 years. It's too bad for the country he squandered those great abilities for self aggrandizement and personal enrichment.

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies removed.

[klauskunkel]

Bill Clinton urging a group of Americans "to tell the truth"...

should i laugh, or should i cry? I think I'll just

[Pinot]

I'll bet he shook his finger at'em too to sell the BS and close the deal. Love him or hate him, I don't think there's any question he has got the greatest political skill of any politician in the past 50 years. It's too bad for the country he squandered those great abilities for self aggrandizement and personal enrichment.

Typical response, wingnuts hate the Clintons. Bill will be a valuable asset to Hillary during the next eight years.

[SOTIRIOS]

....a simple search on YouTube and one can find scores of reasons to find that couple objectionable......

[grumpyoldman]

....a simple search on YouTube and one can find scores of reasons to find that couple objectionable......

Still a country mile better than what the GOP is dishing out.

[jphantom]

Bill and Hillary, the most vicious criminals ever in the American political world. Its simple and well documentted.

[grumpyoldman]

Bill and Hillary, the most vicious criminals ever in the American political world. Its simple and well documentted.

Nonsense mate. As well as overly dramatic.

[Jingthing]

It was a good showing by Bill and will absolutely make NO difference in the OVERWHELMING African American support for Hillary Clinton. Must be a slow news day for this to even be news.

Edited April 8, 2016 by Jingthing

[grumpyoldman]

The crime bill was intended to cut the heads off the snakes, you put the big crack cocaine guys who are recruiting the 13 year olds (who cannot be processed as adults) behind bars.

Best intentions, doesn't work out, now Obama and crew looking at sentences that don't fit and releasing people, the mother of an NFL football player recently released.

There is a massive disparity between blacks and others in prison, so these people have a right to protest this. An issue that needs to be looked at and addressed.

I'd like to see Army run camps for these drug arrests, get them clean, teach them a trade.

[Chicog]

Bill and Hillary, the most vicious criminals ever in the American political world. Its simple and well documentted.

Sounds like a quote from Alex Jones. Except the "well documentted <sic>" is normally right wing looney websites.

Edited April 8, 2016 by Chicog

[Jingthing]

There does need to be major reform in the prison situation and the fact that it disproportionally hits black people so badly.

Obama has spoken to that issue and done a little bit but he's got a handicap being the first black president because he's couldn't be seen as overly favoring that group.

HRC won't have that problem and although I think Bill did do damage, she'll be a in better place to reform things than Obama.

[mopar71]

Must be a slow news day for this to even be news.

? This is more newsworthy than half the stupid crap Trump says that the media focuses on for a week.

Bill Clinton, love him or hate him is still the top dog in the Democrat Party. The Democrat party enables the BS "movement" Black Lives Matter.

For Bill to jump on them is BIG news.

If only Bernie had done the same thing months ago in Seattle when those two BLM thugs kicked him off the state maybe he would be ahead in delegates by now.

And when voters are reminded how Bernie ran away from that conflict they won't vote for him. So it helps Hillary after all.

Edited April 8, 2016 by mopar71

[mopar71]

There does need to be major reform in the prison situation and the fact that it disproportionally hits black people so badly.

What is disproportionate is 13% of the population committing over 50% of the murders.

In a US city when you need to buy drugs which neighborhood do you drive to? The same place you go to buy an illegal gun.

Believing the prison population should be based on a country's demographics and not on crimes committed is plain idiocy.

If judges sentence guilty blacks more often than guilty people of other races, then the problem is not that too many blacks are in jail, it is that there are too few of the others.

That said, time to clear the prisons of people there for minor drug offenses like possession. In addition to being the right thing to do, it should also help "even it out" and make the race-focused idiots happy.

[Chicog]

There does need to be major reform in the prison situation and the fact that it disproportionally hits black people so badly.

What is disproportionate is 13% of the population committing over 50% of the murders.

But blacks are disproportionally more likely to get convicted than WASPs as well.

You are correct in what you say but it doesn't mean that there are not issues that need to be addressed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_the_War_on_Drugs

[Scotwight]

There does need to be major reform in the prison situation and the fact that it disproportionally hits black people so badly.

What is disproportionate is 13% of the population committing over 50% of the murders.

But blacks are disproportionally more likely to get convicted than WASPs as well.

You are correct in what you say but it doesn't mean that there are not issues that need to be addressed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_the_War_on_Drugs

That would make sense. The group doing most of the crime is the group doing most of the time?

[Srikcir]

I'd like to see Prayut engage in an exchange with protesters .... albeit without drawing guns and invoking Article 44.

[shirtless]

Hillary is Americas great white hopeless , totally out of her depth as president, maybe she should learn how to knit.

[Jingthing]

Hillary is Americas great white hopeless , totally out of her depth as president, maybe she should learn how to knit.

Sexist much?

[Rancid]

Bill: The peasants are revolting!

Hilary: They certainly are.

[grumpyoldman]

Hillary is Americas great white hopeless , totally out of her depth as president, maybe she should learn how to knit.

Welcome to a forum where posters are dumbass knit-wits.

What country are you from shirtless sport?

[sgtsabai]

Hillary is a bought and sold tool of Wall Street criminals and banksters. A neocon/neoliberal that only cares about being the 1st woman president of the US. Bill sold out the country with the "welfare reform", the school to prison pipeline, NAFTA and the repeal of Glass-Steagall, all of which Hillary supported whole heartedly and still does. Yes, if, and I hope never, she is the Democrat running for president she will win, but not without a fight and will cost the Dem's the Senate and probably seats in the House that Bernie would have insured. She is not a Democrat but a Manchurian candidate like Obama, Republican lite at best.

[SheungWan]

Hillary is a bought and sold tool of Wall Street criminals and banksters. A neocon/neoliberal that only cares about being the 1st woman president of the US. Bill sold out the country with the "welfare reform", the school to prison pipeline, NAFTA and the repeal of Glass-Steagall, all of which Hillary supported whole heartedly and still does. Yes, if, and I hope never, she is the Democrat running for president she will win, but not without a fight and will cost the Dem's the Senate and probably seats in the House that Bernie would have insured. She is not a Democrat but a Manchurian candidate like Obama, Republican lite at best.

Its odd how the Conspiracy Theory wing of the Democratic Party has attached itself to Old-School Bernie. A horrible indicator of how the supposed militant left has degenerated into a populist swamp.

[Chicog]

There does need to be major reform in the prison situation and the fact that it disproportionally hits black people so badly.

What is disproportionate is 13% of the population committing over 50% of the murders.

But blacks are disproportionally more likely to get convicted than WASPs as well.

You are correct in what you say but it doesn't mean that there are not issues that need to be addressed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_the_War_on_Drugs

That would make sense. The group doing most of the crime is the group doing most of the time?

But if you read it they are more likely to be sent to jail than white folk who've committed the same offence.

[keemapoot]

I think a bigger factor in sending Bill out to "prop up" Hilary's poor image than his telling the truth about stuff like Black Lives Matter is that when Bill takes the stage, he immediately and starkly shows how poor a candidate Hilary is compared with him. Sharp bas relief really.

But on one of his good days there’s nobody better than Bubba, black or white, addressing an audience black or white. Jeff Greenfield, writing in Politico, recalls Bubba’s performance at the funeral of Coretta Scott King in Atlanta in 2006, when Hillary was getting ready for her first run for president.

“Hillary Clinton’s speech was lovely,” Mr. Greenfield recalls. “But her husband, who preceded her, rocked. He had 10,000 mourners laughing and crying and clapping and amen-ing and remembering his presidency with a rush of nostalgia that blotted out unpleasant moments. As Bill riffed, Hillary stood by his side, looking like the gawky brainiac sidekick in a teen movie cheering on her cheerleader frenemy in mid-handspring.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/apr/7/wesley-pruden-bill-clinton-spells-trouble-for-hill/

The more she puts Bill out front, the worse she looks. He is the one everyone really wants. He inspires. She conspires.

[Ulysses G.]

The more she puts Bill out front, the worse she looks. He is the one everyone really wants. He inspires. She conspires.

He OWES her. She stood by her man!

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman

Giving all your love to just one man

You'll have bad times

And he'll have good times,

Doin' things that you don't understand

But if you love him you'll forgive him,

Even though he's hard to understand

And if you love him oh be proud of him,

'cause after all he's just a man

Stand by your man,

Give him two arms to cling to,

And something warm to come to

When nights are cold and lonely

Stand by your man,

And show the world you love him

Keep giving all the love you can

Stand by your man

Stand by your man,

And show the world you love him

Keep giving all the love you can

Stand by your man