Opinion: Denounce and/or reject? Clinton opts for neither
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Less than 24 hours after Hillary Clinton skillfully maneuvered Barack Obama into denouncing and rejecting the unwanted embrace he recently received from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, she was asked to similarly distance herself from inflammatory remarks she was told were made by one of her prominent Texas supporters.
Clinton took a pass, in part because, as she noted, she knew nothing of the incident other than what a television reporter had just told her. Still, it will be interesting to see if this evolves into any sort of sustained flap as Tuesday’s big vote in the Lone Star State approaches.
Today, during satellite interviews with a handful of TV stations, a reporter from station KTVT in Dallas asked Clinton about comments purportedly made by Adelfa Callejo, a trail-blazing Latina lawyer in Texas. According to the reporter, Callejo ‘recently told us that African Americans never help Hispanics when they gain power and influence and that she would never vote for Sen. Obama. And now, quoting here, she said, ‘Obama’s problem is that he happens to be black.’ ‘
Clinton was asked to react. ...
The Times’ Michael Finnegan relates that Clinton responded: “Well, obviously I want us judged on our merits. I believe strongly that the fact that we have an African American and a woman running for the Democratic nomination is historical and I’m very very proud of that.’
Pressed on whether she would reject and denounce such remarks, she said: ‘People have every reason to express their opinions. I just don’t agree with that. I think that we should be looking at the individuals who are running.”
She continued: “You know, this is a free country. People get to express their opinions. A lot of folks have said really unpleasant things about me over the course of this campaign. You can’t take any of that as anything other than an individual opinion.”
She also discounted the suggestion that she was shying away from the position she had insisted Obama should take on Farrakhan.
“I don’t see any comparison at all with what you’re referring to and I don’t know the facts of what you’re telling me over the TV,’ she said. ‘So I’m just going to repeat that I want people to judge us on the merits.”
-- Don Frederick
[UPDATE: Clinton’s campaign, after confirming that Callejo’s comments were accurately conveyed, issued a statement saying that she ‘of course, denounces and rejects them.’