Send in the Dirty Old Men

Now this bit of news from yesterday is…is…help me find a word for this…this news.

BET Founder Slams Obama in South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Robert L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, who is campaigning today in South Carolina with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, just made a suggestion that raised the specter of Barack Obama’s past drug use. He also compared Mr. Obama to Sidney Poitier, the black actor, in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”

At a rally here for Mrs. Clinton at Columbia College, Mr. Johnson was defending recent comments that Mrs. Clinton made regarding Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She did not mean to take any credit away from him, Mr. Johnson said, when she said that it took President Johnson to sign the civil rights legislation he fought for.

Dr. King had led a “moral crusade,” Mr. Johnson said, but such crusades have to be “written into law.”

“That is the way the legislative process works in this nation and that takes political leadership,” he said. “That’s all Hillary was saying.”

He then added: “And to me, as an African-American, I am frankly insulted that the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues since Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood –¬ and I won’t say what he was doing, but he said it in the book –¬ when they have been involved.”

Moments later, he added: “That kind of campaign behavior does not resonate with me, for a guy who says, ‘I want to be a reasonable, likable, Sidney Poitier ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.’ And I’m thinking, I’m thinking to myself, this ain’t a movie, Sidney. This is real life.”

The Clintons got Robert Johnson to talk them up? BET’s Robert Johnson? Black Entertainment Television’s Robert Johnson? The founder of that abomination which has perpetrated sustained damage on the image of black Americans with its rump-shaker/gangster rap videos? That same joke of an organization that doesn't even have a news division?

And the Clintons picked this guy to come to the senator’s aid against her rival? (Yeah, Johnson tried to clean up his remarks later. Whatever.)

Oh wait. A few months back, Senator Clinton did also get an endorsement from Dr. King follower and former US Ambassador to the UN Andrew Young who said that the senator had more black “bona fides” than Senator Obama because Former President Clinton had hit boned gone with more black women than Obama had. (The verb "to go with" is an old-black-folk euphemism.) I don’t recall hearing much from Andy since then. Somebody ought to check on the guy.

What’s next? The Mumia endorsement?

This stuff just gets funnier and funnier. And we definitely need some laughs around here. As I keep reminding everyone, Obama is too much of a Leftist for my taste (at least he’s honest about it), but I can’t help but feel a bit smug as the Clintons show not only just how black they aren’t but how much contempt they have for the black Americans--especially black men--who have embraced them.

Told ya so.

(Thanks to Memeorandum)

UPDATE: Across the board...

Baratunde Thurston at Jack and Jill Politics (emphasis mine):

Of all the black people in the world who would attack Obama on behalf of the Clintons, it would be Bob Johnson, founder of Black Exploitation Television. Gimme a break!

Michelle Malkin:

Hillary’s black supporters are old-school race-hustlers–not embarrassed to show bigoted contempt for non-militant, achieving blacks. Whatever you think of Obama’s politics and qualifications to be president, he is a successful person and he has led an impressive campaign.

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo:

We seem to be at the point where there are now two credible possibilities. One is that the Clinton campaign is intentionally pursuing a strategy of using surrogates to hit Obama with racially-charged language or with charges that while not directly tied to race nonetheless play to stereotypes about black men. The other possibility is that the Clinton campaign is extraordinarily unlucky and continually finds its surrogates stumbling on to racially-charged or denigrating language when discussing Obama.

I pick both options.

And lastly, Victor Davis Hanson at The Corner:

She and Bill obviously think that they've so cemented the issue of the Clintons as our first Black Presidents that their racial fides is above suspicion. It isn't; and the Obama the soul speaker vs. Hillary the brainy insider is a lose / lose / lose /lose proposition. I'm surprised that her handlers haven't muzzled altogether the Clintoni on this issue.

UPDATE: John Hawkins theorizes that the Clintons may be intentionally goading Obama and his supporters.

[W]hat the Clintons may be doing is getting Obama's supporters to tarnish him by proxy on this issue. Even if Obama doesn't do it personally, if there's a tsunami of people around him playing the race card -- even if there's some validity to it -- a lot of white voters who are warm to Obama may assume that he's another Jesse Jackson after all.

We will see who is the best triangulator.

Comments

[Salt Lick]

Robert Johnson said, "...Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood..."

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black... Wait, I didn't.. I meant... (sigh).

[Wry Mouth]

When are Black people going to accept the fact that Bill Clinton and (by obvious logical extension) Hillary Clinton are/were more Black than Barack Obama?

Urk. ;o/

[Ralph Phelan]

"Clinton had hit boned gone with more black women than Obama had."

I found that quote pretty puzzling. So?

Let "A" be an ethnic or other description.
Let "B" be the name of a man other than Bill Clinton.
I challenge you to find me an A and a B for which the following statement is false
"Clinton had hit boned gone with more [A] women than [B] has."

[baldilocks]

I yield. Heh.