It’s pretty straightforward.
On WHYY radio, former President Bill Clinton was asked about a Philadelphia official who took offense at his comparing Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, to Rev. Jesse Jackson, thinking it an attempt to marginalize Obama as “the black candidate.”
Clinton was asked: “Do you think that was a mistake, and would you do that again?”
“No,” he responded. “I think that they played the race card on me. And we now know, from memos from the campaign and everything, that they planned to do it along.”
Today in Pittsburgh, Clinton was asked what he meant by saying the Obama campaign was playing the race card on him.
“When did I say that, and to whom did I say that?” Clinton asked, per ABC News’ Sarah Amos.
“On WHYY radio yesterday,” he was told by an NBC/National Journal reporter.
“No, no, no,” Clinton said. “That’s not what I said. You always follow me around and play these little games, and I’m not going to play your games today. This is a day about election day. Go back and see what the question was, and what my answer was. You have mischaracterized it to get another cheap story to divert the American people from the real urgent issues before us, and I choose not to play your game today. Have a nice day.”
Huh?
That’s exactly what he said.
“I said what I said,” Clinton said. “You can go back and look at the interview and if you will be real honest you will also report what the question was and what the answer was. But I’m not helping you.”