June 4, 2008

"Clinton supporters" need to get a grip

I realize that this may be a small but vocal minority, but this is really beyond the pale (via andydoubtless' diary on dkos:

An angry and upset Rep. James Clyburn said Wednesday that his office has been deluged with nasty phone calls with racial overtones since his endorsement of Barack Obama a day earlier.Clyburn told FOX News Radio’s “Brian and the Judge” that the callers identified themselves as Hillary Clinton supporters. Clyburn, an African-American and the third ranking House Democrat, said a white intern in his office was so upset by the calls that she had to be consoled by other workers and left the office early.


“We got more vitriolic, nasty phone calls, really racially tinged phone calls in my congressional office, so much so, until one of the interns, a young lady who is not a stranger to politics … and she is not a black person, she left the office, had to be consoled because of the kinds of phone calls from people who identified themselves as Hillary Clinton supporters,” he said.


Clyburn said some of the callers used “names that I would not repeat on this show today.”


“I was absolutely shocked, could not believe that this happened. I could understand people saying, ‘Why are you doing this or why would you not support Hillary Clinton?’ but to call me the kinds of names I have not heard since the ’40s and ’50s,” he said.


Clyburn said some of the callers threatened to “sabotage this election.” He added that he does not think Clinton understands her role in unifying the party.


“I’ve got a call in to Bob Johnson, a good buddy of mine, he’s a big supporter of Hillary Clinton, he’s now pushing for her to be on the ticket as VP. And I’m gonna tell him today they’d better really raise their voices because this kind of stuff is lethal,” Clyburn said.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's awfully upsetting. These sick puppies are just everywhere huh?