Like me, you may have been hearing the "quote" by Bill Clinton to Ted Kennedy regarding Barack Obama that, “A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.”
Problem is that it's not an actual quote.
How do I know this? Is it just something that Bill Clinton is claiming?
No.
It's the authors of Game Change themselves who say it's not an actual quote.
From The Plum Line:
The claim about Clinton’s explosive remarks came on page 218 of Game Change:Amazing indeed!The day after Iowa, he phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.The remark is not in quotes. And the authors’ note from Mark Halperin and John Heilemann states explicitly their rationale for choosing not to put dialog in quotes:Where dialog is not in quotes, it is paraphrased, reflecting only a lack of certainly on the part of our sources about precise wording, not about the nature of the statements.This is kind of amazing. By the authors’ own stated guidelines, this might not have been the “precise wording” Clinton used. Yet it has been the basis for a huge amount of media discussion all the same, with some suggesting racism on Clinton’s part.
To be clear, it’s very possible that Clinton did say something along these lines. It seems very likely that he did belittle Obama. But come on: In cases like these, when people are hinting at racism, the precise wording is everything. And in this case, the whole claim is based on an anonymous source’s recollection that someone who has now passed away told him or her that Clinton said something like this.
A hat tip to A Spork in the Drawer for the link to The Plum Line -- but please do read his entire post on the joke journamalism of the MSM here.
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Conservatives are using this book against Hillary, Bill, and Obama like it's the 10 Commandments brought down from the mountain by Glenn Beck after speaking to the Burning Rush. It's all hearsay. But when it comes to Palin, conservatives are just letting her claim "it's a lie" and then moving on. Predictable.
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