Kellyanne Trips to the Back of the Bus

Did anyone else catch Larry King Live tonight? Larry's subject this evening was "Campaign Clash". Republicans against Democrats. I fixed a snack and settled in for a good round of political fisticuffs. One of his guests was Kellyanne Conway, Republican strategist and CEO of the Polling Company.

I just heard Kellyanne say this, live,

This is what [John McCain] is doing behind the scenes now while Hillary and Obama argue about whether she should let him sit on the back of the bus of her presidential ticket, or he argues whether or not she lied us into war in 2002.

Oh yes she did.

And then had the nerve to act like she had no idea what the problem was, while she continued gnawing on her foot. Like a fox caught in a trap.

Jamal Simmons, coolheaded Democratic strategist and an Obama supporter, handled it beautifully, calling her out on her gaffe, clarifying that the remark had absolutely no connection to the Clinton campaign, and settling back to watch her try to extricate that foot. But here, check out the transcript for yourselves. (emphasis mine)

SIMMONS: Larry, we have to address that. We have to address that. This back of the bus comment is beyond the pale. I think Senator Clinton, whatever our disagreements are between the two candidates, Senator Clinton has never done or said anything that would imply that she would rather have Barack Obama sitting in the back of her campaign bus.

CONWAY: No, as VP. You aren't paying attention.

SIMMONS: No, you are not speaking clearly, because that's out of line.

CONWAY: No, she doesn't want him to be the first Black president. She wants him to be her VP. She said that this week. She would consider putting him on her ticket, but I guess he wouldn't consider putting her on his ticket, would he?

KING: Did you use the term back of the bus?

CONWAY: I did. I just said ---

KING: Meaning?

CONWAY: Meaning that she wants --- she has said she would have Barack Obama as her VP. Thereby she is denying something that many Republicans are not denying, that Barack Obama has a very strong chance of becoming this country's first Black president, that someone like me respects.

SIMMONS: We can move along. I was there for a lot of Bill Clinton and Al Gore's time and Al Gore never sat in the back of the bus.

You go, Mr. Simmons. Call it out.

Now, if Ms. Conway's back of the bus comment truly had no racial context, why then, does she proceed to bring up race -- twice? I'm sorry, but there is a world of difference between saying that Clinton doesn't want Obama "to be the first Black president", and saying Clinton doesn't want anyone to become president but her, right?

What did Black have to do with anything? No one brought that up, Kellyanne.

Careful, honey, your slip is showing, and it's cut on the bias.

And that entire last comment of hers ... where do I even start? She says that Clinton "would have him as her VP", and that this somehow means Clinton is denying what Republicans are willing to face, which is that Obama could become the first Black president.

What?

First off, that's not accurate. Clinton has not said that. Second, even if she had said she wants him as VP, how does it follow that she's denying anything? And third -- again -- what's Black got to do with it? That was not part of the conversation until you brought it in, Kellyanne.

But hey, at least she pointed out that the first Black president would be a person whom "someone like her respects". Points to Kellyanne!



But here's something really interesting. Turns out that Conway is the coauthor of the book, What Women Really Want: How American Women Are Quietly Erasing Political, Racial, Class, and Religious Lines to Change the Way We Live.

Really? Because it didn't seem like she was erasing political or racial lines tonight. It would stand to reason, seeing as how Conway has literally written the book on erasing racial lines, we could expect her to have some inkling of the historical context around the phrase she used tonight.

Of course she did. She knew exactly what she'd said as soon as it fell out of her mouth.

In fact, Conway has been involved in sensitive discussions regarding her party's need to tread carefully around the areas of race and gender. She sure has. Seems the upper echelon of the GOP is quietly setting acceptable sparring guidelines for this election, seeing as how the good ol' boys' club has now been infiltrated. They've even come up with a benign term for the unseemly racist/sexist language they're desperate to avoid: undisciplined messaging.* Not easy, I suppose, when you're used to saying whatever the hell you want. Ms. Kellyanne had this to say just a few short months ago:

Republicans will need to exercise less deafness and more deftness in dealing with a different looking candidate, whether it is a woman or a Black man. But at the same time, really charge back at any insinuation or accusation of sexism or racism.

You can’t allow the party to be Macaca'ed. I think the standards are higher and the bar is lower for the Republican Party.

~Kellyanne Conway, Nov. 2007

Well what do you know. She's not so adept at following her own advice, is she? Seems Conway slipped into a bit of undisciplined messaging herself this evening. Oops.

I call bullshit. This was a shrewd but blatant attempt to attribute GOP racist rhetoric to the Clinton campaign, in hopes that it will stick and stir up further division and discord between the two democratic camps. The poo-flinging didn't work, Kellyanne, you got called out on it, and left with shit stuck to your hand.

I do agree with her on one count: that bar is hanging mighty low for the Republican party.


*David Paul Kuhn, Politico