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HILLARY CLINTON REGRETS GHANDI JOKE
WINS News ^ | 1/6/04

Posted on 01/06/2004 11:48:00 AM PST by areafiftyone

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton apologized for joking that Mahatma Gandhi used to run a gas station in St. Louis, saying it was "a lame attempt at humor."

The New York Democrat made the remark at a fund-raiser Saturday. During an event here for Senate candidate Nancy Farmer, Clinton introduced a quote from Gandhi by saying, "He ran a gas station down in St. Louis."

After laughter from many in the crowd of at least 200 subsided, the former first lady continued, "No, Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader of the 20th century." In a nod to Farmer's underdog status against Republican Sen. Kit Bond, Clinton quoted the Indian independence leader as saying: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

The director of a U.S. center devoted to Gandhi's teachings said the remarks amounted to stereotyping and were insensitive.

After being approached by The Associated Press to clarify the remarks, Clinton suggested in a statement late Monday that she never meant to fuel the stereotype - often used as a comedic punch line - that certain ethnic groups run America's gas stations.

"I have admired the work and life of Mahatma Gandhi and have spoken publicly about that many times," Clinton said. "I truly regret if a lame attempt at humor suggested otherwise."

Michelle Naef, administrator of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, a Memphis, Tenn.-based organization founded in 1991 by a Gandhi grandson, credited Clinton and her husband, former President Clinton, with long having "supported the Gandhi message." But she said Saturday's remarks "could be incredibly harmful."

"I don't think she was, in any way, trying to demean Mahatma Gandhi," Naef said. "To be generous to her, I would say it was a poor attempt at humor. Perhaps I'm overly sensitive, but I find it offensive when people use stereotypes in that way."


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Missouri
KEYWORDS: 2004; apology; badtaste; doublestandard; fundraiser; gandhi; hatespeech; hillary; hillaryclinton; kitbond; mahatmagandhi; mediabias; racialslur; racism; racist; racistjoke; senatorclinton; senatorhillary
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1 posted on 01/06/2004 11:48:00 AM PST by areafiftyone
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Move your locale up the leaderboard!

2 posted on 01/06/2004 11:49:32 AM PST by Support Free Republic (I'd rather be sleeping. Let's get this over with so I can go back to sleep!)
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To: areafiftyone
Who cares! However, if a Republican made this joke, THE MEDIA sure would care!
3 posted on 01/06/2004 11:51:02 AM PST by Hildy
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To: areafiftyone
Ghandi regrets Hillary Clinton's birth.
4 posted on 01/06/2004 11:51:08 AM PST by jimkress (America has become Soviet Union Lite)
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To: areafiftyone
I don't get it. Why is that supposed to be funny? And what is "offensive" about it?
5 posted on 01/06/2004 11:52:47 AM PST by Lyford
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To: areafiftyone
Hillary, you're much better at humor when you think you're being serious.
6 posted on 01/06/2004 11:52:59 AM PST by WinOne4TheGipper (The Democratic Party: Without an electoral mandate for almost 28 years.)
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To: Hildy
However, if a Republican made this joke, THE MEDIA sure would care!

How right you are. I only saw this in the local NY news site. Nothing in the major news of course!

7 posted on 01/06/2004 11:53:24 AM PST by areafiftyone (Democrats = the hamster is dead but the wheel is still spinning)
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To: areafiftyone
Hey she "IS" a democrap so NO BIGGY!~} For as we all know there is not a racist (or FUNNY) bone in any Dems body!~}
8 posted on 01/06/2004 11:53:40 AM PST by funkywbr
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To: areafiftyone
"I truly regret if a lame attempt at humor suggested otherwise."

Isn't the use of "lame" an insensitive insult to the other abled? I think ANOTHER apology is called for here.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

9 posted on 01/06/2004 11:53:49 AM PST by mikeb704
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To: areafiftyone
Of course, the radical left-wing media will ignore this ethnic slur by their Socialist heroine. Had Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison uttered such, it would have made the top of the fold in the NYT, WP, & LAT.
10 posted on 01/06/2004 11:54:14 AM PST by quark
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To: areafiftyone
Not much of a joke to begin with
11 posted on 01/06/2004 11:55:34 AM PST by exile (Exile - Helen Thomas tried to lure me into her Gingerbread House.)
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To: areafiftyone
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

If she was talking about herself with that quote - I hope she realizes we're all still in the laughing stage and will be for some time.

12 posted on 01/06/2004 11:55:37 AM PST by scan58
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To: areafiftyone
In real life, Gandhi drank his own urine, admired Hitler and denied his wife medicine for a treatable disease. She died.

He should have kept his job at the filling station.

13 posted on 01/06/2004 11:56:27 AM PST by T'wit
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To: exile
I guess its only a joke to people who make fun of Indians owning gas stations and seven elevens.
14 posted on 01/06/2004 11:57:30 AM PST by areafiftyone (Democrats = the hamster is dead but the wheel is still spinning)
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To: will1776
Some jokes get old after awhile, but Hil's pantsuit never gets old.
15 posted on 01/06/2004 11:57:40 AM PST by mlbford2
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To: areafiftyone
I think she should step aside like Trent Lott.........
16 posted on 01/06/2004 11:58:25 AM PST by Sub-Driver
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To: areafiftyone
I didn't know Indians were running all the gas stations now. I guess they are branching out from their monopoly on motels in the South.
17 posted on 01/06/2004 11:58:41 AM PST by freedom1st
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To: areafiftyone
The only Gandhi joke I know......

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him ....what? (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) A super callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis. (Previous parenthetical comment may have been a bit optimistic.)
18 posted on 01/06/2004 11:58:55 AM PST by Blue Screen of Death (,/i)
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To: mlbford2
Some jokes get old after awhile, but Hil's pantsuit never gets old.

Nope, just crustier.

19 posted on 01/06/2004 11:58:59 AM PST by mikeb704
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To: areafiftyone
Hillary!! sooon will learn that Americans of Asian Indian descent make up a large, wealthy, generous, politically concious, and influential segment of our population.

At least, for her sake, her quip about Ghandi was not a "Sikh" joke. My best friend at work happens to wear a beard and turban.......

20 posted on 01/06/2004 12:01:38 PM PST by tracer
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