South Carolina Democratic Representative [score]James Enos Clyburn[/score] is getting up there in years, having celebrated his seventy-seventh birthday this past July. So if you’re going to ask him tough questions concerning accusations of sexual impropriety leveled at fellow Rep. John (“We’ve All Seen Him in His Underwear”) Conyers, you’re going to have to give him some time to invent a defense.
It’s still not going to be very potent, mind you. On Wednesday, for example, Clyburn was corralled twice by reporters seeking his reaction to the mounting allegations against Conyers. In one instance, a member of the press noted that a number of individuals in the private sector who had been accused of similar misdeeds had already lost their jobs, to which Clyburn replied, “Who elected them?” seeming to suggest that a different moral and criminal code applies to elected officials.
CBC Chair Richmond asks for ex. of ppl leaving jobs faster than Conyers when face sexual harassment claims; Clyburn asks “who elected them?” pic.twitter.com/FGDNbvBUcg
— Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) November 29, 2017
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
In a second instance, Clyburn went after Conyers’s accusers, comparing them with notorious child killer Susan Smith and suggesting that they may not be credible because they’re white.
The outrageous comment was captured in a tweet by Robert Draper, a writer for The New York Times:
https://twitter.com/DraperRobert/status/935985854304210944
Breitbart reports on the fallout:
Rep. Clyburn’s office reportedly denied the allegations that Clyburn used the Susan Smith metaphor, while Draper suggests that multiple sources have told him that the South Carolina congressman used the reference on several occasions.
Cedric Richmond, a fellow congressman and member of the Black Caucus who was accompanying Clyburn in the above video, tweeted in reaction to Draper’s claim:
.@RepRichmond: "This is not accurate. @Clyburn used the Smith example to illustrate the dangers of convicting people before getting all the facts. Although Smith killed her kids, she blamed an innocent person & a lot of people believed that innocent person was guilty." 1/2 https://t.co/Rm5NkXk7BY
— Black Caucus (@OfficialCBC) November 30, 2017
Richmond followed up on his initial tweet:
.@RepRichmond: “If the police hadn’t investigated, the wrong person would have gone to jail. This mischaracterization of what @clyburn said is nothing more than members changing the story because they want his leadership position.” 2/2
— Black Caucus (@OfficialCBC) November 30, 2017
In response, Draper said in another tweet that “that discussion was specifically & exclusively about Conyers, according to 2 attendees. Who else could you have been referring to when bringing up Susan Smith?”
In yet a third tweet, he added:
https://twitter.com/DraperRobert/status/936008691752501248
Clyburn tried defending himself on Twitter:
This is inaccurate in many regards. That discussion had nothing to with Conyers. https://t.co/EWeokwGn50
— James E. Clyburn (@WhipClyburn) November 29, 2017
This engendered a number of ironic reactions:
Please explain what the context was then congressman?
— Steve Simpson (@SteveSimpsonMN) November 29, 2017
Keep digging. pic.twitter.com/3huS81NtYY
— Sarah Connor (@ConstitutionLo1) November 30, 2017
And finally this:
So, *White women* are to be considered liars? Is that what the Democratic Whip is saying? https://t.co/f0uRmOecho
— Kyle Raccio (@kyleraccio) November 29, 2017
As Twitchy noted, “If Clyburn has some further proof that the story is inaccurate, he might want to produce it.” And he should do it quickly.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press said that Conyers has no plan to resign from office:
“He’s going to fight these allegations tooth and nail if he has to with evidence, with documentation, witnesses, whatever he has to do,” attorney Arnold Reed told the AP. “And the accusers will have to prove up their case.”
But, the New York Post said, he does not intend to run for re-election in 2018.
I wonder why.
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