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Begala: Hillary Clinton Needs to Answer for Confederate Flag in Arkansas

June 23, 2015

CNN political commentator Paul Begala, the co-chair of a pro-Hillary Clinton Super PAC, said Tuesday she would "absolutely" have to answer for her time as Arkansas First Lady when her husband stood by a flag with a blue star inspired by the state's former membership in the Confederacy.

"Sure, absolutely," he said, when asked about the subject by New Day's Chris Cuomo. "Times change and circumstances change."

In 2007 Clinton came out and said that she was against the Confederate flag, but during her time as First Lady of Arkansas she stood by as Governor Bill Clinton observed Confederate Flag Day. In 1987, according to the Huffington Post, Clinton "signed a bill affirming that one of those blue stars is there in honor of the Confederate States of America."

Begala brought up when former Governor Zell Miller took on the Confederate symbology that was once apart of the Georgia state flag. Miller had received support from Bill Clinton and the measure had failed.

"The people of Georgia kicked our butt and Zell Miller was as good of a politician as I have ever known," Begala said. "This is a very, very difficult issue and I am really thrilled at the rapid progress after 20 years of waiting that South Carolina has made. Corporate America is now weighing in. This is a completely different country that it was 20 to 30 years ago," said Begala.