The Republican National Committee released a new ad on Wednesday targeting Bill Clinton’s off-the-cuff comments in an interview with NBC from Kenya.
It was not Clinton’s maligned "pay the bills" statement that the GOP jumped on, however. Since the mainstream media had already called Clinton "out of touch" for what he said, the GOP focused on a less covered claim that fits the same narrative.
In the same interview, Bill Clinton claimed that he had "taken almost no capital gains" in the last 15 years. His tax returns say otherwise.
Clinton claimed almost $371,000 in capital gains between the years of 2000 and 2006. Given that most Americans do not report capital gains and that the median U.S. household income is $52,250, Clinton has been lambasted for what he said. $371,000 is not "almost nothing" to most Americans.
"One possibility is that Mr. Clinton’s definition of "almost no capital gains" differs from that of many Americans," New York Times reporter Steve Eder said.
The video, which repeated the "out of touch" line multiple times, concluded by tying Clinton’s words to his wife’s infamous "dead broke" comment.