Louisiana Democratic Party chair and State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, after claiming on the Senate floor that opponents of Obamacare did so because the president is African American, told WDSU she did not call anyone racist.
"I'm not stepping away from anything I said on the floor," she said. "I didn't call anyone a racist. I referenced some of the conversations that I'd had with colleagues that shared with me that one of the factors .. I didn't say that everybody's decision was based on that, but certainly one of the factors was the politics around it and the issue of race. So that's kind of stirred up some folks that are not accustomed to having that conversation openly, but I think it's time that we not ignore the issue."
That's curious, as Peterson made it seem as if that was the sole reason anyone could oppose the president's universal health care plan. Her remarks drew sharp criticism from both sides of the aisle, and she dodged one Baton Rouge reporter asking her to elaborate on her comments.
"It’s about race," she said earlier in the week. "No, nobody wants to talk about that. It’s about the race of this African American president, because this same thing has been offered by former Speaker Newt Gingrich in the past. Yeah, he had a similar bill to what Obama, President Obama has offered. Similar legislation was offered. It comes down to the race of the President of the United States, which causes people to disconnect and step away from the substance of the bill."
[H/T Weekly Standard]