The video above was first posted by the "GOP War Room" seven hours ago. It purports to show Bill Clinton calling the Obama administration "an awful legacy," but it's just another ratfck by a bunch of ratfckers, who got the right wing echo chamber on it right away, with the help of USAToday.
Here's the transcript of the clip:
“I literally from the time I met her 45 years ago ‘til we talked yesterday, she is the best change-maker I have ever known. She always finds a way to make something good happen, to make people feel empowered, to buy people into the process, to make democracy work the way the framers intended for it to work.
Now, if you don’t believe we can all grow together again, if you don’t believe we're ever going to grow again, if you believe it’s more important to re-litigate the past, there may be many reasons that you don’t want to support her.
But if you believe we can all rise together, if you believe we’ve finally come to the point where we can put the awful legacy of the last eight years behind us and the seven years before that when we were practicing trickle-down economics and no regulation in Washington, which is what caused the crash, then you should vote for her because she’s the only person who basically had good ideas will tell you how she’s going to pay for them, can be commander in chief and is a proven change maker with republicans and democrats and independents alike.”
There is a missing reference in that "awful legacy of the last eight years," and that's the reference to the financial meltdown and Republican obstructionism of unprecedented proportions.
Clinton's aides clarified for USA Today, but apparently the right-wing publications like Drudge, et al, see no reason to update their posts.
Here is the clarification:
"When Republicans controlled the White House, their trickle-down approach drove our economy to the brink of a collapse. After President Obama was elected, Republicans made it their number one goal to block him at every turn," spokesman Angel Urena said in a statement. "That unprecedented obstruction these last eight years is their legacy, and the American people should reject it by electing Hillary Clinton to build on President Obama's success so we can all grow and succeed together."
Sadly, it was picked up by Bernie Sanders and tweeted as well, uncritically. So now it's viral.
Here's a protip: When Republicans are the source of a video like that, assume they're ratfcking, which they are, and judge accordingly.
Here are some tweets from Charles Johnson also trying to make the point:
Right wingers are circulating another deceptive video today - Bill Clinton was talking about the economic crash ...
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) March 22, 2016
… when he said “awful legacy of the last 8 years,” not the Obama presidency. The right wing media just can’t stop lying.
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) March 22, 2016
The video originated with the “America Rising” PAC. Look it up. You’re being played. @Kimberly124 @NYTNarrative
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) March 22, 2016
Now I differ with Johnson, in that I saw it from the GOP War Room, which is different from Mitt Romney's America Rising PAC. But here's the thing. It's in Republicans' best interests to distract us all from their pathetic 2016 field, where the nominee will almost surely be Herr Drumpf.
Don't let them do that.
Here's the America Rising version, which was clipped down to 24 seconds:
