All day today, people have been talking about how influential Representative Jim Clyburn, who is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, has endorsed Hillary Clinton. This is especially interesting to news consumers who know about his not-so-nice comments against Hillary and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, during her first run for president back in 2008.

In a New York Times interview, he called the former president’s actions on the campaign trail “bizarre,” saying that his efforts to help his wife secure the Democratic nomination had alienated the couple from the black community the moment he disparaged Barack Obama. Seriously, the article was titled, “Black Leader in the House Sharply Criticizes Bill Clinton.”

The Wall Street Journal covered the fallout from that in 2008, writing that, “On primary night, Mr. Clinton called Mr. Clyburn and they spoke for 50 minutes.” Then, they wrote this:

Mr. Clinton called Mr. Clyburn an expletive, say Democrats familiar with the exchange. Mr. Clyburn’s office would confirm only that the former president used “offensive” words. Some day soon, the congressman says, he’ll write about the incident. On Tuesday, he endorsed Mr. Obama for president.

In spite of his 2008 endorsement of Obama, during the announcement today, he said, “My heart has always been with Hillary Clinton, but my head had me in a neutral corner.” Then, the man who is involved with not only the CBC, but the Democratic Faith Working Group, the Democratic Steering and Policy Committe, and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., said he was ready to stop being neutral and “get engaged.”

Two years ago, Clyburn made good on his WSJ promise to “write about the [phone call]” in his memoir, Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black. As we reported in 2014, here is what he said happened with the former POTUS:

“If you bastards want a fight, you damn well will get one,” Clinton thundered. As Clyburn tells it, the former president phoned to pin blame on the congressman, vent his frustration and seek an explanation on how his wife got whipped so badly [in South Carolina]… “I had kept that promise. I asked him to tell me why he felt otherwise. He exploded, used the word ‘bastard’ again, and accused me of causing her defeat and injecting race into the contest,” Clyburn writes.

There are still a few questions, of course. When Clinton said “bastards,” to which group of people, specifically, was he referring? And how did the Clinton campaign secure Clyburn as an endorsement today? The former House Majority Whip has always been outspoken about his beliefs, so an endorsement makes sense, but how did it come to be for Hillary Clinton?

Any ideas?

[image via screengrab]

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