Tucker refrains from calling Clinton 'vaginal-American' David Edwards and Jason Rhyne

Published: Wednesday October 17, 2007



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Print This Email This MSNBC's Tucker Carlson stopped himself from calling Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton a "vaginal-American" in a discussion about how the candidate's gender will impact her chances in the 2008 presidential primaries. He also weighed in with his opinion that voters making their choice on the basis of gender "shouldn't be allowed to vote." "This is an amazing statistic. 94 percent of women say they'd be more likely to vote if a woman were on the ballot," Carlson had said of a new poll from the Clinton camp. "I think of all the times I've voted for people just because they're male...we've got some more genitalia, he's getting my vote." "You didn't have a choice all those times you were voting," responded guest Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post. "When firsts happen they are significant. They say something about the society -- how far its come and where it is." Later in the segment, the host asked if his guests thought that "people who are voting on the basis of gender solidarity ought to be allowed to vote in a perfect world?" "Of course they shouldn't be allowed to vote on those grounds," he said, answering his own question. "That's moronic. I'm sorry, I know I'm going to get bounced off the air for saying it but it's true." Acknowledging that part of the female voting block's support for Clinton is "loyalty to the Clintons," Carlson added that the candidate was unfairly using her gender to garner votes. "The Hillary campaign relentlessly pushes the glass ceiling argument," he said. "You should vote for her because she's a woman -- they say that all the time." "At least call her a vaginal-American," said conservative guest Cliff May, who heads the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. "Is that the new phrase?" Carlson asked. "I don't think I can say that." "You shouldn't say that," Robinson assured him. The host later asked how, specifically, Clinton would differ from a male president. "How is she going to be a different president if she's a woman? I just don't get that," he said. "I don't think she will be," said Robinson. "But I think it will be significant if a woman is elected President of the United States, as it would be significant if an African American were elected...it says something about the country." The remarks were first reported by Media Matters, which includes a full transcript of the segment at its website. The following video is from MSNBC's Tucker, broadcast on October 15, 2007.



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