WWW- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton dropped a Martin Luther King Day stunner yesterday - comparing GOP rule of the House of Representatives to a "plantation."
Standing alongside the Rev. Al Sharpton, Clinton told a mostly black crowd that "when you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation - and you know what I am talking about."
The startling comment got muted response from those at the Canaan Baptist Church of Christ on W. 116th St., but Republican leaders seized on her remarks as inflammatory and insensitive.
"It is always wrong to play the race card for political gain by using a loaded word like plantation," said Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.). "It is particularly wrong to do so on Martin Luther King Day."
"I am a little shocked that a United States senator would use such unfortunate stereotyping to characterize an entire political party," added Rep. Vito Fossella (R-S.I.). "In this case, I think she owes an apology."
Clinton's plantation remark was part of a fiery partisan speech in which she predicted that the Bush White House "will go down in history as one of the worst" and chided GOP leaders for squelching debate.
She asserted that the House "has been run in away so that nobody with a contrary point of view has had a chance to present legislation, to make an argument."
Aides to Clinton later defended her "plantation" remark, noting that House GOP leaders have often barred Democrats from even offering amendments to bills.
Although several Democrats did not return calls seeking comment, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens) said "the only card anybody was playing with today was the joker, because as she rightly stated, that's who's in charge of the people's House and that's who's stifling the progress of the last century, progress that led to civil rights."
As for Sharpton, he jokingly suggested that Clinton, who many believe is eying a run for President in 2008, had stolen his material.
"Any time you have a situation where, because of seniority and cloakroom politics, the bosses make the decision - that's tantamount to plantation," Sharpton told reporters.
"I absolutely defend her saying it because I said it all through the '04 elections," added Sharpton, referring to his failed presidential run that year.
Clinton made the plantation remark in response to a question about why national Democrats in general seem so "spineless" on major issues - a problem she blamed on the GOP's hold on the White House and both branches of Congress since 2000.
"So here's what I am suggesting," said Clinton in a not-so-veiled plug for her future. "If you don't like the way things are going now, the Democrats have to be given a chance to get into power."
