Bill Accuses Obama of 'Hit Job'

The bitter rivalry between the Clintons and Barack Obama took a toxic new turn yesterday as Bill Clinton, defending himself against accusations of injecting race into the campaign in South Carolina, accused Obama of "putting out a hit job" on him. During questioning by a CNN reporter, the former president accused the media of abetting an Obama strategy to inject race into the political battlefield to hurt him and Hillary.

"They are feeding you this because they know this is what you want to cover," he scolded. "They spin you up and you happily go along. Shame on you." The former president also said his wife might lose in South Carolina, where at least half of the voters are black, on the basis of race. “They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender, and that’s why people tell me that Hillary doesn’t have a chance to win here.” (More Barack Obama stories.)