Bennie Thompson: Gov. Bryant opposed Obamacare “because it came from a black man”

By Steve Wilson | Mississippi Watchdog

U.S. congressman Bennie Thompson, D-Bolton, appeared on the New Nation of Islam radio program Sunday and didn’t shy away from controversy.

Thompson, who represents the 2nd District, told host Marvin “Son of Man” Muhammad that Mississippi governor Phil Bryant rejected Medicaid expansion “because a black man came up with it.” He also accused Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell of being opposed to Obama because of his race and called Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas an “Uncle Tom” who “doesn’t like black people or like being black.”

About McConnell at the 16:59 mark:

“I’ve been in Washington. I saw three presidents now. I never saw George Bush treated like this. I never saw Bill Clinton treated like this with such disrespect. That Mitch McConnell would have the audacity to tell the president of the United States — not the chief executive, but the commander-in-chief — that ‘I don’t care what you come up with we’re going to be against it.’ Now if that’s not a racist statement I don’t know what is.”

Later, he added: “Now all of a sudden, government is the worst thing in the world since a black man became president.”

About Mississippi governor Phil Bryant and his opposition to Medicaid expansion at the 21:33 mark:

“In turning it down, he turned down $426 million in federal funds for people who need health care. It’s not just this man who turned it down, but he turned down resources that could help his citizens, who are documented with some of the worst health care conditions known to man just because a black man created it.”

He accuses Republicans of being opposed to Obama’s policies solely on race at the 23:55 mark:

“George W. Bush brought on a prescription drug program that provided medical assistance to people all over the country. You didn’t hear (Speaker of the House) John Boehner or anyone else fussing about that. They just went on with it. When a black man comes up with the idea, there’s something wrong with it. Race is creeping into it. The statisticians tell us that if you provide health care to the people, you make it affordable, they’ll live longer and the cost of health care will go down.”

He saves some of his biggest jabs for Thomas at the 37:06 mark:

“There’s Uncle Tom Clarence Thomas. He had no judicial experience. Looking at his decisions he’s been a part, it’s almost to the point where he doesn’t like black people or doesn’t like being black because every decision where color has something to do with it, he went against it.”

The Fayette, Miss.-based New Nation of Islam, on its website, advocates for a “separate state or territory of their own,” the release of Nation of Islam prisoners from prisons and is opposed to “racial mixing.”

Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@watchdog.org

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