...but, to be fair, the comments, as they stood, were a pretty callous assessment of Sanders' role in the movement.

That said, it's clear now that Lewis was just relating his own knowledge of Bernie Sanders (not much, it appears) and his longtime relationship with the Clintons.

I've actually been refreshing my John Lewis google page almost every hour since he made the statement, looking for the clarification.

clarify, so glad he did.

His original statements did not make him look good at all

...they looked super snarky and mean.

I've never known John Lewis to be mean to ANYONE, not even toward his attackers in Selma.

His game was not quite on during that press conference

And I hope all sides will stop using minorities as a stick to beat the other candidate opponents. On ALL sides.

I would like to share a link to a profound photograph of John Lewis and others praying during a demonstration, taken by Danny Lyon who also took the Bernie photos so much in the news.....
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00651155/

That photo and others....
http://www.mocp.org/detail.php?t=objects&type=browse&f=maker&s=Lyon%2C+Danny&record=81

The implications in his original statement were that if you didn't meet Lewis, your effort did not matter. This country is very large and there were thousands (millions?) who stood up against injustice all over the country without meeting Lewis. It is good that he clarified the statement to acknowledge this.

I took his statement to mean he had never met Sanders in relation to the civil rights movement and he had met the Clinton's in that context. What you thought he meant is on you.

...having met the Clintons, as he said (and Bill corroborated in a speech in 2000 at tribute for Lewis) while Bill and Hillary were pursuing political ambitions, not civil rights concerns, as Lewis was engaged in at the time.

Please read this.

https://thesouthlawn.org/2016/02/12/an-open-letter-to-rep-john-lewis/?utm_content=buffer6a1c4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

...but the man that I believe I know did the right thing. That's a character trait of his which has never required any prompting.

I think he saw how his comments were being portrayed and made this effort to set it right.

I'm always suspect of commentary which suggests John Lewis is anything less than an outstanding American and individual.

in support of Hillary. This goes back to his criticism of #blm when he said of protestors at a Hillary event "I think they represent another time, another period."

It was intentional. He stained his career with that statement.

I am a Bernie Supporter and will caucus for him on March 26th and try to bring as many people with me.

However, his reasons for supporting Hillary isn't because he is a Wall Street Corporate Big Wig. He doesn't make money off defense contracts, he isn't sitting on the board of Monsanto and he isn't a tool for Citizen United. He is a man who has served his country and his people in a hostile environment. He has made a choice. It doesn't jive with me, but I never wished him harm either physically (because he has been beaten for his political views) or figuratively.

This over reaction on this mirrors some of the over reaction on the other side about other issues. Stop.

Bernie wins people over when they think about incremental change vs get it done now. We have all had the drip, drip of trickle down economics, racial equality, gender equality, climate change and food safety. It is killing us. That should be the focus. Not everyone is going to see it that way. But a lot more will when they don't feel the atmosphere is hostile.

Sorry it had to be you to reply and say this to, but your post crossed a line for me.

...it's clear his statement was taken out of the context he intended. He takes responsibility for that here and there shouldn't be an issue with this.

John Lewis has done more than almost anybody for civil rights. This entire thing is just another in a long line of whining coming from Sanders supporters here where anybody who doesn't fawn over Sanders is evil no matter who they are. It comes from the same place all of the conspiracy theories about how they won't let Sanders win come from.

In the present, he sold out to support the establishment candidate that will hurt black people.

Threw away his legacy IMO

now he says this:

”If you take a look at a transcript of my statement, you will find I did not say that I met Hillary and Bill Clinton when I was chairman of SNCC in the 1960s. My point was that when I was doing the work of civil rights, led the Voter Education Project and organized voter registration in the South in the 1970s, I did cross paths with Hillary and Bill Clinton in the field. They were working in politics, and Bill Clinton became attorney general of Arkansas in the 1970s as well. That began a relationship with them that has lasted until today,” Lewis said in the statement.

...making an issue out of his book (as if that means anything significant to anyone) is a ridiculous pursuit.

Bill Clinton Remarks at a Dinner for Representative John Lewis in Atlanta - April 14, 2000

"You know, John was up here talking about being 60 years old, and I was thinking about the first time I met him, when I was just a young man back in the seventies, held no office, wanted to get elected to something in my State, and was interested in helping a fellow from Georgia named Carter get elected President. And I remember John talking to me about all these stories we saw in the movie. Twenty-five years ago, my eyes were big. I thought, one of the reasons I liked politics and one of the reasons I'm a Democrat is I can sit here, a 29-year-old kid, and talk to John Lewis about his life. If anybody had ever told me 25 years later I'd be back here talking about a distinguished 60-year-old Congressman, and I'd be President, I'd have thought they were nuts. But I'm honored to be here."

I call it a discrepancy. But maybe Clinton remembers it because he admired Lewis. But Lewis doesn't remember it because Bill was so unimpressive at that age. Who knows? If Lewis was misquoted in Bill's book he should have asked Bill to revise it. Since it was in the section "conversations with Black Americans" one would think it was vetted properly. It was pretty detailed. nd it wasn't a rememberance or something paraphrased. It was a long quote from Rep. John Lewis. But then Hillary wasn't running then so I guess that explains it.

Let's talk about something that's not ridiculous - like that's not Bernie in the photo!

until 77.

The overlap while Bill was AG and Lewis was still at VEP was about 3 months.

I assume that's what he was implying, that in the first three months of 1977 - while they were both trying to enter politics - they met...

And we were supposed to get that, and his deep admiration for Bernie, from his statement..

Clear as mud.

Then walk it back a bit on a Saturday morning.

at the truth tellers.

That you, Brock?

...I'm talking about the viscous, unrestrained, ad hominem attacks on Lewis.

Most people here know the difference.

I haven't seen ANY "viscous," unrestrained, ad hominem attacks on Lewis.

Go to IGNORE.

...I certainly have.

Sorry you left in a huff.

He's an incredible man. I was saddened by the original statement.

Does he mean it ended today? Funny how ambiguity ties our tongues in knots.

We may or may not always say what we mean.