No coincidence he’s about to retire.
Rockefeller stands by Obama race remark – Politico
Sen. Jay Rockefeller may no longer fear the political consequences of charging the GOP with opposing President Barack Obama’s agenda because he’s the “wrong color.”
But he might be alone in that.
On Thursday, no Democrats publicly rushed to back Rockefeller’s assertion that Obama has met legislative resistance because of his race, a remark that sparked an emotional debate Wednesday with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) over whether opposing the president and his health care law amounted to being “racist.”
Staring down his retirement after 30 years in the Senate and often using a wheelchair because of a bad knee, Rockefeller chose his words carefully Thursday speaking to a pair of reporters. He didn’t use the word “race” or “color” when asked to clarify his remarks — but he refused to back away from his core assertion.
“People oppose things for a variety of reasons. That’s all you’re going to get from me,” Rockefeller said of his “wrong color” comment. “It’s a part of life. And it is a part of American life and world life and it’s a part, just a part, of why they oppose absolutely everything that this president does. It’s basically for political reasons, they do that. But at some point you can’t exclude other factors … as they say, everything is on the table.”