No, Hillary did not apologize for bragging about putting coal miners 'out of business'

The media is claiming Hillary Clinton apologized for saying “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business” during a town hall event in March. They are wrong. Mrs. Clinton was confronted Monday by an out-of-work coal worker in West Virginia who took issue with the former Secretary of State’s anti-coal comments. Not only did Mrs. Clinton not apologize for the remark, she also lied about the context and intent behind the remark.

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First, let’s remember exactly how Jazz described Mrs. Clinton’s boast that she’d use her authority in the federal government to bring an end to America’s embattled coal industry.

In order to establish her bona fides with the Democratic base, Secretary Clinton made sure to let everyone know that she was going to be replacing all of that nasty, dirty, fossil fuel energy which supplies more than two thirds of the juice on our grid with renewable resources. But that’s just standard fare for liberals and not enough to make you a true warrior of the Left. To really put the icing on the cake, the Democratic front-runner decided to get a rise out of the highly supportive crowd with a promise to largely wipe out an industry which provides tens of thousands of jobs.

It was during that town hall that she claimed “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”

Monday, her day of reckoning arrived when out-of-work West Virginia coal miner Bo Copley confronted her with tears in his eyes. The Daily Caller describes the scene:

“I just want to know how you can say you’re going to put a lot of coal miners out of, out of jobs, and then come in here and tell us how you’re going to be our friend, because those people out there don’t see you as a friend,” Copley told Clinton, referring to dozens of protesters gathered outside of Monday’s round-table session who shouted at the candidate to “Go home!” as she arrived.

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Hillary replied in true Clintonian fashion by blaming either the media or the coal miner, himself, for not fully understanding what she really meant and for taking her words out of context.

“I don’t know how to explain it other than what I said was totally out of context from what I meant, because I’ve been talking about helping coal country for a very long time,” Clinton said. She then claimed the whole episode was a “misstatement.”

“And it was a misstatement, because what I was saying is that the way things are going now, we will continue to lose jobs. I didn’t mean that we were going to do it, what I said was, that is going to happen unless we take action to try to and help and prevent it.”

You see? It was a misstatement and it was taken out of context. Is it me, or are those two, contradictory excuses. Either the statement was correct, but taken out of context. Or, the statement was incorrect (a misstatement) and therefore, the context is irrelevant.

Nevertheless, her explanation is a complete lie.  And the media is allowing her to attempt wriggle out of this awkward gaffe by only playing the one line, “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” Let’s look at exactly what Mrs. Clinton said, in context (as she demands) and let’s look at the entirety of her statement.

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“I’m the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country. Because we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, right Tim?

And we’re going to make it clear that we don’t want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lives to turn on our lights and power our factories.

Now we’ve got to move away from coal and all the other fossil fuels, but I don’t want to move away from the people who did the best they could to produce the energy that we relied on.”

That is her entire statement and it is the entire context. Look at the final sentence. Watch the video and hear the words come from her own mouth. She said, “we’ve got to move away from coal and all the other fossil fuels.” That’s not out of context and that’s not ambiguous.

So, in her explanation to Copley, when she says “I didn’t mean that we were going to do it, what I said was, that is going to happen unless we take action to try to and help and prevent it,” it is a lie. Because she is specifically advocating a policy that will put coal companies out of business. What other context could “we’ve got to move away from coal and all the other fossil fuels” possibly be employed here?

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Meanwhile, the lies continue regarding Monday’s exchange with Copley as Clinton is getting credit for an “apology” that she never made. Look how NBC News headlines their story:  Hillary Clinton Apologizes to Coal Country Over ‘Out of Business’ Comments 

Hillary Clinton, in a rare candid moment on the trail, apologized to a man who confronted her over comments made earlier this year about putting coal miners “out of business.”

No. No she didn’t.

Here is what she said:

“I do feel a little bit sad and sorry that I gave folks the reason or the excuse to be so upset with me, because that is not what I intended at all.”

That is not an apology. It’s barely an expression of regret. Even more, if there is any regret in this statement, it is not over the content of what she said, it is an expression of regret over the consequences of what she said.

Now no one is expecting Clinton (or any politician for that matter) to meet the biblical standard for a true apology, but thease weasel words don’t even come close to constituting an apology.

But, of course, that doesn’t stop the media from claiming she apologized.  You know, like the way they claimed she apologized for her illegal, unsecured email server, even though she never really apologized for that either.

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In fact, it seems every time Hillary “apologizes” for something she’s done, she’s really apologizing for you stupid voters being so ignorant that you’re not understanding the true meaning of her words and actions. Hmmm, wonder why she remains so unlikable?

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