Obama supporter: Bill Clinton 'hit me in the face' Bill Clinton's temper flared up again at weekend rallies in Ohio -- a must-win state for his wife's presidential campaign -- when he was confronted by anti-abortion protesters and a Barack Obama supporter.
The former president became so irate at a heckler who continually shouted Obama's name that the Secret Service had to intervene when Clinton and the Obama supporter went toe-to-toe following a speech in Canton, OH. Following Clinton's speech the man "made a beeline" for the former president and began criticizing him, according to news reports.
I think he even hit me in the face with his hand, Obama supporter Robert Holeman told MSNBC. He did give me a little pop. It was okay, because I understand his tenacity for his wife.
A Clinton spokesperson told the network that there was no physical contact between Clinton and the supporter, but MSNBC video did show the former president wagging his finger in Holeman's face.
"As far as whether or not he made physical contact, it doesn't appear there's a whole lot of evidence that actually happened," MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Willie Geiss said on the show Monday morning.
Holeman said he was criticizing Clinton for the negativity he has displayed on the campaign trail, to which the prospective First Gentleman accused Obama of going negative first. It's unclear whether either man recognized the irony of a heckler criticizing a candidates tactics. The Canton Repository reported "Secret Service agents started looking with concern at Holeman," but Holeman told MSNBC that the agents had to step in to cool Clinton's temper.
"I told him the negative campaigning is unnecessary," Holeman told the local newspaper. "The behavior is truly unbecoming of a former president."
Later Sunday, Clinton was confronted by some anti-abortion protesters at a separate appearance in northwest Ohio.
The weekend confrontations were not the first time Clinton has battled back hecklers during an appearance. Last month he became irate when hecklers shouted accusations that 9/11 was an inside job.
Joe Scarborough highlighted confrontations between Bill Clinton and hecklers. Scarborough said that Bill Clinton is acting angry and desperate.
This video is from MSNBC's Morning Joe, broadcast February 18, 2008.
Transcript via closed captions
:: welcome to "morning joe." so glad to have you with us. i hope you had a great weekend. i know i sure have. mika, how are you doing this morning?
:: doing great.
:: did you notice i got a tan? little tan. so i have a red nose. i think they tried to cover up my red nose so i didn't look too much after bill clinton. this morning -- after i go to the orphanage, which i usually do, i went to starbucks on 75th and amsterdam or wherever it is, one of those streets on the upper west side -- right across from abc. amsterdam, broadway, columbus. that's what it is. and this guy comes up to me and he goes, hey, you look like bill clinton. and i said, no, it's just the red nose. so at 5:00 a.m. this morning, attacking me.
:: were you waving your finger at a heckler? maybe that's how he recognized you.
:: speaking of seamless segues, it's so good to be around professionals, willie geist. i can tell you're in the family business. last night i got an e-mail from one of the embeds saying bill clinton wagged his finger, poked his finger, and actually hit a guy. then we got an e-mail an hour or two later saying he was shouting at a pro life demonstrator.
:: this is the first incident here. this is just video you can see. he's in canton, ohio. apparently during his speech, when he was campaigning for his wife, there was a person, a pro boem person, sort of heckling him during the speech. there's the clinton point.
:: i don't get the issue.
:: as far as whether or not he made physical contact, it doesn't appear there's a whole lot of evidence that happened. the guy says, i think he hit me in the face. let's listen to the mant's account of his confrontation with clinton.
:: i can see you're about to losing. when you're losing, you become almost uncontrollable. you're not able to talk clearly or illustrate. so all this name calling is like the bully in the yard. he can't have his way. he can't get nothing done. he got very heated. i think he even hit me in the face with his hand to back me up a little bit. the secret service got him off me real quick, i did notice that. he did give me a little pop, but that's okay because i understood the tenacity for his wife.
:: now, i thought the secret service was supposed to prevent people from striking the preponderate. in this case, the gentleman says the secret service pulled him off. i put my black berry down saying i guess it's a rough night for the president. and then i got another e-mail from one of our nbc embeds saying bill clinton was going after pro life students.
:: i guess later in the day in ohio, different event, this time he was confronted by a pro life student and had this exchange. [ inaudible ].
:: i gave you the answer. we disagree with you. you want to criminalize women and their doctors, and we disagree. you want to criminalize women and their doctors. i'm against abortion -- tell the truth. tell the truth. you can't name me anybody presently in politics that did more to introduce policies that reduced the number of real abortions instead of the hot air putting out to tear people up and make them criminals in america.
:: that is, of course, a man that supports a procedure commonly referred to, at least by conservatives, as partial birth abortion. so the fact that he's saying he's done more to reduce abortions than any other politician, first of all, factually, false. i know that will shock a lot of people.
:: that's one issue that gets heated no matter what, no matter who you're talking to.
:: not if you're president of the united states. you know, bill clinton, there is something going on with bill clinton right now, and we have been talking about it really off the air more than on the air. that's one of the things this show kind of tries to do, other than poke at certain websites. this is something that people have -- let's talk people behind the scenes because for two months now you've had some of the top political reporters in america whispering, what's wrong with bill clinton? there's something going on there. why is he so out of control? on the campaign trail. and willie --
:: well, i can tell you why.
:: why?
:: well, i mean, bill clinton is part of the clinton campaign, hillary clinton for president, and this incredible machine, which has really never missed a beat, is completely, completely bowled over by the obama campaign. they cannot believe this guy is doing this well.
:: if i can suggest though --
:: and they cannot find anything that really is an in for them to try to sort of gain some ground.
:: if i can suggest, though, that one of the problems, biggest problems the clinton campaign has had thus far in this campaign is bill clinton.
:: maybe.
:: whether you're talking about him running around in new hampshire saying crazy things, him going to nevada talking about how he personally saw vote suppression and people chasing behind him. and then he goes to south carolina and plays the race card. he just seems to be out of control. and here, again, look at the picture of him pointing at this guy along the rope lines. look how out of control and angry he is. willie, something's going on there. that's a former president of the united states.
:: on friday morning's show we were talking to our panel about this, whether or not bill clinton's had an impact on this election, and i think the consensus was, if this does in fact turn for obama and he becomes the nominee, you're going to have to point back perhaps to that moment in south carolina where he compared barack obama to jesse jackson. like it or not, that was a low point for that campaign and perhaps a turning point.
:: and frank rich, of course, yesterday, an incredible column -- all of frank's columns so insightful whether you agree with him on every issue or not -- talked about what a ridiculous analogy that was. so basically the question of bill clinton was who's your favorite football team, and his answer was barack obama's black. did you know that?
:: the fact they thought this would work means they completely underestimated --
:: hold on. you say they? i don't think that came from hillary clinton. i don't think it came from mark penn. i don't think it came from howard wolfson.
:: there were several different things that came from other surrogates as well as bill clinton. i'm not going to rehash problems with the clinton campaign along the way, but bill clinton wasn't the only one. the point is i think they completely underestimated their opponent. this is the argument we've been having for months now as to who would be the more worthy opponent. who would be less problematic, and you see the clinton campaign basically stumped by this guy.
:: when bill clinton ran for president, he said you get two for one, and actually hillary clinton helped in that equation because she brought female voters along.
:: sure.
:: in this incident, in this case, two for one actually hurts hillary clinton because she brings bill clinton along. everyone talks about hillary clinton's stellar senate career, how she's worked with republicans. you notice bill clinton was never be ever associated with any headline during her senate career except when she first got there with, of course, the disgraceful mark rich pardon. so this guy is bad news for hillary clinton. unfortunately, i don't think she can send him to chappaqua, and it seems, willie, he's doubling down right now. and how he's doubling down is i've got to win this election, or else my reputation is tarnished. then look at this finger wagging incident again. but then he is so desperate to win that he's tarnishing it twice. he's basically saying, i will do whatever it takes to win. right there he just looks angry and desperate and very unpresidential.
:: i think he senses they have two weeks to win this election. whatever happens on march 4th, it's probably going to be over after that or perhaps not.
 
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