Controversial Words At Sharpton's MLK Event

Clinton's Use Of Word 'Plantation' Raises Eyebrows

The Martin Luther King Day celebration at Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network is a rite of passage in an election year. And with so many big races this year, candidates and controversy were the order of the day.

There were tough questions to politicians who feel they must attend the event as much to pay homage to Sharpton as to celebrate Dr. King's legacy.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, who had launched into an impassioned attack on the Bush administration.

�We have a culture of corruption, we have cronyism we have incompetence I predict to you that this administration will go down on history as one of the worst that has ever governed out country.�

Clinton actually got an easy question. �I need you to tell us what distinguishes Democrats from Republicans right now,� she was asked.

Clinton's answer was provocative.

Said Clinton, �When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation and you know what I'm talking about..."
Some House Republicans took immediate offense at Senator Clinton's choice of words.

Said Republican Congressman Peter King, of Long Island, "It's always wrong to play the race card for political gain by using a loaded word like plantation. But it is particularly wrong to do so on Martin Luther King Day."