Hillary's Assasination Comment

Thoughts from BarbinMD at dailykos

Hillary Clinton: On why she's still in it
by BarbinMD
Fri May 23, 2008 at 04:34:41 PM PDT

Earlier today Hillary Clinton made what can only be described as a bizarre rationalization for staying in a primary race that she's already lost:

" My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California."

Almost immediately, Clinton clarified her remark, saying that she was merely pointing out a "historic fact" and that:

"The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator Kennedy. I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever."

But this isn't the first time she has made this same, offensive comparison. In March of this year:

TIME: Can you envision a point at which--if the race stays this close--Democratic Party elders would step in and say, "This is now hurting the party and whoever will be the nominee in the fall"?

CLINTON: No, I really can't. I think people have short memories. Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A. My husband didn't wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June. Having a primary contest go through June is nothing particularly unusual.

Once might be a mistake, twice and it's a tactic. An offensive, ugly tactic from a failed campaign whose only hope is to raise the possibility that something might happen to Obama. The willingness to say such a thing in a cheap effort to sway superdelegates is disgusting.

Across the blogosphere, Clinton is being roundly condemned:

Paddy at The Political Carnival:

Done. I'm done with her.

In an update at MyDD, Josh Orton is saying:

"it's clear that Clinton is not in any way calling directly for something to happen to Obama. But we also cannot divorce her comments from her public stature, her intelligence, her responsibility as a leader, or our history. So even with the most charitable interpretation, I think her negligence is disqualifying"

Booman:

"Perhaps she merely meant to refer to the June part of the situation, as she claims, but we already have a candidate that has won the majority of the earned delegates. He will be our nominee unless there is a compelling reason to choose someone else. If that happens, Clinton already has the strongest claim to be his replacement and further campaigning only undermines her chances of winning over Obama's delegates. As she travels the country on her Insult Your Intelligence Tour she is bound to continue to give offense."

Oliver Willis:

"She is fracking crazy....Seriously, who says this sort of thing? Your average person doesn't say it, let alone somebody running for president. Hillary Clinton didn't lose this race because she was a victim of sexism. She lost this race because people are tired of her clawing for power and running over everything to do it."

liza at culturekitchen:

"Shameless.

Despicable.

Unfit to be President Of The United States."

Brad at Sadly, No!:

OK, I've defended Hillary against sexism. I can't defend her against charges of being completely tasteless ....I got nothin' to add to this. Wow.


*******************************************************

KO to air special comment shortly "This cannot be forgiven."

Sorry, but can you explain what the big deal is?

Mentioning death?

It is in poor taste and probably a sign of her fatigue. If shes run out of ideas, this was about as stupid a thing to have said and shes probably gonna pay for it in the media and with last stand supporters (like my wife).

IM VOTING FOR LYNDON LAROUCHE

Even if Lyndon LArouche is dead, hes got my vote.

Outrage du jour...

I didn't see the interview, was she wearing a flag pin?

Keith Oberlin had a field day with this on his editorial "comment" tonight on MSNBC.

I actually reacted strongly at first (when Blueflame posted on the Obama '08 thread) and then second-guessed myself and deleted it after a minute or so (anyone see it?) Hillary's comment is tone-deaf and pretty stupid, politically-speaking, but I don't think she actually meant it in the way it's largely being taken.

Plus she evidently said the same thing back in March... why HUGE NEWS now and not a blip back then?

Because, some reporter figured it out this time. Also, you could watch this interview she was giving live, iirc; so quite a few people probably saw it who weren't at a rally of hers or something.

If the media and Clinton wanted to crucify Obama over 'bitter' comments, then I have little pity for Clinton in her time of difficulty over a similar gaffe.

Cycloptichorn

My take, given that I think Clinton is reasonably astute and that her talking points are generally planned in advance is that she is suggesting to the super delegates that Obama is a target for assassination and that since she really isn't, she would be a better candidate for the fall. This seems to fall into a Clinton campaign pattern where the Clintons toss out comments they think will have an impact only to see them blow up in their faces. The "King couldn't have done it without Johnson", "Jackson won SC too", "Obama has a problem with white, working class voters" and the "bullets over Bosnia" comments all reflect this blind spot.

Political suicide. She did use the word assassination the first time she tried to make an RFK point. There was blowback enough on that that the next 2 times she mentioned it she left out the word assassination. Today she just blew it. She blew for me though when she said we brought freedom to Iraq. To many dead and maimed and suffering and sick iand hungry n Iraq to make such an absurd political statement as that. I thought Olberman put her entire campaign in the proper perspective.

Olberman's comment at the bottom of page for anyone interested. link

The point is that this is about as stunning a lack of judgement as one will ever see from someone with her savvy. She probably did not realize what she said until someone played it back for her. IMO her real sin was not coming out immediately and begging for forgiveness. That shows a real lack of judgment and even character. Hillary apparently can't admit it when she is wrong.

I saw it live and something fell and KO flinched. Watch for it in the tape,I will.

I think it's more like one of those slips of the tongue (and yes, they can occur twice in a couple of months) where something that's at the back of your mind but which you really didnt wanna say out loud like that slips out anyway.

I'm pretty sure all of us have thought about the possibility that Obama would be assassinated. We've talked about it, even, in the Obama thread, at some length. Hillary will have thought about it often enough too, of course. For her the consideration, however fleeting, is much more acutely relevant though: just imagine it does happen. Where would she want to be being right then?

Well, still campaigning as the obvious #2 candidate, of course. Course she would. Primarily out of self-interest, yeah. it's not a nice thought, but you'd have it too in her position. And as bystander you could also wonder, wouldnt it actually be better for the party too, in such a hypothetical cataclysm, to have a stand-by replacement at the ready, rather than sink into confusion and chaos even as grief overwhelms the nation?

Again, none of this is the stuff you're ever supposed to talk about. Least of all if you're a top politician. About your rival. It's just not done, beyond the pale, etc. For reasons of basic civility if nothing else. But she's tired, and slip out it did, twice even. And if we're honest it's really only logical that she would be thinking about this kind of stuff. It's just stupid of her to let it slip out. She's obviously exhausted, but it's still a gaffe.

What it's not, in my humble outsiders instinct, is some cunning devious evil plan to convince superdelegates to support her rather than Obama because at least she doesnt run the risk of being assassinated as much. What it's not, going on my gut instinct and common sense, is some kind of conscious political game any which way. But considering how poisoned the relations between the respective core supporters are (and are largely due to Hillary's machinations), outrage will be taken, at length and with the ascription of pure, unadulterated evil rather than mere flaws to Hillary.

Maybe it's karma, but it's still silly. Plus, there's a reason why Obama himself has, personally, consistently been very gracious about real and perceived slights from the Clinton campaign -- it's because nobody likes people who take offense a lot. And his supporters do seem to take offense a lot, almost as much as Hillary's hardcore backers. The Clinton campaign has actively provoked it, of course, but it's still bad politics.

Part of why it's bad politics, but this is just my take and it's more of a post script, is also rooted in the murky politics of race. There's the whole thing about how many whites feel resentful -- about all of this dredging up of awkward history by blacks, and affirmative action, and these demands for apologies for racial injustices all the time, and the political correctness pressuring you to take care not to say racially insensitive things -- etc etc. All of these things that are basic elements of civilised discourse, but also create a sense that there's people looking out for black folk and their feelings while they, whites of just as sparse means, are admonished for racism while never getting any kind of similar support. Etc. Not subscribing to those feelings, not saying they're exactly rational or justified; just saying they're out there, it's easy enough to understand the social/economic frustration they spring from, and they add yet another layer of self-awareness that a black candidate needs to have more than a white one would have had to. Just like Obama cant always be as agressive as other politicians out of fear of triggering the "angry black man" connotation, so it's dangerous for Obama supporters to express feeling offended too often, regardless of whether there is valid reason to be or not, cause it will cause a backlash.

Roxxxanne, well I watched it live too but didn't catch the flinch. I just watched the tape and yup there was a cracking sound and a flinch. I dont know what to make of that. Maybe it's a technical glitch? Keith has ruffled some powerful feathers and gotten enough attention for Cheney to invoke his name.

Something just fell. And you notice that KO (who I love!) wasn't as prepared as he usually is, he didn't have the time. I thought he was a bit strong but OTOH it is oibvious that she is HOPING something bad (Not an assassination, I hope) happens to Obama. But like KO said, that is no excuse for draggingt this race when it is over. IMO she doesn't have to have a reason, it is her prerogative. But, gosh, to bring up the RFK assassination now. It is not excusable.


Axelrod responding on Hardball He basically gives her a pass.

Hillary's statement that Bill Clinton didn't have the nomination wrapped up in June is not true BTW.

I saw the interview (as video) and followed quite a lot of various comments.

I agree that she really might not have meant it. But she actually did say it.

Whatever, it was a faux-pas which never should have happened. Especially not with her, known for her discipline etc.