“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. I don’t understand it,” she said
Not the right thing to say - ever. Certainly not given that a sizable number of her constituency are, uhm, not exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer. Idiot.
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You can call me an idiot if you like (after all it’s one of the softest things you call progressives) but I’ll admit I don’t even know what this means. Oh I can tell it isn’t classy, anytime you try to connect someones assassination to your nearly-dead nomination bid you aren’t being classy but what’s her point?
I see three totally unrelated facts here. Clinton didn’t win the California contest until the middle of June. Bobby Kennedy was assassinated mid-June. Therefore I should continue to run. Huh?! I’m not following the train of thought. Is she implying something bad could happen to Obama? Hell of a clumsy way of putting it if she is, and a monumentally stupid and nasty thing to say.
I think I know what she was trying to say. She was not advocating assassination or even saying that Obama might be assassinated. Rather, Clinton was pointing out that Robert Kennedy was assassinated while campaigning in June, thus proving that presidential campaigns often go into June. That interpretation would also provide the link to her reference to her husband’s ‘92 campaign. Overall, she is trying to concoct a justification for her campaign continuing into June. (Of course, she obscures the fact that the campaign calendar is very different now than in 1992 or 1968 — that’s just typical Clinton disingenuousness.)
I’m no fan at all of Clinton’s continued run, but I think this is an inoffensive reference on her part completely unrelated to how some in the blogosphere are twisting it around.
Right Jason, Her comment was a reference to the length of the campaign, not the fact that Robert Kennedy was assassinated while campaigning.
I am no fan of Hillary’s but this is just one of those BS issues. All she was saying is that Bobby Kennedy was still campaigning in June, as was Bill (as was Ted Kennedy in 1980 who stayed in the race until the convention). I cannot believe the fake outrage about this.
Hillary could have said something like "Robert Kennedy’s campaign also didn’t wrap up until June," but no, she had to bring up the spectre of assassination. This was no mistake–she’s much too sharp for that. It was clearly an attempt to scare up some last minute support among superdelegates by making them worry that somebody might do something terrible to stop the country from having its first black President, and thus make herself appear more electable. Nothing that she or her campaign does comes unplanned, and this is no exception. More dirty politics from a vengeful, classless woman who can’t accept defeat.
Hmmm, I tend to think it was what Jason said, trying to make the case that the campaign lasting till mid-June is nothing special. I suppose the assassination of Bobby Kennedy was the first thing that came to mind in that case and she put it out there. The most sinister thing I could imagine out of this would be that she was trying to use the sadness and seriousness of the story to lend more credence to her campaign. I really don’t think that she was trying to imply that Obama could be killed HOWEVER it was monumentally stupid, since that interpretation could be made, and especially in light of Obama having been compared to Bobby Kennedy, that he’s the first viable African American candidate (and the fears many in the black community have already expressed about his safety) AND that we just recently heard about the diagnosis of the remaining Kennedy brother with cancer.
Hey, I was angry when people went all ablabber over some of Obama’s missteps, so I don’t want him to win on Clinton gaffing out. This was… Bad, and reflects poorly on her capacity for self-restraint and sensitivity. But I just have to look at her political history and campaigning to know she is sociopathic, and care not for slip-ups like these.