Stupid, Tasteless, Calculated?
Or some combination of the three? You be the judge. Hill notes that her husband campaigned into June, until he got the nomination. RFK campaigned into June, until he got shot. It’s her historic argument for going on. Or it’s the hysteric argument* for her going. YouTube here. AFP here:
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Hillary Clinton triggered a firestorm on Friday after bringing up the 1968 assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy to justify her decision to prolong her long-shot White House campaign.
A day after a top supporter suggested Clinton was getting desperate and she compared a row over voided primaries in Michigan and Florida to the crisis in Zimbabwe, the former first lady sent new shock waves through the race.
Clinton told a newspaper board in South Dakota she could not understand calls for her to quit, arguing that history showed that some past nominating contests had gone on into June.
“My husband (Bill Clinton) did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary, somewhere in the middle of June, right?” Clinton said in an interview with the Argus Leader newspaper editorial board.
“We all remember, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California, I don’t understand it,” Clinton said.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton condemned the remarks.
“Senator Clinton’s statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign,” he said.
Clinton appeared to reference the Kennedy killing, at the end of the 1968 Democratic presidential race, to show that previous Democratic nominating contests have stretched well into June.
But referring to political assassinations is fraught with sensitivity, especially for supporters of Obama, who accepted Secret Service protection last year, long before the time it is offered to most presidential candidates, because of unspecified threats.
Clinton quickly launched a damage control effort, saying that the Kennedys had been in her thoughts, after Senator Edward Kennedy was diagnosed with brain cancer this week.
“I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation, and particularly for the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that, whatsoever,” Clinton said.
“My view is that we have to look to the past and to our leaders who have inspired us and give us a lot to live up to, and I’m honored to hold Senator Kennedy’s seat in the United States Senate from the state of New York.”
It’s pretty creative, blaming the tasteless remarks about the dead Kennedy on another Kennedy’s brain tumor.
I’m looking at that vid and seeing tasteless stupidity. It appears to be very much about running into June and not about the regrettable opportunities a prolonged race might hold for the Clinton presidential franchise.
Also, I hear what could be a popular new ringtone in some fossil of an off-camera scribbler’s blurted, guttural ”Why? Why?”
But the big question is whether she continues past this. I say yes. Here are some other views. Caution: Some standard lefty political terminology intended to underscore the earnestness of sentiment may be offensive to some readers.
Moore, Comments from Left Field: “Eject this foul thing from our party … FUCK YOU! … Fuck it, we’ll take the goddam loss, see your way out the door and out of political life completely … I cannot allow myself to defend her anymore. There is only one acceptable time for Clinton to leave this race, and if I had my way, this party: AS SOON AS FUCKING POSSIBLE!”
More charitably, diehard Clintonista Taylor Marsh: “We need a long weekend. Clinton’s statement today reveals our collective fatigue and was unbelievably unfortunate. Looking at her make her statement of regret you can see her pain and that she is devastated by what she said, which is clear in the statement below from the Clinton camp.
But anyone believing Clinton was suggesting that an assassination could vault her into… never mind, I can’t even finish the statement. It’s just too ludicrous.”
Bradley, Huffington Post: ” … bizarre and frankly evil.”
Gandelman, Moderate Voice: “The problem: when most Americans hear “Robert Kennedy…June” and 1968, they don’t think of it meaning a long nomination process, they think of it meaning a candidate who looked like he might got the nomination was murdered and another candidate (Hubert Humphrey) got the nomination.”
Ed, Hotair: “Geez … weak, unconvincing clarification.”
Surber: “Medicate her.”
With thanks to Memeorandum on the roundup.
* Non-uterine usage. See “Moore, Comments from Left Field” above.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:32 pm on Friday, May 23, 2008
10 Responses to “Stupid, Tasteless, Calculated?”
Leave a Reply
Trackback URLYou must be logged in to post a comment.
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:44 pm
[...] see: Sister Toldjah, Marc Ambinder, Jules Crittenden, Scared [...]
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
[...] ADULT LANGUAGE); Hot Air (Right); Democrat Taylor Marsh (Counterpoint — From the HEART); Jules Crittenden (Right — ADULT LANGUAGE warning); Don Surber (Right); PoliBlog (Center) Bookmark: Tags: [...]
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 pm
[...] A few more reactions: –Jules Crittenden: I’m looking at that vid and seeing tasteless stupidity. It appears to be very much about running [...]
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Every time I think this is getting boring, they ramp it up. This is better than anything that has been on television since the original Star Trek went into re-runs.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I mean, after all the eyeballs littering Hillary’s path, what’s an assassination or two?
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Vince Foster could not be reached for comment.
May 24th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Well, given all the leftie chatter several months ago, about how The Messiah™ would be assassinated if He won, because, y’know, He’s The Messiah™, I’d say “Stupid, Tasteless, AND Calculated”.
May 24th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Hillary Clinton’s RFK Assassination Remarks - Conservative Blog Roundup
Hillary can actually find a little sympathy on the right. It kust goes to show you how truly bizarre this race has become.
Little Green Footballs
The ridiculous media hyperventilation over Hillary Clinton’s remark about Robert Kennedy’s assassinati…
May 24th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Hillary Assassinates Her Campaign
Like a vulture, Hillary is staying in the race hoping some unfortunate event knocks Obama out of the race where she can step in. Knowing how many fatal “accidents” and “suicides” have occurred with people associated with the Clinton’s you never kn…
May 25th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
I sometimes get wearied, in my legal life, by how a bunch of supposedly intelligent people can sort of all grin-under-the-hand and sneer at each other while jumping on the old “the appearance of impropriety is as bad as . . .” sniper attack.
Because, no, when it’s only a situation where we could reasonably suspect that someone, somewhere might possibly, through ignorance of the true situation, become suspicious if they heard the act described in a malicious way . . .
. . . but the truth is, everyone knows exactly what really exists but is having too much fun and profit pretending otherwise . . .
. . . then, no, you’d better show me some actual goddam impropriety.
I do not like her, find her about equal to McCain on the poli-spectrum but much less likeable, and really wish her no amount of “well”, but she was pointing out, while trying to overcome the media-fabricated theme of “migawd, enough already!”, that our perceptions are being messed with - that, looking back and comparing, there were many supposedly done races still goin on by this time of the year.