Clinton expresses regret after assassination remark
Someone, anyone, help me please. What exactly is this woman saying now?
I honestly don't get the point that she is making here or why she would ever bring up the assassination of RFK.In a filmed meeting with editors of a newspaper in South Dakota, which holds the final primary of the Democratic race on June 3, Clinton hinted that she might not concede the nomination to Obama until the August nominating convention.
"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right?" Clinton said. "We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it."
There has been understandable outrage over the remarks, as it could be inferred that she is staying in the nomination in case Obama is assassinated. Now, even I can't bring myself to believe that she would be that crass, but I am utterly at a loss as to what point she is actually trying to make.
Her statements trying to explain why she said what she said are equally confusing.
Clinton released a statement attributing her Kennedy reference to this week's brain cancer diagnosis of Democratic senator Edward Kennedy, the youngest of the US dynasty's three iconic brothers.
"The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator Kennedy and 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," Clinton said. "I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever."
The terrible news about Edward Kennedy is no reason to bring up the assassination of Robert, and it certainly has nothing to do with whether or not Hillary should keep campaigning past the point when most of us have worked out that she cannot win.It's an insane and utterly tasteless thing to say, whatever reasons one has for saying it.
I'm going to give her a pass on it though, as I think exhaustion is the only way one can reasonably explain this. The other reasons are simply unthinkable.
Click title for full article.
UPDATE:
Politics TV has a good comeback on the accuracy of Hillary's claims:
…and people have been trying to (1) push me out of this since Iowa… I find it curious… It is (2) unprecedented in history… You know between (3) my opponent and his camp and some in the media there has been this urgency to end this… And you know (4) historically it makes no sense and I find it a bit of a mystery…
Q: you don’t buy the party unity argument?
A: I don’t because again I’ve been around long enough… You know (5) my husband did not wrap up the nomination until he won the CA primary sometime in (6) the middle of June. We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in CA.
ERRORS, OMISSIONS, AND MISTATEMENTS
1. The first notable call for Hillary to exit came from Sen. Pat Leahy at the end of March 28 - nearly three months after Iowa.
2. Candidates dropping out before the end of the primary season is the rule, not the exception. Indeed, for President Clinton’s reelect, Harold Ickes said avoiding any primary challenge at all is key to winning, as recalled in Bob Woodward’s The Choice.
3. Sen. Obama has gone to great lengths NOT to call on Sen. Clinton to drop out - as anyone following the race knows.
Again, historically, once candidates are mathematically eliminated, the custom is to refrain from active campaigning, much less personal attacks. Exhibit A: Mike Huckabee or Ron Paul.
4. Wrong. Bill Clinton effectively clinched with New York, when Tsongas had suspended his campaign, and Brown was marginalized with a third place showing. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEEDF103CF934A15750C0A964958260
5. Wrong again. The 92 California primary was on June 2.
2 comments:
If I were only slightly more cynical, I would say that's a shout out to some of her more extreme (read: racist) voters to do the honorable thing and assassinate Obama.
Even if that was not something she was actually attempting to do. You can easily imagine perhaps of some of those conversations going on her head, one of them is the hope that something like that will happen.
"Out of the wellspring of the heart, the mouth speaks"
Alex, it was simply an unspeakably crass thing to say, wasn't it?
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