Hillary's RFK Brain Fart
by Mark Adams
No doubt Senator Clinton is sorry for invoking the tragic memory of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination as a reason to stay in the race. No doubt she was not thinking like some Wise Guys making a not so subtle threat. That's not what happened.
Senator Clinton said she had been attempting to point out that previous campaigns had also continued into June.She was not making Obama on offer he can't refuse. Not really.
Democrat Robert Kennedy was running for his party's presidential nomination when he was shot dead in June 1968.
A spokesman for rival Democrat hopeful, Barack Obama said Mrs Clinton's comment "has no place in this campaign".
"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June... We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it."Throughout this campaign, the memories of JFK, RFK and MLK have been invoked to describe the inspiration and agendas of Barack Obama and John Edwards, but not Hillary Clinton. Maybe she was feeling left out.
Observers say the remarks could be damaging if people were to interpret them as an indication that Mrs Clinton believes the assassination of her rival would benefit her campaign.
Unfortunately, Hillary did not talk about Robert Kennedy today as an icon of the progressive movement, a man whose leadership stands as a cornerstone of what it means to be a Democrat to a generation. She spoke of him as just another politician doing what it takes to win, and she didn't even get that right.
Here's a hint. Don't use seminal historical figures to justify your hacktakularness. Say that you want to be like them, not that your sorry-ass behavior wasn't anything worse than they did -- unless of course you're a Republican making your own icons look bad by association with you.
Just leave our heroes alone.
There will be lots of talk about what Clinton meant to say versus what she actually said. That's the intellectual side of our collective brain talking.
But Theodore White once said that "events lead a double life and the appearance of events in politics is as important as their reality."
So there's another side of this and I knew that instantly by how my heart seemed to flip over in my chest on reading Clinton's comment.
Granted, I'm old enough to remember clearly the shock and disbelief I felt when I heard that Bobby Kennedy had been shot. And/But those of us who only read about it in books may have a different take on this.
So I guess I'm saying I don't know how this breaks for Clinton, whether it's just a garden-variety gaffe or a career-ending blunder of epic proportions.
Seems to me like this is one of those gaffes by telling the truth. One of her main actual reasons for staying in is in case something happens to Obama. It's sick and wrong when that's all you have left, but there it is. I don't think this is some sort of dog whistle call for someone to shoot him. But I do think it's a revealing slip.
I didn't think she could go any lower, but each time she grabs hold of the shovel and starts digging. Let's hope this at least spares us the Obama/Clinton Frankenstein's monster ticket.
One of her main actual reasons for staying in is in case something happens to Obama. It's sick and wrong when that's all you have left, but there it is.
You're right of course. And the traditional media has been saying it all along using phrases like "if something should happen to Obama, if Obama should be struck by lighting, if some catclysmic event should occur," etc. We all know what that means.
Similarly, we all know that Clinton would be the first one to get the call if it happened. And it's not exactly like she would say, "I'm sorry, I ended my campaign. I can't help you."
Right.
Some have been saying this is her "Dean scream" moment, her "macacca" moment, her "I was for it before I was against it" moment. We'll see. Never count the Clintons out.
And don't assume that the VP thing is off the table either, although I'd have a hard time believing Michelle Obama would be OK with it at this point. Which is too bad because the Republicans are going to come after her like they came after Hillary in '92. At that point, MO could use all the friends she could get -- although with friends like Hillary...
"Never count the Clintons out."
"...seven...eight...nine..."
They can still do a lot of damage even after Obama gets the nomination.
She said, in no uncertain terms, her reason for staying the race was because Obama might get shot.
Whatever this mean for her VP chances (and this didn't help), any remaining rationale for remaining in the race has lost all legitimacy.
This isn't a "Dean Scream" or "Maccaca" moment. It didn't prematurely end a promising campaign. It was the death rattle of a campaign already on life-support, long after the doctors took it off the feeding tube.
Maybe you can't count them out, and instead of last rites we should be getting a hammer and a stake. But, you've rarely associated the word "gracious" with them either. She was never going to make a "graceful" exit. You gotta hit them with a ton of bricks.
It's just interesting that she brought her own building supplies.
Mark's right. And the only way they'll salvage the Clinton brand with Democrats is if they campaign hard like they mean it for Obama.
It was hilarious watching Fox News Sunday listening to Brit Hume and Bill Kristol, two of the most odious of the "pundit" class, brush off Hillary's RFK comment. If Obama had compared Hillary to Benazir Bhutto or something, they would have been apoplectic.
And BTW, did you see the Fox "analyst" laughing about how she hoped "Osama/Obama" could be knocked off?
http://tinyurl.com/3o8p8k
Yeah. We're there.