Early Show's Smith Bizarrely Hints At Obama Assassination

Senator Ted Kennedy, having endorsed Barack Obama for President, has begun his barnstorming on behalf of the candidate in earnest. This morning found Kennedy on CBS' The Early Show, where anchor Harry Smith, apparently lacking the wit or the wherewithal to pursue a more substantive line of questioning, took the opportunity to do a little whistling past the Kennedy family graveyard:

SMITH: When you see that enthusiasm though, and when you see the generational change that seems to be taking place before our eyes, does it make you at all fearful?

Naturally, Kennedy really didn't catch on to what Smith was driving at, and responded, "I think that what people are basically saying is that they want a new day and a new generation."

Lacking a more heavy-handed way of getting his point across, like, say, whipping out the Zapruder film or something, Smith delicately waded back into the matter of political assasination:

SMITH: I just...ahhh--I think what I was trying to say is, sometimes agents of change end up being targets, as you well know, and that was why I was asking if you were at all fearful of that.

Kennedy elected not to speculate on the matter, for once demonstrating that the repetition of campaign talking points can help to paper over a host of media sins.

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Obama previously addressed the matter of personal security in an interview with Brian Williams in early January, saying, "I think that every presidential candidate, certainly every president these days-- is a potential target. And that comes with the job. And you take the precautions that are necessary and then you go about your business."

Comments

[alibe]

I am shocked by the viciousness displayed by the Barack Obama supporters. I am sick that they felt justified in Booing Bill Clinton at a rally in watching the South Carolina returns. Imagine the media explosion if the Clinton camp had booed Obama? It would have been over for Hillary. She and Bill have to constantly flatter Obama or they are labeled racist. Obama never says anything nice about them. He snubs Hillary at the SOTU speech and is given a pass by the media and then explains it away by lying. He is "troubling". His supporters seem too much like some of the Goppers who attack Hillary every chance they get. And Bill too. It is scary. And uncivilized. And unreasonable. It is antithetic to Democrats and belies Obama's claim to be the one to bring us together. If this is any indication of bringing us together, then maybe he needs to look in the mirror and get off his high horse and be more fair. I hate hypocrisy.

[DavidAF]

I had thought that could occur if Obama were to take the office. I had also thought that would happen if Ron Paul were to take the office as well. Due to the major corrupt system, which is our Government and the Federal Reserve, anyone who would jeopardize their greedy and sadistic system would be taken out. Kennedy was taken out for his desire to get out Vietnam and to reduce or abolish the CIA. Anybody who thinks it was Oswald is seriously a moron or just not listening. Ron Paul would do what JFK left off and more. Ron would also abolish the Federal Reserve. So, like always, in the end, the more logical candidates will never see the light of day and if they do, not for very long.

People are too lazy, apathetic, dumb, scared, manipulated and arrogant to vote for someone like Obama or Ron Paul. They instead vote for Fascists like Rudy, warmongers like Mccain, theocrats like Huckabee, manipulated politicians like Romney and Hillary, and so on.

[StephenDedalus82]

Not really an issue. There's a reason presidents no longer ride around in convertibles and are surrounded by a small army at all times.

[FDRbyGodDemocrat]

I didn't realize Harry Smith was going to work for Fox News.

[BlueBoomer]

I have always been a fan of Harry Smith and thought that he, and not "katie", should be the one sitting in Walter's chair...

It's a sticky wicket to be sure, but what Harry was alluding to is a concern that I have heard among regular Americans relative to Barak Obama's candidacy/election... Not to say that anyone is wishing for it, but rather that there is a real fear that some fanatic will come out of the woodwork and set us on another course of national crisis...

Like it or not, it's the 800 lb gorilla in the room, and NOT mentioning it doesn't mean it's not there.
(Altho' perhaps I WOULD rather that Harry had let it stay in the shadows rather than let it and all it's ugliness out in the open.)

[bored2tears]

And I used to think Julie "Big Brother" Chen was the journalistic boob on that show.

Harry Smith is an idiot.

[Tankan]

As callous and cruel as it's possible to get!

Kennedy took it like a man and diplomatically dispatched it to the trash can!

[Politiking]

This is called "Idiocracy!"

Talk about the candidates records, policies and the issues at hand instead of hypothesizing the fate of each candidate.

The media loves conflict and hypotheses so they can garner higher ratings than educate the public.

Smith is a CBS drone, a lousy one for that matter.

[townsurrl]

Barack Obama represents the hope of putting our country where it should be-among the modern, progressive nations of this world.

[lochnessmonster]

I usually refrain from this sort of thing but Smith should be fired for that line of crap. I'm glad I'm working when this sort of crap is trying to pass as journalism.

[Wulfstan]

Although it is inappropriate to raise the issue of assassination of a left leaning President on TV with Edward Kennedy, whose two brothers were killed, presumably because of their views, Mr Smith does have a valid point.

Last year I visited a customer in the Bronx, who is African American. We got to talking about politics and I mentioned, at the risk of sounding patronising, that I preferred Obama to Hillary. The guy shook his head and said "It will not do any good, they will kill him"

I wonder if this reaction is typical.

[MsLiz]

When Obama was in Birmingham Sunday, I noticed that he looked like his shoulder bones were showing through his suit jacket. Then I realized what I was seeing was probably a bullet proof vest. I was glad to see it.

The possibility of an assassination attempt has worried some of us here at the Huff Post. However, Harry Smith bringing it up to Teddy Kennedy was inappropriate.

[Independent voter]

How horrible.

Is this a new reason to elect hillary - so that the president won't be assasinated.

Apparently it's not that easy to do these days since Bush is still with us.

Still, this is horrific.

[Graywolf48]

Harry Smith is to journalism what tripe is to haute cuisine. The man is intellectually barren. But isn't this what American broadcast news has become, sound bites and sensationalism, pablam for the masses? Smith should be ashamed to raise the specter of Presidential assassination with Kennedy, but I assure you he thinks he was being incisive. What a brown shoe wearing old twit. Why not join Walter Winchell in the old anchors bone yard?

[exxonmobil4prez]

Tasteless, classless, clueless and just plain low brow.. what we should all come to expect from all the yellow custard journalism anymore.