Ok, Enough With the Hysteria About Clinton's Kennedy Statement

Ok, based on Hilary's mention yesterdaythat RFK was still campaigning in June when he was assassinated, I'm hearing reasoning that Clinton is staying in because if Obama gets assassinated, then she'll get the job.

Enough. Does no one think these things through for two seconds before setting fingers to keyboard?

So follow with me down the following logic chain. Clinton drops out this very second and does not release her delegates. Obama is assassinated before the convention. Who has the most nominees? Who is most likely to get the nod?

It is, in fact, damn near unthinkable that Clinton would not get the nomination in that case. Hilary Clinton does not need to stay in the nomination race in order to be the nominee if someone assassinates Obama.

The level of near hysteria, of complete unwillingness to read Clinton's words in any context with any good will that is sweeping large portions of the blogosphere is tiresome. Clinton has used the exact same examples in the past, and no one has objected.

If you don't believe me, believe Robert Kennedy Jr., who said:

It is clear from the context that Hillary was invoking a familiar political circumstance in order to support her decision to stay in the race through June. I have heard her make this reference before, also citing her husband's 1992 race, both of which were hard fought through June. I understand how highly charged the atmosphere is, but I think it is a mistake for people to take offense.

Turns out Hillary was wrong about her own husband, amusingly, but the point remains that all she was doing is saying "races have gone this long before."

Comments

[tom ellison]

This is being blown waaay out of proportion. I do not support Clinton, but come on. People just want her to drop out. they want an excuse.

[Starbux4eva]

Ian Welsh,

I think the main reason for this "hysteria" is that people had enough of this primary season.
I personlay can't stand seeing Hilary and her surogates on TV anymore, trying to come up with some bullshit explanations why she's still there. Twiating some fuzzy math and spewing one lie and distortion after another.

Remember that we have much harder fight against the Republicans ahead of us, and Hilary simply stayed too long. Like the guest who just wouldn't live.

People tried to give her some credit, ok, she has supporters, lets give her graceful exit opportunity, and she comes out with FL and MI bullshit, treating it like civil rights movement and Zimbabwe style voter suppression. Even though she had every advantage of name recognition going into both primaries and Obama didn't have a chance to introduce himself to the voters. I think that put people on edge.

And now this.

And the levies burst.

We need to wrap up this primary and move on. People had enough.

[Boadicea]

I agree that people are overreacting. But Hillary is staying in the race to gain as many delegates as she can before the convention. And if you think her "hiding" of her comment beside mention of her husband was a "mistake" then you probably think she "misspoke" repeatedly when she said over and over that she landed in Bosnia under sniper fire. Hillary is a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them.

[peterg76]

Hillary's comment reveals a pathological cynicism. The response is not excessive.

Though I wish people would consider that remaining silent about an assassination attempt on Obama - a valid concern - is not necessarily the best course of action either.

[knighthowl]

Actually, it was the best course of action. The secret service is there to worry about the problem. The fewer people who have given thought to such an attempt, the better. Many more people will now have the thought enter their minds. I am sure the secret service is not happy about this.

[lindaqqq]

So it's ok to bash Obama for words others have spoken but not ok to call out Hillary on words that spew out of her foul mouth.
Even the most ignorant social misfit would have known not to use RFKs assassination to prop up any reason to drag out your dead horse of a campaign.
Let's see ....
Iraq Vote
Bosnia lie
RFK assassination

I really dont think she's fit to be commander-in-chief

[ropadopa]

Its the ASSASSINATION word Ian, used over and over again! Whether it was about Bobby or Martin it doesn't matter. There is such a thing as cause and effect and this is the classic example. You don't shout fire in a crowded theater and get away with it for this very same reason. Recently we had Mike Huckabee making a gun joke about Senator Obama at, of all places a NRA convention. We still have McVieghs living among us. Okay!
The MSM and to a large extent the Democratic Party have allowed Sen. Clinton to get away with so many off-the-wall comments and this is the result. If left alone only God knows what next to expect from her and her campaign.

[Johnagain]

"...but the point remains that all she was doing is saying "races have gone this long before."

So why didn't she just say that? Why the repeated reference to an assassination?

[BobEvansZombie]

As Keith Olbermann said, this is too much.
Clinton apologists will not get her out of this one. She has given us a peek into the darkness of her mind. She didn't even apologize to anyone, she only expressed her regret.

[AutumnRecluse]

Ian, you are correct, but just like Clinton you will be vilified. Powerful people want Clinton out of the race and are willing to do anything to remove her.

A logical parsing of her words yields your interpretation, but the people who are regurgitating the Republican talking points are running on emotion. They believe Clinton is evil, and that she really would want Obama assassinated.

That is what makes me the saddest. Despite decades of public service to the Democratic cause, Obama supporters are willing to listen to Republican rhetoric, and make her the "worst person in the world."

This isn't the party I signed up for. Democratic party members are people who are intelligent and well-reasoned. They know how to step back from emotion and see reality for what it is.

These people are the children of Republican attacks. They are not Democratic.

[keriheb]

I respect your being tired of all of this talk about Hillary.

Quite a few people on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean find it important to discuss it for some time longer.

Could I suggest you look at television until after the general election in November.

In the mean time many of us choose to engage in this discourse until the super delegates put an end to this campaign and move en mass to Obama.

Peace

[michael429]

The issue is less about what she said than her palpable lack of judgement regarding the political consequences..and her response to same...so much for her superior skills and experience.....

Obama has demonstrated a coolness under similar fire and a superior ability to navigate....for some of us any remaining doubts about Obama having earned the right to compete (as weill as being the better candidate) in November are disappearing in the rearview mirror.

[partyofone]

Exactly, one more example of Hillary's flawed judgment based on her short-term interests, not on the cost to the nation.

[sassafra]

i'm sorry, hillary should have had the maturity, sensitivity, and in the end, at the very least, the political savvy to keep her big yap shut and not have evoked bobby kennedy in that fashion. she showed appallingly poor judgement.

[Mij13]

Most people would give her the benefit of the doubt: she could not have meant it that way. OK. But her "apology" was what got me to finally say, enough is enough. She didn't really apologize at all. Again. The least she could have said was something like, "Wow, did that ever come out wrong." I'd be completely over it by now. I think most people would be. No, the problem here, as Howard Fineman pointed out, is that she is constitutionally incapable of admitting that she did something wrong. Even if it was obviously unintentional. The fact that it took something so glaring to bring this defect in her to light is a commentary on how unfocused the media can be in presenting the candidates and what they are really like.

[Didderbops]

If Hillary hadn't already made gaffes about "hard working, white people", dangerous trips to Bosnia and comments about JFK as well as her current comments, and if the timing wasn't so bad (with the 40th anniversary of RFK's death), and Obama wasn't black (with much of the African-American community worried that Obama might indeed be assasinated rather than America allowing a black president), then you might have a point. Just because this didn't get play before doesn't make it all right, though that seems to be the crux of your argument.

[nevadakid]

If she were simply making a point that races have gone this long before, she should have used 80 or 84. That would have properly raised the historic truth that such convention fights lead to lost general elections. Bill won in 92, but in fact, had the nomination wrapped in March. In 68 Kennedy had only entered the race on March 16. In those days, the convention was still were the nominee was decided.
Clinton's assassination remark was horrendous, but more importantly perhaps, her historical argument is as accurate as that of her Bosnia story.

[TooLooze]

I agree in thinking that HRC's words were probably not meant to be hurtful or irresponsible. I think they were just ill-chosen. But her saying them was at the very least very poor judgement. And she didn't apologize for them. That is not what we need in a President.

[partyofone]

If her words were "ill chosen" why did she use almost the exact same language in March? Her words were in her talking points for an editorial meeting. This was intended.