The Remark that Lost a Vice Presidency

It's Memorial Day Weekend. Most of us are out barbecuing or going to the beach or doing something other than thinking about politics. However, once Memorial Day weekend is over, how will we view the remark that Hillary Clinton made on Friday night linking ending the primary in June with RFK's assassination in 1968? Will we view it merely as a thoughtless reference that brought up painful memories for those who lived through that time? Will we view it as nothing more than a historical, factual reference (as Hillary herself described it) to the fact that primaries have occasionally lasted until June? Or will we view it as the remark that lost her a chance for the Vice Presidency?

First, a few facts. Hillary has been referring to her husband's race lasting until June 1992 for awhile now. But in fact, he had the nomination sewed up in March of that year and only waited until June for California to put him over the top. So he was not exactly "fighting" for the nomination in June. That reference remains an odd explanation for her own desire to stay in the race until June, and the fact that she keeps mentioning it even though it is not quite accurate remains a mystery. It might be better if she were to state that she intended to stay in the race until the end because she owes it to her supporters to finish what she started.

Second, she did apologize. But she apologized to the Kennedys for bringing up memories of that time while Ted Kennedy is going through his own struggles right now. Should her apology not also have been directed to the Obama family and his supporters, who live daily with the anxiety of some sort of assassination attempt on Barack?

Third, it is a fact that she has not indicated that she wants the Vice Presidency. But behind the scenes, Bill Clinton has been mentioning it to friends and superdelegates. So even if she does not want to be on the ticket, she surely wants a place at the table that acknowledges how close she came and how much support she ended up having. How will this remark sit with those who would vote for her for Majority Leader or justice of the Supreme Court?

After all the pundits have had their say, and the newspapers their screaming headlines, what is left is this: by bringing up the specter of assassination of a political candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton has revealed, perhaps totally inadvertently, the disturbing specter of her, standing beside that candidate and profiting by his death. Were she to be the Vice Presidential nominee or the eventual Vice President, how would we ever forget these comments should something happen to Obama? How could we ever believe that she did not really mean this? Thus, no matter how slim her chances were for being asked to be on the ticket, how could she ever be the Vice Presidential choice now?

When Memorial Day weekend is over, when May is over, when June is over, will we look back and say that this remark was the one that sealed Hillary Clinton's political fate? The proverbial straw ? Dear readers. You tell me.

Comments

[sugarmoes]

so... she's staying in the race because she's waiting for obama to be killed?

WHAT A WINNING STRATEGERY!!!

sounds like something bush would say.

[halyscomet]

Thankfully, Clinton has provided Obama a MUCH needed escape clause. Now EVERY reasonably thinking American would expect him to avoid her at all cost.

Hillary and Bill should head to civilian life and enjoy their millions...

[slc20]

At minimum, Obama's camp will be able to use Hillary's assassination comments as an excuse not to offer her the VP slot.

THANK.
GOD.

(assuming, of course, that some crazed angry Hillary supporter doesn't take Hillary's words seriously)

[maidenofdforest]

Yes, they (Hillary supporters) will not take Hillary seriously. Remember, words do not matter, speeches do not matter.

And where did it get her to? The end of the VP saga for her assasination remark. She continues to this day to make explanations.

But I will not take it seriously her non apology. After all, she is Hillary Clinton, the flip flop. Can't wait for June 4th to wake up and see what the papers say.

[smark]

Hillary needs to own up and accept responsibility for the failure of her run for the Democratic nomination. She has tried to blame her opponent for EVERYTHING, including the SICK remark she made on Friday. She and her campaign people have been saying all along that you never know what might happen. And with her slip of the tongue remark, her subconscious wishes were revealed. There were many other references she could have used to make her point. If it were Obama making the same remark, she would have attacked him mercilessly as she did with the "bitter" comment even though he admitted a poor choice of words.

[marijam]

You mean, "The remark that lost the Presidency for the Democrats." Because of the infighting.

[JimR]

Nah. It's just politics.

[Texas4Obama]

We should be kind to the Hillary supporters.
Senator Obama will want their votes in November :)
Also, we need to remind them that Hillary is NOT the only female in America that is eligible or qualified to be the First Woman President or First Woman Vice-President.

Obama / Kathleen Sebelius

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Sebelius

Obama / Blanche Lincoln

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanche_Lincoln
.

[azyn247]

I don't think Sebelius has enough of a persona to energize and reach out to general election voters. I have to agree that her State of the Union response was very flat and didn't really stir any type of excitement from me. I don't know anything about Blanche Lincoln so I will have to check out the Web link on her.

The short list for V.P. I think is:

Chuck Hagel (yes, he's a Republican, but it looks like he's lobbying for some type of post)

John Edwards - he can get the rural vote, but he's not interested in running as VP again.

Jim Webb -- long shot because he's says he doesn't want it and the Senate needs him to maintain a Democratic seat for Virginia.

Everybody else (Richardson, Strickland, Bayh and Rendell).

***Wild Card - some other moderate Republican no one has ever heard of or the press hasn't brought up before.

[marijam]

I am afraid that it is too late to try to take back all of the water that has gone past this particular bridge. Its plain that the DNC and the far-left portion of the Democratic party hates Hillary, and, by extension, hate her supporters. You can't put that genie back in the bottle.

[DeeV]

Pls do not comment for all Hillary supporters. All my aunts, my mother, my grandmother are voting for Obama in November.

I hate when bunch of Hillary supporters come and talk for other Hillary supporters and give hopes to Republicans and make Hillary and her supporters look bad.

Whatever it is, Karl Rove has to be out of that White House.

I am supporting Obama.

[JimR]

Obviously, I would like for you to vote for Obama. But you have to decide what's best, and if it's worth risking giving the presidency to McCain, who will work to unravel many things Clinton has stood for.

Your support will always be welcome. Take care!

[stonepier]

Yup, this is the proverbial straw. She's toast, and I'm sure she & Bill know it. They're not stupid.

[marijam]

Not at all. She has half the vote, more than half were Florida to be counted. Neither of them has won or will win. Its going to be a brokered convention. Should the superdelegates all pick Obama to be the nominee, then the party is going to be split in two and they are going to lose this election, as usual, by picking the "too liberal" candidate.

[McPander]

She had half of the vote....her ratings by June will be so low in the states that she has won it will be almost sad.

Just look at the voters remorse in California

[JimR]

The only problem with your theory is that Obama attracts a lot of support among independents and moderates.

[lisakaz2]

I hope her antics in recent weeks have negative her "place at the table" except for the courtesy due to former president Clinton. Obama would be a fool to have her drawf his campaign or to put her on a ticket. NO! Many of us are fed up with Clinton fatigue. Obama has got to be aware of this.

[marijam]

And I, as a HIllary supporter, have reached my limit of Obama fatigue, and Obamaiste fatigue.

[huffyISaHottie]

clinton fatique is real....your fatigue is just a nice little catch phrase

[SethBLiNK]

As an Obama supporter, I'm not all that thrilled at the idea of Hillary on the ticket, but I do see the value of it.

If she really does want it, she will have to, at some point, act vice-presidential. There has to be some evidence of being a team player and of at least the capability of deference. She could have stepped up to Obama's defense when Geraldine called him sexist. She didn't. She could stop doing shout outs to racist voters. She hasn't. She could continue to push for Florida and Michigan but recognize that she did nothing to stop this runaway train when it first went off the tracks and tone down the combative rhetoric. She hasn't.

So, other than holding hostage the loyalties of her voters, what has she done to earn the slot?

Remarks like this, and the inability to frame a proper apology don't help.

[charon]

I am pro-Obama, and I hope he wins in November. That being said, I think too much is being made of Hillary's remark about Robert Kennedy. I think she was saying that things could change before the November election, and having two strong candidates is good for the Dems. I don't think she was saying she thinks Obama will get assassinated, or hopes he will.

That being said, I think between Obama not marching to the Empire's tune and the history of racism, of slavery and Jim Crow in America, he may be at greater risk than any candidate since Lincoln of having attempts made on his life. Let's all pray those don't come to pass and that he can lead the way for real reforms being made in our government, a gov't stolen from us by the global corporate empire through the instrumentality of the Republican Party.

[JimR]

I don't think she was suggesting that, either. I think she made a poor choice of words. Why can't she admit that? "I made a mistake in my choice of words, and I am sorry."

What in God's name is so hard about that?

[maidenofdforest]

Because Hillary has too much false pride, just like her supporters to own up anything that is dignified. They won't own up the race is over that is why her supporters keep patting her in the back that SHE has the chance. Given Lanny Davis' lopsided proposal to resolve the MI FL mess, there you go.......anything goes for these people.

It is really hard to be humble, Hillary Rodham Clinton because you have put yourself in a pedestal so ultra high that you are scared to descend without breaking a leg.

Have you head about the word humble and that graceful defeat by not equating it with QUITTING? Just like denounce, renounce and reject. You choose your words poorly, analogy and logic included with all these mess inciting the major MI FL faux pas'.

Now you are being nudged because you refuse to see what it clearly says and now you blame all of us.

I pity you, Hillary Rodham Clinton instead of valiantly serving the country that you love.

[ElkoJohn]

`
so when will the Hillary Hawks wake up ??
they say they will support Lady Hill to the bitter end
bc of the sexism against Hillary
they point to the gag-gift "Hillary Nutcacker"
sold everywhere, as proof of their sexism charge

when will they wake up that to the moral deficiency of their candidate ??

there are many women in America, black, white, brown etc
of high moral character

who will NOT lie, spin and degrade others in order to win

who will advance the cause of feminism by running for Prez

but Hillary ain't on of 'em
.

[Gemma08]

What IS certain, is that anyone who was pushing for or even thinking of her as the VP candidate can longer do so. She has killed the possibility herself.

For Obama, thats a good thing.

[serena1313]

Clinton is like the tempest in the tea pot. Every time she makes a gaffe and gets called on it she blames the media or the Obama camp and then plays poor lil me by adding gender to the mix. The drama is wearing thin.

Hillary's penchant for making insensitive and irresponsible remarks such as threatening Iran, in addition to Friday's, cannot be overlooked. Is it habitual, intentional or does she have a tin ear? That is not something Obama needs to worry about as President nor do we.

The public deserves a VP we can trust. But how can we trust someone who, knowing that every mathematical metric is against her, continues to ask the very people she says she will fight for, for money, distorts the truth and regularly makes egregious gaffes?

The last 8 years of the Bush administration's shifting blame, drama and dishonesty have been more than enough distraction. Hillary Rodham Clinton's tempest in the tea pot would be, too. Simply put Hillary does not measure up for the job.

[magen]

Hillary owes Barack, his wife, his children, and his supporters an apology.

Any other NY'ers out there besides me who DON'T want her representing them as Senator anymore?

[IthacaParent]

I have $200 for the most credible primary challenger for her Senate seat.

Actually, NOT because of the RFK gaffe. I consider that nothing compared to her race-baiting comments after West Virginia. Who would have ever thought that the worst race baiter in national politics today would be a DEMOCRATIC party senator from NEW YORK. Where the h*ll is our state Democratic party?

[CaptainObvious]

I switched parties in 2006 from Liberal to Democrat so I could vote against her in the primary.

[ShannonL0rraine]

My concern was more with with Clinton's NON-apology apology, rather than her original statement. And the same is true of everyone I've talked to. I don't know why the news networks continue to call it an 'apology' when it definitely was not. She's incapable of recognizing it was a very serious gaffe, whether she meant it or not, and that a genuine expression of remorse, directed TO those most affected by her words, is in order (rather than regret for how it might have affected her). It's her total inability to see beyond herself in this contest that makes me significantly question her presidential capacity.