Saturday, May 24, 2008

She's Done.

There's much more to say about the new low Hillary established today, and I'll be coming back to unload, but for now I'll let KO handle things...



UPDATE: I don't see how anyone in the real world (which excludes Taylor Marsh, Jeralyn and the irrational faction* of Shakesville—no link because this never happened over there...) can possibly stand by her any more. Not after this.

Not because it was malicious. Or that she actually is staying in the race because Obama might get shot. But because this was an unnecessary gaffe of epic proportions.

I actually understand the context she was invoking—that campaigns have extended into June—but why she felt the need to use RFK as her example instead of, say, Hart/Mondale, but then to compound her unforced error by not just alluding to, but actually using the word "assassinated" in reference to the soon-to-be first black nominee for PResident in a country with a bloody legacy is simply incomprehensible to me. Sure, what she said is "historically true", but it was completely gratuitous and unnecessary, not to mention unbelievably insensitive, even cold-blooded. Screw it—sociopathic.

And she has gone to this well before. More than once. This was just the first time there was a video. Like Tuzla, the fact that there is a pattern negates any claim of "off the cuff slip." There is no reason for her use RFK as her example or to tread anywhere near the assassination of a rival.

As I am sure she is well aware Barack Obama was granted Secret Service protection earlier than any candidate since, well, RFK—who was running just after the assassination of that LBJ coattail-rider Martin Luther King.

She just gave the superdelegates all the cover they need to pull the plug on her, and simultaneously torpedoed any shot at VP. A silver lining I suppose.

Her campaign's strategy of hanging around until some scandal or mega-gaffe decided the nomination was a success—but like everything else, just not the way they planned.

[TPM has the original statement and the non-apology apology clips here.]

* Update and clarification: I read regularly at Shakesville, and I'm not really sure why, but I do. It is an enjoyable place for me, I suppose, because there's actually a debate as opposed to agreement. But it can be frustrating and annoying...There are contributors and commenters over there that are as in the tank for Hillary as the die-hard moron Bush-supporters, and that's who I was referring to. Melissa has a thread up on the RFK debacle today, and she has a pretty reasonable reaction, though I think she downplays it a bit.

2 comments:

John Howard said...

I thought this was a stupid example to use, but I think saying there's no reason to use it over Hart/Mondale is a little silly. People remember the campaign going into June for RFK, because they remember when he was shot. I doubt many people remember much of anything about the Hart/Mondale campaign including when it ended.

Again, it's still a stupid example to use, just because there are so many ways it can be misinterpreted that make her look bad. But I certainly see the logic in using it as an example for a campaign that went into June.

steves said...

I doubt many people remember much of anything about the Hart/Mondale campaign including when it ended.

I don't and I went door to door campaigning for Mondale.

That being said, chalk me up as someone who hasn't a clue what Hillary is trying to do. I wonder what her future in politics will be like?