Assassination Remarks Update:Special Comment

Update 5/25/08: Full text of related statements from the campaigns at the end of the story.

Update: The Clinton campaign emailed a statement from Bobby Kennedy, Jr., see the end of the story for that release.

Update: Keith Olbermann's Special Comment mirrors many of my own thoughts, minus my previous grant of the benefit of the doubt. See the video below, and brief additional commentary at the end of the story.

Also, I contacted the McCain campaign earlier, they had no statement, and have not released one yet.

Wow. The shark has been jumped so many times, by so many people, this primary season that it's hard to believe someone could top them all. Hillary Clinton has reinvented the shark-jump. From the NY Post: (click Here for video)

Hillary Clinton today brought up the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy while defending her decision to stay in the race against Barack Obama.

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," she said, dismissing calls to drop out.

I am stunned. So, apparently, is the Obama campaign, who issued a brief statement. Via email:

"Senator Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

Brief comments after the jump.



I just read this, so the whole thing is still hitting me. Maybe I'll feel differently later, but right now, my heart is sinking.

I have long been an admirer of Hillary Clinton, as a leader, as a pioneer, as a role model for young women. I have taken frequent exception to the tactics employed by her campaign, but my personal admiration for her never wavered. I am afraid it has just been vaporized.

Before you try to defend the "pragmatism" of her statement, think for a minute about what would actually happen if she dropped out and Senator Obama was tragically cut down. She would most certainly become the nominee. This was as cynical and shameless a political act as I have ever seen, and I am heartsick over it.

Say it ain't so, Hillary. Say it ain't so.

Update: I want to say one more thing, and perhaps I will have some better-collected thoughts tonight, plus any updates. The response from the DNC and the remaining superdelegates should be swift and unmistakable. It is time to end this. It is time to send a message, that there are limits to what you can say to try to win an election.

I cannot even contemplate the possibilities if she stays in. Whether she meant to or not, she may have just drawn a bullseye on Obama, and dropping out might not even erase that. Shame on you, Hillary.

Update: David Knowles has reaction to the Clinton "apology," and I have to say, I am even more shocked to learn that this is the fourth time she has made this reference, twice omitting the word "assassination."

I don't want to belabor this. Instead, I will simply re-post my thoughts from the comments section. I do want to add one comment, to Mr. Sandy Clark, a loyal reader. You are right to say that I was upset, and right to question whether that clouded my analysis. Please, know that I weighed that possibility before writing this piece, but that it did not.

To all Hillary apologists,

this is the one and only time I will address this. If she was simply referencing late-running primaries, she could have stopped at her husband's.

I don't think she thought about what she was saying, but that's the point. She thought about this only in terms of political reality. The possibility of an assassination occurred to her as a reason not to drop out. The RFK assassination would never come to mind as an example of a benefit to his then-opponent. I have never heard anything like this.

This is part of a pattern, referencing ugly political realities as abstractions rather than evaluating them on their human merits.

Nobody thinks Hillary is hoping Barack gets shot. That she thought of an assassination at all as a reason to wait in the wings bespeaks an unhealthy obsession with winning.

Update: The Clinton campain sent this tonight, via email:

Statement from Robert Kennedy Jr.

Robert Kennedy Jr. issued the following statement this evening:

"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."

Update: Appendix - Below are the full texts of related statements from the campaigns, via email.

Statement from Hillary Clinton Friday, May 23, 2008 5:06:35 PM

Hillary Clinton issued the following statement today in Brandon, SD:

"Earlier today I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns that both my husband and Senator Kennedy waged in California in June 1992 and 1968 and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nomination primary contests that go into June. That's a historic fact. The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator Kennedy and I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation, and particularly for the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that, whatsoever. My view is that we have to look to the past and to our leaders who have inspired us and give us a lot to live up to, and I'm honored to hold Senator Kennedy's seat in the United States Senate from the state of New York and have the highest regard for the entire Kennedy family."

Transcript from the Argus-Leader's editorial board meeting:

HRC: People have been trying to push me out of this ever since Iowa.

Q: Why?

HRC: I don't know. I don't know. I find it curious. Because it is unprecedented in history. I don't understand it. Between my opponent and his camp and some in the media there has been this urgency to end this. And historically, that makes no sense. So I find it a bit of a mystery.

Q: So you don't buy the party unity argument?

HRC: I don't because again I've been around long enough.

My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right?

We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it. There's lots of speculation about why it is.

Q: What is your speculation?

I don't know. I find it curious. And I don't want to attribute motives or strategies to people because I don't really know, but it's a historical curiosity to me.

From the Argus Leader, via the Clinton Press Office:

Friday, May 23, 2008 6:59:29 PM The Argus Leader's Executive Editor Randell Beck issued the following statement today:

"The context of the question and answer with Sen. Clinton was whether her continued candidacy jeopardized party unity this close to the Democratic convention. Her reference to Mr. Kennedy's assassination appeared to focus on the timeline of his primary candidacy and not the assassination itself."