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Friday, May 23, 2008

Oh no she di'int!
Posted by Jill | 7:00 PM
Oh, yes she did:





You know, I never put any stock in all the stories about Clinton Body Counts and stuff like that. I remember the whole shooting-watermelons-in-the-yard thing and all the raving about how the Clintons were responsible for everything from the crucifixion of Jesus to the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby to the fixing of the 1919 World Series to Steve Bartman catching that home run ball in game six of the 2003 NLCS. But holy moly, when she pulls shit like this you almost have to wonder.

She "clarified" later on...





...but note how she ONLY apologizes to the Kennedy family, not for the obvious reference that if the presumptive nominee has someone, say, someone who attended an NRA conference at which Mike Huckabee joked about it, take a shot at him, then she'd be the logical choice.

As always, you can rely on Rachel Maddow to strip away the bullshit and get right to the point:





There's something about the idea of Barack Obama in the White House, constantly watching his back while Bill and Hillary conspire in the hallway, that makes me think about Papa Boleyn and son George talking about how if Henry VIII dies from his jousting wounds and Elizabeth becomes the heir apparent, then Papa Boleyn gets to run the country until she comes of age. And remarks like this don't help. Either Hillary is mind-bogglingly tone-deaf, or she knew damn well what she was saying.

I'm not ascribing any murderous intentions to her, but this sure doesn't look like what you want to say if you're hoping to be picked for the Vice President slot. At BEST it's another example of the kind of sloppy, off-the-cuff remark that brought us news of her plan to "obliterate" Iran.

And no, this isn't about smacking her around for saying this because she's a woman. It's smacking her around for saying this because she's smart enough to know better.

UPDATE: I should have figured that some of those reading this would latch onto my mention of the wingnut Clinton Derangement Syndrome that characterized the years 1992 through 2000 and musing on perhaps this kind of remark is why they escalated these people into Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. I don't believe for one minute that Hillary Clinton is going to assassinate or hire someone to assassinate Barack Obama. She may be ruthless and utterly convinced that she deserves this nomination, but she's not a monster. But as Keith Olbermann just mentioned in his special comment tonight (which was both accurate AND over-the-top), there are other examples of a campaign going on into June without invoking assassination that she could have used in a year when a black candidate is the, or a, front-runner for the nomination, one who had Secret Service protection early on because of death threats, one whose candidacy has had people telling pollsters to hang him from a tree.

We're finishing up eight years of someone who doesn't think before speaking, who says "Bring it on" and shoots (if you'll pardon the expression) first and deals with the press later. Throughout this campaign, Hillary Clinton has shown the same alarming tendency, along with an ominous inability to admit to mistakes. Whether it's the Iraq War vote, or her Bosnia tales, or drawing this unfortunate analogy, she refuses to admit to being wrong. She could have defused this with a public statement acknowledging how awful it sounded and how she didn't mean it to sound the way it did. She should have called the Obama campaign and apologized not "if they were offended", but for how it sounded. But instead she did what she always does -- dug in her heels, apologized for something completely different from what the problem was, and so the story goes on.

People say unthinkingly thoughtless things sometimes. I recently went on a rant about parents who don't discipline their kids and then wonder why their kids are using drugs in their teens in front of someone who lost her child to drugs. After I realized how it must have sounded, I called her and apologized, saying I hadn't been impugning her parenting and acknowledging that it must have sounded terrible to her, that it was thoughtless and I was sorry. It's hard to do, but not that hard -- and it's mandatory in a presidential candidate. I'm sure that being reminded of that day in 1968 is painful to the Kennedy family, especially now. But being reminded that a man who's a father of two young children has to deal with the reality that there are people who would rather see him dead than president is painful too. And Barack Obama deserved an apology too -- not "if he was offended", but for the remarks made. Because if Hillary Clinton can't acknowledge a mistake, she's no different from what we have now.

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14 Comments:
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Oh come on!!! I can't believe for one second that you actually think that was anything more than a reference to the length of past primary seasons. Seriously, please...
5/23/08, 8:39 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...
Wouldn't be the first damned bit of conspiratorial nonsense Jill's bought into, would it?
5/23/08, 9:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I'm with her on some of it, as you know. I love me a good conspiratory.

As a PS, I'm not a Hillary supporter. Just sayin' cuz I figured someone would come out with that accusation.
5/23/08, 9:30 PM  
Blogger adam k. said...
I'm with Jill on how it wasn't even so much the remarks, but the ridiculous non-apology that followed. Her utter lack of acknowledgement for the real problem.

It truly looks like she's too embarrassed to even admit that Obama is a part of this discussion... since the whole idea of that is just unconscionably bad, kind of like the whole idea of how many people are dying in Iraq is just unconscionably bad. So she says "I didn't mean to offend the Kennedys" or "my vote was for diplomacy" or, with the Bosnia debacle "what I said didn't jibe with what was known to be true" or some other bit of bull.

If you feel the need to compulsively distract from or deny the existence of anything that reflects badly on you, you should NOT be President of the U.S. That trait gave us, Watergate, Iraq, Vietnam, and yes, Monicagate, among other horrible, unnecessary episodes in our nation's history. And we don't need any more of those anytime soon.

Plus, I think there's a very likely "Freudian slip" element to this. Obviously she's not actively hoping Obama will be taken out, but she would not have said what she did if there wasn't some little part of her that though it might happen, and figured it was a way for her to win. Since frankly, at this point, that's the only way left that she'd be handed the nomination. And ironically, after THIS, even that most likely wouldn't do it.
5/24/08, 3:52 AM  
Blogger adam k. said...
Then again, maybe she was sleep deprived.

*snark*
5/24/08, 3:55 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...
Wow, it was front page of the Post this morning!!

(I love a good conspiracy too, AHA. The Philadelphia Project is one of my faves.)
5/24/08, 8:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Alpha, I also dont' think it was maliicous. Maddow hit it on the head.
5/24/08, 9:20 AM  
Blogger jkr said...
Unforgivable.

I'm fifty-three years old, so I don't have to go to Wikipedia to learn about Robert Kennedy's murder. I was there. I was there when John and Martin and those four little black girls in a church were murdered as well. Maybe dumb white kids who are too young remember that horrible (but not surprising) chapter in our history will think that Clinton's remark ain't no big deal, but I certainly don't.

Furthermore, by insisting that it's not a big deal illustrates to me how little value an African-American's life has in White American. I'm not looking forward seeing how what flimsy alibis the hard-core Clinton apologists will construct following her latest "nudge nudge, wink wink" racist remark. Same as it ever was.
5/24/08, 9:26 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Ooops.

Although my Beloved is just as upset as I am about HRC's new hallucination, it wasn't her that posted as "jkr", it was Yours Truly.

Sorry 'bout that. I never could program the VCR either.
5/24/08, 9:49 AM  
Blogger The Minstrel Boy said...
she could also state categorically that if obama is assainated she will not accept the nomination. that she would refuse to personally capitalize on tragedy.
5/24/08, 11:45 AM  
Blogger pjs said...
Clinton was just pointing out that back when the primary season started on the second Tuesday in March as it did in 1968, it wasn’t over until June, and now that it starts in the beginning of January...um...same thing, I guess.

She didn’t mean to imply that she hoped she might get lucky the way HHH did.

A very smart remark for her to make. Very much the sort of thing you'd like to hear from a prospective candidate for president, and right up there with annihilating Iran and intimating that the opposing party's candidate is better qualified than your rival in your own party.
5/24/08, 12:52 PM  
Blogger Jennifer Briney said...
Jill,

I'm currently in France and was disgusted when I heard what Hillary said. Many people here are very interested in our election and very, very few of them want to see anyone other than Barack Obama as our President. In fact, I don't think anyone has expressed to me a preference for Hillary in the month since I arrived here in Europe (needless to say, McCain has no fans). A concern that almost always arises here, out loud, is the fear that Senator Obama will be assassinated like the Kennedy brothers were. Many people have asked me if this is something I also fear. And I do.

For Hillary Clinton to imply that one of her motivations for staying in the race is the possibility that Barack Obama will be killed is cynical and extremely scary. And I am not afraid to say that I do think that this is a real consideration for her. I no longer give her the benefit of the doubt. That is something that must be earned.

I don't think it is at all accurate, as some of your readers have said, that this is some sort of conspiracy. The words came out of her mouth - more than once - and an Obama assassination is a fear that is on many people's mind all over the world. You can't tell me that it has not crossed hers that an assassination would award her the presidency.

Is she out there plotting his death? I highly doubt it. But would she accept any benefit her campaign would receive as a result of it? There is not a doubt in my mind.

That is why this comment disturbs me so. That and your point that she didn't bother to apologize, of all people, to Barack Obama - the man whose worst nightmare she just highlighted as hope for her campaign.
5/24/08, 1:48 PM  
Blogger Melina said...
...well, Mom sez.."just look at her! shes obviously sleep deprived!...I feel so sorry for her"
And RFK Jr sends his OK on the matter...which means little, considering that he has seemingly lost his mind in recent months (sorry Bobby! You're still my hero ...but it'll have to wait till after this mess...)
BUT, this thing about O getting assassinated is very real and a topic of conversation all over the place. I hear it around here all the time. People like him but they think hes in danger, to put it mildly....and its hard to make a decision without knowing his running mate. I don't think thats a reason to vote for Clinton, and I don't know WTF people think they are getting out of teasing out what exactly she meant...
You don't have to have been alive back then to know what she meant...she is repeating what alot of people have been saying, but in different terms...
And, in case anything should happen...especially just in case...I still wouldn't want her in office.
I will pull the lever for whoever the democratic nominee is because I find it important to take whatever baby steps we can towards getting out of this mess, but I hope to god that Americans come to their senses and kick her the fuck out of the running before this goes any further...I hope to god that O finally sees that Hillary as VP is not gonna fly.

I don't see any conspiracy here at all. She said something pretty plainly and then she said she was sorry to the Kennedy family...she didn't address a misunderstanding or anything of the sort...It was straight forward, and anyone from her campaign who tried to say that she was merely citing historic facts...well, there are many facts out there to cite that don't include the assassination of a figure who has already been compared to the RFK, JFK and MLK...come on!...what are we, kids?
5/24/08, 2:26 PM  
Blogger Melina said...
JEN!! So nice to see your comment!
I so hope you will write about this from the point of view of where you are and get your blog going again!
Though, when I look on your Joe and Jen blog and see the pics of where you are, I can understand why not. It looks fantastic, and it looks like it may be hard to ever come back to this provincial mess of a country!
Please keep us apprised of what's happening over there.
and have fun! You may be one of the few Americans who is having fun lately...I'm jealous;-)
5/24/08, 2:59 PM  
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