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Olbermann: Hillary's Assasination Reference
Hillary Clinton today (May 23, 2008) 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.
Obama's camp immediately fired back.
"Sen. Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign," Obama campaign spokesman said in a statement.
Clinton made her comments at a meeting with the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader's editorial board while campaigning in South Dakota, where she complained that, "People have been trying to push me out of this ever since Iowa."
Obama, the first African-American to advance so far in the race for the White House, has faced threats, sources have said.
Robert Kennedy, the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy, was gunned down in 1968 after winning the California primary. He had been a hero on the left for his civil rights agenda and calls to end the war in Vietnam.
Barack Obama, who leads Clinton by nearly 200 delegates and has already secured a majority of pledged delegates, has been the subject of threats. Early in the campaign, the Secret Service gave him a security detail at the request of Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois).
Clinton criticized an 'urgency' to end the campaign prematurely, saying, "Historically, that makes no sense."
She later issued an apology for the remark.
"I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever," the former first lady said.
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson defended the comments to The Post, "She was talking about the length of the race and using the '68 election as an example of how long the races in the past have gone -- she used her husband's race in the same vein."
"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.
Obama's camp immediately fired back.
"Sen. Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign," Obama campaign spokesman said in a statement.
Clinton made her comments at a meeting with the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader's editorial board while campaigning in South Dakota, where she complained that, "People have been trying to push me out of this ever since Iowa."
Obama, the first African-American to advance so far in the race for the White House, has faced threats, sources have said.
Robert Kennedy, the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy, was gunned down in 1968 after winning the California primary. He had been a hero on the left for his civil rights agenda and calls to end the war in Vietnam.
Barack Obama, who leads Clinton by nearly 200 delegates and has already secured a majority of pledged delegates, has been the subject of threats. Early in the campaign, the Secret Service gave him a security detail at the request of Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois).
Clinton criticized an 'urgency' to end the campaign prematurely, saying, "Historically, that makes no sense."
She later issued an apology for the remark.
"I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever," the former first lady said.
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson defended the comments to The Post, "She was talking about the length of the race and using the '68 election as an example of how long the races in the past have gone -- she used her husband's race in the same vein."
May 24, 2008 5:11 AM
Re: Olbermann: Hillary's Assasination Reference
Hah! I changed the link's title. It read as follows: 'Olbermann Special Comment on Hillary's Assassination.' The word 'reference' had fallen off.
By: White_Wolf
Re: Olbermann: Hillary's Assasination Reference
Cheers to Keith... Clinton's comment was way out of line and totally out of place. At least someone will call her out on it. Bravo.
By: Aigiotis
Re: Olbermann: Hillary's Assasination Reference
Wow. After Bill Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro made racist comments, now Hillary invokes the assassination of a black man as her reason for staying in the race?
Ugh. She's repugnant. Has she not heard of MLK? She's long lost this race, and they'll never let her run again.
She has ruined her husband's legacy.
And Hillary made every attempt to ruin what should be an election of boundless hope through her pathetic yet egotistical groveling for personal gain.
It's grisly. Hillary thinks she can be leader of the free world? With this kind of behavior?
Oh no.
Ugh. She's repugnant. Has she not heard of MLK? She's long lost this race, and they'll never let her run again.
She has ruined her husband's legacy.
And Hillary made every attempt to ruin what should be an election of boundless hope through her pathetic yet egotistical groveling for personal gain.
It's grisly. Hillary thinks she can be leader of the free world? With this kind of behavior?
Oh no.
By: buckinghamgreen
Re: Olbermann: Hillary's Assasination Reference
I just took that comment as "I don't know why people think the race is over because california is done. It only ended in california last time because the other person running was killed."
While I think the knee jerk reactions were "it would be over if someone killed Obama."
While I think the knee jerk reactions were "it would be over if someone killed Obama."
By: Faffy
Re: Olbermann: Hillary's Assasination Reference
I had breakfast this morning with someone who saw no problem with the context of Clinton's comments. Until I let him in on the facts:
1. Clinton made this same comment back in March of this year, only it was not caught on video or audio. Again, with the assassination word in her quote.
2. Clinton made the same comment in April twice, only leaving out that ugly word.
3. Clinton made no apology yesterday for the reference, only a lame excuse. And certainly no retraction. This leads one to believe that her use of the word was intentional.
1. Clinton made this same comment back in March of this year, only it was not caught on video or audio. Again, with the assassination word in her quote.
2. Clinton made the same comment in April twice, only leaving out that ugly word.
3. Clinton made no apology yesterday for the reference, only a lame excuse. And certainly no retraction. This leads one to believe that her use of the word was intentional.
By: spam_vigilante
Re: Olbermann: Hillary's Assasination Reference
That's a good point. Based on her lack of any real retraction, we are only left to believe that her *repeated* use of the term, assassination, is intentional.
And therefore quite insane.
And therefore quite insane.
By: buckinghamgreen
Re: Olbermann: Hillary's Assasination Reference
I think Olbermann gets someone to kick him in the balls repeatedly every morning to achieve the necessary level of anger for his special comments. You don't have to go off the deep end for every little thing Keith.
By: Gafoto
Re: Olbermann: Hillary's Assasination Reference
Maybe because both JFK and RFK were killed long before my time this doesn't move me as much but I think the reaction to her comments are over the top. People are looking into it to much. She's talking about long primaries not assassinations. However it is important to remember that wording and rhetoric is extremely important. So its possible that it was intentional.
By: wipis
