So it turns out that Hillary Clinton has previously referenced RFK’s assassination in making the point she was apparently trying to make the other day: that traditionally, Democratic primary fights have gone on into the summer months.
“Primary contests used to last a lot longer,” she told Time magazine on March 6. “We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A. My husband didn’t wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June. Having a primary contest go through June is nothing particularly unusual.”
The Argus Leader issued a statement saying: “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.”And Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton, told The Times that he did not take offense at the comment, and he soon issued a statement to that effect.
But the damage was done. The episode appeared on all the network newscasts and stayed alive in the media
So why has the comment ignited such a firestorm this week? Slow news scycle? Media ready to be rid of her?
Your thoughts?
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Media ready to be rid of her
That’s my best guess. After all, look at the media’s love affair with Obama.
What brought your attention to the comment?
Me? I saw it/read it everywhere for the past few days…
In essence, she is justifying her continued campaign by speculating that Obama might get shot. Putting aside the ghoulishness of that, which she presumably didn’t intend, it was a silly statement, because she could just as easily step in if she suspended her campaign today.
While I’m willing to give Sen. Clinton a pass on the intention of her remark, the premise simply isn’t true: while historic nominating seasons may have lasted later, they didn’t necessarily last longer. In 1968, for example, the first Democratic primary was March 2. Thus, when Sen. Kennedy was killed in early-June, the election season was barely 3 months old. The advent of June will mark the sixth month of electoral campaigning in 2008.
Brian A, nice phrasing you’ve got there. You write “in essence…” when the only possible meaning is “her opponents are interpreting…” Honi soit qui mal y pense.
BTW, I hope that one of these problems sinks Hillary, but I’d like her to go down with a clean shot.
IIRC, when RFK was killed, he was running against Eugene McCarthy. Humphry hadn’t entered the race.