Everybody says something stupid sometimes
By Libby
Occassionally I find myself in disagreement with my co-bloggers and this is one of those times. In fact, I appear to be in disagreement with all but a handful of bloggers who aren't supporting Clinton. I'm of course, talking about Hillary's unfortunate remark about Bobby Kennedy. Having in my long life made some truly awful, tone deaf remarks that I wished I could have taken back immediately, as I said in my Newshoggers post, I'm inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt on this one. I don't think she really meant that the potential assassination of Obama was a reason to stay in the race and this post in the NYT seems to support that theory.
That's the trouble with the 24/7 newscycle and a lazy media that simply repeat each other's memes. If you buy the spin when it's about the candidate you don't like, it leaves them free to create fake narratives about the one you do. Taken in context, it was still a stupid remark, but not really one of evil intent. I'm more irritated by her comparisons on MI-FL, her campaign's ridiculous math calculations and her continued reliance on negative campaigning. My theory, as detailed at the NH post, is that she's simply generating controversy in order to get back into the news cycle after being ignored for a couple of weeks.
For those who are truly angered, I suggest the best punishment is to ignore her rather than rake her over the coals. She'll be out of the race soon enough and a couple of months from now, none of this will seem all that important.
Update: For the record, while I'm willing to give her a pass on the gaffe, her "apology" really sucked. She should have just owned the mistake and said she was sorry, not try to excuse or explain it away. Furthermore her justifications for using negative tactics against her opponent are still weak to the point of nonsenical. That's not to say I think she shouldn't finish the contests but rather that she should have used these remaining races to make the case on her own merits as opposed to McCain, not Obama.
Occassionally I find myself in disagreement with my co-bloggers and this is one of those times. In fact, I appear to be in disagreement with all but a handful of bloggers who aren't supporting Clinton. I'm of course, talking about Hillary's unfortunate remark about Bobby Kennedy. Having in my long life made some truly awful, tone deaf remarks that I wished I could have taken back immediately, as I said in my Newshoggers post, I'm inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt on this one. I don't think she really meant that the potential assassination of Obama was a reason to stay in the race and this post in the NYT seems to support that theory.
That's the trouble with the 24/7 newscycle and a lazy media that simply repeat each other's memes. If you buy the spin when it's about the candidate you don't like, it leaves them free to create fake narratives about the one you do. Taken in context, it was still a stupid remark, but not really one of evil intent. I'm more irritated by her comparisons on MI-FL, her campaign's ridiculous math calculations and her continued reliance on negative campaigning. My theory, as detailed at the NH post, is that she's simply generating controversy in order to get back into the news cycle after being ignored for a couple of weeks.
For those who are truly angered, I suggest the best punishment is to ignore her rather than rake her over the coals. She'll be out of the race soon enough and a couple of months from now, none of this will seem all that important.
Update: For the record, while I'm willing to give her a pass on the gaffe, her "apology" really sucked. She should have just owned the mistake and said she was sorry, not try to excuse or explain it away. Furthermore her justifications for using negative tactics against her opponent are still weak to the point of nonsenical. That's not to say I think she shouldn't finish the contests but rather that she should have used these remaining races to make the case on her own merits as opposed to McCain, not Obama.
Labels: Clinton, Election 08
posted by Libby Spencer at 11:40 AM
5 Comments:
Had she only said it once, I would have accepted it as a slip, and no more serious than Obama's gun and religion comment. But as Olberman shows, she has used the reference repeatedly and that is no slip of the tongue. She is reinforcing the image of a dead RFK for a reason and her campaign has given her the speeches to read for a reason and she has approved them for a reason.
And I'm not quite ready to write her off yet, Libby. Not because I'm worried that she can beat Obama on a fair and level playing field, but because I don't trust her to keep the field in that condition.
She's powerful and she's hungry. That can be a dangerous combination.
I agree, Libby, that the initial comment was ham-handed, and even the result of exhaustion (as Obama has gently suggested). But, while he's got class, I don't.
The apology was weak and lame. And she negated it with, essentially, "I didn't misspeak, you MISHEARD."
Bad.
Then, today's New York Daily News column was a pure disaster of rationalization, changing the subject, voodoo math and Hillary as victim, while her spokeserpent Wolfson claimed that OBAMA's campaign were the bad guys for emailing the transcript of Olbermann's remarks to the media, etc. etc.
This is Bushian, Rovian prevarication. This is the utter inability to admit error. And this is exactly what we DON'T want in the White House for four more years, no matter the party or the plumbing.
She .... just ... doesn't ... GET ... it. You make a dumb comment about RFK's assassination (combined with a lie about Bill Clinton's MARCH clinching of the nomination in 1992) and you face a firestorm. Just like yelling the N-word in Harlem, just like singing "Deutchland Uber Alles" in the synagogue: you screwed up.
An apology would have shown us one thing and it would have been over. But they couldn't help themselves, and THAT showed the wolf in sheep's clothing. Sorry. T'was a campaign-ending kind of performance.
All she had to do was apologize. But she'd evidently rather be right than be elected.
-- Hart Williams
Amen.
Like I said guys. I'm definitely in the minority on this one. I don't doubt that she was thinking this, haven't we all worried about it, but I can't believe she meant to say it out loud. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to anticipate the blowback.
I'd agree that the apology and the ensuing whining about being attacked for it is more than a little irritating. My plan, for the sake of my blood pressure is to try to ignore her for the next two weeks, no matter what crazy thing she does.
I can't believe she meant to say it out loud. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to anticipate the blowback.
I disagree. I think she meant to say it (as she has a few times, not just this once) and believing that the American people are so stupid and gullible (as we usually are) that we would just nod our heads and accept what she said. For some reason, in this case it backfired.
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