Senator Clinton has a sniper problem. Whenever she speaks about them, may they be imagined Bosnian ones or the real Sirhan Sirhan, she gets herself into trouble. So when The Centrist Voice first heard how RFK’s assassination was part of Senator Clinton’s logic for staying in the race, we immediately read the entire transcript of her comments to the editorial board of the South Dakota Argus-Leader. Quickly, we concluded that the comment, while not smart to say, was made to point out that other nominating contests had gone into June. So we gave her the benefit of the doubt.
Yet, when it was dug up that Senator Clinton had made the same comments to Time Magazine in March, The Centrist Voice was forced to reexamine the situation. Ms. Nikki and I read and reread Senator Clinton’s non-apology apology and saw that things did not add up. Senator Clinton said:
The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator Kennedy…
This begs the question of whether or not the Kennedys were on Senator Clinton’s mind when she said the following to Time Magazine in March:
I think people have short memories. Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A.
The Kennedys weren’t in the news when she said that to Time Magazine. So now there are at least two instances where she has stated this. This throws the rationale behind the non-apology apology out the window.
Senator Robert F. Kennedy did not enter the 1968 presidential race until mid-March and was tragically killed in early June, the night of the California primary. He had been in the race for just under three months and only thirteen primary contests had taken place. In June of 1992, Bill Clinton had already captured the nomination, but only hit the magic number then, nothing more.
So why didn’t Senator Clinton mention past candidates that were in their party’s nominating contest in June? Ted Kennedy was still in the 1980 race. Gary Hart was still around in June 1984. Ronald Reagan was still fighting to take the GOP nomination from President Ford in 1976. She could have referenced all of these instances but chose the more emotional and painful historical example.
Using the Kennedy assassination as an example might not be intended to say “Barack Obama could be killed.” But, it could be a bad attempt to say that sometimes candidates are out of the race before their full potential is realized. Reminding us of the tragedy of Robert Kennedy’s assassination was calculated to make us think of what could have been combined with Clinton’s belief that Americans will associate it with her and voters will encourage her to keep on running. However, The New York Daily News has said that this incident has shown Americans, “an X-ray of a very dark soul.”
Senator Clinton makes the argument that she is the strongest candidate to defeat John McCain in the general election. Yet her campaign, which is comprised of some of the best Democratic political talent in the country, has been outmaneuvered by Senator Obama and his campaign staff, who were once considered to be not as good as the Clinton staff (now it seems the two staffs have traded reputations). Senator Clinton has had gaffe after gaffe that have hurt her chances with the voters. Were she to be the nominee, what other gaffes would she make?
Raising an incident that is still painful for the country forty years after it happened is inexcusable, no matter what the justification for saying it. Sadly, this was not an accidental slip of the tongue. It was something that Senator Clinton had said before and further proves why she is unfit to be the Democratic nominee, let alone hold the senate seat that Senator Robert F. Kennedy once held.
