Uber-Gaffe
'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,'[link]
Much as I hate to defend Clinton these days, it is probable that from the previous times she has referenced the RFK assassination that it is probably more focused on the June part and just worded incredibly badly in this instance, but the reference to a political assassination is still a poor one, and the Clinton campaign used to know that.
Today, in Dover, Francine Torge, a former John Edwards supporter, said this while introducing Mrs. Clinton: “Some people compare one of the other candidates to John F. Kennedy. But he was assassinated. And Lyndon Baines Johnson was the one who actually” passed the civil rights legislation.
The comment, an apparent reference to Senator Barack Obama, is particularly striking given documented fears among blacks that Mr. Obama will be assassinated if elected.
Phil Singer, a Clinton spokesman said: “We were not aware that this person was going to make those comments and disapprove of them completely. They were totally inappropriate.”
Well, at least the campaign did.
Mrs. Clinton’s expression did not change noticeably when Ms. Torge made the comment.
In any case, I believe the statement was more of a gaffe and forgivable to a degree, but my problem really starts with her not-exactly-an-apology.
"Earlier today I was discussing the Democratic primary history, and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns that both my husband and Senator Kennedy waged in California in June 1992 and 1968 and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nomination primary contests that go into June," Clinton said.
"That's a historic fact. The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator [Edward] Kennedy and I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation, and particularly for the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that, whatsoever. My view is that we have to look to the past and to our leaders who have inspired us and give us a lot to live up to, and I'm honored to hold Senator [Robert] Kennedy's seat in the United States Senate from the state of New York and have the highest regard for the entire Kennedy family."
I'm sure the Kennedy clan, reeling from the sad news of their current patriarch's medical condition, wasn't entirely amused with the reference, but that really isn't the family Clinton needs to apologize to. Somehow she seems to have missed the whole reason this was a stupid comment. It isn't because she was referencing some traumatic period from the past, it is because she was referencing the assassination of a presidential candidate as a reason for her remaining in a contest against a man about whom there has been a steady if muted drumbeat of stories speculating on just such a fate befalling the man most likely to become America's first African-American President.
Hillary's failure to even acknowledge that her gaffe may have been a little traumatic for the Obama's is the measure of just how low she's fallen. The hole she needs to dig herself out of just got a lot deeper.
