NYT: Clinton’s Reference to Slaying of Robert Kennedy Stirs Uproar

Clinton’s Reference to Slaying of Robert Kennedy Stirs Uproar
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: May 24, 2008

BRANDON, S.D. — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defended staying in the Democratic nominating contest on Friday by pointing out that her husband had not wrapped up the nomination until June 1992, adding, “We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.” Her remarks were met with quick criticism from the campaign of Senator Barack Obama, and within hours of making them Mrs. Clinton expressed regret, saying, “The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator Kennedy,” referring to the recent diagnosis of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s brain tumor. She added, “And 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.”

Still, the comments touched on one of the most sensitive aspects of the current presidential campaign — concern for Mr. Obama’s safety. And they come as Democrats have been talking increasingly of an Obama/Clinton ticket, with friends of the Clintons saying that Bill Clinton is musing about the possibility that the vice presidency might be his wife’s best path to the presidency if she loses the nomination. It was in the context of discussions about her political future that Mrs. Clinton made the remarks on Friday to the editorial board of The Sioux Falls Argus Leader. She had said that some people whom she did not name were trying to push her out of the race, but she noted that historically many races had gone on longer than hers. “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right?” she said. “We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.”

Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, which has refrained from engaging Mrs. Clinton in recent days, said her statement “was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign.” Privately, aides to Mr. Obama were furious about the remark.

Concerns about Mr. Obama’s safety led the Secret Service to give him protection last May, before it was afforded to any other presidential candidate, although Mrs. Clinton had protection, too, in her capacity as a former first lady. Mr. Obama’s wife, Michelle, voiced concerns about his safety before he was elected to the Senate, and some black voters have even said such fears weighed on their decision of whether to vote for him. It was against that backdrop that Mrs. Clinton’s mentioning the Kennedy assassination in the same breath as her own political fate struck some as going too far. Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, an uncommitted superdelegate, said through a spokeswoman that the comments were “beyond the pale.”

The speed at which the remarks were transmitted and reacted to illustrated the new reality candidates are grappling with in this year’s campaign, in which Mr. Obama’s own remarks about “bitter” small-town voters ricocheted around the Internet. Mrs. Clinton’s remarks were initially reported online by The New York Post, whose reporters were not traveling with the Clinton campaign but were instead watching a live video feed of the meeting with newspaper editors. Its report quickly jumped to the Drudge Report, then whipped around the Internet and on television, with outraged comments piling up on Web sites. Campaign aides were taken aback by the quick reaction to her remarks, but then quickly realized that Mrs. Clinton had to backpedal. She then spoke to the traveling press corps for the first time in more than a week, at a supermarket here....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/us/politics/24clinton.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

That says it all for me.

The final bridge between the Clintons and African American community has been burned.

McCain's best 3 day weekend from the press corps ever.

Thanks Senator Clinton.

“We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.”

Is that the full quote, or was there more? I was reading some of Keith's Special Comment and got the impression that it was an assassination threat directed to Obama, as in something like (and I'm paraphrasing this), "he could be assassinated".

I remember the inanity ("Pastorbation") of the Wright screeds, and how a remark by Bill about the 1988 SC caucus got conflated into a charge of racism, too, so I tend to believe nothing immediately about either candidate.

I didn't hear it myself, and I'm on a dialup-size bandwidth for the next few days, so no YouTube. From reading some of the news, I thought she had been making some kind of threat of assassination to Obama directly. I will have to keep the TV on tomorrow to catch the video. Is there a transcript anywhere?

--p!

"Sen. Hillary Clinton said Friday that she regretted comments that evoked the June 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy as part of her explanation for why she was staying in the presidential race late into the primary season.

Earlier Friday afternoon, she told the editorial board of the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Argus Leader that '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. Clinton complained that 'people have been trying to push me out of this ever since Iowa' and said that position 'historically ... makes no sense.'

Later at an event in Brandon, South Dakota, she said, 'Earlier today, I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns that both my husband and Sen. Kennedy waged in California in June in 1992 and 1968, and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nominating primary contests that go into June. That's an historic fact.'

'The Kennedys have been much on my mind in the last days because of Sen. 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,' Clinton added.

The campaign of her rival for the Democratic nomination for president, Sen. Barack Obama, reacted quickly. 'Sen. Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign,' it said in a statement....

Friday night, Kennedy's son, Robert Kennedy, Jr., released a statement that said he understands the point Clinton was making and said it would be a mistake to be offended. 'I have heard her make this reference before, also citing her husband's 1992 race, both of which were hard-fought through June,' he said. 'I understand how highly charged the atmosphere is, but I think it is a mistake for people to take offense.'

Also Friday, the Clinton campaign released a statement from Randell Beck, the newspaper's executive editor, saying Clinton was answering a question about whether her continued campaigning threatens party unity so 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,' Beck said in the statement."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/23/clinton.comments/index.html