Opinion: Hillary Clinton apologizes to Kennedys
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
In a talk with the Argus Leader in South Dakota earlier today, Hillary Clinton took a walk through political history -- and stepped on a figurative land mine. Asked about her continuing campaign against increasingly long odds, she invoked 1968 and the assassination of Bobby Kennedy fairly late in the primary calendar. Her intent seemed to be to point out that anything can happen.
But with Ted Kennedy gravely ill, and an undercurrent in the election of the risks Barack Obama faces, well, the reaction was not quite what she expected. Which led the campaign to release this statement a few minutes ago:
‘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. That’s a historic fact. The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator 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 Kennedy’s seat in the United States Senate from the state of New York and have the highest regard for the entire Kennedy family.’
Gaffes like that don’t help you play catch up with the SuperDs.
-- Scott Martelle
