Today Senator Clinton made a statement in relations to previous primaries. She said that other campaigns in the past went well into the month of June and she gave examples such as the 1992 and the 1968 campaign. She said that RFK was still campaigning in June and his campaign was still going when he was assassinated.
Our supporters went online and screamed bloody murder. Some of our supporters started running like chickens without heads, yelling and screaming that Senator Clinton is staying in the campaign because Senator Obama might be assassinated, which would allow her to get the nomination.
In a nutshell, our supporters are saying that Senator Clinton wants and wishes Senator Obama to be assassinated (check the posts and comments here and on other blogs).
Let me say this in the most direct way possible and as straight as i can: this is the most dishonest faked outrage i have seen since i got involved in politics in mid-1980s. It is just plain disgusting that we behaved like that. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. We brought nothing but shame to the campaign of Senator Obama today.
We, the Obama supporters, have become worse than the worse of the republicans.
I expect this kind of fake outrage from the republicans, from Tom Delay and Karl Rove and Newt, Jesse Helms and so forth. The republicans are known to do that and they master this art of fake outrage. Remember, how they faked to be totally outraged by the MoveOn.org ad in the NYT. Remember, "Obama said that he wants to surrender to Iran"; while what Senator Obama really said and meant is that he is willing to sit down with the leadership of Iran and practice strong diplomacy. The republicans said that "Al Gore wants to submit the security of America to the United Nations"; while what Al Gore really said and meant is that American needs to be a global player and be an active actor and uses international institutions to our advantage. Republicans said that "Kerry will need a permission slip from the UN to defend America"; while what Kerry really said is that America needs the UN to build a coalition to help us in our mission in Iraq. Republicans said that "Dukakis gives weekend passes to harden criminals so they can go out and kill again"; While what really happened is that program was established by the previous governor of Massachusetts. Did they care about the truth? No. Did they know the truth? Absolutely. So what was that all about? Just plain old fake outrage to rattle the feelings of their base and get them all excited.
It seems that we have become just like them. We take a short statement, totally innocent and we twist it and twist it and we yell and scream about it and we fake being outraged and scandalized until we look like a bunch of fools.
I didn't vote of Senator Clinton. I didn't donate a dime to her campaign. I do not support her, but i am sure as hell that she did not have any sinister motivations in her statement other than stressing the outline of previous campaigns and how some campaigns in the past went well into June. Indeed, history tells us that RFK when he was assassinated in the month of June, he was still fighting for the nomination. Carter did not clinch the nomination until mid-June after he won Ohio and lost California to Jerry Brown. Mondale clinched his nomination in June as well as Bill Clinton. This is what Senator Clinton was trying to say and convey and this is what she meant. And anyone who reads anything else into her statement is engaging in a high and disgusting exercise of hypocrisy and dishonesty.
Furthermore, Senator Clinton made those statements before the editorial board of a newspaper and before several capable journalists. Don't you think that if they thought that she was implying or hinting at something sinister that they would have nailed her right there in the editorial room? Don't you think they would have smelled the scoop of the year? Don't you think they would have asked follow up questions and tried to squeeze her and get a flashy and exclusive headline that would have been on the front page of their weekend edition? Do you think for one moment that you all are better are interpreting and questioning motives than them?
Here is the statement from Argus Leader, the South Dakota Newspaper where Hillary Clinton made those remarks:
"The context of the question and answer with Sen. Clinton was whether her continued candidacy jeopardized party unity this close to the Democratic convention. Her reference to Mr. Kennedy's assassination appeared to focus on the time line of his primary candidacy and not the assassination itself"
Is there a doubt now? I don't have any and i am not supporting her or her campaign.
We are better than this folks. We ought to be better than this. I thought our campaign stood for something else. I though our campaign ushered the era of a new kind politics; remember Senator Obama's words: this is new politics. And all i saw and read today from our supporters (and the the press release of the campaign too) is old politics, just plain old republican-like politics. The same old politics that i was tired of and disgusted by it for so many year. I guess, the apple sometimes does not fall far from the tree or as my Irish red-blooded dad would say "the dog will always chase its tail."
I think our campaign should issue a statement saying that Senator Clinton remarks were just that, just remarks. Nothing more and nothing less and they ought to do because we ought to be better than this.
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