Sherry Chandler » Character assassination
Character assassination
Every time I say to myself that I have cast my vote and I am through with this election, ready to step back and watch events develop, some new madness crops up and I feel as though I have to speak out.
I am, of course, referring to the “uproar,” largely manufactured by political partisans, over Hillary Clinton’s remarks about the Robert Kennedy primary campaign of 1968.
For the media and/or political partisans to accuse one candidate of calling for the physical assassination of another is not only character assassination but also very unwise. Such tactics are not just divisive, they are incendiary.
And the whole incident makes me very sad. I just want to weep for our country that it has come to this.
I will leave you with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr’s remarks:
I’ve heard her make that argument before,” Mr. Kennedy said, speaking on his cell phone as he drove to the family compound in Hyannis for the holiday weekend. “It sounds like she was invoking a familiar historical circumstance in support of her argument for continuing her campaign.” . . . [H]is support of Mrs. Clinton has not wavered.
…
I have heard her make this reference before, also citing her husband’s 1992 race, both of which were hard fought through June. I understand how highly charged the atmosphere is, but I think it is a mistake for people to take offense.”
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Updated May 25: Here’s an addendum from the ever wise Melissa McEwan (emphasis added):
Briefly, my opinion is that it was an ill-considered statement that warranted an apology, irrespective of intent. FWIW, I don’t think she intended to suggest anything nefarious, but it was not a particularly sensitive example to use to make her point, and careless in its disregard of the history of violence against black leaders. It was inevitable, and of course not unreasonable, that people would consider her competitor Obama within the frame she built, to upsetting results, even if she didn’t specifically mention him.
As I’ve said before, an apology after erring is not about the original intent; it’s about the result. It’s about making amends. When I step on someone’s foot unintentionally, I still say “I’m sorry.”
UPDATE: Also, I want to quickly note, when I step on someone’s foot unintentionally and say I’m sorry, that doesn’t give them license to premeditatedly punch me in the nose and claim I deserved it. Clearly, the usual suspects are seeking to deliberately misconstrue Clinton’s statement for maximum outrage-ginning, and I don’t guess I need to give you my opinion on that.
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Updating the Update: In response to Melissa McEwan, Six Degrees of Obama
So the new rule is Hillary (and Bill, her surrogates, etc.) cannot mention anything that someone might possibly, in some bizarre fashion, connect in some offensive way to Barack Obama within six degrees of separation?
…
The first player takes quote out of any statement by Hillary, Bill, or any Hillary staff member or prominent supporter, and the second player has to link a word from it to Barack Obama in an offensive way within six links.
Hillary says* “This is all a big kabuki dance”
Dance - racial sterotype of black people being good dancers - Obama is black - Obama danced with Ellen Degeneres on her show - Hillary is saying Obama is a good dancer because he’s black.
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Update to the update of the update: From the Argus Leader, where Hillary Clinton was being interviewed:
The Argus Leader’s Executive Editor Randell Beck issued the following statement today:
“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 timeline of his primary candidacy and not the assassination itself.”
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One more: Commenter talex at TalkLeft:
What you won’t read on the blogs:
People are also ignoring the historical reference to Kennedy. Via Wikipedia:
“At the time of his death, [Bobby] Kennedy was significantly behind Vice President Hubert Humphrey in convention delegate support”
So you see, Bobby was still in the race in June even though he was running behind Humphrey in convention delegate support.
So the parallels with RFK are all Clinton’s: Senator from New York and underdog
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11 Comments
1. JimT replies at 24th May 2008, 12:06 pm :
Candidates put in incredibly long days. They talk endlessly. Sometimes they are weary, not at their best. They are human, after all. Clinton, on her game, would never have said what she said that way, just as Obama would never have uttered his comment about working class bitterness.
IMHO, we should all cut slack for them at moments like these. They are mortal, not superhuman, and at odd moments, they speak in non-artful ways.
Sadly, TV commentators use it as ratings fuel.
2. Helen Losse replies at 24th May 2008, 1:14 pm :
Ditto, to the above comment. We’ve all run out of talent - they in speaking, we in our analysis of what they say. Next time we should start the primaries in June. LOL
3. sherry replies at 24th May 2008, 2:35 pm :
I’m all for that Helen. This primary has been, not to put too fine a point on it, f*cked up. I’d vote for a single nationwide primary on a day in about May or June. I’m really tired of the perpetual campaign!!
4. sherry replies at 24th May 2008, 2:37 pm :
JimT, I believe with all my heart that the people need to rise up against this kind of thing if we are going to preserve our democracy. Already, my son is convinced that we live in an oligarchy, that our votes are only to give cover to those who really run the country and the world. Nobody is allowed to run for high office unless they are in some way a member of that elitist club, members chosen apparently by the news media. I don’t have a good argument to counter that belief.
Melissa McEwan, at Shakespeare’s Sister, makes the point over and over again that allowing/participating in feminist smearing of even our enemies is destructive for all women. By the same token, the use of these kinds of tactics to defeat any politician is wrong.
Barack Obama may be a fine politician but I don’t want him rammed down my throat as some messiah-figure that’s going to save the country. That’s too much to ask of any man. As you say, he’s just a human being. And besides, I’ve had it with that talk of “change.” GWB offered to change Washington, and, by God, he did it too. That didn’t work out too well.
Hillary Clinton may not be the right woman for the presidency but I want the people to decide that, not the media. I want us to be able to hear her case without the constant static. Beyond that, she is a woman who has given years of honorable service to this country and she does not deserve to be destroyed.
Nor do I want to be attacked and belittled, as some people are, for supporting her. I do, in fact, blame Obama’s campaign manager, David Axelrod, for some of this. He works as an astroturfer, which the left-wingers used to consider the scum of the earth.
Once upon a time, John McCain stood up for campaign finance reform and other good things. From all I can tell, he has since sold his soul for the presidency. But I would like to hear his case, too. I would like to think not all Republicans are George W. Bush.
As Helen says, the whole campaign is exasperating. I need poetry.
5. Max replies at 24th May 2008, 8:34 pm :
Perpetual Campaigning, wearing us out.
I do believe the news media would be out of work if it weren’t for Hillary Clinton to slap around. Rachael Maddow and Eugene Robinson were most disgusting last night with their continued piling on Hillary.
Now all have a nice holiday weekend. I have a fence to construct for my wife’s horse. (Set 26 posts today w/hand post hole diggers). Don’t get me wrong, setting 10 here in Virginia is equal to 1 in Kentucky.
6. koshembos replies at 24th May 2008, 9:31 pm :
Memorial day is a day to remember those that didn’t get to come home. In Israel memorial day is the day before independence day. It’s a somber day. By now, we are talking about tens of thousands of young people that never came back to their loved ones: parents, lovers and kids. It’s not a holiday.
The gang rape of Hillary the last couple of days has nothing to do with what she said, the long campaign or the lunar calendar. It’s run of the mill for the media and the Obama campaign.
The future is already a nightmare.
7. sherry replies at 25th May 2008, 7:46 am :
Max and Helen, after sleeping on it, I will say this for the long campaign. I think people in places like Kentucky and South Dakota and now even Puerto Rico are excited to have a vote that counts. The fact that Kentucky’s Democrats turned out at 43% when it was a foregone conclusion that Kentucky would go for Hillary seems to me to indicate that people here want to vote. I think we’re all disgusted with having Iowa, New Hampshire, and the media impose a candidate on us.
And just to keep beating the dead horse, I do think if Obama had campaigned for Kentucky the way the Clintons did, he might, at the very least, have educated some of the racism out of us just as I think Hillary has educated some of the sexism away. I’m not sure that racism tops economic interest, though that’s a very pragmatic and probably unenlightened outlook. To keep his distance and allow us to be painted as the worst kind of inbred racists only serves to harden attitudes.
Back last year when every state was moving its primary forward, I thought it was madness (and I still do) but I can understand why Michigan and Florida did what they did. (Well, I think Florida was done by some Republicans playing dirty tricks.) They wanted some leverage on the campaign, and why should they not?
I do think our whole Democratic primary system has been a collosal mess this year. I’ve had my say about the 50-state strategy and getting rid of the “solid south” as a factor. I think voters are protesting that, too. It hasn’t quite worked according to plan.
I’ve heard it said that the early Iowa caucuses are meant to give a candidate without much money a chance to get a toehold but I don’t remember seeing it work out that way in my lifetime.
8. sherry replies at 25th May 2008, 8:07 am :
koshembos, of course it’s all about the lunar calendar (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). You know, periodically, when Hillary gets down, she puts the claws out and calls for the assassination of her rival. Just one of her little mood swings…
It’s all part of Hillary Clinton’s Disturbing Pattern.
9. sherry replies at 25th May 2008, 4:27 pm :
Twenty-six! Max, ten to one for Kentucky or not, that’s a day’s work. Send pictures.
10. Rebecca replies at 25th May 2008, 4:56 pm :
Great post Sherry- You read my mind and said it much better than I could- I just don’t understand the “fake outrage” as one commenter on mmydd.com put it?- I don’t see how the remarks can be twisted to insenuate she was calling for obama’s future assasination. I mean sadly I would think after this campaign, her life was in more danger as you put with the similarities to RFK ( rather than obama and rfk)– Would she call for her “own assasination”? I read on one blog , and I thought it made sense- There’s def been this quiet strategy of Obama trying to align himself with 60’s leaders/martyrs– It’s kind of insulting and arrogant— Honestly where are these specific threats on obama’s life- I would wager that in the last 8 years, Senator Clinton has had her share of death threats and is in equal amt of danger if not more so?….Honestly I’m beginning to wonder as some blogs have pt’d out does the so called progressive blogosphere want obama in office or just not to allow the clintons “in” again. The hatred of the Clinton family by some never ceases to amaze me. wow I mean what’s the goal here to win or to alienate hillary supporters and half your party? They’ve lost sight of the goal, and that’s putting it nicely…–. Yet Hillary ( or as some so offensively put it “Hill” “She” “Shedevil” I’m sure I’m forgetting some) remains poised with”grace under fire” as she explains things are “curious”- How does she do it? Sure like Jim T pt’d out, the candidates are human. And yet still she’s the one supposedly “twisting” everything- I’ve had friends tell me she’s using sexism as a campaign strategy- I honestly have to keep from laughing, because I can’t see it has helped her if so. sigh well I’m rambling….this latest just put me over the edge too sherry- I really wanted to make my pseudonym for posting “BO Stinks ” here lol, but I know that would be childish and sound like an obama supporter- So I put my name as Rebecca– Honestly what kind of discourse did we have, before we could hide behind our pseudonyms on blogs? I suggest we were a lot more civil to each other. well i digress…..
11. sherry replies at 26th May 2008, 6:43 am :
The bottom line I think, Rebecca, is that the Rovian virus still infects our body politic. On TalkLeft last night the chatter was about how quickly this meme spread just at the beginning of a long holiday weekend, and I have to remember that Axelrod is an astroturfer by trade. Obama may be squeaky clean but Axelrod is not. The unfortunate outcome of all this is to poison the atmosphere and rip the Democratic party apart. Whether Clinton voters will “come home” as meekly as has been predicted I have no idea. November is a long way away. McCain is a pretty scarey dude. I’ve said over and over that it’s impossible to see what the consequences of any event will be. But I hate to see even a good candidate win by such dirty means. Success will perpetuate the tactics.
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