Stop clarifying what Hillary meant, it's clear. She also knew what Obama meant when he said "bitter"

[ProSense]

The "bitter" furor was faux outrage.

So stop trying to spin Hillary's calculated statement about assassination as something it isn't: innocent.

Stop telling people they're blowing it out of proportion.

Stop pretending that "poor Hillary" is being excessively and unjustly criticized.

Hillary Drops New Indiana Mailer Attacking Obama On Guns, "Bitter" Comments

By Greg Sargent - May 4, 2008, 12:10PM

I've just obtained a new mailer that the Hillary campaign has dropped in Indiana that attacks Obama for inconsistency on the Second Amendment -- and also reminds voters of the comments Obama made about small town America that created problems for him in the run-up to Pennsylvania.

(Image)

The mailer says:

And just this month, Barack Obama accused people in rural places and small towns of being "bitter" people who "cling to guns."

Note that the mailer says Obama "accused" folks of this. Here's what Obama said last month:

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said. "And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

The Hillary mailer, in selectively quoting from this, omitted all of Obama's references to people's economic circumstances, leaving the misleading impression that all Obama did was "accuse" rural and small-town Americans of being "bitter" people who "cling to guns."

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Obama concedes remarks on 'bitter' working-class voters were ill-chosen

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Saturday, April 12th 2008, 4:54 PM

MUNCIE, Ind. — Democrat Barack Obama on Saturday conceded that comments he made about bitter working class voters who "cling to guns or religion" were ill chosen, as he tried to stem a burst of complaints that he is condescending.

"I didn't say it as well as I should have," he said.

As Obama tried to quell the furor, presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton hit him with one of her lengthiest and most pointed criticisms to date.

"Senator Obama's remarks were elitist and out of touch," she said, campaigning about an hour away in Indianapolis. "They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans."

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May 23, 2008, 6:30 pm

Say What? Hillary Clinton Does it Again

By The Editorial Board

We have no idea what, exactly, Hillary Clinton was thinking when she referred to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy in explaining her decision to keep on campaigning when it looks like there is virtually no hope of her winning the Democratic nomination.

(We’ve supported her decision to do so. This is a democracy, after all.)

But she could, at least, have apologized.

Instead, she issued one of those tedious non-apology apologies in which it sounds like the person who is being offended is somehow at fault: “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.”

If?

Is it even possible that Mrs. Clinton thinks someone out there was not offended by her remark, Kennedy relative, Obama relative, or just plain folks?

Mrs. Clinton tried to excuse her inexcusable outburst by saying she was distracted by the shock of the news of Senator Edward Kennedy’s malignant brain tumor. But there was something familiar about what she said, and thanks to Ben Smith of Politico, we remembered what it was. Mrs. Clinton said basically the same thing in an interview with Time on March 6:

“I think people have short memories. Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A.”

What’s next? “Mistakes were made”?

Hillary Clinton's colossal blunder simply the last straw

Saturday, May 24th 2008, 4:00 AM

SICK. Disgusting. And yet revealing. Hillary Clinton is staying in the race in the event some nut kills Barack Obama.

It could happen, but what definitely has happened is that Clinton has killed her own chances of being vice president. She doesn't deserve to be elected dog catcher anywhere now.

Her shocking comment to a South Dakota newspaper might qualify as the dumbest thing ever said in American politics.

Her lame explanation that she brought up the 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy because his brother Ted's illness was on her mind doesn't cut it. Not even close.

We have seen an X-ray of a very dark soul. One consumed by raw ambition to where the possible assassination of an opponent is something to ponder in a strategic way. Otherwise, why is murder on her mind?

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[Geek_Girl]

1. Look HRC is not an Honest, truthful, Innocent person

But her comments are being taking out of context.

And it is ridiculous to suggest that she is publicly insinuating that she is waiting for Obama to be assassinated so she can run for president.

[ProSense]

2. Look, don't try to distort the intention of this post.

Hillary's comment was not a call to assassinate Obama, but stop implying that people are ridiculous for pointing to the calculated "anything can happen" undertone of her statement.

The comparison was bizarre, and a stretch by any imagination.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. it is bizarre to thee and me. Not to her.

When her buddy Terry McAwful says they need something catastrophic to happen to Obama just a week ago, and she follows up with Gee, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June, and its only May now, what other conclusion is there?

[virgdem]

3. Ok, so what context did she mean to suggest ...

in making those comments? And what else could she have been insinuating other than that she was waiting for something to happen to Obama so that she could then get the nomination by default? This is not the first time that she uttered those comments about RFK's assassination and Terry McAuliffe has been on the air all week long suggesting that "Anything" could happen. This is a cold, calculating strategy that Hillary has been employing for months now and her game has finally come to a very sad end. She "assassinated" her own chance to get the VP slot and her political future is now in question. Her comments were indefensible and there is nothing anyone can say to explain them away.

[ProSense]

8. All seem to agree:

Hillary's comment was ill-advised, insensitive and reckless.

Some want to believe that it was not calculated by framing it as a comment about June.

Still, if her comment was ill-advised, insensitive and reckless, why make it? Is her judgment that off?

Given the repeated "anything can happen" statements, such as this horrible one by McAuliffe, why the attempts to portray Hillary's harshest critics as going overboard?

[Shae]

24. what is she waiting for then?

she has virtually no chance at winning the nomination and has run up a remarkably huge debt.

She is either waiting for "something" to happen to Obama -- whether illness, self-destruction, wants to spend more time with his family, or whatever,

or

she is purposefully sabotaging his chances in the GE.

Please tell me if you see any other possible reasons for her to stay in. I do not.

[EFerrari]

26. Her comments are not being taken out of context.

It's the context itself that makes them horrendous.

[ProSense]

5. The Answer to the Question Clinton Couldn't Answer

The Answer to the Question Clinton Couldn't Answer

by BooMan23
Fri May 23, 2008 at 09:21:18 PM PDT

I want to tackle this RFK thing from a slightly different angle. Let's for the moment put aside all talk of assassination and look at this from the perspective of what she was asked. She was asked why people are asking her to drop out. We need to remind ourselves that she was attempting to answer that question. It's a question that asks her to step into a non-supporter's shoes and look at things from their perspective for a moment. Now, her answer to this question was that she didn't know why people were asking her to drop out and that she found it somewhat mystifying given the history of long primaries in the past. She chose two poor examples to make her point, as the 1968 contest started and ended later than this one, and her husband's 1992 campaign was effectively (if not mathematically) over in March. But it's not so important that her examples were bad...what's important is that she seems not to understand why she is being asked to drop out. So, I'll explain it for her...real slow.

<...>

I really want to hammer home the point that Clinton is not improving her chances of being elected president this year by continuing her campaign. She's making her chances worse. This is a critical point which is vital to understanding why people are insistent that she drop out. By her own logic, should something happen to Obama she would be in the best position to be the nominee, but that will not change by her continuing to actively run for president. It can only harm her chances by hardening opposition to her candidacy.

There is a small subset of the Democratic Party that thinks that Barack Obama is already unelectable, and they want Clinton to be the nominee to save the party from itself. But these people need to accept that, like pornography, the delegates will know unelectability when they see it. And they are not currently seeing it. If they come to see it for any reason, they will not vote for him in Denver. And they will choose Clinton as the alternative unless they deeply resent her or they see her as also being unelectable.

To be charitable, Clinton's recent comments about hardworking white voters and the RFK assassination have not improved her perceived electability. She would do better to stop antagonizing Obama supporters and undecided supers, and to get some rest and lay low for a while, than to continue what even the Governor of her state sees as desperate tactics.

As it is, she has already ruined her chances of being on the ticket as vice-president and is rapidly losing her chance to be the second choice candidate, should something tragic happen. So, if we are judging things by how they help Clinton, she has not been too successful lately. But if we are judging things by how they hurt Obama, she has been all too successful.

For these reasons, it really appears that one of two things is the case. Either Clinton is somewhat unhinged and is engaged in self-destructive behavior, or she is actively undermining Obama's chances, not of winning the nomination, but of winning the election in November.

And in either of these two cases, it is necessary for responsible people to ask her to drop out. That's the answer to the question she could not answer.

Clarity on the talking point:

Playback: Terry McAuliffe on MTP 13 days ago. R:"Something catastrophic?" A:"Absolutely."

[ampad]

6. Once again excellent post

the hypocrites are ripe this morning on this board. As I have said all morning, where the hell was the benefit of a doubt for Obama when he made the bitter comment? At least that comment had nothing to do with folks being shot in the head.

[kid a]

7. If anyone can't acknowledge the bad choice of wording and example - they lose credibility

[SoFlaJet]

9. K and R

good stuff PS. I also took some time this morning to e-mail Madame speaker Pelosi to implore her to help us end this nightmare. I suggest others do the same. i thought her "club" of SD's were supposed to declare en masse for Obama when he passed the threshold

[bbgrunt]

10. She also knew that Kerry simply

mispoke when he was trying to make a joke about our military last year, and yet she jumped on him. She is an opportunist pure and simple.

[ProSense]

11. Yes, and

one day soon Hillary's campaign will end along with the destructive and opportunistic spin.

[MH1]

18. Except

Kerry's joke - the one he was attempting to make - wasn't about the military, it was about BUSH. It was in the "as-prepared" that the media had, and it was also clear from context - several jabs at Bush up to and after that point.

But now I keep seeing even on DU, "Kerry's joke about the military."

:grr: :banghead:

Rove's mission, accomplished. Thanks Hillary. NOT. :grr:

[bbgrunt]

20. you're right. the joke was about Bush. I stand

corrected and will be more careful about wording in the future. It is very easy to fall into these kinds of traps.

[ozone_man]

12. She's a monster.

That was not an exaggeration by Obama aide fired for saying that.

[dailykoff]

21. I've also been hoping for a return of Samantha Power.

No apologies needed at this point.

[eridani]

34. Message board posters can say stuff like that--professionals can't n/t

[GalleryGod]

36. Indeed! And Shuster gets 2 weeks pay back from MSNBC!

What a slimefest:
Terry McAullife (sorry Terry,you are not important enuff to get the correct spelling,feckin' scumbag)
Howard The Ghoul Wolfson (Spin cycle Man! Jay-sus...who could love this guy !?)
Patti "I AM Hillary" Solis-Doyle (like that would be something to aspire to !? The 95K on doughnuts girl!)
Kiki the Blonde-( Where Honey and Lies just flow forth on any cable net that will have her!)
Smarmy Paul Begala & Penishead Carville ! (Warhol's Ghost has them clocked at Minute #17)

Anyhow....Sarah Sez: Get over it, Hillaryland !


Keira's in for O'BAMA but being a Brit, can't VOTE sort of like Puerto Rico,EH?

[anonymous171]

13. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Karma's a bitch.

[liberaldem4ever]

14. Great post-K&R

:kick:

[bigbrother05]

15. Thank you

[Quixote1818]

16. She also knew Kerry didn't mean to put down the troops and she abandoned him on that

I will never forgive her for that. This is her Karma coming back to her.

[AtomicKitten]

17. this needs to punctuated

As a former Clinton acolyte, I recall defending what was tantamount to her stabbing Kerry in the back. I am verklempt at this point knowing full well how wrong I was then and how relevant what she did then is to today. I am truly ashamed of trying to smooth over Clinton ugly, but the good news is I got better and vow to correct that whenever I can.

K&R

[blm]

29. Clintons wanted any Dem destroyed who could one day access the books on the last 4 decades of

government corruption that they worked for years to cover up for BushInc. Kerry being their top target. And the reason they and their loyalists ;ike McAuliffe and Carville were placed in positions in the DNC and in the media to keep any Dem from succeeding in 2002 and especially 2004.

[Scurrilous]

19. K & R

:thumbsup:

[hokies4ever]

22. I loved that one video of Hillary exploiting bitter-gate

in which she claimed that she was 'taken aback' by his bitter comments. Her dramatization was so fake and phony, it was borderline hilarious/insane.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

23. It's Obvious What She Meant, Though A Gaffe Nonetheless, But Feel Free To Keep Acting Like A

drooling mouthed republican on fox news and harpin up the deceitful angle so that you can decimate a good dem just for sake of gettin your kicks.

You know damn well she didn't mean he'd be assassinated, and anyone here pushing that angle is no better than the low life republican assholes that do the same thing. Bunch of immature and ignorant spiteful little fucks some of you are. Just plain disgusting.

[Madam Mossfern]

25. So tell me...

how do you feel about all this? ;)

How did you respond to the "as far as I know" statement or her campaign harping on "bitter"?
If you had the same reaction to Hillary's campaign or surrogates, then your righteous indignation is appropriate. If you supported Clinton's actions in those 'gates', then you would be a ....ummmmm.....hypocrite?

[JimGinPA]

27. Calling That One A Hypocrite Is An Insult To Hypocrites Everywhere

[blm]

28. She also knew Kerry dropped a pronoun from a joke, but she sided with Bush and McCain's LIE, anyway

instead of siding with the Dem lawmaker who worked hardest for military personnel and vets and their families than any other lawmaker in modern history.

[chill_wind]

30. Thank you, ProSense. Kick and Rec. n/t

[HootieMcBoob]

31. She doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt

You've made a very good point because of her past actions.

[K Gardner]

32. K&R

[ProSense]

33. Thanks

for all the recs and comments.

[GalleryGod]

35. " Douchebag for Liberty" status is right around the corner for HRC

after Friday's Ghoulfest....