Because, you know, I'm an elitist

Heh, John Cole responds:

I have to confess- I am celebrating Hillary’s implosion today. I went out earlier and had two glasses of wine, a spectacular grilled romaine salad with avocado and a raspberry vinagrette, and then a splendidly rare filet mignon in an oyster demi-glaze on a bed of asparagus. Because, you know, I am an elitist. And then I had a fat cigar. A few months back I was defending her, and was ready to vote for her, even after years as a Republican. And then I watched her campaign and I realized once again how repellent she is.

Yeah, I really wish I could be more graceful about this, but since dinner, I have had a couple more drinks and I keep getting more ecstatic. In my defense, you know what you get when you come here, so deal with it. All praise the Giant Spaghetti Monster, please give us another pervert Republican this weekend and the week will be complete.

I really think this is the end of any unity ticket talk. Not because Obama's feelings are hurt, but because Clinton is being exposed in these last days as a really mediocre candidate. This is worse than Joe Biden's "clean" remark--at least Biden had the decency to apologize to the person he offended, plus, he hadn't said it like three other times. Some folks in the comments referenced Olbermann's comment. I've got it below. It's a bit over the top for me, but worth watching.

Comments

Hashim Warren May 24, 2008 8:25 AM

Wow, Olberman was way over the top with that one. I like his show, but I completely disagree with him. Clinton made a simple mistake.

BillW May 24, 2008 8:58 AM

Actually, Hashim, as Olbermann points out in his rant (which I do agree with you was over the top), what Clinton did was neither simple nor a mistake. She has been repeating this same point over and over. Chris Matthews pointed to 3 times she has invoked the "assassination" of RFK over several months. Here's one to Time magazine on Mar 6:

"Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A. ..."
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1719900,00.html

A gaffe. Oh yeah, it was a gaffe but it really wasn't a mistake. One time could have been a mistake. Multiple times is a deliberate campaign tactic, however stupid. It's too easy to make whatever you want from that comment and there are just too many crazy people out there to say something like that.

Benjamin May 24, 2008 9:54 AM

The point here to me is simple.
Noone assumed she wants Obama to be assassinated. Clearly.
But if, as Hillaryites argue, she just wanted to point out the primary was still lasting in June (btw 1968 is hardly the right example for someone who wants to argue long divisive primaries don't hurt the party in the general), she didn't have to refer to the assassination. She could have said "RFK was still campaigning in CA in June" or, for that matter, pick better and more recent examples like 1976, 1980 or 1984. Hell, she could have even picked 1988 since they are so fond of Jesse Jackson comparisons and JJ did get something out of staying until the convention.
But no. She chose to mention it through the angle of the assassination. And while I don't think it was a voluntary dog-whistle or that she regularly speaks to her advisers about this as a rationale for staying in, at the very least, it was clumsy, insensitive, politically stupid (as TNC points out) and I can't entirely blame journalists for reading it as a Freudian slip. Because, at the very least, it is weird that time and time again, THIS is what comes to her mind when she thinks of long primaries.