WP: Hillary Clinton Raises the Specter of the Unspeakable

[DeepModem Mom]

Essay
Hillary Clinton Raises the Specter of the Unspeakable
By Libby Copeland
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 24, 2008; Page C01

Smart candidates don't invoke the possibility of their opponents being killed. This seems so obvious it shouldn't need to be said, but apparently, it needs to be said.

"We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California," Hillary Clinton said yesterday, referencing the fact that past nomination contests have stretched into June to explain why she hasn't heeded calls to exit the Democratic race. She was in an editorial board meeting with a South Dakota newspaper, and she didn't even seem to notice she'd just uttered the unutterable.

The nation's political science students, our future strategists and campaign managers, would do well to pay attention to this moment. There are taboos in presidential politics, and this is one of the biggest. To raise the specter of a rival's assassination, even unintentionally, is to make a truly terrible thing real. It sounds like one might be waiting for a terrible thing to happen, even if one isn't. It sounds almost like wishful thinking.

If there were any doubt about the taboo nature of discussing such a thing, witness the reaction Barack Obama's campaign put out, which carefully avoided any repetition of what Clinton had actually said. To repeat it would be to repeat the possibility of the terrible thing....

***

The fear of a president or a presidential candidate being shot or assassinated is horrifying precisely because recent history teaches us that it can happen. We don't need anybody to remind us, and we certainly don't need anybody to remind whatever suggestible wackos might be lurking in the shadows.

In the context of Obama, Clinton's words broke a double taboo, because since the beginning of his candidacy, some of Obama's supporters have feared that his race made him more of a target than other presidential hopefuls. Obama was placed under Secret Service protection early, a full year ago. To be unaware that one's words tap into a monumental fear that exists in a portion of the electorate -- a fear that Obama's race could get him killed -- is an unusual mistake for a serious and highly disciplined presidential candidate....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052302789.html?nav%3Dhcmodule&sub=AR

[tama]

1. So

She's allready hired the assassin and now tells so to explain why she stays? :-D

[dothan29]

2. Democrats shoot selves in foot---yet again

No surprise here. Ive said all along this presidential election was the Democrats election to lose.. just as in 2004. And what did the party or one of its electable candidates do in each of these 2 elections? Shot themselves in the foot. IN 2004, everyone went into panic mode and said "oh we gotta get the guy with the most military experience regardless of how he looks to voters" and thus Kerry got the nod. Had the democrats chosen John Edwards, he would have taken half or more of the south and still won the democratic stronghold states of the NE, Great Lakes and West Coast. Now in 2008, Hillary who would win Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Ohio, Iowa, Florida, Virginia, West Virginia and maybe even North Carolia instead couldnt get control on her and Bill's mouth so they repelled voters, especially black voters, and now Obama is sailing the democrats ship in November right into an iceberg of defeat. Sure the democrats will win many more house and senate seats, but for the presidency, McCain will win the electoral map by nearly 80 to 100 more than Obama, if not worse.