Where were you in 1968?

[OzarkDem]

http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/where-was-ariana-in-1968/

"I went to sleep on June 4, 1968 believing RFK had won the California primary and would win the presidency. I woke on June 5 to learn he’d been shot. I woke on June 6 to learn he’d died. I stood all day on June 8 waiting for his funeral cortege to pass.

1968 was a terrible time, but it was also a time of great hope. Those of us who came of age politically in that time will never forget that the primary season began in February and ran thrrough June.

Anyone who believes Hillary doesn’t have that time emblazoned on her memory just doesn’t know American history. They can twist her comments as much as they want - but for anyone over 50, a primary that extends into June isn’t an anomaly. A primary in June will always evoke RFK for me. Not because of the horror of its end - but because that was the last time I had real hope fo this country.

The current outrage disgusts me more than I can express. It’s not Hillary who sullies the process. Lying spinmeisters who’d use the assassination of one of this century’s greatest men to score cheap points are the ones who should be ashamed.

I haven’t really ever forgotten what an elitist bastard McCarthy was - and it will be a cold day in hell before I forgive Obama."

[anonymous171]

1. lol @ elitist. Ironic that Assassingate is Hillary's version of Bittergate.

The only difference is that Obama won't try to use this against Hillary. He knows who the enemy is, unlike Hillary.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

2. Is that riverdaughter blog a parody?

Please tell me it is. :scared:

[Eric J in MN]

3. Forgive Obama for what? NT

NT

[Whalestoe]

8. For inspiring a lot of young people to appreciate politics!

I'm only 19 and I never cared about it before I learned about a man named Barack Obama from my friend whose aunt lives in Chicago.

[Eric J in MN]

When was it that you learned about Obama? NT

NT

[Whalestoe]

24. My senior year of highschool. About the time he announced his candidacy. n/t

I'm now just finishing my first year of college. So I guess... second semester of high school?

[Mooney]

11. Indeed.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

20. Winning. nt

[dana_b]

72. exactly!!

:wow: that comment was unbelievable.

[izquierdista]

4. You don't have to forgive him

Just stay with the lead buzzard and circle until something happens.

[ShortnFiery]

5. I was 10 years old. I remember watching the TV news cover RFK's assassination over and over

I can still envision the video. Although I was not mature enough to know the full ramifications to our Nation, I did "pick up" on the fact that I would NEVER FORGET that moment. :shrug:

Neither Obama nor his campaign is responsible for HRC making her reprehensible remarks. THIS TIME there's no spin that justify her actions.

Shame on those who choose to believe either HRC or Bill Clinton retain an ounce of grace or morality. You truly are "defending the indefensible."

[Cant trust em]

6. How did Obama get dragged into this?

The piece doesn't mention him at all until the last sentence. It makes no sense.

[DB1]

7. I remember that time well. And to abuse it like hrc did is shameful.

[Whisp]

9. forgive Obama for what exactly?

he has been very forgiving for Hillary's assaults and wants to get beyond the stupid politics of running.

what exactly are you talking about?
forgive him for running a good campaign in contrast to the self demolition Hillary has run?

[Gore1FL]

19. Probably for kicking her candidate's ass from Day 1.

Ozark has been a bit rage filled.

[Beausoir]

10. I was in elementary school. I remember and I will never forget how Obama, today, used that death to

try and score votes.

Your post is very wise.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

14. How did Obama do that, Beausoir?

What did Obama do, exactly?

[Beausoir]

26. Did you read his press statement today? Despicable.

[anonymous171]

29. All they said was those comments "had no place in this campaign"

That was all. He didn't call her "elitist and out of touch" or say "SHAME ON YOU!". Because that would be totally below the belt.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

35. Nor did he mention how he was getting the "hard working non-assassin" vote. nt

[mrreowwr_kittty]

33. This one?

"Senator Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign."

You have an awfully low bar for 'despicable' then. :eyes:

[Eric J in MN]

34. This is despicable?

============================================
"Senator Clinton’s statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
============================================

[mrreowwr_kittty]

39. Apparently. nt

[ShortnFiery]

WTF! Neither Obama nor his campaign has criticized your heroine.

The worst evaluation from anyone within the Obama camp was "unfortunate."

The way HRC supporters use projection is becoming comical. :silly:

[Warren DeMontague]

42. Didn't take long for Hillary to trangsmogrify into the the victim, here, did it?

:eyes:

[Justitia]

69. No shit, she injects political murder of a fellow Democrat, yet, she's the victim - again. Crazy.

[DesertFlower]

12. i remember hearing it on my car radio.

i thought "what are they talking about"? this can't have happened again.

[smalll]

13. The vast majority of Obamatrons weren't alive in '68.

Most of the Obama kids' parents were still in diapers in '68. In light of all this historical ignorance, I'm not surprised they've headed down this particular road of fauxtrage. :shrug:

[anonymous171]

21. I just don't want a brokered convention.

She can stay for the rest of the primaries for all I care.

[Bicoastal]

31. Smalll, tell me about yourself. Where do you live? How old are you? What do you do for a living

and how much do you make? What's your race? How often do you pleasure yourself when no one's looking? In short, what makes a typical die-hard Hillary supporter tick?

This may seem like an invasion of privacy. But since you seem to know so much about ME, an Obama supporter, and have a history of offering up all sorts of unwarranted assumptions and conjectures as to why we are an inferior lot, I would like to know all about YOU for a change. Go right ahead if you have the guts.

Mind you, I HAVE made assumptions of my own about you, but as I am DEFINITELY more classy than you are, I won't embarrass you by typing them up here.

[smalll]

48. Oh but I asked first. Where exactly are you in Brooklyn? Williamsburg? "BoCoCoa?" Or worse -

perhaps you're one of those Park Slope stroller nazis. So which is it? :shrug:

[Bicoastal]

51. Excuse me for breathing, but I live in Park Slope. Quid pro quo, Dr. Lecter.

[smalll]

55. Park Slope! Ha! You can't GET more latte liberal!

I'm currently in the Bronx.

[Bicoastal]

60. I'm glad you think you're a better Democrats than me for that reason.

And since you once again reverted to an insult, I shall have to conclude a no-doubt fascinating interview with a long-overdue Ignore.

Here's the thing. I live in a sub-letted room, and just graduated from New York University a week ago (in Yankee Stadium, in your county, where all the "good" liberals apparently live.) I'm currently unemployed, broke, and may soon be joining you in the Bronx if nothing works out--Brooklyn was expensive, but it was close to school and not nearly as expensive as the NYC dorm I lived in last year. I've also got student loans aplenty, and may have to move back in with my parents in Los Angeles (Venice) if things don't pan out here with today's recession.

I'm definitely younger than you are. Score one for you.

I'm not sure that I am richer or poorer than you are, but one thing I know is this--

I'm DEFINITELY a LOT smarter than you are. A lot nicer, too.

Welcome to Ignore.

[emilyg]

40. Good point.

[virgdem]

54. Well Hillbot,

I was alive in 1968, was an RFK supporter, and remember very well what transpired. I also have a firm grasp of the historical significance of the event, so don't stoop to painting all of us "Obamatrons", as you so condescendingly refer to us, with such a broad brush.

[fortyfeetunder]

65. I guess that puts me in the minority-- being around in 68

Look when someone says ASSASSINATION, I take it personally. I was old enough to see this shit going on, and this is something no person of any age should experience. It's my reality. Respect it.

[VolcanoJen]

68. Ahhhhh so those of us who were too young/not born in 1968....

... just don't get it when a candidate invokes Bobby Kennedy vis-a-vis Barack Obama?

Do you even begin to understand that we learned from our parents, and history books, and school newsreels, and film, about that turbulent year, 1968? And that it happened to affect the rest of our lives, that learning about it rather than experiencing it might have made it even more terrifying? 1968 shaped lives whether you were on this earth at the time, or not. You don't own history, you realize that, don't you?

Your condescending attitude sucks, and what's worse, you seem to be enjoying it.

[Tribetime]

15. My thoughts were about Obama more than anything

With Huckabees comments and the front page of a magazine 2 days ago having Obama in the scope of a rifle. It's just sick to me these comments keep coming up about him and no one else.

[Gore1FL]

16. "but for anyone over 50, a primary that extends into June isn’t an anomaly."

however one that starts right after new years is. Add a little over 2 months to the calendar on the back end and you have the same results--which is unusual.

[Eric J in MN]

23. RFK announced March 1968. Obama announced February 2007.

It's a bad analogy by Hillary Clinton since Obama started running over a year before RFK, relative to the respective Election Days.

[PinkTiger]

17. Thank you for this post.

I concur and K and R. Obama is such a phony. I hope people wise up about him for it is too late.

[ErinBerin84]

18. "and it will be a cold day in hell before I forgive Obama"

Lol..ok, I'm just going to ignore that.


I wasn't born yet, but my mom was a teenager. She was on acid both the nights that RFK and MLK were assassinated. She said that she freaked out and "started to get really paranoid that somehow this was cosmically connected to her, and that she should stop doing LSD or someone else would get assasinated."

When the news came on tonight discussing Hillary's gaffe, she said "Don't do acid at least until the election is over."

[XOKCowboy]

22. Amazing spin. Bravo!

For you to speculate that Hillary didn't mention Bobby Kennedy 3 specific times for a reason is truly delusional. She had many more primaries to cite as examples. Why the assassination of Bobby?

Obama had nothing to do with this. Your candidate went over the line today by saying what she really means. Deal with it.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

28. It is amazing how Clinton does something stupid and it's somehow Obama's fault.

I think his campaign made one, relatively mild, statement about it. I haven't seen Obama say anything about it himself.

[Jersey Devil]

25. "Is there a doctor in the house?"

That's how most of us began to glean that something had gone terribly wrong that night. For Hillary to invoke that memory and use it as an excuse to stay in a primary race in which the the mathematical possibility of victory was already impossible was disgusting, the very definition of obscenity.

Hillary can go fuck herself.

[RoadRage]

27. Forgive Obama for WHAT??? Being black, and a potential assasination victim?

Seriously - what the hell does that comment even mean? Ironic that at one time you were for the "hope & change" candidate, but now find yourself supporting the candidate who is opposite of that. And, when she makes a very stupid comment about assasinations - you defend her, and blame the "victim" in this case.. Obama.

Wow.. Clinton supporters continue to amaze me each day with the crap they're willing to spin to sell themselves on supporting a person like her.

[5thGenDemocrat]

30. Where was Hillary in 1968?

I know she was a Goldwater girl in 1964. And Joe McCarthy died in 1957 -- so what's the point?
John
And as far as 1968 is concerned, I was a sixth grader in Saginaw, Michigan. That makes me 52 this year, and a June primary is completely an anomoly to me -- so this "riverdaughter" character can cordially speak for herself.

[Joe the Revelator]

36. Hurling her bookbag across the room....

[kwassa]

32. Who can forget the Chicago Convention of 1968?

[CaptJasHook]

37. I have to give you credit for Spin. Your logic leaves me dizzy as hell.

[jsmirman]

38. Your posts get more hateful, delusional, and hard to even fathom

with each passing day. What is wrong with you???

[Botany]

41. You have no shame

<"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere
in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.
I don't understand it," she said, dismissing calls to drop out.>


Or in other words;
"I'll hang around in case Obama is shot and the party needs
a person to jump in." That is exactly what she was saying.

[OzarkDem]

44. and you're being irrational

Its a ridiculous claim.

[Botany]

46. You have no shame

<"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere
in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.
I don't understand it," she said, dismissing calls to drop out.>

"I'll hang around in case Obama is shot and the party needs
a person to jump in." That is exactly what she was saying.

[VolcanoJen]

67. You were right the first time.

But it certainly bears repeating, Botany.

[jsmirman]

45. Can you believe four people rec'd this hateful

ball o crap???

[murielm99]

50. Stop putting quotation marks around something she

did not say.

[Botany]

52. Here it is

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05232008/news/nationalnews/why_hill_wont_drop_out__bobby_kennedy_wa_112232.htm

quote & link to the video of her saying it.

[murielm99]

61. Did she say,

"I'll hang around in case Obama gets shot and the party needs a person to jump in." She did NOT. Obama supporters here always seem obtuse to me, but you are in a class of your own.

[Botany]

63. That was exactly what she was saying

... no if, no ands, and no buts. No way to spin it no way to clean it up.

Her words were so hurtful and wrong that she needs to quit the race and the
senate ASAP.

For God's sake she is a lawyer and should know better than to talk about
the killing of President or a Presidential Candidate.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6104247

[AngryOldDem]

75. Isn't it odd how people become literal in their interpretations...

...when faced with uncomfortable truths?

[msallied]

43. Is Ignore turned off or something?

I'm gonna check. I'm sick of you loons.

[mcctatas]

62. I don't think so, but hide thread is off...

and my BP is up because of it. Can I sue skinner et al if I blow a vessel due to the inability to hide hideous threads? ;)

[ruby slippers]

47. I had just become a Junior in High School.....and had just

gotten over the other Kennedy tragedy.....

I don't think young people have a grasp of what those times were like....let's hope they never do, either.

BTW, remember, it was a Bush family friend who shot Reagan just 21 days into his presidency....and Dubya's Daddy was the VP then, remember?

http://www.hereinreality.com/hinckley.html For the BUSH-HINCKLEY connection.

[tyedyeto]

49. Forgive Obama for what?

What did Obama say or do today? Hillary Rodham-Clinton is the one who has brought up RFK at least 3 times recently. Today she specifically said that assination could be why she is not bowing out of this primary race. Again, what do McCarthy and Obama have in common and for what will you never forgive Obama? For being black and running for POTUS?

Drive by posting? This 'forgive Obama for what' has been asked several times and not answered by the OP.

[nsd]

53. Forgive Obama for fucking what?

[Teaser]

70. for winning

.

[McCamy Taylor]

56. I was 9. My family supported McCarthy. I was watching TV the night RFK was shot.

It was sad but not as tragic as MLK JR being shot which was the big tragedy that year. My whole elementary school watched Dr. King's funeral. Being a member of a family of yellow dog Dems I was also watching when LBJ explained why he would not run again and I watched the Democratic convention (Vidal and Buckley were entertaining. Some of the other stuff was not).

I could not understand why people jumped on board the RFK campaign when he announced with Eugene McCarthy in the race. And later, I could not understand why people would not get behind Humphrey, but then again I could because Bobby Kennedy dying sort of made him seem like the winner in a lot of people's eyes without him having to win. It did not glamorize him in my eyes. It just seemed sad that he died after his brother died. McCarthy seemed to get bitter after that as if something was stolen from him, by Kennedy becoming a martyr. As if he could not top that. Just an impression I had. Humphrey was a perfectly decent man but he could not really distance himself from LBJ's war. I knew lots of college and graduate students who just hated LBJ and Humphrey by association and yet I knew Black folks really appreciated what LBJ and Humphrey had done for civil rights so it meant that neither side could be right. And my mother told me about Richard Nixon's career as a red baiter so I knew better than to believe that he would try to end the war.

I had spent a couple of years in Alabama so I knew that Wallace was a rat bastard who would just mess everything up. I guess I assumed he would steal Democrat votes. Looking back, he probably stole Republican votes, too.

I only vaguely remember the 1964 election. The 1968 election I remember very vividly, almost all the way through, start to finish. It is where I got interested in politics. Politics was something that young people were involved in that year, and since my mother was in graduate school at UT in Austin, everyone was talking about it all the time.

I knew people who supported RFK, but they could never give me a good reason why they supported him (except for liking his brother)People who supported either McCarthy or Humphrey could always give me a good reason why they supported those candidates. I guess that was why I never paid much attention to the RFK campaign until he was shot. McCarthy was for ending the war. Humphrey was for civil rights. Those two facts were clear. RFK just seemed to be for bringing back JFK. And all I remembered of JFK was being really young and people crying at his funeral.

[mcctatas]

57. I wasn't even a thought in 1968...

But being raised by parents who lived through the horror show of the late 60's and were students AND on campus at Kent state in May of 1970, I was raised with a sense of the depths of human depravity and the heights of human courage. Incidentally, my mother who was on the fence about Hillary or Obama also feels that "Anyone who believes Hillary doesn’t have that time emblazoned on her memory just doesn’t know American history" which is why it is so unforgivable to her and to many like her. Mistake or not, you can't justify her unwillingness to truly apologize! Hillary has unfortunately screwed the proverbial pooch!

[T Monk]

58. in '68 bobby shook this then 12 year old's hand twice and hey back off clean gene

[Shoelace]

59. we were having dinner with one of the Kennedy cousins in Hawaii

during our stay there. Fine folks and a bloody difficult time it was too for us all.

We must never forget what these past 7+ years have been like. The fact that 1000 vets of the Iraq war try to commit suicide per month - that alone should unite us to get our nominee elected.

The world is becoming so polluted by greed filled corporate bullies, and we sit here and bicker? What a dire waste of time.

Move on Democrats and heal our party before it's too late. We can't afford another 4 years of Bush's bullshit.

[cascadiance]

64. Our family was leavng Bangkok, Thailand and heading to Ankara, Turkey...

I was still just a kid finishing up 4th grade then...

Finished up school then and about mid year about the time Kennedy went down I think we were traveling to Turkey where we were going to spend the next five years and leave right before the invasion of Cyrpus. Went back through the states in 68 enroute, but didn't remember a lot from then. I remember the original assassination of JFK on TV when we lived in Virginia right outside DC earlier a lot moreso. Remember when they were catching Oswald on TV then, and then later the state funerals, though I was too young to understand it other than it was something my parents were watching a lot then.

I do remember that on the flight out from Thailand, I had a seat sitting next to a GI who was heading home from Vietnam, and it was one of the more memorable times I'd been able to spend hours talking to the guy that probably in hindsight was so happy he was going home and probably enjoyed being able to spend time with a kid like me then.

Vietnam was pretty heavy during the time we were there...

[VolcanoJen]

66. I was a little baby.

I'll have to ask my mom what I was doing. I was probably crapping a lot and throwing up and stuff.

But your post still sucks.

[last_texas_dem]

71. Oh, bullshit

>>>>Lying spinmeisters who'd use the assassination of one of this century's greatest men to score cheap points are the ones who should be ashamed.>>>>>

Yeah, Hillary's not the one "who sullies the process." She's only the one who invoked the RFK assassination in the first place. The person who wrote this tripe seems to be convinced that Clinton would be above doing something like invoking RFK's assassination for the sake of advancing her own political interests. I wasn't born in '68 myself, but the person who wrote this seems naive enough that he/she just might have been born yesterday.

[AngryOldDem]

77. I was two months shy of 8 on June 4, 1968

and I remember watching the Democratic convention later that summer. I still remember the upheaval and the turmoil that began, actually, with MLK's assassination in April, even though I was really too young to process it all or truly understand it.

But I do know that my memories of that time are still so clear and vivid that I DO NOT want to see a repeat of those times now.

Answer your question?

[RNdaSilva]

73. Why did Ted Kennedy...

pass the family torch to Barack Obama? Was it because he found him JFK like?

The only part of your post that made some sense was Joseph Raymond McCarthy...he was one sick puppy. Oops, apparently wrong McCarthy.

I do remember Robert Kennedy...prefer not revisiting the assassination, it was a sad day...as was Dallas.

Peace via Barack Obama...it will be done.

[OneBlueSky]

74. I don't even know what to say to that . . .

just as I don't know what to say about Hillary's comments . . . I just know that both offend me deeply . . .

[MrsT]

76. Where were you during sweetiegate/ bittergate/ snubgate and facescratchinggate?

Stirring up shit with your faux outrage? Or defending Obama the way you are defending Clinton now?

You made your bed, hop in.

[dcindian]

78. Forgive Obama for what?

Not getting assassinated? You are one sick individual.

[DearAbby]

79. I was 13 yrs old...

I still have the issue of LIFE Magazine from that year...On the black cover were the killers of MLK and RFK.

I didn't go to sleep that night, I was watching. I saw the commotion, didnt realize what had happened until someone had shouted. I watched horrified. Bobby Kennedy was/is the reason I am a Democrat today. I, as a young girl, getting her feet wet in politics, supported his campaign. It totally broke my heart.

I have not been this excited about a campaign, or a candidate since...until now. The fear of having some nut take this away, as was done in 1968 is there. I bet many can say the same, it is there at the back of your mind, like a dark cancer.

I don't know what to say about Clinton's comment. But it hit me like a cattle prod, right on that wound.

[Terran]

80. Gene McCarthy an elitist bastard?

This person must have been high when he/she wrote that.

[progetto]

81. Stayed up and watched the news coverage with my father.

I was young, but knew it was a horrible tragedy. What had started out as so upbeat (Bobby's California victory) was swept away in an instant. Sicking.

Hillary is correct that the race was not over in June (1968). Back then, it was the norm for parties to pick their nominee at the convention. Chicago would likely have seen a nomination fight between RFK and Humphrey (Johnson's VP). I'm convinced Bobby would have won and then have beaten that creep Nixon. Sadly it was not to be.

Today both parties use their convention as a unifying event. A nomination fight such as Carter & Ted Kennedy in 1980 is considered a bad thing. I can't say Carter would have beat Reagan without the challenge, but it certainly didn't help. As I understand it, 1980 is the reason we have now have super-delegates. The SDs would keep the party from self destructing.

Clearly, Hillary is thinking about a convention fight (or other circumstances) that could give her the nomination. An old style convention fight would be great theater, but the real beneficiary would be McCain. IMHO, the SDs should make up their minds soon and declare BEFORE the convention.

[yourguide]

82. Your statement just reinforces the fact that it wasnt an accident.

Many of that era "have that time emblazoned" on her or his memory. All the more reason it wasnt an accident my friend. That event should be seared into her brain, no way that was an accident.

[Major Hogwash]

83. Hillary didn't go to the Chicago convention in '68, she went to Miami, for the GOP convention.

Because she supported Rockefeller for prez.

She wasn't a Democrat then, and she ain't one now!!!

Game over.