It's the incompetence, stupid! Hillary's campaign continues to demonstrate its incompetence.

[beachmom]

Having slept on the matter of Hillary's remarks about RFK's assassination in JUNE (that's for you, Hillary supporters) in order to justify staying in the race, I am struck with one simple truth: this talking point has been used before, at least on three other occasions. Here is the kernel to Hillary's problem: this talking point never should have been approved for the candidate to say. It required Hillary to say it in only a certain way, otherwise it could have blown up in her face, as it did yesterday. Candidates have to talk all day, and it is always important that staffers prep their candidates with things to say where the margin of error isn't so tiny. If they wanted to argue that other primaries had dragged on, there were other historical examples which would have worked much better, and would not have been such a minefield. Given all of this, there is an obvious conclusion:

Her campaign really screwed this up from the start. She made her mistake yesterday, but it was rooted in their mistake in making this a talking point in the first place.

Take it from me, I know about these sorts of things. I still remember when Kerry botched the Joke, a joke that never should have been written for him, because of a margin of error close to zero for it blowing up in his face, which it did. Since he had not decided whether he was going to run for president or not, he was accorded some time to decide whether his error was fatal. In the end, he decided not to run, no doubt for a variety of reasons, but I can imagine The Joke made that decision clearer to make. Although the candidate takes ultimate responsibility for what they say and do, it was in my view rooted in a staffer error.

Politics is a tough, tough business. It doesn't seem fair that an error made from the bottom that works its way to the top should sink a candidate. But in this case, Hillary had already lost the nomination, and was hanging on for reasons I do not understand. She needs to think long and hard what her next move will be. I think "Assasinationgate" will make her decision far easier to make. Philosophically, I think sometimes things happen for a reason. Kerry elected not to run in 2007, and with that a huge proportion of his staff and donors jumped on the Obama train. I think that made a difference in the 2008 election, as these folks had learned some very hard lessons, and their scars proved to be wisdom they could share with Team Obama. Similarly, "Assasinationgate" may be a blessing in disguise for Hillary, in ways we simply cannot understand right now.

Hillary supporters: this is just what happens sometimes. Right now everything seems dark, and it feels like you have been punched in the stomach. But it does get better.

[Adelante]

1. It wasn't a gaffe, it was a talking point for a politician, exactly

It's business. This particular piece of business failed and rightfully. Her campaign had a responsibility to keep her away from this, but she also had a responsibility to know better. Fail all around.

[C_U_L8R]

2. yup, bad strategy

from a poorly run campaign.

[beachmom]

3. Exactly, because not much good could have come out of the remark,

even if delivered correctly. It had no upside, which is why it never should have become a talking point.

[tbyg52]

4. That's my major problem with it as well - it was *stupid*. nt

[C_U_L8R]

14. And even the thought behind her remark was dumb...

that although Hillary has no hope of winning the nomination, she believes
she's justified to stay in the race "just in case SOMETHING should happen" (???!!!)

That's not any sort of viable plan... that's a pathetic and morbid whisper
campaign designed to seed doubt... thankfully and rightfully, it blew up in her face.

[slinkerwink]

5. it was a micro-targeted talking point, courtesy of Mark Penn

[AtomicKitten]

6. Incompetence + Hubris -- reminiscent of the Bush Admin.

:scared:

[FrenchieCat]

7. They have been saying...."something might happen to Obama".....

for quite sometime, without always referring to assassination, although it is one of the "could happen" being implied along with a scandal being uncovered about Obama which would sink his campaign. Both meanings are unfortunate, because anytime someone is waiting in the wings "hoping" that something negative befalls another as their saving grace, that is never good.

Waiting for something terrible and bad to happen to the other side is not good strategy. The fact that one has to wait for shit to happen means that one cannot sell themselves on their own merit.

The corporate media is defending Hillary Clinton on this one, for the most part. It is unfortunate that they couldn't defend Obama when Hillary Clinton was playing the wedge issue game and calling OBama an elitist when she knew darn well that this isn't the case.

Amazing how Hillary Clinton can always be counted to take advantage of her opponent's twisted mispeaks or unwise choice of words, but that so many are indignant that the same should happen to her.

I for one want Hillary out of the news. I'm tired of hearing about her.

[SwampG8r]

11. in hillarys mind its the movie

showgirls
and shes the understudy with a pocket full of marbles

[sandnsea]

8. Yes it was a talking point, that was always irrelevant

Because we did not nominate candidates the same in 1968 as we do now. There was never any comparison between that race and this one, none whatsoever. So that begs the question, of all the Presidential nominations, why did she choose that one to talk about.

It isn't incompetence at all.

[beachmom]

10. But it is incompetence also for the reasons you give.

Look, as far as the darker interpretation, I really don't know as I do not know Hillary's mind. But using that example, which as you say, is historically inaccurate simply LEADS people to believe the worst, especially how she said it. There was no political upside to this. Maybe it is as dark as you suggest, but it is also a STUPID TALKING POINT that never should have been used.

[sandnsea]

13. So let's go back to the beginning

Do you think a man with 165 IQ didn't know what would happen when he opened trade with India and China?

Do you think he and his advisors didn't know they had likely bombed any remaining WMD in Iraq, that any of the "missing" bio/chem was useless, that Powell's evidence was garbage?

Do you think they didn't push for that vote in early October to take it off the table as an election issue?

Do you think he didn't give Bush a pass on the yellowcake because he didn't want his own Iraq policies questioned?

Do you think she could get her face all over the news to bash Kerry, but not to object to the invasion?

And after all that, you think it's just "incompetence" that her campaign decided to talk about an election that bears no resemblance to today's, and that the assassination aspect is just a "coincidence"?

A man with 165 IQ???

Come on. This is how sick these people are and they show it every single day in this campaign.

[beachmom]

15. I made my decision long ago that I would never support her in the primaries.

Their record is troublesome, to say the least. But I do not know what is in her mind -- I DO think she should drop out of the race. The rest I will leave to a higher power to judge.

[ellacott]

9. This talking point has been in her camp since January

The press didn't make a big deal about it and she's been repeating it since then. What's sad is the she nor anyone in their camp realized how wrong this was.
************

DOVER, N.H. — As they barnstorm through New Hampshire, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband are often introduced by supporters who once backed another candidate but converted to her cause.
Today, in Dover, Francine Torge, a former John Edwards supporter, said this while introducing Mrs. Clinton: “Some people compare one of the other candidates to John F. Kennedy. But he was assassinated. And Lyndon Baines Johnson was the one who actually” passed the civil rights legislation.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/civilrights/

[beachmom]

12. Once again, a stupid comment to make. This only proves how tone deaf

her campaign was and continues to be.