Anderson Cooper 360 outed Hillary Clinton for her comments which she defends were merely a historical rundown of how long Primaries could run... stretching and stretching... into June... and candidates such as her husband and JFK stay until.
It's the until part that brought on the controversy throughout the day.
In Robert Kennedy's case an ending that was final and brought on by an assassination.
But what should have stopped Clinton in her tracks: she was not stating historical facts.
Cooper edged into his introduction by stating Clinton was wrong that her husband's campaign in 1992 had gone into June.
COOPER: It's worth mentioning here that what Senator Clinton said about her husband isn't actually true. Bill Clinton had the primary all but sewn up long before June of 1992.
The 1984 primary campaign truly did run into June. So did the 1980 primary, with Jimmy Carter losing a string of races to Ted Kennedy. In her apology, she made no mention of Barack Obama, you might have noticed, as Joe Johns pointed out. He's received early Secret Service protection because of death threats.
Digging deeper, CNN's Candy Crowley, Tony Perkins at the conservative Family Research Council and author of "Personal Faith, Public Policy," and Jennifer Palmieri, a former Clinton White House staffer and John Edwards '04 campaign staffer...
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/23/acd.01.html
Most in the media today are tagging Clinton's comments, a gaffe.
No, her comments are simply wrong and historically inaccurate. This is a candidate for President of the United States of America who twists history to suit her own grand design.
Cooper didn't mention the facts of the 1968 campaign. No guest we heard during Keith Olbermann's Countdown, Chris Matthews Hardball, Wolf Blitzer's The Situation Room and Fox's Hannity and Colmes appeared to flatly say Hillary Clinton was simply wrong using these two instances to support a historical contention that Primaries can go over-long and run into June with candidates remaining until the very, well, end.
Here in part is what Hillary Clinton said in defense of her remarks:
"I was discussing the Democratic primary history, and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns both my husband and Senator Kennedy waged California in June in 1992 and 1968," she said in Brandon, South Dakota. "I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nomination primary contests that go into June. That's a historic fact.
The Democrat Party Primary campaign of that year was grueling, according to historycentral.
The site information continues:
Eugene McCarthy, an early opponent of the war in Vietnam, almost upset President Johnson in the New Hampshire primary. This convinced Johnson not to run for re-election. At that point Vice President Humphrey announced his candidacy for the nomination. A primary battle followed, with Robert Kennedy pulling in the lead until his assassination. At this point Humphrey was able to sew up the nomination...
What does this bit of historical fact show?
Clinton was wrong in the implication that candidates remained to campaign that year because there wasn't a 'clear' frontrunner.
There was a clear frontrunner in June 1968, and his name was Robert Francis Kennedy. By June RFK was the shoo-in candidate in a Primary that according to wikipedia was among those which had historically begun in New Hampshire in March.
By June, some only 3-months from the start of the Democrat Party Primary process that year, RFK had pulled into the lead until his assassination.
So for Hillary Clinton to claim she's referencing those to make the point that we have had nomination primary contests that go into June. That's a historic fact.
She's simply wrong and inaccurate on the historical facts.
The facts are:
the 1968 campaign had started with the first Primary state, New Hampshire, in March.
So by June, RFK was in the lead, assassinated, and clearly following that horrendous event, Humprey was able to sew up the nomination.
Reading this in this way, Hillary Clinton's remarks are even more disturbing.
The clear frontrunner, RFK, was murdered, and that fact, not the fact of a "longer" Primary, put another candidate in a position to become the shoo-in for the nomination.
What speaker in America on a national platform would not check facts before stating them in a historical context to prove a point?
Who would trust a President who won't check facts before making statements which rely on those historical facts as support for a specific point?
In the case of Primaries, they didn't always start in February, but as wikipedia lays out:
Since 1977, New Hampshire law has stated that its primary is to be the first in the nation (it had been the first by tradition since 1920).[4] As a result, the state has moved its primary earlier in the year to remain the first. The primary was held on the following dates: 1952-1968, second Tuesday in March; 1972, first Tuesday in March; 1976-1984, fourth Tuesday in February; 1988-1996, third Tuesday in February; 2000, first Tuesday in February (February 1); 2004, fourth Tuesday in January (January 27). The shifts have been to compete with changing primary dates in other states. The primary date for 2008 continued the trend; it was held January 8, the second Tuesday in January.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_primary
According to the Arlington National Cemetery website
Robert Francis Kennedy
He died from the effects of an assassin's bullets on June 6, 1968 at Los Angeles, California while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States...
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/rfk.htm
Warning: the following could be too gruesome for some readers
June 8, 1968
Robert Kennedy buried
In 1968, he was urged by many of his supporters to run for president as an anti-war and socially progressive Democratic. Hesitant until he saw positive primary returns for fellow anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy, he announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on March 16, 1968. Fifteen days later, President Johnson announced that he would not seek reelection, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey became the key Democratic hopeful, with McCarthy and Kennedy trailing closely behind. Kennedy conducted an energetic campaign and on June 4, 1968, won a major victory in the California primary. He had won five out of six primaries and seemed a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination and, some thought, the presidency.
Shortly after midnight, Kennedy gave a victory speech to his supporters in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. At 12:50 a.m., while making his way to a press conference by a side exit, he was shot three times in a hail of gunfire that wounded five others. One bullet entered Kennedy's brain. The shooter, a Palestinian drifter named Sirhan Sirhan, had a .22 revolver wrested from his grip and was promptly arrested. Kennedy was rushed to the hospital, where he fought for his life for the next 24 hours. At 1:44 a.m. on the morning of June 6, he died. He was 42 years old.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6922
Who reading the facts in perspective can now claim Hillary Clinton just made a gaffe.
social blunder: a clumsy social mistake or breach of etiquette, e.g. an insensitive remark
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861614099/gaffe.html
What Hillary Clinton did wasn't an insensitive remark or any other of the definitions of gaffe.
What Hillary Clinton did was another example of an outright lie - a distortion - of factual events or information to suit her own grand design to become President.
Coupled with Clinton's outright misrepresentation of her Bosnia trip where she claims she and by virtue of her daughter accompanying her on the trip, her daughter, it's no wonder savvy (in this case) Keith Olbermann in his Special Section remarks was more than harsh on Hillary Clinton.
His comments stamped the words Last Straw, Final Cut, Exit Stage Left, on her campaign for President of these United States.
Yesterday.
Net the Truth Online
Related
May 23rd, 2008 4:42 PM Eastern
Hillary Brings Up Kennedy Assassination, Press Freaks Out
by Aaron Bruns
http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/05/23/hillary-brings-up-assassination-press-freaks-out/
No comments:
Post a Comment