Taking no prisoners

By Jennifer J. Foster

The blogs are abuzz with commentary about Hillary Clinton’s explanation to the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader about why she’s staying in the presidential race:

Clinton: “...people have been trying to push me out of this ever since Iowa ... Between my opponent and his camp and some in the media there has been this urgency to end this. Historically, that makes no sense, so I find it a bit of a mystery.

EB for the Argus Leader: You don’t buy the party unity argument?

CLINTON: I don’t because, again, I’ve been around long enough. You know 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. You know, I just don’t understand it and there’s lot of speculation about why it is ...

Clinton later backtracked:

“Earlier today, I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns that both my husband and Sen. Kennedy waged in California in June in 1992 and 1968, and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nominating primary contests that go into June. That’s an historic fact.“

“The Kennedys have been much on my mind in the last days because of Sen. [Edward] Kennedy, and I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and particularly for the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever,“ Clinton added.

It seems everyone has something to say about this, but perhaps no one is as direct as the New York Daily News’ Michael Goodwin, who said Clinton’s RFK allusion “might qualify as the dumbest thing ever said in American politics.“

More from Goodwin:

SICK. Disgusting. And yet revealing. Hillary Clinton is staying in the race in the event some nut kills Barack Obama ...

We have seen an X-ray of a very dark soul ... It’s like Tanya Harding’s kneecapping has come to politics. Only the senator from New York has more lethal fantasies than that nutty skater ...

She kept digging deeper, looking for the magic button. Instead, she pushed the eject button, lifting herself right out of consideration ... She needs a very long vacation. And we need one from her.

Say good night, Hillary. And go away.

Ouch.

The full transcript—and video—of the Argus Leader’s interview with Clinton that started it all is available here.

What do you think? Innocent historical allusion, or window to the soul?

And regardless of Clinton’s true motives, what does it say that most Americans don’t consider it even among the remotest of possibilities that a Clinton could be capable of any action that isn’t calculated?