Disqualified

Okay, so that's the end of Hillary Clinton's viability as Vice Presidential candidate under Barack Obama:



What's interesting is that the more you hear it, particularly with your eyes closed, the more macabre it sounds.

Contrary to this diarist, yes you can use political assassination as a means of ascending to the Presidency, even if you had nothing to do with it. Which is as the official story goes with Richard Nixon, who was the sole direct beneficiary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy forty years ago June 5th/6h (shortly after midnight PST). He was elected President that November.

Hillary, Hillary, Hillary. I was saying team of rivals. The two most popular politicians, as judged by people voting for them and money raised, since 2004. Look, if you really are relying on the George Wallace constituency, or Richard Nixon's in particular, you should use loaded but coded terms like "Silent Majority," not "white workers."

How do you think it feels to every single African-American Democrat when you say:

"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, I don't understand it," she said, dismissing the idea of abandoning the race.

Worse, consider that Sen. Robert Kennedy was the biggest politician hero to black Americans prior to that moment in history, the only white Presidential contender of his time to venture into the slums and the shacks and make a first commitment to tackle poverty for real.

How do you think it feels to older African Americans who actually faced assassination or murder or lynching as a very real personal threat in their lifetimes?

So let's assume it's just more of the monstrous folie-a-narcissim that Bill and Hillary share -- she was, after all, comparing her husband's done-deal June nomination wrap-up, after having essentially cinched it much earlier on Super Tuesday, with the political assassination of maybe our most promising young leaderjust 43 years-old, just four years younger than Sen. Obama.

To not hold your tongue, no matter the Freudian moment, no matter the hardened self-promoting attitude, no matter your own sense of rightness, and utter such things is at the very least much too tin-eared to be our President. To be Commander-in-Chief.

To blow your campaign to someone so clearly hellbent on unifying this country and try to appeal to the basest instincts, bending truths and conveniently forgetting the inconvenient and hoping the media plays along, who cares how right you think you are.

And what's always galled all of us is that you don't even bother to make a real apology, not for your tragically triangulated vote for our disastrous War, not even properly for this slippage of the Thanosified Id, this death wish for Senator Obama. I actually think the apology is as egregious as the original statement, certainly as tin-eared, with not a spot of apology to Sen. Obama, or any call for non-violence, just a suck up to the Kennedy family, like a decoy from her real target:



Hey, it's fine to want to kill someone who beats you for something, but grown-ups keep it to themselves. Grown-ups know when to step back when it's not life-or-death. Grown-ups, the sane ones, try not to do anything stupid to make it life-or-death.

Is this the death of the Clinton era? Or of just her campaign? Watch starting Tuesday of next week -- there's a whole Memorial Day weekend for staffers to quit and get the jump on new jobs with Obama and the DNC, maybe bring some intel with them, three whole days for calls either taken or unreturned by major donors and backers. That's a lot of time for the levers to be pulled, especially by those who don't want Hillary blamed if some evil fuck actually does harm the nominee.

And could the Obama campaign have been cooler about it, quickly out with simply, firmly but tactfully:

"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.

Instead he's acting like a nominee and focusing his campaign mechanism on defeating John McCain starting last week. Doing real work, that all us Dems want done. Starting to meld with -- take over -- the DNC, essentially hooking in the hose to their record-breaking fundraising pump and directing strategy both on the air and on the ground. All she does is unsettle it. Flailing terrorist moves.

Before the race began I did not hate Sen. Clinton, and I'm not sure I do now. Back then I wanted Al Gore to run, to stop her from becoming what I saw as a losing candidate, one from the party mechanism, next in line, with none of the candor necessary to really put this country back together again. But I didn't believe she was only in it for herself. I didn't think she was more Eva than Golda.

Maybe we were, we are mistaken in thinking she's tough. Per this droogie, "she's is anything but tough. She's terrified."

She's terrified that someone will call her "weak on terror." So she votes to authorize the use of military force. So she votes for Kyl-Lieberman. Then she never apologizes for these mistakes, because it would be perceived as -- say it with me now -- "soft..."

...I would argue that her staying in the race is her taking the easy way. To her, the path of least resistance is to continue campaigning. After all, it's all she's known for the past decade of her life at least...

...Reaching the White House has become her entire life. To concede that it will not happen and gracefully step aside? Now that would be a show of real toughness...

...Does a strong, tough woman shout "sexism"? Does a strong, tough anybody every shout any kind of "-ism"? Whether the sexism in this campaign is real or perceived, a tough person would simply soldier on and fight through it rather than playing the victim.

Let me ask one more question. Let me ask if this guy opening up an office, planning a poverty tour this summer together, would this unite the Democratic Party?

And who would you want backing up President Obama if such an event as Sen. Clinton's example evokes were to actually occur?

Who would you trust most to carry on his legacy?