Clinton regrets RFK assassination remark
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - May 23, 2008 "I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our
entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way
offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever," the
former first lady said.
The episode occurred as Clinton campaigned in advance of the
June 3 South Dakota primary.
Responding to a question from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader
editorial board about calls for her to drop out of the race, she
said: "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.
Clinton said she didn't understand why, given this history, some
Democrats were calling for her to quit.
Her remark about an assassination during a primary campaign drew
a quick response from aides to Democratic presidential front-runner
Barack Obama.
"Senator Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial
board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign," said
Obama spokesman Bill Burton.
Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said the senator was only
referring to her husband and Kennedy "as historical examples of
the nominating process going well into the summer and any reading
into it beyond that would be inaccurate and outrageous."
She has said much the same thing before. In a March interview
with Time magazine, she said: "Primary contests used to last a lot
longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being
assassinated in June in L.A. My husband didn't wrap up the
nomination in 1992 until June, also in California. Having a primary
contest go through June is nothing particularly unusual."
Within a couple hours of the South Dakota remarks drawing
attention, Clinton decided to make a personal apology.
"I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the
course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns of both my
husband and Senator (Robert) Kennedy waged in California in June in
1992 and 1968 and I was referencing those to make the point that we
have had nomination primary contests that go into June. That's a
historic fact," she said.
"The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because
of Senator Kennedy," she added, referring to Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy's recent diagnosis of a brain tumor. "I regret that if my
referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in
particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly
had no intention of that whatsoever.
"My view is that we have to look to the past to our leaders who
have inspired us, give us a lot to live up to, and I'm honored to
hold Senator Kennedy's seat in the United States Senate from the
state of New York and have the highest regard for the Kennedy
family," she said.
A close Obama ally in the Senate, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois,
said he accepted her explanation.
"I know Hillary Clinton, and the last thing in the world she'd
ever want is to wish misfortune on anybody. She and Barack are
friends," Durbin said. "It was ... a careless remark and we'll
leave it at that."
In the same editorial board meeting, Clinton said "it is
unprecedented in history" for political activists to urge a
candidate to withdraw when his or her chances of winning the
nomination appear remote. In fact, such events have happened
several times.
Three months ago, Republican hopeful Mike Huckabee angered Sen.
John McCain by lingering in the GOP race after McCain's nomination
seemed all but assured. "Of course I would like for him to
withdraw today," McCain said at the time. A McCain campaign memo,
which was leaked to the media, said the campaign was being forced
to spend money in upcoming primary states merely to avoid being
embarrassed by the underfunded Huckabee.
Clinton also said her campaign has had no discussions with
Obama's aides about her possibly becoming his vice presidential
pick.
"It is flatly untrue and it is not anything I'm entertaining.
It is nothing I have planned and it is nothing I am prepared to
engage in. I am still vigorously campaigning."
The Obama campaign also dismissed reports that there were talks
going on between the two campaigns about putting Clinton on the
ticket.
Obama has an almost 200-delegate lead over Clinton and is just
56 delegates short of the number needed to clinch the nomination,
making Clinton's goal of catching him more difficult by the day.
The primaries end June 3.
Clinton spent the day campaigning in South Dakota, which holds
one of two June 3 primaries. At stake are 15 delegates.
Recent reports suggested she may be discussing ways to end her
campaign by being offered the vice presidential slot underneath
Obama, but she rejected that and said she suspected the talk was
coming from Obama aides.
"I would look to the camp of my opponent for the source of
these stories," she said. "People have been trying to push me out
of this ever since Iowa."
Two of those recent reports, however, were attributed by CNN and
The New York Times to supporters of Clinton.
Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a staunch Clinton
supporter, said Friday that she believes that if Obama becomes the
nominee he should select Clinton as his running mate.
"I think as this race has emerged each one of them has garnered
a different constituency and different states, and therefore when
you put the two of them together it forms, I believe, the strongest
ticket," she told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
"Women feel very strongly about Hillary and African-Americans
feel very strongly about Barack, and the election results show
that, and the young versus old, the higher educated versus the
working person. ... All these things are sort of separated out into
one or the other so there is a logic in combining the two
constituencies."
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Associated Press writer Erica Werner, Charles Babington and
Laurie Kellman in Washington contributed to this report.