HeadlineUpdate

Hillary's Bobby Kennedy Remarks--There's no there there!

    It's what Gertrude Stein  said about Oakland (and according to the link you just clicked on, not necessarily in the context we've all thought she meant) and it describes the kerfuffle over what Hillary Clinton said about Robert Kennedy.  There's no center, no substance to the indignation now overflowing on cable news.

    Her actual words were:

   

"We all remember Bobby  Kennedy was assassinated in June in California."

     Quote unquote.  C'est tout.  No big deal, right? 

    The comment was made after she repeated her frequently cited rationale that her husband didn't beat back his challenge from Jerry Brown until June. (And according to Time, she's even mentioned the RFK assassination before too.)  But I don't believe she was saying, as Tony Blankely said vacantly tonight, that her opponent might be dead before the convention.  Do you? 

    I think, to quote Barack Obama (and Tom DeLay) she was "inartful" as she emphasized that in election seasons past, stuff happens in June.  I am a huge Bobby Kennedy fan, and have written about how Hillary Clinton compares to RFK, and I think she's made of better stuff.  (But I'm one of the 6% of New York Jews who voted for Jesse Jackson in the 1988 primary, so what do I know?)  Let's drop this Hillary business and go back to finding stupid things preachers say.

    Finally,what's up with McCain's V.P. audition at his ranch this weekend?  Now it's up to 6 potential running mates coming for barbecue.  I suspect the guests will just be picking at their food.

    Maybe he's told them they'll all be part of his Cabinet if he doesn't end up picking them for the ticket.  Or maybe he's already ruled them out, and is doing this to help them save face. Hope someone records it for youtube. 

   

How It Feels To Be Wrong About Everything

I know I've said this before, but really, now I give up.  I said with such authority that it was certain that Hillary Clinton would be our next President.  I thought everyone missed Bill and that people who didn't like her were probably Republicans anyway.  (I did predict, unpredictably correctly, that the two of them would bring lots of excitement to the race (duh!).  But enough about me.

What about Hillary?  Chuck Todd thinks she wants to be V.P., but I tend to doubt it.  And it will take a horde of raging rhinos to get Obama to ask her.  He doesn't want a Vice President capable of getting more attention than he does, and she doesn't want to have the job Gore and Dan Quayle had.

Will she stay or will she go?  Elizabeth Kolbert has a nice perspective in the New Yorker, (and she quotes my favorite "celestial choir" line) but I tend to think she'll fold the tent soon.  Why did she choose to meet superdelegates at the DNC headquarters today, and then duck the question of whether she met with Howard Dean?  Is this the beginning of the end?  The popular wisdom is that she'll go the distance and quit after the rules committee meets and the primaries end--and as usual, I agree with the popular wisdom.  Although I always knew McCain would be the nominee.  America wasn't going to go for Rudy or Mr. Mormon Underwear.  Who, as I'll still predict, looks even more than the aforementioned Dan Quayle like someone who was born to be Vice President.