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Friday, May 23, 2008

What was Hillary thinking?


SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton drew a sharp rebuke from front-runner Barack Obama's campaign on Friday after she mentioned Robert Kennedy's assassination while explaining why she was remaining in the race for the party's nomination.

Clinton made the remark to the editorial board of the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader newspaper, explaining that other races for the Democratic presidential nomination had lasted into the summer.

"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. I don't understand it," she said.

Robert Kennedy, brother of slain U.S. President John F. Kennedy and of Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, was assassinated during the 1968 race for the Democratic nomination.

The comment drew a sharp response from the Obama campaign.

"Senator Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign," said campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

Clinton quickly apologised.

"I regret if my referencing of that moment of trauma for our entire country and particularly the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I had no intention of that whatsoever," she said.

1 comment:

infomavn said...

Saying "I regret IF..." is not a real apology. I regret THAT I said something offensive is what she should have said. Still parsing every word.