No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined.
- US Supreme Court

Friday, May 30, 2008

the professional victim - she's good at her job!

Michelle Obama bravely speaks out against Hillary Clinton (who, as we all know, promised her deranged supporters that she fully intends to murder Barack Obama).

Michelle Obama Calms Supporters' Fear of Threats to Obama
:
Send us good vibes. Pray for us. Think positive thoughts. But most of all, be vigilant. Be vigilant about stopping this kind of talk. It's not funny. You don't have to like Barack to dislike that kind of talk. Be vigilant about stopping that kind of talk.
Milk it for all you're worth, honey. We all know that's what has gotten you this far.

(Isn't that title a hoot? Calming by inciting? I suppose now war is peace?)

John F. Harris at Politico on his reaction to the Clinton scandal:
Here is what I was thinking: Wow. Maybe she has come unhinged?

~snip

...This is going to be a big story and is almost certainly going to shadow and quite likely accelerate the final chapter of her presidential campaign.

Here is what I said: Martin, quick get that item up!
...then he actually watches what Clinton actually said:
Perhaps half an hour after the story broke Martin called me back over to his desk. It turned out the Argus Leader had video of its big interview. I huddled over Martin’s computer as we watched.

It was a deflating experience.

The RFK remarks were deep in a 20-minute clip of an otherwise routine conversation. Then, once we actually got to the relevant portion of the video, it was hardly an electric moment.

Clinton does indeed mention the Kennedy assassination, speaking in a calm and analytical tone: “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.”

Martin and I both thought we saw a slight twinge in Clinton’s facial expression, as though she recognized she had just said something dumb. Whether she recognized it or not, she had.

But it was also clear that Clinton’s error was not in saying something beyond the pale but in saying something that pulled from context would sound as if it were beyond the pale.

It would be a big story if Clinton said something like this: “Hey, I know it looks bad for me now. But, think about it. Obama could get shot and I’d get to be the nominee after all.”

It is a small story if Clinton said something like this: “Everyone talks like May is incredibly late, but by historical standards it is not. Think of all the famous milestones in presidential races that have taken place during June.”
Yeah, but who cares - first is best, and bigger is better, right? Ahh but give Harris credit for at least noticing the problem in his article How small stories become big news.

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