On RFK, Clinton Should Have Known Better

She shouldn't 'be elected dog catcher,' one gripes

(NEWSER) - Hillary’s RFK gaffe certainly has people talking—and most aren’t being too kind.

• Michael Goodwin of the New York Daily News calls it “an X-ray of a very dark soul” that considers murder just another strategic possibility. Hillary has shot her chance at being vice president, he writes: “She doesn’t deserve to be elected dog catcher anywhere now.”

Hillary defends her prolonged bid by recalling '68 murder

(NEWSER) - Hillary Clinton whipped up a storm of anger today by invoking Bobby Kennedy's murder as grounds for staying in the Democratic race, the New York Times reports. Recalling the surprise outcomes of past contests, including her husband’s in 1992, the senator told editors at a South Dakota newspaper that “we all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California" in 1968. More»

Remark 'may be last nail in her campaign's coffin,' one says

(NEWSER) - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has defended Hillary Clinton’s RFK gaffe, but other Kennedy clan members are fuming, the New York Post reports. As the anniversary of RFK’s murder nears, one relative cited Clinton’s “perceived insensitivity,” especially after Ted Kennedy’s brain cancer diagnosis. Another said the comment could mark the Clinton campaign’s last hurrah. More»

Democratic race offers a competing views of the presidency

(NEWSER) - The choice between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama boils down to two fundamentally different views of the presidency, writes the New Yorker's George Packer—the political pragmatism of Clinton or the inspiration of Obama. Clinton embraces nuts-and-bolts governance and scoffs at political naivety. Obama has a far more visionary view, and Packer finds that even some longtime Clinton backers can't resist. More»

Doris Kearns Goodwin's tome provides unexpected insight into next administration

(NEWSER) - “Team of rivals” is the post-campaign buzzphrase, Graeme Allister writes in the Guardian, replacing the lipsticked pigs and pitbulls. The term refers to Barack Obama’s strategy of filling Cabinet positions with Republicans and political enemies (ie, Hillary Clinton), and comes from a 2005 book by Doris Kearns Goodwin chronicling similar maneuvers by Abraham Lincoln almost 150 years ago. More»