BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Okay, so last Friday, I think it was, Hillary Clinton was giving an interview in some obscure editorial room and mentioned that she was staying in the race because Bill didn’t wrap up the nomination until June and that RFK was assassinated in June.  I watched the entire interview and yes, the RFK assassination could have gone without mention.  I am not a Hillary supporter, but please!  Enough already!

In my Friday evening post, I mentioned that Hillary put her foot in her mouth by mentioning the assassination of Robert Kennedy.  It was an untimely comment in light of the fact that Senator Edward Kennedy was diagnosed with malignant brain cancer a few days earlier.  And, of course, we have all heard that Senator Obama has additional Secret Service surrounding him because of earlier threats… way back before the campaigns even hit their stride.

But, let’s get real here.  The comment could have been left out of the interview… and should have been if for no other reason than the vultures are sitting around picking at her bones, looking for any morsel of her flesh left to devour.

As one of those older women who should fall into the Clinton demographics… emphasis on should… I first supported John Edwards.  When he stepped aside, I carefully weighed the two remaining Democratic candidates and decided that I would vote for Barack Obama.  It was a choice that was made with great care.  Our votes in November will determine the future of our country both in the short run… the next four or eight years… and the long run depending on how many Supreme Court Justices retire over the next eight years. 

My cards are on the table.  That said, this Presidential election is being derailed by distractions on both the Democratic and Republican side of the isle.  First there was the outrage about John Edwards’ $400 haircut.  For heaven’s sake people, you don’t have to live in poverty to support the poor, the voiceless and overlooked among us.  Quite honestly, if a poor man (or woman) stood behind a podium and discussed the issues of the lower working class American citizens someone would scream from the back of the room for him (or her) to get a job.

We all know that the comments of Jeremiah Wright cast a dark shadow over Barack Obama and more recently John Hagee has forced John McCain to back off his endorsement.  Both Obama and McCain did the right thing by denouncing those endorsements in the end.  But, seriously, does any rational person really believe that Barack Obama hates America or that John McCain thinks some higher power sent Hitler to herd Jews to Israel? 

Obama once referred to some of us “clinging to religion and guns.”  Well, yeah… truth.  Yet, Hillary grabbed the “clinging” and spent several weeks reciting the phrase as if it were the most offensive thing she had ever heard… as if she were one of us… one of the working class, shot slamming, third shift factory workers.  She isn’t.  And, anyone who accepts her as that is probably “clinging” to something they should let go of.  And, truthfully, Barack Obama shouldn’t be out bowling with the boys.  So, maybe some of the distractions are based on the candidates, their activities and their acquaintances.

But, the media and yes, the bloggers are having a field day swooping down looking for fresh morsels of road kill.  We have taken snippets and created entire essays on their meanings.  We have, in all too many cases, focused on something that is so minuscule in the overall scheme of things that it is truly insignificant.  Yet, in our efforts to make ourselves significant we have raised our voices and busied our typing fingers distorting and distracting from the issues of the campaigns.

Since Friday I have read about and watched the replay of clips of Hillary Clinton trying to explain away something that really didn’t deserve an explanation.  Most rational people understood what she meant.  And, granted she did insinuate more into the context of the interview than history provides.  Some years back the primaries were just getting going good in June, so Bill not getting his nomination wrapped up until June was in the heat of the battle, not the aftermath.  Additionally, this was not the first time Hillary had mentioned the RFK assassination.  So, why all the heat about it now?  The answer is simple enough.  We are all tried of her and this nomination process.  Bill pissed many of us off back in South Carolina.  And, quite honestly, all the recent whining about gender makes me want to gag.  Life is what it is.  Deal with it. 

So, from the deep South I can only suggest that this part of the Clinton campaign is about as interesting and predictable as the outcome of the Civil War re-enactment each year at the Chickamauga Battleground.  Yet, each year men and women dress up in costumes and in the heat of the summer go through the motions, fighting on as if the outcome will change.  Any way you look at it, the results aren’t going to change… for the Battle of Chickamauga or the Clinton campaign.