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'Meet the Press' transcript for May 25, 2008
David Brody, Maureen Dowd, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Gwen Ifill, Ruth Marcus, Jon Meacham
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 Netcast May 25: Obama says the Democratic nomination is within reach, yet Hillary Clinton says the fight may last until the convention. We devote the full hour to insights & analysis with David Brody, Maureen Dowd, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Gwen Ifill, Ruth Marcus & Jon Meacham. |
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MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: Explaining why she stays in the race, Hillary Clinton creates an uproar with these controversial comments.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY): You know, my husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June...
Offscreen Voice: June.
SEN. CLINTON: ...right? We all remember, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.
MR. RUSSERT: This just days after Barack Obama claims a majority of the elected delegates.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): And you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for president of the United States of America!
MR. RUSSERT: What role did race, gender and religion play in this campaign? John McCain deals with his pastor problem, releases his health records and visits with VP hopefuls. And the nation hopes and prays for the senior senator from Massachusetts, Edward M. Kennedy.
With us, David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Maureen Dowd of The New York Times, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, Gwen Ifill of PBS' "Washington Week" and "The NewsHour," Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post, and Jon Meacham of Newsweek magazine.
And in our MEET THE PRESS Minute, Hamilton Jordan, the man who helped elect Jimmy Carter president of the United States, died this week at age 63. He appeared right here on MEET THE PRESS July 22nd, 1979, the week Carter appointed him White House chief of staff.
But first, so this is what you all do on Memorial Day weekend, huh?
MS. GWEN IFILL: Only if you ask.
MS. RUTH MARCUS: Where's the barbecue?
MR. RUSSERT: Everybody else is eating barbecue, we're talking politics. But let's go right to it.
Hillary Clinton, South Dakota on Friday at the Argus Leader editorial board, a newspaper there, had this to say. Let's watch.
(Videotape)
SEN. CLINTON: Between my opponent and his camp and some in the media, there has been this urgency to end this. And, you know, historically that makes no sense. So I find it a bit of a mystery.
Offscreen Voice: You don't buy the party unity argument...
SEN. CLINTON: I don't.
Voice: ...for it?
SEN. CLINTON: Because, again, I've been around long enough--you know, my husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June...
Voice: June.
SEN. CLINTON: ...right? We all remember, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know, I just--I don't understand it.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: The Obama campaign quickly responded. Bill Burton, the campaign spokesman, saying this: "Senator Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign." Shortly thereafter, Hillary Clinton sought out the TV cameras to make an apology. Here's what she said.
(Videotape)
SEN. CLINTON: I, you know, regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and particularly for the Kennedy family was in any way offensive.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: Robert Kennedy's son, RFK Jr., issued this statement: "It's clear from the context that Hillary was invoking a familiar political circumstance in order to support her decision to stay in the race through June. ... I understand how highly charged the atmosphere is, but I think it is a mistake for people to take offense." Kennedy is a Clinton supporter. Michael Goodwin, of the New York Daily News, the home state paper of Senator Clinton, had a much different view. Here he wrote this on Saturday. "Her colossal blunder simply the last straw. We've seen an X-ray of a very dark soul. One consumed by raw ambition to where the possible assassination of an opponent is something to ponder in a strategic way.
"Many black Americans have talked of it, reflecting their assumption that racists would never tolerate a black president and that Obama would be taken from them.
"Clinton has now fed that fear. She needs a very long vacation. And we need one from her.
"Say good night, Hillary. And go away." Very complicated, controversial subject.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, your take.
MS. DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN: Well, neither historical parallel that she offered were true, because Clinton had already sewed up the nomination by June, and in Bobby Kennedy's case, he'd only gotten into the race like six weeks prior to his assassination. I don't think she even needs to argue. She should acknowledge that party unity probably is hurt, but that this election is so unique that having more people vote and more people registered and more people excited is worth taking it to June. The problem is that the argument that the Clintons supporters have sometimes made is the superdelegates shouldn't even decide in June. They should wait until August, end of August, because who knows what might happen in the summer--a gaff, another pastor coming out of the woodwork, or, God forbid, what this thought suggested. And I think once it played into that, it became much more troubling.
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