“Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June”

No, Hillary Clinton wasn’t fantasizing about getting the nomination the hard way.

No, Hillary Clinton wasn’t speculating about an Obama assassination.

She was merely using the date of the assassination (June) to point out that not every nominating contest ends in May. Of course, 1968 is the classic case of the Democrats fighting all the way to the convention and not being able to reunify in November, so I don’t think the example supports the argument. But it’s absurd to read anything nefarious into her remarks. And I wish the Obama campaign had resisted the temptation to get huffy.

Still, I would propose a moratorium on the use of that word.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com