One of the enduring mysteries of the 2008 campaign was what got Ted Kennedy so mad at Bill Clinton. The former president's entreaties, at some point, backfired, and the explanation has never quite emerged.
I've finally gotten my hands on a copy of Game Change, in which John Heliemann and Mark Halperin report:
[A]s Hillary bungled Caroline, Bill’s handling of Ted was even worse. The day after Iowa, he phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.
Many were upset by the allegedly racist tone of Clinton's remark. And I'm no Clinton apologist; while there were things to admire about Bubba, there was much that was Teh Suck™.
But hold on a minute. When this was said, Bill was a popular former President, running a successful foundation, with a popular wife who was campaigning for the Presidency. Meanwhile, Barack Obama was a young junior senator from Illinois, also campaigning, somewhat improbably, for said Presidency.
So I think the comment was about position and prestige, a sort of "Hey kid, get offa my lawn! I'm the Big Dawg!" moment having nothing to do with race. I could be wrong, but I really think that's all there is.
And stalwart Dem activists wallowing in outrage? Get over it, quickly. There are so many items of real outrage to deal with rather than step into Halperin's manufactured crap. He's grinning all the way to the bank as he know righty oppo researchers and wanking heads will be inhaling this book and regurgitating it all over Fox News.
Please don't help them.
This band was from Riverside, CA, where I went to high school with Glenn Ross Campbell, the fellow at the bottom of the picture, and the band's steel guitar player. Yep, I said steel guitar, in a rock context. Nice, eccentric guy, and a heck of a musician.
More about Glenn here:
Glenn Ross Campbell born in 1946, is a child prodigy Steel guitarist, most noted for being lead guitarist of cult band, The Misunderstood[1][2]. The Misunderstood were a psychedelic rock band originating from Riverside, California in the mid-1960s. The band moved to London early in their career, and although they recorded only a handful of songs before being forced to disband, they are considered highly influential in the then-emerging genre[3][4]. Influenced by The Yardbirds, the distinctive feature of their sound was Campbell's steel guitar. Rolling Stone Magazine (Issue 956) in a September 2, 2004 review describe the Misunderstood's Campbell as "Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page rolled into one."[5][6].
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