Fpurl

We'll be the first to admit Hillary Clinton's embarrassing statement last week (and other occasions), when she recalled RFK's assassination in June of 1968 as an example of things that can happen late in a campaign. We all know there's a possibility the first viable black presidential candidate could get shot. It's been talked about and analyzed and discussed (and, yes, joked about by the other party). But, somehow, to hear another Democratic candidate (one this Seattlest supports) allude to such a tragedy just kind of crossed a line.

Now, taking it a step further, Washington Congressman Dave Reichert has, during the state Republican convention, decided it would be wholly appropriate to joke about the possibility of Clinton dying in a plane crash.

Is it because it's been nearly a half-century since there was a high-profile assassination in this country, that our "leaders" seem to feel like it's okay to throw that threat around as campaign fodder or, worse, a horrible attempt at humor?

The Tacoma News Tribune's political blog noted that they'd heard Reichert tell the same joke before—which means either someone didn't clue him into the inappropriateness of it the first time, or he thought it was just so funny, he had to give it another go now that Clinton's campaign is hardly treading water.

HorsesAss.org has the joke, and an analysis of Reichert's stupid use of it. Their analysis includes the undeniable insight:

There are two things to note in deconstructing this joke. The first is that the punchline partially owes its humorous impact to playing off a popular stereotype of the Despised Public Figure as stupid. Deserved or not, this works well with President Bush in the lead role (as it would for Dave Reichert himself), but whatever you think of Hillary Clinton, she certainly doesn’t have a reputation for being dumb, and as such, the joke comes off more mean spirited than funny. It’s just a poor vehicle for ridiculing her.

It's not funny to joke about having placed a bomb somewhere in your mode of public transportation, and it's not funny to joke about the untimely death of a major public figure. Particularly one who could—if only, at this point, by some bizarre and unfortunate tomfoolery or stretching of the rules—be our next president.

However, it is absolutely fair game to make jokes about the idiot who thought this joke was funny in the first place. Feel free to come up with your own in the comments. In the meantime, a response to Reichert from the Darcy Burner campaign:

"Congressman Reichert's so-called "joke" today at the state Republican convention involving Senator Clinton falling to her death from a disabled airplane is offensive, tasteless and completely inappropriate. At a minimum, he owes the Senator an immediate public apology for personally disparaging her, especially since this is not a momentary lapse of judgment but rather something he has repeated publicly on at least two occasions before Republican audiences," Burner campaign spokesman Sandeep Kaushik said.

"When Congressman Reichert goes before non-partisan audiences he likes to bemoan the loss of civility and lack of bipartisanship in Washington, D.C. Apparently he does not really mean it, because when he gets before his fellow Republicans he takes a very different tone -- this is just the latest unfortunate example of that."

"It's All a Big Joke," courtesy of SlightlyNorth