I remember that day.

[EFerrari]

Mom and I walked all day in downtown San Jose trying to GOTV in the heat and the dust. We were too tired to eat when we were done with Mom's precincts, and we went home to watch the news.

I fell asleep on the couch between Rosie and my grandmother, and woke up when they started crying out and weeping, when the reports came in.

That this person could just use that day and all that it meant to us as some kind of filler for her talking point is the coldest act of political opportunism I ever hope to witness.

[Jersey Devil]

1. On my couch late at night in NJ watching Rosie Grier, a huge, tough

man, a professional football player, who was with Bobby that night and in the same corridor when the shots were fired, cry like a baby, and we cried along with him.

I hate her for raising the possibility of a repeat of that moment.

[Bucky]

3. I'm sure the secret service is not too please with her impugning their skills, either

[EFerrari]

5. . . .

:hug:

What kind of sonuvabitch can ever lose touch with that loss, the horrible violent loss.

This person doesn't belong in public life.

[dchill]

12. Yes. There's nothing else to say.

Yes.

[WeDidIt]

2. I was a five year old kid who paid attention

and I bawled my eyes out the day after.

[EFerrari]

6. I was four years older than you, old enough to carry campaign literature

around and feel like I was helping.

:hug:

[Whisp]

4. he died on my birthday.

i think about him on that day, for many years now.

[K Gardner]

7. I remember hiding in the closet, weeping, and refusing to go to school.

[EFerrari]

13. My whole family couldn't move for days. We just sat there.

My poor mother was leveled, again. This was only a few short years after they killed JFK. I don't think we ate a hot meal for a week. We were like ghosts, even us kids.

There is no apology she can tender that begins to redress the callousness of her statement.

[damntexdem]

8. I remember both Kennedy days. And MLK.

Some things should remain sacred and not used like HRC wants to use this.

[HockeyMom]

9. I tried to go to the public funeral at St. Pat's in NY

I worked a few blocks down from the church. The lines stretched for blocks and blocks. I could not get anywhere near the church.

JFK was assassinated on my 15th birthday. I am still hearing about that when I tell people when my birthday is.

[jaxx]

17. I remember them too, and the huge feeling of loss when they died.

JFK was shot on my 17th birthday, never a year goes by that I don't remember those muffled drums. When RFK was shot it was like deja vu. All the hope went out of the air and we were once again left with a huge void in this country.

Referencing either of them as a 'what may happen' is unconscionable.

[Coexist]

10. you just made me cry

[EFerrari]

14. I have to stop so I can go out and walk the dog.

:hug:

[NatBurner]

34. thx

my dog is barking in my ear

lemme go walk him and cool off

[CherokeeDem]

11. I was 16...

and RFK was my hero. I watched the CA returns until Bobby flashed the Victory sign and walked behind the curtains. I turned off the TV and was awakened by my Dad the next morning. My mom, who was also devastated, made him tell me, she couldn't. My Dad held me for a long time as I just sobbed. He stayed home that day with my Mom and me, we were so upset he couldn't leave us. I cried for John...but Bobby ripped my heart out.

What little respect I had for Hillary is gone. She is way too smart not to know what she was saying. How dare her use Bobby's tragic death to cast a pall on Barak Obama's campaign. I have been a Democratic activist for 38 years...I have seen a lot of nasty politician who will do some despicable things to win...but this, this is not acceptable.

[EFerrari]

15. My favorite uncle was that age. After that, he withdrew from politics

altogether. He worked his heart out for Bobby when he could have been chilling with his girl / future wife. It broke his heart and to this day, I know he's never allowed himself to feel the same way about a candidate.

[Tatiana]

16. Jesus

:cry:

"Toxic" Josh Marshall was right.

[EFerrari]

18. Maybe there's something wrong with me that this whole thing

has made me weep.

But, all the adults in my life loved that man. They scheduled their few precious free hours around working that campaign. They were so hopeful.

And then, all of a sudden, that hope was ripped away.

* * * *
We all put everything we had into that hope. For her to desecrate it in service of her already failed run is, well, unspeakable.

[Bluerthanblue]

31. NO-

There is something very RIGHT with you Sfexpat-

Please don't ever doubt the value of your compassion- your sensitivity.

The world has far too many people who have learned to silence their humanity -

:hug:

blu

[H2O Man]

19. I'm stunned.

I was not in the house for a couple hours, and just returned to read about the strange stuff Clinton said. It is troubling.

[EFerrari]

20. It's the kind of "trouble" we don't need if we're to hang on to our republic.

The kind of passing of over the experience of the people, a kind of minimizing of our best efforts and our strong affections, a kind of disrespect to those few that step up into public service.

What kind of country is this that one of our candidates can so carelessly reference a national loss so casually?

That's not the kind of executive I can ever support.

[Tatiana]

21. Mr. Waterman, I have read your words for a long time.

Think. Your instincts were absolutely dead on.

This latest furor today proves it.

[H2O Man]

27. Yeah,

I know what you mean.

[Melinda]

22. Bobby's murder was the literal end of my idealistic youth... so much had happened,

JFK, MLK, RFK, Vietnam, poverty, the entire Civil Rights struggle that began so horribly then rose to become a conscious entity in and of itself culminating in Dr. King's murder... and the change in Bobby, the metamorphosis he went through and how I knew everything was going to be alright once he became President and then the horror, the horror just months after Memphis... the end to my beautiful young love, taken at age 19 in the horror of Vietnam... those events and more from the 60's are forever ingrained on my soul, and the promise of so many of us forever lost as a result of those events...

And then this week we learn of Teddy.

After reading some of the "incredulous that we can be so upset over her remarks posts" I've come to realize that only those of us who lived through those times can possibly understand how deeply HRC's words have brought this back for us, and how bitter the tears we shed, I am shedding, truly are.

For me, Obama has brought back a taste of that youthful idealism I once possessed... but now, after today, I am once again afraid.

A watershed of tears here. I can't, I'll never, forget.

[EFerrari]

23. We are not overreacting.

We are remembering. Memory is a survival function of these brains we have.

:hug:

[Melinda]

24. It just hurts so much!

Sometimes tears aren't healing tools at all. And how low we have come when empathy is an abstract concept to so many.

Thanks for this thread... I needed a safe place to cry. :hug:

[Binka]

26. Me Too

I was a little kid but my father is named after Robert Francis Kennedy so of course I loved RFK bunches. Jesus can you imagine what Teddy feels like right now? :cry:

[Swamp Rat]

25. k&r

:cry:

[tabasco]

28. I was ten. My Mom was crying her eyes out.

H. Clinton has exposed herself AGAIN as a vile, power-grubbing cretin.

[EFerrari]

35. We're about the same age. I'll never forget that my mom

who is pretty much the bravest person I know, looked dead that night. And for days.

[undeterred]

29. Most people who remember it do not think YIPPEE another candidate has a chance.

[Bluerthanblue]

30. I wish

life didn't have to hurt so much.
Being fully alive- living in community with each other can be so painful.

:hug:

Change is coming Sfexpat-
I'm glad you are you.

peace and comfort~
blu

[EFerrari]

36. Thank you, blu

:hug:
:grouphug:

[bridgit]

32. I was young, but come from a dem family. My brother worked on his campaign and was in the room...

when the shot rang out, flowing with the panic & chaos that followed...even as a young person, it was very sad to me

[NatBurner]

33. i was born seven months later

but thank you for the perspective, seriously

[OneBlueSky]

37. I was sound asleep when my mom came into my room and woke me . . .

"Bobby Kennedy was shot last night . . . in the head. They don't know if he's going to make it." . . . I remember I rolled over, said something like "Oh fuck, NO!", got up and glued myself to the tv for the rest of the day and most of the ensuing week . . . I particularly remember the train ride from Boston to DC and the hundreds of thousands of people who turned out to wave, display signs, and cry as the funeral train passed by . . . it was an amazing and touching display of affection and respect for someone who could have made a huge difference in what transpired during a very critical time in America's history . .

[EFerrari]

38. I remember the sound of Teddy's voice when it sounded as if

he was fighting back tears. And Ethel standing tall in her black clothing and veil.

You know, I think that day is one reason that those of us who worked the McGovern campaign weren't very surprised when he lost so badly. We'd already been through much, much worse. Just losing seemed like progress in some way.