Does that headline make your head hurt? Unfortunately for all sane people out there, it's true.
This has just gotten surreal. Bill and Hillary Clinton (and their surrogates) aren't doing themselves any favors by keeping Bill Richardson's endorsement in news cycle after news cycle by:
- Carville calling Richardson Judas.
- Carville running around to news shows for a week defending his Judas comments.
- Carville writing an op-ed in the Washington Post entitled "Disloyalty that merits an insult."
- Bill Clinton launching into a red-faced tirade at a meeting of California superdelegates, basically calling Richardson a disloyal traitor and a liar.
- Leaking news that the Clintons were trying to sway Richardson by calling Obama unelectable.
- Hillary answering questions at a press conference yesterday and denying that said to Richardson that Obama is unelectable.
See below the fold for more...
BACKGROUND
From CBS News:
In an exchange with reporters at a press conference earlier today, Hillary Clinton was asked about reports that while, she was seeking his endorsement, she told Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., that Barack Obama could not win the general election if he were the nominee. Clinton responded, "You know we have been going back and forth in this campaign about who said what to whom and let me say this about that. I don't talk about private conversations. But I have consistently made the case that I can win because I believe I can win. You know, sometimes people draw the conclusions that I'm saying somebody else can't win. I can win, I know I can win. That's why I do this everyday. I'm in it to win it."
The reporter pressed Clinton saying, "Is that a no?" To which Clinton responded, "That's a no."
THE SPIN ON THE MEANING OF "NO"
[L]ater, a senior Clinton spokesman told reporters that Clinton did not mean to imply that she was not referring to what she allegedly said to Richardson about Obama. Instead, the campaign explains that Clinton took the follow up question to mean that she "does not talk about private conversations."
Reporters pressed the aide about Clinton's answer to which the aide maintained that Clinton's "that's a no" answer was aimed at the fact that Clinton does not discuss private conversations.
So now Hillary Clinton is denying that she denied that she told Bill Richardson is unelectable?
How is this helpful to her campaign?
Please let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks!
Here's the video, hat tip to publiusj: