Bhutto Death Shields Hillary from Attack

A death in a family is tough, and many times it brings out the ugly in people.  A death in the political family is always ugly. And such it is with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

The Clinton campaign said it expects rival Barack Obama will relent from his planned criticism of Clinton and rival John Edwards because of the event.

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This is type of craven opportunism is wrong.

This is a ghoulish use of a tragedy to score political points against Hillary's opponents, regardless if they planned on "attacking" her today or not.  The subtext of this statement is to link the idea of "female leader attacked" to Hillary against her presidential rivals.  Is it really necessary to add this to what should have been a message of sincere condolence?

Mark Penn surely has the touch of Rove.

We can also expect her to tie this into her new hawkish theme of a "nation at war" which only she has "a steady hand" to resolve.  As well as her trumpeting her credentials of knowing Ms. Bhutto best (having visited Pakistan as First Lady in 1997).

Huckabee slips in a "shining city on the hill" dog-whistle:

On this sad day, we are reminded that while our democracy has flaws, it stands as a shining beacon of hope for nations and people around the world who seek peace and opportunity through self-government.

Guiliani, who was the first to seize the "opportunity" with a press release, goes for the 9/11 angle:

Her death is a reminder that terrorism anywhere — whether in New York, London, Tel-Aviv or Rawalpindi — is an enemy of freedom. We must redouble our efforts to win the Terrorists’ War on Us.

Romney buys into not just the "islamofascist" angle, but the War on Terra:

[It is] a stark reminder that America must not only stay on high alert, but remain actively engaged across the globe. Pakistan has long been a key part in the war against extremism and radical jihadists. For those who think Iraq is the sole front in the war on Terror, one must look no further than what has happened today.

None of these candidates have a tenth of the courage needed to campaign under the threat of death like the woman they are using as a chess piece.  Hats off to those campaigns that have treated her sacrifice with the dignity it deserved.

UPDATE: Removed section regarding Joe Biden since it was grossly inaccurate and for which I apologize.