Jay Kersting's Blog

It's Tuesday, time once again for me to pick on the junior Senator from Illinois.

On Friday, and you have probably heard the OUTRAGE, but did you hear the original comments IN CONTEXT?

Senator Hillary Clinton explained her position on staying in the race by mentioning that her husband did not clinch the nomination until mid June back in 1992.  And then she went on to mention the assassination of Robert Kennedy.

Oh my God!!  She mentioned that Robert Kennedy was assassinated!!  How could she???

Now first of all, I do not understand why a mention of historical fact is such an outrage.  Was she calling for another assassination? 

Of course not, unless you are one of the kooks who thinks that the Clintons take care of business along the same methodology as Tony Soprano.  I don't like the Clintons on many levels, policy, personality, honesty, but I don't think that they have hit squads working for them. 

But apparently, even use of the word assassination is offensive to BOTH Senator Obama and his supporters, as well as even right-wing pundits.

I was watching CNN on Friday when they got the video tape of what Senator Clinton said.  I saw it, in context, and thought that she made a very valid point regarding why she should stay in the race.  Then CNN went right to reaction from Senator Obama's camp.  Later, I saw Senator Clinton apologize for the remarks possibly being offensive and further explain the comments. 

Later, I was watching Special Report with Brit Hume (Bret Baier filling in) on Fox News Channel.  Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer, who once worked for both Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale but has turned libertarian/conservative in recent years, thought that she crossed a line with the use of the word "assassination" in her comments.  I have a LOT of respect for Dr. Krauthammer (he is an M.D.) but I disagree with the criticism of this statement of fact. 

Krauthammer's point was that with the death threats that have been received by Senator Obama made this bad form.  

So, are you telling me that Senator Clinton and Senator McCain HAVEN'T been getting death threats?  Of course they are, they all do.

Now, I am not naive enough to think that Barack Obama is getting the same types of threats.  I am certain he is getting more of them and more serious threats.  And I do not want to see ANYONE running for President harmed in any way.  But it is a word used to describe an actual event in history.

But his outrage is outrage for the sake of outrage.  The thin-skinned junior Senator from Illinois, who once complained about people picking on his sizable ears as a point of sensitivity for him, is wanting sympathy.  

Seriously, do you really want a man with such sensitivities sitting with his finger on the button?  

As Terry McAuliffe pointed out on Sunday, even Robert Kennedy's son, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was not offended by the comment.  I guess he knows, first hand, that it  was a factual statement. (NOTE: CORRECTION to earlier entry when I said that RFK, Jr., was an Obama supporter.  He is, indeed, a Clinton supporter.  My mistake.  Sorry for the confusion.)

Senator Obama, man up!!  If you can't take this heat, why are you in the race in the first place? 

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Have you been following the story out of NASA, dateline North Pole, Mars?

The Phoenix spacecraft landed safely on Sunday evening and everything seems to be working just fine so far.

Well, why are they there?  

Several things are being examined on this mission.  First, they are looking for signs of life that might have once existed, or possibly exists, on Mars.  (That may light up the backsides of the Evangelicals.)  Second, they are wanting to see how much ice/water exists on this part of Mars.  Why?  To see if there is enough that could be used by human travelers to the red planet.  (No, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, they have not been there yet.)

Many people still wonder why we spend money on our space program when ______________.  

Fill in the blank anyway you want.  Homeless vets, starving children, healthcare, war on terror, high energy prices, candidates saying the word "assassination" when explaining why they are in the race, earthquakes in China, Typhoons in Burma, economic downturn, Anheuser-Busch fighting a potential takeover, the Royals eight-game losing streak or something I may have missed.

The answer is, it is money well spent for the most part.  Look at the advances that have come to our lives directly or indirectly due to the successes of NASA.  I will not bother to name them, you SHOULD already know them. 

Too often, I hear people criticize NASA.  And NASA is not above criticism.  But I blame the Congress for AGAIN not seeing the forest for the trees.

What will come out of this trip to Mars?  Directly, I cannot be certain, but most of the technological advances will not come from the trip itself.  If anything, they are already with us and they came out of the development of the vehicle and the communications and computing systems.

That is one of the reasons why I would like to see more resources put toward Project Constellation. 

It is another way to research new energy options for our future, while not directly.

And no, it will not help break the Royals losing streak.

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Have a great week.  Comment as you'd like.  Thanks for reading.