I stayed at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in June of 1970

[SoCalDem]

I stayed in the Gary Cooper Suite ( It was lovely..in a Gary Cooper-ish sort of way)..

This was a mere two years since "the day"..

We had a few drinks in the hotel bar, and one thing that was verbotten in that hotel was ANY mention of Bobby..

A person I was with, asked a hotel staffer if he was there "that day".. He lowered his voice and said.."We don't talk about that"..

We walked around town (starting to get a little seedy even then) and almost anyone we struck up a conversation with, went out of their way to tell us where they were, what they were doing, "that day", as soon as we told them where we were staying.

I was not the LEAST bit political, but as a 21 yr old , about to vote for the first time , even I knew about Bobby & what he stood for...what ALL the Kennedys seemed to stand for.

I saw his brother killed for just being president, I saw Martin Luther King killed for just wanting everyone to have equal rights, I saw Bobby killed for daring to pick up the dropped torch from his dead brother. I saw 4 kids killed at Kent state, just the month earlier, for daring to protest a war..

And I was sad to see the old Ambassador torn down in '89 (I think it was 89).. It was as if there was no longer any "place" associated with "that day".. I guess they were never able to overcome the stigma.

When people remind us of all the dead dreams, it's not hard to see why we react the way we do..

If something is tried, and fails, it's easy to analyze it and explain why it did not work, but when a possibility is squashed like a bug, and never has a chance to play out, it's almost worse, because we will never know what we could have had.

It's positively evil to refer to events like these in a trivial manner, and yet it's BEYOND evil to refer to them in a calculated manner..

Which was it, Hillary?? THREE times at least, and almost daily by Terry McAuliffe... Trivial Pursuit of the Presidency? or Calculated Dogwhistling to "someone out there"?

We KNOW what "happened".

Why DO you keep "reminding us"?




edit..because I forgot I turned 21 in April of '70.. I caught myself wondering why I was in the bar at 20, and then I realized my error ..oops..:evilgrin:

[HCE SuiGeneris]

1. "When people remind us of all the dead dreams"

That is the trigger. And I ask the same questions you are asking and am deeply disturbed at any answer that materializes.

Perfectly stated OP, SCD. Thanks.

[havocmom]

2. K & R

thanks SCD

[sandnsea]

3. There were only 15 primaries in 1968

The nominees were still primarily done by party insiders. That's how Humphrey worked it. The first primary was NH, on March 12. 3 months later, CA was one of the last. The nomination went to the convention because that's the way it was done then, AT the convention. There is absolutely NO comparison to now, NO reason to bring up 1968 for any reason whatsoever - unless you want to inject the fear of assassination into people's minds.

[SoCalDem]

4. the FEAR has been there for me, since he announced..she's happily reminding us of it

:grr:

[otohara]

5. This Made Me Cry

thanks for sharing.

[VolcanoJen]

6. I worked all night and received a flurry of text messages on my cell about this.

Everyone I know was just utterly sickened by her comments. For the life of me, I can't figure out what she thought she could possibly gain; and instead, she's found herself in a shitstorm.

And all of this after her "hard working white Americans" comment. And her continuous stretch of the truth about Bill Clinton wrapping up the nomination in June of 1992 when in reality, the primaries started much later than January, and Jerry Brown was more of a Mike Huckabee/Stalking Horse than a real threat to the nomination. As if "reality" mattered that much to Senator Clinton.

And of course all of this the week we all learned of tragic news about Teddy Kennedy. And her lame, ham-handed apology to the Kennedy family... but none to Obama. And she blamed her "gaffe" on "Teddy was on my mind," when we now know she's said it before and didn't have that "excuse" then.

It's far past time to show her the damned door. Who needs this drama? Every time she opens her mouth, I'm on edge wondering what kind of reckless assinine thing will come out next. Good God. Haven't we suffered enough under eight years of the wretched Bush Administration? We just don't deserve this.

Exit Stage Left, Senator. Goodbye.

[SoCalDem]

7. Lust for the presidency has driven her batshit CRAZY

she needs to GO AWAY...FOREVER...

[VolcanoJen]

9. I couldn't stop ranting so I edited again.

I'm just... fuck. I can't believe it, you know? Yes I can.... but... we don't deserve this. No more Clinton drama. Enough. The End!!!

Excellent OP SoCalDem, and thanks for letting me rant within your thread. I was just looking for a friend. :hug:

[SoCalDem]

10. If it's night time, I'm here for ya

rant away, my friend :hug:

[VolcanoJen]

12. Well, ya know...

... just reading through some of these threads, it would seem a few people think we're overreacting. Which is weird, considering I only just got home, watched her comments and apology, without any commentary whatsoever, and reached the exact same conclusion that most of us have.

It's amazing to me the things the Clintonistas are willing to just blow off. Clinton is a habitual liar and offender, and I've just had enough of the drama. I'm beyond sickened. And she owes Barack Black Eagle a goddamned apology.

[Diane R]

8. Every baby boomer...and Hillary is one...knows how devastating that time was.

[TahitiNut]

11. Obviously not to her. She was a Goldwater Girl at the time.

:puke:

[VolcanoJen]

14. It wasn't some off-the-cuff comment. It was a goddamned tactic.

She really is just trying to sow seeds of doubt that somehow, something is going to "happen" to Obama. It's calculated as hell. When people say, "WHAT! How can you say she thinks Obama might suffer the same fate as Bobby!" I just want to throw something at someone.

It's her strategy. I doubt she hopes for it, but she wants people to think it might. As if most Obama supporters weren't already aware that the first African-American nominee might bring out the nutsos. No kidding. We get our violent history. And now we know that the rest of them do, too, and they're getting to the point that they aren't ashamed to say it.

Except they don't really say it. But a cursory glance at any given DU thread and you'll find a "he won't make it to the general election" comment in there somewhere. It's a tactic. It's a strategy. It's beyond fucked-up and cynical. And we just don't deserve this drama, not after what we've been through as a nation these last eight years.

I've been dancing on edge for a few weeks, wondering if it's appropriate to just call people out and ask them to explain what that "something" could be. And then the superstitious side of me won't let me go there.

[TahitiNut]

16. Yup. I've been treating it like a fan treats a "no-hitter."

Superstitious. It just felt like a TABOO. I cannot IMAGINE someone in Hillary's position having the unbelievable GHOULISH CHUTZPAH to say it again and again. Bringing up an assassination in a primary that bears NO RESEMBLANCE to this traveling freak show that's been going on for well over a year is nothing but POLTICAL NECROPHILIA.

We get her mindless sycophants going on a POUTRAGE for months, Pastorbating about something Obama himself didn't even say ... and then get treated to a "get over it" middle finger for being angry about this crap from Hillary.

That's not merely a difference of opinion. It's monstrous.

[VolcanoJen]

18. There's a silver lining, though.

I think it lets a lot of us who have been far too sweet and kind and walking-on-eggshells to just finally bellow out the hearty "FUUUUUUCK YOU" that we've been holding deep within our cores, out of respect that was always and remains entirely undeserved.

Ha! I'm superstitiuous about No-No's in baseball, too, Tahiti!! YOU CAN'T EVER SAY IT! Just don't say it. You can say, you know, "And after eight, we've got no runs, no hits." And that's the end of that. :-)

"Poutrage" :rofl:

[SoCalDem]

13. The Clintons never say ANYTHING "by accident"..

especially since she's said this (or something just like it) THREE TIMES...

and McAwful does it EVERY flipping day..with grins & laughs..

SHE CANNOT WIN, UNLESS OBAMA DIES.. and she's obviously willing to do whatever SHE can, to push the idea..

I think Michelle Obama should speak up,..whe WILL be asked about it..

I hope she says something like:

I know campaigns are tough, but I really wish people would not suggest that someone should kill my daughters' daddy"..and then say, "that's all I plan to say about it"..

[Raine]

15. Actually the Ambassador was torn down in 2006

It ceased operations in 1989. It sat there with a fence around it while they (Trump was even in the mix) fought over what was going to be done with it. It was a beautiful place. Sometime in the mid 70's I went to a reception in the Coconut Grove.

Yeah it was a BIG NO NO to ask about the "shooting". I had a friend who asked security about it and the guy got so mad, he was enraged :grr: he turned his back and stalked out in a major huff. This was years and years later sometime in the late 80's but it was still a forbidden subject.

Here's a link on it...

TheAmbassadorHotel.com - Everyone spoke, but it's history.
Address:http://www.theambassadorhotel.com/

Edit: added link

[SoCalDem]

17. I was unsure about the teardown.. we never go to downtown LA

maybe it closed in 89.. It was a beautiful place.. I should have googled :silly:

[Raine]

21. Yeah it closed in 89 as a hotel

I would never have guessed it remained that long myself. It just happened that last year while looking for information on some other old buildings in Los Angeles like the Hollywood Palladium & the Florentine Gardens I came across a site that said the Ambassador had recently been torn down. :wow: Up till then I thought it had been gone for years.

[Leopolds Ghost]

19. Why did the buisiness community tear it down? The DC bus. community is trying to tear down RFK Mem'l

stadium and replace it with a corporate-named ballpark.

Oh, and the DC Arts Commission vetoed a design for the MLK National Memorial statue that was "too confrontational" in favor of a passive MLK.

They actually vetoed the work of the sculptor because he was a Social Realist, like they did to Diego Rivera.

[Raine]

20. The preservationists tried to save it

but the Kennedy family gave the go ahead for it being torn down. I guess they felt it was too morbid a memorial to keep. A school is going to built there. They wanted to keep the ballroom (where the shooting took place) and build the school around it but as I said the Kennedys didn't want it to remain. I understand the Kennedy's feelings but I still think it should've been perserved. It's Los Angeles' history and now it's gone.

[SoCalDem]

23. I think I read about them trying to make it a school, but then I lost track

Those big old hotels were something else, but I guess they got too expensive to repair, and it probably would have cost a fortune to retrofit it for earthquakes too..

In the end it may have just been too sad to keep it around :(

[LaPera]

22. I was at Woodstock two years later!

[SwampG8r]

24. bravo

well done

[marions ghost]

25. "when a possibility has been squashed like a bug"

Ouch--yes that is how it was.

After the nightmare of the Bu$hites, we certainly don't need Senator Clinton to reopen our old wounds and pour salt in them. We are all too aware that those hopes can be squashed again and again and again.

After the Neocons spectacular failures, now we witness the Clintons spectacular flame-out. They all deserve the dustbins of history.

Thank whoever and whatever that Obama ran this time. He's not perfect but he is not a depraved narcissist lacking any shred of conscience.

[SoCalDem]

26. With any luck, we're rid of her ...finally n/t