Posted on 01/01/2009 3:49:33 AM PST by Zakeet
The United States is slowly leaving its republican era and transitioning to its imperial era.
As a Freeper older than 45, I think of JFK as a great disappointment. He was a man of great charm ,mediocre intellect, and low morals. As president, it is hard to gauge his accomplishments, since he had one foot in the post-war and one foot in the Vietnam era. His great blunder was his complicity in the assassination of Diem, which discredited our efforts to maintain South Vietnamese independence. Those who say that he intended to pull our forces out of Vietnam surely forget what a mess had been created by ths spring of 1964.
As a Catholic, I see him as a bad Catholic pretending to be a faithful one: untutored , uninterested in his faith. A poor husband with a trophy wife, unable to keep his pants zipped, though with much better taste in women than Boy Clinton.
His “set” mocked the style of the Eisenhowers for their Army manners, and affected a style straight out of “the Great Gatsby.” His books were ghost-written, but he was presented as an intellectual because of his abilility to banter with the press. Yet he was less the student of public affairs than Ronald Reagan, as we now know. He was presented as an athlete, which he was, but not a healthy one. We now know the truth about him but this has only increased the ardor of his youthful admirers. He is contrasted with Johnson and Nixon, with Nixon totally demonized so as to mask the responsibility of Kennedy and Johnson for the Vietnam War.
In short, the truth about the man has been not such much forgotten as “colorized” like some black and white film, to obscure the sharp outlines of the actual past.
It was going to suck regardless.
While I’m not in disagreement with anything said here about Caroline K., L. Brent is “pot-kettle” .
L. Brent’s father was friends with William Buckley at Yale. So friendly, he married WFB’s sister Patricia...thus, Bill Buckley is L. Brent’s uncle.
He has ridden his conservative connections hard, to the point that he has made a living with a career as a Professional P. O. (Perpetually Offended) member of the East Coast establishment Right.
He is the Jesse Jackson of the right.
PR esident Kennedy, if you catch my drift.
Excellent post and summation. Very well written.
Unfortunately, given the people who the voters have been electing to public office recently, these "qualifications" really do make her a moral standout over a lot of members of the house and senate.
At least she's never been caught smoking crack on tape, saying "the bitch set me up!" or impeached for taking bribes, or having the FBI find $90,000 in marked bills in her freezer (though the last did lose this time around - maybe there is a limit to what voters will accept)
BTW, I rode a pony when I was little. Does that make me eligible to be appointed to the NY senate seat? I've certainly spend more time living in NY state than Hillary did when she was elected to the senate by NY.
Mark
Great list. But, IMHO, you left out the most important, “The Biggest Loser.” :)
“I grew up in the 70s so I’d say I was a typical member of that generation.”
That’s true. Almost everyone I know who grew up in the 70s is just like CK. Most of them have net worths in the $400 million range. Most of them live in $13 million Park Avenue digs. They also own propery that averages 366-acres on places like Martha’s Vineyard. And, their property is worth around $50 million or so.
And most of them have never had to work for a living. They generally have $1 a year jobs.
So, yeah, she is pretty typical of the people I know who grew up in the 70s. Those were some good years across America. No one had it rough back then or since. Even the 70s people in the ghetto have million dollar estates and huge properties in the suburbs. You can spot them by their pimped out cars.
I'm more inclined to believe that from Teddy since he has a reason not to remember his past.
I hear Barky is going to make the NYT his press secretary.
Yes, I supported Kennedy in 1960. Was a gopher in Austin for Sen. Ralph Yarborough. Friend of mine who served in Judge Yarborough’s Washington office, which was close to Kennedy’s, told me of the parade of beautiful women to Kennedy’s office. Naively he asked another worker, what that was all about. The replay was a broad grin. My friend, then looked at me and smiled. Oh, I said. He said, yeah, that was mt reaction, too.
Hide the interns, it’s gonna be Bill Clinton, ya know.
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