[liberallarry]

Partisan revisionism at its best. I always thought better of Hitchens - but I guess he's as human as the rest of us.

[Mr. Bird]

Care to point out the revisions? I find nothing controversial in Hitchens' statements.

Kennedy was a tremendously flawed president. That cannot be refuted, even setting aside his "personal" problems. He was solid on the domestic front, regardless of his motivations. The civil rights movement and the notion of a little restraint on taxation were aided by his administration.

But on the foreign policy front, as Hitchens states, Kennedy often had us on a high wire without a net. One could argue that our evasion of incineration is testimony to Kennedy's talents; I would argue we were closer than ever because of his faults.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

Hitchens is absolutely correct on all counts here (although I disagree with his positions on many other subjects). The JFK myth is just that- a carefully constructed narrative, almost none of which is true. Had he not been assassinated (and I am also sure that we will never know the real story of that event), he would most likely have been defeatd in 1964 by- you guessed it- Richard Nixon. Half of this country DESPISED Kennedy and all his works- a fact which was conveniently forgotten after his death.

By the way, he would have led us down the same path in Vietnam that Johnson did- but,, being more reckless and far less astute than even that moron LBJ, he would most likely have turned it into World War III.

[presidio9]

I always thought better of Hitchens - but I guess he's as human as the rest of us.

40 years later, the truth still hurts, don't it?

[MissAmericanPie]

Oh please, Kennedy, the entire Kennedy clan, was a pox on this nation, not to mention a pox on Cuban freedom fighters. That crummy family of rapists and murderer's is still a pox on this nation and have committed incalculable harm against America.

[Mudboy Slim]

"Partisan revisionism at its best. I always thought better of Hitchens..."

While no big JFK prponent myself, I agree that the piece appeared overly harsh...Kennedy did cut marginal tax rates and somehow muddled through a touchy period of the Cold War.

FReegards...MUD

[HamiltonJay]

The best ever Kennedy "conjecture" I have ever seen was on a great British Sci-FI show called Red Dwarf... where the time line is altered and Kennedy is not assassinated... it turns out he is arrested not long after re-election as his ties to organized crime and other misdeeds come out...

To set the timeline correct the hero's have to bust Kennedy out of prison, explain what has happened to him and then Kennedy himself becomes his own assassin.... (firing the fatal shot from the grassy knoll) Was a very interesting episode, for a sci-fi comedy, and didn't sugar coat or spin the facts around JFK, but openly admitted the ugly of him without comment.

And Red Dwarf BTW is a great show!

[iopscusa]

Camelot was a house of Cards and the the DemoRat foundation is finally collapsing...good riddance.

[headsonpikes]

I was around then. I could not believe that JFK let the Russkis build the Berlin Wall.

He was weak when it counted.

[Old Professer]

Exactly what do you believe he revised?

I think he was on point from the chase to the kill.

[Wolfstar]

Partisan revisionism at its best.

What the heck are you talking about?! JFK was a terrible president — worse in a number of respects than Bill Cinton. Hitchens is absolutely correct in his description of JFK in this article. It's time to bury the myth and face the truth.

[x]

Henry Fairlie, an English journalist, made many of the same criticisms thirty years ago in his book, The Kennedy Promise. It was an interesting read from someone who was anything but an American-style conservative or Republican.

If you prosper through auras and charisma and television magic, then you fade when your image does. Christopher Booker's The Neophiliacs, a study of English society during the Kennedy era, was a good examination of the phenomenon: great collective dreams are created, grow, burst like bubbles and leave a bitter taste behind.

[faithincowboys]

Actually, Hitchens is no Republican. He was a Marxist until midlife and he often attacks the Democrats from the Left. The reasons he advocated war with Iraq were, generally, humanitarian. His argument with the Left, European especially, is that they cared more for Saddam than the Iraqi people.