Hello Everyone. I'm from Boston, my family is here and has been for many generations. The elder members of my family seem to think all Kennedys can do no wrong and this has to do with the whole Irish Catholic issue. Boston was once a solid Irish Catholic city - mostly working class. There is still a huge number of us here in Boston. Everyone of my grandparents had nightmare stories about working for the Yankees. Every grandparent had even worse stories they related from their parents. The Kennedy's were for the most part the first Catholics to travel within the Yankee circle, do well financially and even outperform the old Boston Yankee families. These people were overjoyed when JFK was elected. All of this is firmly and proudly remembered and passed down to younger generations.
The Democratic machine in Boston for years was run by the Irish. They handed out jobs and favors at such a rate they damn near bankrupted the city. But the lesson for the Irish and all recent arrivals was that the Democrats provided. While the citizens of my city and state have changed over the years its basily the same system - the Democrats ' provide '. The endless lesson to one and all of the Commonwealth: ' the Democrats are for the people while the Republicans are the evil rich trying to bend you over '.
As for Kerry he always passed himself off as a nice Irish Catholic local boy and Ted Kennedy always assured us he was.
The "Kennedy Curse" is not that young Joe, Jack and Bobby were killed so young, but that Teddy has lived so long.
The Italians did the smart thing and joined the Yankees in the Republican party, which is what kept Mass a Republican state until the 1950s. Italians and Poles never had the chip on the shoulder towards those who founded this country like the Oi-Rish did. ;-)