WORSHIPPING JFK

Yahoo News ^ | Sat Nov 22, 8:01 PM ET | Wm F Buckley

[AgThorn]

The headline caught my attention i.e. My sentiments exactly .. Also, Buckley asks some really good questions on what exactly was JFK's legacy other than just a personal one.

Anyway, highlighting to the article is my own, but it's a good piece. Ann Coulter made me aware that JFK got us into VietNam shortly after his Bay of Pigs fiasco and look at THAT legacy. Talk about lives lost, prestige lost, etc.

[Cicero]

So the one thing JFK has going for him is that he was good looking?

[concerned about politics]

JFK's "heroism" is just left wing propaganda.
I've already discussed this with friends and my kids. He wasn't that great a president at all. His legacy is that he was assinated. That's about it. Clintons legacy is that he was impeached. Big deal.
I just turned off the TV when Kennedy PR came on. It was a waste of air time, that's for sure. BORING.

[liberallarry]

This is a superb article by Buckley.

Others who seek to criticize Kennedy worship - in particular Christopher Hitchens - should be forced to read this and see a master at work; command of the facts, easy to read and understand, no ad-hominems, credit and criticism where due.

I thought Buckley was over-the-hill. Apparently I was wrong.

[Savage Beast]

"the legacy of John F. Kennedy is his sheer ... beauty."

Maybe in your eye, Bill, but not in mine. You are not the only beholder who was beguiled by this rather unremarkable man, but what you mistook for "beauty" was in fact something else. William of Carmichael succeeded in identifying it where you failed:

"Why John Kennedy was a great president: He was telegenic."

Some obviously found Kennedy breathtakingly, irresistably attractive. I didn't. I also did not consider him handsome--or "beautiful".

[RLK]

So the one thing JFK has going for him is that he was good looking?

----------------------

That's about it. He and Jackie, with her $25,000 gowns cut an image and fashion swath through the country among those who didn't look beyond that. He was the first TV image president. He had the same effect in person. People would walk in a room where he was, take one look, then become his willing slave for the remainder of their lives.

[concerned about politics]

Some obviously found Kennedy breathtakingly, irresistably attractive. I didn't. I also did not consider him handsome--or "beautiful".

He was cleaner than most Democrats. He looked like he washed.

[Savage Beast]

We can give him that.

[Young Werther]

Sept 1960 and my high school trooped out to our main street to view JFKs motorcade. He was a vigorous, heroic figure whose bright smile and beautiful family was insopiring.

On Oct 23, 1957 "Navy Log" had broadcast the story of Lt Kennedy. The famous coconut with the messsage carved in the husk was shown and the swimming feat of dragging an injured crewman belied a physical disablity!

Camelot was hype and spin, to say the least, and his legacy is the dreams that men are made of!

He did set us on our trek to the stars, and I believe that he and Roddenberry, (a naval aviator during WWII) would have hit it off!

[Savage Beast]

...and he was a better man than the Democrats who followed him. We can give him that too.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

I think the thing that was shocking in the revelations by Mr. Dallek and the review of the medical records that was disclosed - is the arrogance and the ambition - either JFK's or his father's - take your pick. To have someone with such precarious health pursue an office where being focused and capable at a moments notice is critical - is breathtaking in its recklessness. Look at the abuse that is thrown today at VP Cheney - whose health is infinitely better than JFK - yet JFK still has this image. Ugh.

[potlatch]

Watching his beautiful family live on through the years, then Jackies death and John Jr's, helped prolong our fascination with them.

[Uff Da]

Some obviously found Kennedy breathtakingly, irresistably attractive. I didn't. I also did not consider him handsome--or "beautiful".

And I must say 'DITTO' !! I don't see anything 'beautiful' about any of the Kennedys...........

[PLK]

Some obviously found Kennedy breathtakingly, irresistably attractive. I didn't. I also did not consider him handsome--or "beautiful".

I could never get past that obnoxious accent (sorry east coast Freepers). However, one positive aspect of his election was the fact that he was the first Catholic elected. Unfortunately, that one teeny light did not signify the end to religious discrimination: witness the "Borking" of all current officeholders and candidates who are professed Christians.

[Old Professer]

It's always a shame to watch a respected elder lose it.

[oprahstheantichrist]

" People would walk in a room where he was, take one look, then become his willing slave for the remainder of their lives."

Oh, that is SO creepy. Sounds like predictions of the antichrist.

[South40]

he clearly said in German "I am a jelly doughnut"

Not quite

[Ruth A.]

That quality is charisma. Like it or not, many felt JFK had it. What he did with it is a disappointment, as Buckley points out so well.

[ntnychik]

"He was idolized by the liberal media who totally ignored the while giving his famous Berlin speech he clearly said in German "I am a jelly doughnut"

Do you know what would have been the correct way to say "I am a Berliner" in German?