Posted on 09/08/2002 1:01:54 AM PDT by MadIvan
FOR an ambitious politician with a proud pedigree, the insults could not have been more painful. His wife was a nobody, while he was a whiner who was “running home for dad”.
The barrage had such an impact that the upstart Andrew Cuomo, would-be governor of New York, was left with little choice but to withdraw from the race. His humiliating retreat last week marked a further decline in the fortunes of the once-great Kennedy clan, to which he is related by marriage.
With the Bush dynasty in the ascendant and a Clinton dynasty in the making, the magic is fading from the name that captivated America. The Kennedys have been sidelined as a political force, while Jeb Bush, George W’s brother, is tipped to run for president in 2008 against a newly formidable Hillary Clinton.
Cuomo, 44, could be forgiven for believing he had a glittering career ahead of him. His wife Kerry is the daughter of Robert F Kennedy, the former attorney- general who was assassinated in 1968 while running for president. Cuomo’s father, Mario, had a personal lock on the New York governorship from 1982 to 1994.
Yet Cuomo found himself in a bitter campaign, in which his family connections were ridiculed. One of his political opponents sneered that nobody had ever heard of his wife and a television commercial starring Senator Edward Kennedy and Martin Luther King III bombed.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, another daughter of Robert Kennedy, who is campaigning to become governor of Maryland, has also been basking in the family name on television.
“I grew up in a family that always taught the importance of public service,” she claimed proudly in an advertisement.
More like public excess, public indulgence, public parasitism - Ivan
Voters were stubbornly unimpressed and her lead slipped from 15 points at the beginning of the campaign to a low of three points a few weeks ago. She remains favourite to win in November but is no longer a shoo-in in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by two to one.
Instead KKT, as she is known, has stumbled through the campaign, coining the word Hispanish among Latino voters, getting the name of a celebrated racehorse wrong and introducing her running mate as an ambassador rather than an admiral.
What memories voters have of the Kennedys’ Camelot are now seriously tainted. Even JFK, assassinated in 1963, has been knocked from his pedestal by revelations about his sex life and ties to the mob, while Senator Edward Kennedy, his brother, has never lived down the drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne in his car at Chappaquiddick in 1969.
The family’s hopes now rest on Mark Shriver, JFK’s nephew, who is standing for Congress in Maryland and whose low-profile campaign may ease him to victory.
She had an affair with Bobby, BTW , which I was told about, at the time ( eyewitness account, from an unimpeachable source ! ), in the winter of '64-'65 .
Why do you keep trying to talk about things, which you don't undrerstand and know even less about ?
KKT has recently hired Bob Shrum to help her campaign. Expect the ad hominen attacks on Erhlich to begin on 9/12. Given the voter fraud that has happened in Maryland, KKT very well could win - much to my disgust.
For that, we should all be grateful.
Semper Fi
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