For those of us who are senior citizens the Kennedy name evokes a special kind of nostalgia. It does even for younger generations who hear us old farts talk, or see clips of President Kennedy. And his brother Bobby who was his Attorney General and closest advisor. Robert F. Kennedy. RFK. Who would go on to run for the same office his older brother held, and like his older brother would tragically be shot down by an assassin leaving so much promise unfulfilled. Children of famous and accomplished people have a lot to live up to, especially if they enter the same line of work. Whether in business, sports, entertainment and yes, politics. More often than not they fall short.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., RFK Jr. sure as hell has fallen short of his father (and his uncles). WAY short. In fact, he’s something of an embarrassment to his family and its iconic status in the Democratic Party.
Glen Altschuler has written an opinion piece for the Hill with a provocative title that says RFK Jr. “Has Some Explaining To Do.” He sure as hell does and as Altschuler makes clear Kennedy has been playing Presidential candidate for too long without getting the kind of spotlight shown on him a Presidential candidate should. As you know, he’s been a leading voice in, if not the leader of the Anit-Vax movement for decades, citing what at the time was questionable “science” when he started and has long since been repeatedly debunked since but he keeps at it. However, that’s just one issue. RFK Jr. has, as the linked article points out talked out both side of his butt on a range of things.
Out campaigning Kennedy tries to play the anti-establishment “straight-shooter” making claims on hot-button issues in an attempt to appeal to voters across the ideological spectrum. For example he once felt (and expressed) that anyone who wanted to close the U.S. border with Mexico was “probably a xenophobe and maybe a racist.” More recently, in a conversation that involved Elon Musk, he’s saying he’ll “try to formulate policies that will seal the border permanently.” Need more? In 2018, Kennedy characterized the National Rifle Association as “a terrorist group.” Now he’s saying “as president, I will respect the Second Amendment.” There’s no small amount of irony in that.
Then there’s Ukraine. Kennedy has said the United States supports Ukraine “for the right reasons, because we have tremendous compassion for the Ukrainian people and the illegal invasion, the brutality, and also their valor and courage.” However he’s also said “We’re there and we’re killing a lot of Ukrainians” as part of an American “strategic grand plan” to depose Vladimir Putin and “destroy any country such as Russia that resists American imperial expansion.” According to Altschuler Kennedy has implied that as president he would not provide additional military aid to Ukraine.
Why does this matter? Polls, at least as far as I can tell are all over the place on how much but Kennedy does have, with backing the ability to make an impact in the Presidential race. You know all about how less than eighty thousand votes in three states swung those states into Trump’s column in 2016 and snuck him into the WH via the vestigial organ known as the Electoral College. Biden’s margins in some of those same states was larger but hardly overwhelming. It doesn’t take that many votes in the right places to make RFK Jr. into a spoiler. And you know damn well No Labels with all that dark money is courting him. Gallup polling in 2023 had him with a higher approval rating than either Biden or Trump and that’s something Altschuler says we shouldn’t ignore:
These results no doubt reflect the popularity of the Kennedy name and dissatisfaction with the likely nominees of the major parties; RFK Jr. has not received the public scrutiny that presidential candidates inevitably get. It’s time to lift the curtain on a campaign based on false, irresponsible and self-contradictory claims.
I’ve already noted some things that haven’t gotten the attention they should, that if properly covered by journalists would sideline Kennedy. Here’s more from the linked article, things that if properly covered by journalists would drive a stake through the whole “I’m RFK Jr. everyone and I’M going to carry on my family’s legacy” MYTH:
Kennedy has declared, without evidence, that government officials knew that vaccines cause autism but “knowingly allowed the pharmaceutical industry to poison an entire generation of American children”; vaccines are “the only medical product that is not safety-tested prior to licensure”; chemicals in the water supply are “drugging” children and influencing transgender identity; Wi-Fi and 5G cause cancer; HIV is not the true and only cause of AIDS; more school shootings happened following the widespread use of Prozac and other anti-depressant drugs; COVID vaccines contain microchips to keep track of individuals and are “the deadliest vaccines ever made”; the COVID virus is “targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people and the people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering on what is still going to be one of the top two or three issues he’s FOR banning abortions after three months. His own people recognized his statement would become shall we say “problematic” and they all tried to walk it back, using the “he didn’t hear the question”, or “misunderstood the context” of the question but the record, a transcript of the interview tells the real story:
Question: “Would you sign a federal protection to protect the rights that were in the Roe precedent if you were president?”
Answer: “I believe a decision to abort a child should be up to the women during the first three months of life.”
Question: “So you would cap it at 15 weeks?” Answer: “Yes.” Question: “Or 21 weeks?”
Answer: “Yes, three months.” Question: “So three months, you would sign a federal cap on that?” Answer: “Yes, I would.”
RFK Jr. is NOT his dad. Nor is he his uncle the late Senator Ted Kennedy and for damned sure not his uncle President John F. Kennedy. Like I said, even his family wishes he’d just STFU and disappear from public life:
Not surprisingly, members of the Kennedy family are anguished and angry at RFK Jr.’s behavior. Jack Schlossberg, John F. Kennedy’s grandson, said it best: “He’s trading in on Camelot, celebrity, conspiracy theories and conflict for personal gain and fame. I’ve listened to him. I know him. I have no idea why anyone thinks he should be president.”
RFK Jr. is an apple that didn’t fall from the tree and roll away. No, he chose to go rotten and then moved into a toxic swamp. It’s long past time for journalists to make it clear to everyone what he chose to become and where he exists. Because he sure as hell shouldn’t be living in the pool of Presidential candidates.
Those genes sure got diluted, didn’t they?
Alcohol and drug addiction had a,role.
KINO: Kennedy In Name Only. Electoral College spoiler.
Both John and Bobby used the power they had to shut down the governor of Alabama to stop him from blocking integration. John got us through the Cuban missile crisis. Bobby toured Appalachia to view the poverty and vowed to do something about it. They were men of true principle and public service. Their deaths and those of Dr. King, Malcolm X, and the leaders of the Civil rights movement comprise an unbelievable tragedy for our nation. RFK Jr. is an abomination. Unfortunately there are too many of our fellow citizens that don’t seem to remember the horrors of nazi fascism, so I doubt they know anything about the Kennedys other than the name. God help us!
The Patriarchs and Matriarchs of “The Kennedy Dynasty” are all dead and buried. What I think might be needed this summer is for JFK’s daughter Carolyn to step up. She’s old enough and “set” to not need the family name or money if some of them get in a snit even though they agree with her privately. But if this used butt-wipe JFK Jr. is still running she needs to take the stage in prime time in a feature slot at the DNC and denounce her cousin. Forcefully. Lay out his bullshit and call it that and note how it betrays all her father and uncles stood and worked for. That he betrays and shames the Kennedy name and legacy by trading on it for “stardom” and that in some ways he’s worse than Trump who never had a positive family image to begin with! Would she do that? Maybe.
If journalists would do their goddamned jobs and expose him the way they should have long ago we’d not be dealing with this.