I just assumed that Kennedy thought about LBJ the same way LBJ thought about J. Edgar: “I’d rather have him on the inside pi$$in’ out that on the outside pi$$in’ in.”
And about RFK, I don’t have anything to add other than it was a suprise to me to find out just what kind of of temperament he had. He always struck me as being phenomenally wimpy, which was about 180º out of kilter. He was a serious hard-a$$ and played serious hardball.
Quote: MichaelEmouse
Well, he did win election in his own right, after serving out Kennedy’s term, but I suspect MichaelEmouse got it right. Johnson was shrewd and very effective at swinging votes his way, although his means were often less than stellar. If he’d been subject to the scrutiny that holders of high office are today, he probably never would have been elected to national office in the first place.
SS
Not challenging you on this, but do you have a cite? That seems pretty much at odds with everything I’ve read about Geo. Fox. Although I’m sure that as a religious leader his biography may have been sterilized a bit…wouldn’t be the first time.
SS
I would nominate Beethoven - Master Composer but his personal life does smack of anal-cavityness. Took his (admitedly drunken and abusive) father’s pension; would not call his brother by his name (because it was the same as his father’s); claimed his mother was unfaithful, changed his birthdate, and said he was the bastard son of the Emperor; after his brother died, used his political connections to have his nephew, Karl, taken from his mother, locked him in a prison-like school, attempted to have the boy’s mother arrested when Karl ran away to be with his grieving widowed mother, all leading to Karl’s attempted suicide.
On top of that, he was boorish, dirty, bitter, smelly, drunk and altogether paranoid and unpleasant.
I also think Mr. Ford did a fair amount to popularize and distribute copies of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, in addition to his work with the Dearborn Independent.
Heh I read a book written by her on the topic based on those articles called The Black Candle.
http://www.manybooks.net/titles/canuckjother10black_candle.html
Very interesting and bizzare stuff.
He is basically hated in the Wilmington, NC area.
Why?
I remember my mother saying “1960s Bobby Kennedy was all very well and good, but I remember earlier Bobby Kennedy, when he was Roy Cohn’s lapdog, hunting down Commies and Jews and gays.” RFK did whatever was politically expedient, and if it also happened to be the right thing, great.
That being said, I think the affair with Marilyn Monroe is an urban legend. He would *never *risk his political career for sex, unlike his brother.
Oh, and I don’t know if anyone considers **Coco Chanel **“great” in the first place, but she was also a Nazi whore who should have been hanged after the war.
Bing Crosby beat the living shit out of his kids. Bess Truman was a racist bitch.
Short version: He was a gigantic ass when he lived there. He abused almost every personal and professional contact he had around town. I honestly don’t know of a single resident of that city who can say one nice thing about the guy.
Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, is widely portrayed as a racist and eugenist by the anti-abortion crowd.
Not so much an asshole as a pain to be around sometimes, but José Antonio Samaranch (who was president of the International Olympic Committee for what seems like forever) was one of those hyperactive guys who happen to have found a job where they can work in hyperfocus. He slept very little and always wanted things for “the day before yesterday”.
I read an interview with his wife where she said that separate bedrooms had been an essential factor in their marriage, because it allowed her to sleep; trying to share a bedroom with Mr “it’s 3am and I just had the greatest idea ever” would have been a royal pain in the ass, not to mention eyes, ears, back, shoulders…
I’ve also heard talk that he was a womanizer, but if his wife didn’t mind I don’t see why should I.
Shrug, the immense majority who knew my Gramps from Hell are divided in two groups: those who never saw his dark side, and who can gush about him for hours, and those who did, who will give me these sad-puppy looks and say something like “uh, you… you must know what he was really like, I guess?”
You learn to live with it; when the dark side is real extreme, those who haven’t seen it wouldn’t believe it exists, and that this great man they absolutely adore had it. Those who have encountered similar blotches before grow very efficient assholedars.
Mother Theresa - friend of dictators, more interested in saving souls than providing medical care, and herself demanding top-of-the-line treatment when ailing. Or so I’ve heard.
Oh, well, *that *evil fanatical bitch–most of us don’t consider her “great” in the first place.
Their dissing of her is ironic in a way because while she was a eugenist and would almost certainly be racist by modern standards she was also [punchline] anti-abortion. One reason she was so pro birth control was to end the need for abortions.
A too-long list of those whom we admire who were anti-Semitic: including Voltaire, US Grant, H. L. Menken, T.S. Elliot…
“So what exactly is a ‘kike?’”
“Any Jewish gentleman who has just left the room.”
Voltaire? Sure, he made fun of the Jewish religion but he also made fun of the Christian relition (the latter rather more so, I understand; he was a smartass). What did he say that was anti-semitic, as opposed to taking the piss out of a religion and being irreverant towards the reverential? I’m not saying it’s not possible but I’d like to know what he said to that effect.
There’s a fine line between taking the piss and vile hatred, and you and I migh draw it at different latitudes. A Google search of “Voltaire Jews” will yeild plenty of quotes by him that he must have known would stoke as many murderous hearts as tickle funny bones.
Of course Voltaire’s first anti-allegiance was to Mother Church. But he blamed Judaism for creating the ugly mess in the first place.