OK to start off, I will admit I’m biased. My mother was a JFK volunteer in 1960, and I still tear up whenever I hear Ted’s eulogy for Bobby. That said:
I am amazed at how the Kennedy haters have come out of the woodwork this weekend. On talk radio, here, on NPR. I freely admit that my generally low opinion of Nixon was not altered when he died.
When Reagan was shot, I didn’t hear people saying that he deserved it, or making jokes about it. When he finally goes I will have the class not to use the opportunity to write letters and call talk shows, telling people how bad he was for the country and what a poor example he set.
Yet this family, whatever you think of their politics, whatever bad choices a few of them have made, experienced a horrible tragedy this weekend. And here we are, talking about whether or not they deserved it! By the way, whatever risks might have been accepted by flying in those conditions, he was a licenced pilot – and one local official has said that the mist that night was “unexpected.” Not to mention the fact that driving is on the order of 500x as risky as flying – would he be accused of participating in risky behaviour if he had crashed while driving his family from New York to Massachusetts?
And it goes further – JFK and RFK brought it on themselves, by getting involved in national politics! No one said that here, but I’ve heard it at least twice today. So I guess Joseph and/or Kathleen are next, because this is a family that prides itself on public service and charity. Of all the rich people who involve themselves in politics, the Kennedys are the only ones I know of who have always been advocates for people less advantaged than themselves.
Of course, old Joe made his money bootlegging (worse than Capone? Is someone here going to accuse him of murder?). Since this is always brought up first by Kennedy-bashers I assume that you advocate – what? that they give the money back? Is Rockefeller’s money forever tainted? Is Getty’s?
And Teddy is guilty of manslaughter. It probably would have been pretty easy for him to leave politics after that, and would have saved him a lot of grief. But he felt that he had a significant contribution to make, and he has been one of the most effective senators for the past 30 years. I often wonder if his drinking problem was related to the fact that he watched his older brothers all die tragically, the last two shot down while trying to make the world a better place.
Yeah, they live a privledged life up there in Hyannis Port, in their compound. But at least they don’t lock the gates from the inside and demand tax breaks and the death penalty for homelessness. They come out and participate in society. So, even if you really hate them, could you allow some sort of mourning period before you start bashing them again?