Amazingly, I was having a conversation this morning with someone who said they were still "on the fence" about whether or not Bobby is a good choice. I responded, "For me, the most ringing endorsement is the opposition from his lifetime-politics family. They're all slimy to me."
I share your sentiments. I'm 70. Like you, I was once enamored of this family - and then…
Yes, RFK has his flaws, as do we all, but he is honest to a fault. That's more than we can expect from most political operatives. I'm happy to see him on board. And if he pisses off the left, all the better. The "Great Unhinging" is a delicious byproduct of this administration. I admit that I love to see the left shitting themselves blind. And I'm too old to care what anyone thinks about my guilty pleasure. I was on the left for 48 years. I've earned the right to despise them for what they attempted to do the country.
I'm also 70 and was liberal for approximately 48 years, so your insights resonate with me. I quit the dems when I began to realize their policies, no matter how well intended, were often destructive. Now what I see is anger, denial, and hatred from the left because most of us have figured out the well-intended part was often just a cover to make money and little good happened. The pharm companies and the whole medical establishment are perfect examples. Like J.D. said, "I don't care what they think." I want real change with accountable outcomes.
Same, except I’m 60. This is what happens when ego swallows heart. It sucks.
But I watched a great interview with Megyn Kelly today and she reminded viewers that Trump was a longtime Democrat before he ran. I predict that he will govern as a moderate.
Any chance there is some jealousy here? Kennedys were always very competitive. Maybe Caroline thought she was ahead with all her silly ambassadorships, in terms of carrying on the Kennedy Legacy? But RFK Jr is the real thing.
Kennedy found herself paraded around by Obama, took the veil as an ambassador to Japan, then was stifiously snubbed thereafter. Her cousin, on the other hand, was heeded by the new president an given a real job. Caroline is consumed by envy. Her ill raised son amplified her attitude by mocking RFK's spastic dysphoria in a video. The horrible attitude is painfully obvious.
The mockery of RFK, Jr's vocal disability shocked me. From a Kennedy? Whose great aunt began the Special Olympics? Whose grandfather was beset by severe illness his entire, brief life? Awful.
She knows but obviously has sold her soul many years ago. Her whole family benefits from the system and doesn’t want any truth about his or her father’s death
What do you know about The Cuban Missile Crisis? Not one damned thing, I will bet. In choosing a blockade of Cuba in October, 1962, President Kennedy acted against the unanimous conviction of the ExComm group that we should do an overwhelming knockout strike of Cuba to capture the Soviet ICBMs and decapitate the Castro regime. The ExComm group were all of the government's top military and foreign policymakers, plus venerable elder statesmen such as Dean Acheson. Even Attorney General Robert F Kennedy, who was in on the deliberations, urged a strike, though later, he denied that he had ever been less than supportive of the President's view. ( Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan. )
JFK couldn't get past his instincts that there was something inherently wrong with what the rest wanted to do, and twenty - seven years after his assassination, we found out what that inherently wrong thing would have been:
When the Russians declassified The Venona Papers in the early 1990s, we learned to our horror that the Russians had snuck not just ICBMs into Cuba, but tactical nuclear weapons, as well. If JFK had gone along with the unanimous advice, the Russians would have used the tactical nukes against our invading troops. Kennedy would have been obligated to respond.
In 1962, we didn't have a hotline between The White House and The Kremlin. At one point on Saturday afternoon, October 27th, the most dangerous day of the most dangerous crisis in world history, Kennedy wanted to send a message to Khrushchev in Moscow. The White House had to phone Western Union. A few minutes later, a 15 year old kid who had a Saturday job for Western Union came by on his bicycle to pick up the message.
If Kennedy had done what the group wanted, we would have had nuclear immolation.
I'm having to do this in parts, which is what you get when you pay $39.99 for a phone.
Kennedy was a reader and a thinker. His thinking about Cuba in 1962 had been shaped by Barbara Tuchman's then new book about World War I, "The Guns of August." He knew how easily miscommunication and miscalculation could happen. If we had had a President with less guts, less moral courage, you and I wouldn't be having this exchange.
Then, of course, there is the whole matter of his extraordinary courage during World War II. He was one hell of a lot more than a rich boy whose Daddy bought him the Presidency.
Bobby, why doncha enlighten the group here on the followup activities of JFK regarding the Bay of Pigs invasion. You know lots of history, they all might be interested in your views about that.
Although I believe it's true that Joe Kennedy bought the presidency - JFK himself made the joke that he had told his dad not to buy one vote more than necessary in Cook County - it's also true that the womanizing JFK showed real courage under fire, both in the Navy and in the Cuban Missile Crisis (see Bobby Lime's comment for details). JFK illustrated in colorful detail that humans are not ever perfect! All heroes have feet of clay. It's part of the human condition. IWe are a confusing puzzle of degrees of virtue ... and its opposite.
But there are also very strong and notable patterns in human behaviour categories which hint heavily as to which further behaviours and attitudes that person is going to have.
Sorry Jan....but life does work on patterns. It is not random. These patterns in themselves can potentially be changed by an individual, but it is work which few are willing to put in.
Funk yeah. I can hardly contain my joy and excitement for MAGA/MAHA. I never thought I’d see this kind of movement. Our leaders are flawed people but they are taking literal bullets for the American people.
I wasn't going to watch the video, but am glad I did. This is beyond sad. Haters are gonna hate. To do this to a family member is almost inhuman. I would like everyone to remember that it was Caroline and Uncle Teddy who passed the Kennedy mantle to Saint Barack and thereby, in a very significant way, unleashed the nightmare of the past 16 years upon us. She has absolutely no credibility.
Caroline is disgusted by cousin Bobby, but respects uncle Teddy who left a young woman to drown in order to save his political skin? She is a piece of work.
Democrats will celebrate Caroline. I could only stand so much of Caroline and didn't finish the video. She is the dangerous, uncaring, ignorant, arrogant human that populate the Democratic party. I think of Oregon's Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden are cut from the same cloth of profound ignorance and have decades of uncaring about the dismal declining health of American children. To my knowledge there is not one Democrat on the federal or state level that deserves any respect, period.
I was surprised how angry her nasty remarks made me. I’ve never been interested in the family so didn’t pay attention until RFKJ interested me. It’s so - clearly a political hit job. Predator indeed - she is deliberately using a sexually charged word knowing some people won’t pursue information and assume “the family admits he’s a sexual predator.” Just inexcusable. Didn’t respect or disrespect her before since I wasn’t interested but now I feel she is unworthy of serious consideration.
Although, much as I generally dislike Democrats and Kennedys, Caroline spoke some words of the truth there. RFK jr. may not be what he seems. I read several lengthy biographical pieces about him years ago, and he was quite a frightening individual. I am not sure he should be in that federal health position.
He wouldn't be my choice, or even on the list. He has his marching orders and probably will follow through. After that, who knows, but I strongly suspect he'll be gone within a year or so, well before the midterm election cycle.
Agree. She is exactly why RFK needs to be confirmed. Aside from the fact that she's as bad of a swamp creature as there exists, it takes a horrible person to dump on your own family member.
Exactly! Talking about the drug abuse and RFKJ pulling other cousins into it? When she is “honest” about own her father’s many personal issues, I’ll take note of the dumping on the cousins.
Kudos to all of you that could watch that whole video of Caroline. It made me sick to watch her air her cousin's past mistakes for everyone to see. I couldn't finish it. Calling him a predator with no explanation was evil. Is 'Bobby' perfect? No. He may not even be a good man, and honestly, I'm not sure how many good men there are in politics. If he can break the back of Big Pharma, straighten out the FDA, and clean up our food, then he will have done a great deal of good for America. That's good enough for me. Caroline can go you-know-what herself. And for Pete's sake, ditch the ugly glasses. They make you look stupid. There, rant over.
"Like everyone else, I grew up madly in love with the Kennedys."
Not me. I smelled a rat with the Kennedy clan from a young age. It was as if they were following scripts for looking like the perfect people. Something always rankled. They used their supposed Catholicism for gain, and never as what it is meant for.
Everything about the real Kennedys was about hypocrisy. They were simply the popular stars of the day, until they showed they had feet of clay and faded away. Apart from RFK jr., does anyone really think of them much anymore?
Every human across space and time is significantly was/is/will be significantly flawed. Great people like JFK, RFK, RFK Jr, tend to have their flaws more exposed than non great people like the rest of us. Despite the flaws of those three men, I think their primary motive was to make the world a better place and that accomplished much more in that effort than us or their contemporaries.
Libertarian, you and I often agree. But with the Kennedys, I stand by what I say. I think there were heavy Psychopathic traits running in that family. As do several experts. Not in every member of course. But in enough of them to cause trouble. Likely in the father Joseph Kennedy, for one. And his son Edward.
Of course, Psychopaths seeking power will be charismatic, smooth, and very appealing to the public. Because this moves them closer to what they want.
Henry Kissinger was a Psychopath, and it is speculated that so is Obama. High power attracts them, so there have probably been several over the centuries in the Presidential role.
Hey A, I don’t disagree with you about the rest of the Kennedy clan; my recollection though is that JFK, RFK and RFK Jr were/are significantly flawed but legit good American leaders.
Not RFK as a Psychopath, in my estimation; he seemed normal. But it has been asked whether JFK was psychopathic. He did live a life unseen by most Americans, even as President. The rest of it was scripted by PR. There is much material now to verify some dark traits. Too many.
Trouble is, most people really have no idea what Psychopathy is, or how it presents. In most cases, a Psychopath takes extreme care to mask what they are doing. They present a false persona, which is often extremely engaging. Like an actor.
The thing is, Libertarian, that most high-functioning Psychopaths put on a very good act. They wear a mask. Think of Ted Bundy, for one. In many cases, even their spouses may be unaware of the Psychopathy until the worst happens.
Only the low-functioning or poorly connected Psychopaths end up in prison. The most talented of them are in the profitable and powerful jobs. White collar crime is a specialty of theirs, as in Bernie Madoff. And high politics suits them to a T.
With all due respect, how much about Psychopathy do you know? Most people know only what they see in Hollywood cliched movies. They totally misunderstand the phenomenon. And are shocked on learning the facts.
It isn't fair to call JFK a psychopath. He cried about the deaths The Bay of Pigs disaster caused, and when his son, Patrick, died in August, 1963.
During the week of The Cuban Missile Crisis, Jack and Bobby were sitting alone together. Jack was quiet. Bobby asked him what he was thinking about. Jack replied that he couldn't get out of his mind the number of children who would die in a nuclear war.
I am basing it on more than womanizing, Richard. That is not enough for Psychopathy. Though most of them have insatiable appetites. Like Jeffrey Epstein.
I did some deep reading on JFK over the years. And I know Psychopathy in the academic sense. To me, there are red flags. I am not the only one to think so. RFK, on the other hand, came across to me as normal. While Ted Kennedy -- psychopathic.
I really object to such a facile diagnosis as "Henry Kissinger was a psychopath." And on what basis are you fit to make such a declaration? It occurs to me that pretending to be an expert on psychopaths, and able to identifdy them from twenty paces, might well be a good cover for a psychopath.
I’m considering that psychopaths are also children of God… we need all types of people. And people of all types, need God. The ones that do not put God first in their lives are the scary ones.
I agree, Melody. Although I don't know AA's criteria for diagnosing anyone in the news as a psychopath, I am sure that there are times in life when leaders have to be very ruthless to be effective. Fear of war intimidated Neville Chamberlain, but spurred Winston Churchill forward.
Well, Melody, that sounds like a way to get around uncomfortable truths here. If the Democrats had known Psychopaths in their ranks, everyone would take that fact and hammer them with it. Of that I am certain.
Psychopaths were created as human by God, but for one reason or another, became a portal for evil. They have no human empathy. And they would use people like you simply for games...as gullible prey.
Psychopaths very definitely do not put God first in their lives. They laugh at that!
I think you are a bit mixed up about what these people are.
I often think of "Camelot" JFK, what a bunch of bunk we were sold. When he was assassinated, I was 14 years old, & even then, I could see what a phony he was !
Perhaps you've forgotten that Kennedy was the first Catholic president, and that was a big deal at the time. Opponents charged he would be taking orders from the Vatican, while American Catholics rallied around him.
Thanx. Now that I'm much older I am significantly more forgiving of the faults of others, having faced my own. That being said, I will never forget the fervor of those who supported the Kennedys. I guess I'm just a bit different than those who are in awe of politicians.
Amazingly, I was having a conversation this morning with someone who said they were still "on the fence" about whether or not Bobby is a good choice. I responded, "For me, the most ringing endorsement is the opposition from his lifetime-politics family. They're all slimy to me."
Like Tulsi Gabbard, RFK has all the right enemies.
I was struck from the thumbnail how much she's beginning to resemble the evil old man, the patriarch/monster, Joseph Kennedy, Sr.
Joseph Kennedy was indeed a real number, wasn't he?
It's those insectoid glasses.
Just who does she think she is?
I'll tell you who she is—a little enole whose ancestor was a gila monster, that's who.
“…insectoid.” Wonderful writing. Her pinched face doesn't help, either.
I agree with your friend. Though I supported Trump. We cannot live in fantasies. Not all of his picks are going to work 110%. There will be bumps.
To each their own. Kennedy is one of the main reasons I was swayed towards Trump, along with Tulsi.
Yes.
True of everybody, eh.
Yes, but the trouble is that not every heavily flawed person is given power to play with. Things can get a bit explosive that way.
I share your sentiments. I'm 70. Like you, I was once enamored of this family - and then…
Yes, RFK has his flaws, as do we all, but he is honest to a fault. That's more than we can expect from most political operatives. I'm happy to see him on board. And if he pisses off the left, all the better. The "Great Unhinging" is a delicious byproduct of this administration. I admit that I love to see the left shitting themselves blind. And I'm too old to care what anyone thinks about my guilty pleasure. I was on the left for 48 years. I've earned the right to despise them for what they attempted to do the country.
I'm also 70 and was liberal for approximately 48 years, so your insights resonate with me. I quit the dems when I began to realize their policies, no matter how well intended, were often destructive. Now what I see is anger, denial, and hatred from the left because most of us have figured out the well-intended part was often just a cover to make money and little good happened. The pharm companies and the whole medical establishment are perfect examples. Like J.D. said, "I don't care what they think." I want real change with accountable outcomes.
Great post. We are not alone. I wish we had arrived sooner at the truth, but here we are. We will do what we can.👍🏼
Very well said thank you.
🙏🏽 thank you, and I love your handle. One of the best ever. 😂😂😂
Thank you -when I enrage liberals they attack the name and it gratifies me.
😂😂😂👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Same, except I’m 60. This is what happens when ego swallows heart. It sucks.
But I watched a great interview with Megyn Kelly today and she reminded viewers that Trump was a longtime Democrat before he ran. I predict that he will govern as a moderate.
What you said! 👏👏
Any chance there is some jealousy here? Kennedys were always very competitive. Maybe Caroline thought she was ahead with all her silly ambassadorships, in terms of carrying on the Kennedy Legacy? But RFK Jr is the real thing.
That was the vibe I was getting! You're the first I've seen to remark on it.
Bingo! She wanted to be Senator from New York when Hillary quit to become Obama's Secretary of State.
Kennedy found herself paraded around by Obama, took the veil as an ambassador to Japan, then was stifiously snubbed thereafter. Her cousin, on the other hand, was heeded by the new president an given a real job. Caroline is consumed by envy. Her ill raised son amplified her attitude by mocking RFK's spastic dysphoria in a video. The horrible attitude is painfully obvious.
The mockery of RFK, Jr's vocal disability shocked me. From a Kennedy? Whose great aunt began the Special Olympics? Whose grandfather was beset by severe illness his entire, brief life? Awful.
Er, "studiously" snubbed.
That was my thought too.
You could be right or perhaps she’s more like her dubious Uncle Teddy.
She is exposing just how vile and evil the left truly is. Her Father would be so ashamed of her.
Indeed: "Sometimes, party loyalty demands too much."
- John F. Kennedy
And has she forgotten that RFK, Sr., was killed while campaigning for the presidential nomination against the Democratic Establishment?
She knows but obviously has sold her soul many years ago. Her whole family benefits from the system and doesn’t want any truth about his or her father’s death
I don't think he would be, thst man had absolutely no business being the POTUS in the first place. His daddy bought him the Presidency.
What do you know about The Cuban Missile Crisis? Not one damned thing, I will bet. In choosing a blockade of Cuba in October, 1962, President Kennedy acted against the unanimous conviction of the ExComm group that we should do an overwhelming knockout strike of Cuba to capture the Soviet ICBMs and decapitate the Castro regime. The ExComm group were all of the government's top military and foreign policymakers, plus venerable elder statesmen such as Dean Acheson. Even Attorney General Robert F Kennedy, who was in on the deliberations, urged a strike, though later, he denied that he had ever been less than supportive of the President's view. ( Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan. )
JFK couldn't get past his instincts that there was something inherently wrong with what the rest wanted to do, and twenty - seven years after his assassination, we found out what that inherently wrong thing would have been:
When the Russians declassified The Venona Papers in the early 1990s, we learned to our horror that the Russians had snuck not just ICBMs into Cuba, but tactical nuclear weapons, as well. If JFK had gone along with the unanimous advice, the Russians would have used the tactical nukes against our invading troops. Kennedy would have been obligated to respond.
In 1962, we didn't have a hotline between The White House and The Kremlin. At one point on Saturday afternoon, October 27th, the most dangerous day of the most dangerous crisis in world history, Kennedy wanted to send a message to Khrushchev in Moscow. The White House had to phone Western Union. A few minutes later, a 15 year old kid who had a Saturday job for Western Union came by on his bicycle to pick up the message.
If Kennedy had done what the group wanted, we would have had nuclear immolation.
I'm having to do this in parts, which is what you get when you pay $39.99 for a phone.
Kennedy was a reader and a thinker. His thinking about Cuba in 1962 had been shaped by Barbara Tuchman's then new book about World War I, "The Guns of August." He knew how easily miscommunication and miscalculation could happen. If we had had a President with less guts, less moral courage, you and I wouldn't be having this exchange.
Then, of course, there is the whole matter of his extraordinary courage during World War II. He was one hell of a lot more than a rich boy whose Daddy bought him the Presidency.
I suggest you learn some history.
Bobby, why doncha enlighten the group here on the followup activities of JFK regarding the Bay of Pigs invasion. You know lots of history, they all might be interested in your views about that.
and your views as well, Max - thats what we're here for.
Yes, he was trying to get Castro killed. Operation Mongoose.
The Kennedys have a dark side.
Read deeply about the Skakels too. His mother's family. Much the same.
Although I believe it's true that Joe Kennedy bought the presidency - JFK himself made the joke that he had told his dad not to buy one vote more than necessary in Cook County - it's also true that the womanizing JFK showed real courage under fire, both in the Navy and in the Cuban Missile Crisis (see Bobby Lime's comment for details). JFK illustrated in colorful detail that humans are not ever perfect! All heroes have feet of clay. It's part of the human condition. IWe are a confusing puzzle of degrees of virtue ... and its opposite.
But there are also very strong and notable patterns in human behaviour categories which hint heavily as to which further behaviours and attitudes that person is going to have.
Sorry Jan....but life does work on patterns. It is not random. These patterns in themselves can potentially be changed by an individual, but it is work which few are willing to put in.
Funk yeah. I can hardly contain my joy and excitement for MAGA/MAHA. I never thought I’d see this kind of movement. Our leaders are flawed people but they are taking literal bullets for the American people.
I wasn't going to watch the video, but am glad I did. This is beyond sad. Haters are gonna hate. To do this to a family member is almost inhuman. I would like everyone to remember that it was Caroline and Uncle Teddy who passed the Kennedy mantle to Saint Barack and thereby, in a very significant way, unleashed the nightmare of the past 16 years upon us. She has absolutely no credibility.
Caroline is disgusted by cousin Bobby, but respects uncle Teddy who left a young woman to drown in order to save his political skin? She is a piece of work.
Democrats will celebrate Caroline. I could only stand so much of Caroline and didn't finish the video. She is the dangerous, uncaring, ignorant, arrogant human that populate the Democratic party. I think of Oregon's Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden are cut from the same cloth of profound ignorance and have decades of uncaring about the dismal declining health of American children. To my knowledge there is not one Democrat on the federal or state level that deserves any respect, period.
I couldn't finish either.
Me neither.
That’s the point in history that destroyed her credibility with me. Endorsing Obama was catastrophic to the country.
I think there's a chance the current Democrat Party could go the way of the Whigs.
Just saw this. They are so desperate. Have you seen her son? 🙄🙈
No I have not seen her son. What am I missing?
He seems to have stopped maturing mentally at about fourteen.
Great Diagnosis. There's no pill for that; just a downward spiral.
He’s on TikTok. Not funny and very cringey.
He's hideous. Made a video mimicking Bobby Kennedy's voice
What an ugly, ugly soul
I’m afraid that ugly soul is being reflected on her face. Sort of a reverse Dorian Gray.
She's my age and she looks like hell. I guess inner beauty does shine (or not)
I noticed that, as well, but didn’t think it was politically correct for a guy to say it.
I’ll say it. She’s ugly inside and out! 🤮
Caroline has not aged well, if that is what you mean. Too much strong Greek sun exposure, perhaps, on fair skin. No sunscreen in her youth.
She had a lot of grief in her younger years.
She and I are the same age. I have nowhere near the wrinkles she does, and I spend a lot of time in the sun. She's a hag.
I was struck by how much she's beginning to look like evil old Joe Kennedy.
I didn’t get that, but then I realized those round glasses complete the picture.
The good thing about the Left is how they eat one another.
And publicly virtue signal while they’re doing it!
I was surprised how angry her nasty remarks made me. I’ve never been interested in the family so didn’t pay attention until RFKJ interested me. It’s so - clearly a political hit job. Predator indeed - she is deliberately using a sexually charged word knowing some people won’t pursue information and assume “the family admits he’s a sexual predator.” Just inexcusable. Didn’t respect or disrespect her before since I wasn’t interested but now I feel she is unworthy of serious consideration.
A sexual predator? What about her father ?
Yup.
Although, much as I generally dislike Democrats and Kennedys, Caroline spoke some words of the truth there. RFK jr. may not be what he seems. I read several lengthy biographical pieces about him years ago, and he was quite a frightening individual. I am not sure he should be in that federal health position.
He wouldn't be my choice, or even on the list. He has his marching orders and probably will follow through. After that, who knows, but I strongly suspect he'll be gone within a year or so, well before the midterm election cycle.
All her babble about Bobby couldn't have anything to do with her $7 Billion in Pharma, now could it?
If the Dems are against him, I’m for him!
Agree. She is exactly why RFK needs to be confirmed. Aside from the fact that she's as bad of a swamp creature as there exists, it takes a horrible person to dump on your own family member.
Exactly! Talking about the drug abuse and RFKJ pulling other cousins into it? When she is “honest” about own her father’s many personal issues, I’ll take note of the dumping on the cousins.
If they, ( Trump and RFK) , save the life of just one child it’s worth it.
Kudos to all of you that could watch that whole video of Caroline. It made me sick to watch her air her cousin's past mistakes for everyone to see. I couldn't finish it. Calling him a predator with no explanation was evil. Is 'Bobby' perfect? No. He may not even be a good man, and honestly, I'm not sure how many good men there are in politics. If he can break the back of Big Pharma, straighten out the FDA, and clean up our food, then he will have done a great deal of good for America. That's good enough for me. Caroline can go you-know-what herself. And for Pete's sake, ditch the ugly glasses. They make you look stupid. There, rant over.
"Like everyone else, I grew up madly in love with the Kennedys."
Not me. I smelled a rat with the Kennedy clan from a young age. It was as if they were following scripts for looking like the perfect people. Something always rankled. They used their supposed Catholicism for gain, and never as what it is meant for.
Everything about the real Kennedys was about hypocrisy. They were simply the popular stars of the day, until they showed they had feet of clay and faded away. Apart from RFK jr., does anyone really think of them much anymore?
Every human across space and time is significantly was/is/will be significantly flawed. Great people like JFK, RFK, RFK Jr, tend to have their flaws more exposed than non great people like the rest of us. Despite the flaws of those three men, I think their primary motive was to make the world a better place and that accomplished much more in that effort than us or their contemporaries.
Libertarian, you and I often agree. But with the Kennedys, I stand by what I say. I think there were heavy Psychopathic traits running in that family. As do several experts. Not in every member of course. But in enough of them to cause trouble. Likely in the father Joseph Kennedy, for one. And his son Edward.
Of course, Psychopaths seeking power will be charismatic, smooth, and very appealing to the public. Because this moves them closer to what they want.
Henry Kissinger was a Psychopath, and it is speculated that so is Obama. High power attracts them, so there have probably been several over the centuries in the Presidential role.
Hey A, I don’t disagree with you about the rest of the Kennedy clan; my recollection though is that JFK, RFK and RFK Jr were/are significantly flawed but legit good American leaders.
Not RFK as a Psychopath, in my estimation; he seemed normal. But it has been asked whether JFK was psychopathic. He did live a life unseen by most Americans, even as President. The rest of it was scripted by PR. There is much material now to verify some dark traits. Too many.
Trouble is, most people really have no idea what Psychopathy is, or how it presents. In most cases, a Psychopath takes extreme care to mask what they are doing. They present a false persona, which is often extremely engaging. Like an actor.
👍
The thing is, Libertarian, that most high-functioning Psychopaths put on a very good act. They wear a mask. Think of Ted Bundy, for one. In many cases, even their spouses may be unaware of the Psychopathy until the worst happens.
Only the low-functioning or poorly connected Psychopaths end up in prison. The most talented of them are in the profitable and powerful jobs. White collar crime is a specialty of theirs, as in Bernie Madoff. And high politics suits them to a T.
Are you saying JFK, RFK and RFK Jr were/are psychopaths? If so, I completely disagree with it.
I think that RFK was normal, and perhaps even a good man.
With all due respect, how much about Psychopathy do you know? Most people know only what they see in Hollywood cliched movies. They totally misunderstand the phenomenon. And are shocked on learning the facts.
It isn't fair to call JFK a psychopath. He cried about the deaths The Bay of Pigs disaster caused, and when his son, Patrick, died in August, 1963.
During the week of The Cuban Missile Crisis, Jack and Bobby were sitting alone together. Jack was quiet. Bobby asked him what he was thinking about. Jack replied that he couldn't get out of his mind the number of children who would die in a nuclear war.
NOT a psychopath.
Bobby, how could you know these things? Were you a little bird sitting on his shoulder?
A hard core womanizer for sure but that does not make a psychopath. Teddy on the other hand does qualifiy.
I am basing it on more than womanizing, Richard. That is not enough for Psychopathy. Though most of them have insatiable appetites. Like Jeffrey Epstein.
I did some deep reading on JFK over the years. And I know Psychopathy in the academic sense. To me, there are red flags. I am not the only one to think so. RFK, on the other hand, came across to me as normal. While Ted Kennedy -- psychopathic.
I really object to such a facile diagnosis as "Henry Kissinger was a psychopath." And on what basis are you fit to make such a declaration? It occurs to me that pretending to be an expert on psychopaths, and able to identifdy them from twenty paces, might well be a good cover for a psychopath.
I’m considering that psychopaths are also children of God… we need all types of people. And people of all types, need God. The ones that do not put God first in their lives are the scary ones.
I agree, Melody. Although I don't know AA's criteria for diagnosing anyone in the news as a psychopath, I am sure that there are times in life when leaders have to be very ruthless to be effective. Fear of war intimidated Neville Chamberlain, but spurred Winston Churchill forward.
Well, Melody, that sounds like a way to get around uncomfortable truths here. If the Democrats had known Psychopaths in their ranks, everyone would take that fact and hammer them with it. Of that I am certain.
Psychopaths were created as human by God, but for one reason or another, became a portal for evil. They have no human empathy. And they would use people like you simply for games...as gullible prey.
Psychopaths very definitely do not put God first in their lives. They laugh at that!
I think you are a bit mixed up about what these people are.
"A Question of Character," by William Reeves.
I’m with you! Never cared for them.
I often think of "Camelot" JFK, what a bunch of bunk we were sold. When he was assassinated, I was 14 years old, & even then, I could see what a phony he was !
Perhaps you've forgotten that Kennedy was the first Catholic president, and that was a big deal at the time. Opponents charged he would be taking orders from the Vatican, while American Catholics rallied around him.
I doubt that seriously. You don't strike me as all that bright now.
What an astute and mature 14 year old you were!
Thanx. Now that I'm much older I am significantly more forgiving of the faults of others, having faced my own. That being said, I will never forget the fervor of those who supported the Kennedys. I guess I'm just a bit different than those who are in awe of politicians.
I saw through the Kennedys while I was young too. It's not so impossible. Some of us have those instincts even at an early age.
A. A. Welcome to the club.
I have very low skills in something like high-tech or mechanics (most teen boys outdo me), but I am highly skilled at human insight.
We all have our various talents.
You’re a lot different than all 14 year olds I have ever known as well.