February 8, 2010
Cooling The Kennedy Mystique
The Kennedy clan has to be wondering lately: "What the ____ (fill in blank) happened?" The past year has not been kind to America's Royal Family. With yet another brutal winter storm having virtually shut down America's capital, our liberal friends in those snowy climbs will have ample time to pause and reflect on the demise of the Kennedys during the past year.
First Caroline met with unexpected criticism in her quest to fill Hillary Clinton's term in the Senate, whereupon she withdrew from consideration. What the ____ (fill in blank) happened? She's JFK's daughter! She's Teddy's niece! Her uncle RFK was a senator from New York! Qualifications? For a Kennedy?
Then came that dark day when Teddy passed away. The last Kennedy brother (with the exception of Barack Obama) was gone, and with him his political and family influence. As the Liberal Lion prepared to face divine justice for Mary Jo Kopechne and other lesser crimes, the family was preparing to lay claim to "the Kennedy seat."
Joe Kennedy, Jr.'s name was floated as his uncle Teddy's rightful successor. Joe Jr. had served in Congress and looked like the logical choice to maintain the Kennedy legacy in the Senate. Then out of nowhere came stories of Joe Jr.'s connection to Hugo Chávez. Mark Tapscott in The Washington Examiner wrote:
There are at least three reasons why Joe Kennedy should not be a U.S. senator from any state. First, he's not only a defender of a declared enemy of the U.S., but is also guilty of shamelessly using that enemy's resources in an unsuccessful attempt to polish his own image here in America. I refer, of course to Kennedy's deal with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez under which the latter gives the former heating oil which is then sold to "the poor" in America.
What the ____ (fill in blank) happened? For the second time in a matter of mere months, a member of America's Royal Family withdrew from consideration for a legacy seat in the Senate.
After Massachusetts Democrats had found a successor to "the Kennedy seat," the clan came out to lend their family clout to the campaign. Patrick Kennedy, the only member of the clan still in Congress, joined his stepmother in support of "Marsha" Coakley, but to no avail. Republican Scott Brown won the special election for the Senate seat belonging to the people of Massachusetts.
Patrick Kennedy has recently referred to the election of Scott Brown as "a joke," and like his fellow Democrats (former President Clinton and future former President Obama), he has placed the blame squarely on "Marsha" (really it's Martha) Coakley's shoulders. Meanwhile, Patrick has had his own "what the ____ (fill in blank)" moment as his polling numbers inexplicably point to a defeat in this year's elections.
Perhaps RFK Jr. will be the one who can restore the luster to the Kennedy name. RFK Jr. has been flying around in private jets, working to save the planet from pending disaster. David Freddoso writing for The Washington Examiner provides us with this heartfelt recollection of winter in the capitol from RFK Jr.
I recall my uncle, President Kennedy, standing erect as he rode a toboggan in his top coat, never faltering until he slid into the boxwood at the bottom of the hill. Once my father, Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy, brought a delegation of visiting Eskimos home from the Justice Department for lunch at our house. They spend the afternoon building a great igloo in the deep snow in our backyard. My brothers and sisters played in the structure for several weeks before it began to melt. On weekend afternoons, we commonly joined hundreds of Georgetown residents for ice skating on Washington's C&O Canal, which these days rarely freezes enough to safely skate.Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil and its carbon cronies continue to pour money into think-thanks whose purpose is to deceive the American public into believing that global warming is a fantasy.
As Washington, D.C. is grappling with yet another colossal snowstorm this winter, we can only hope that somewhere in the skies over the capitol, there isn't a delegation of Eskimos looking for a safe place to land.