Clash in the Clan

or "The Irish Civil War"
And at this time I would like to point out again that JFK was horribly overrated- he may have been inspirational or whatever but he didn't actually get anything done while he was addicted to pain killers and extramarital affairs
while Dorothy Mantooth, I mean Bobby Kennedy was a saint (Santo Subito!)

From an L.A. Times Op/Ed
“Kennedys for Clinton”
By Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kerry Kennedy

This is a wonderful year for Democrats. Our party is blessed with the most impressive array of primary candidates in modern history. All would make superb presidents.

By now you may have read or heard that our cousin, Caroline Kennedy, and our uncle, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, have come out in favor of Sen. Barack Obama. We, however, are supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton because we believe that she is the strongest candidate for our party and our country.

While talk of unity and compromise are inspiring to a nation wary of divisiveness, America stands at a historic crossroads where real issues divide our political landscapes. Democrats believe that America should not be torturing people, eavesdropping on our citizens or imprisoning them without habeas corpus or other constitutional rights. We should not be an imperial power. We need healthcare for all and a clean, safe environment.

The loftiest poetry will not solve these issues. We need a president willing to engage in a fistfight to safeguard and restore our national virtues.

We have worked with Hillary Clinton for 15 years (and in Kathleen's case, 25 years) and witnessed the power and depth of her convictions firsthand. We've seen her formidable work ethic, courage in the face of adversity and her dignity and clear head in crisis. We've also seen her two-fisted willingness to enter the brawl when America's principles are challenged. Her measured rhetoric, political savvy and pragmatism shield the heart of our nation's most determined and most democratic warrior.

She has been an uncompromising and loyal ally for each of us in our battles to protect the environment and to promote human rights around the world and juvenile justice in America. Hillary is a problem-solver, listening to people and then achieving solutions by changing attitudes.

Her transformational leadership was on display when she ran for the Senate seat in New York that had been held by our father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. She faced rabid, heavily funded attacks from the far right and the challenge of prevailing in traditionally Republican upstate New York. Traveling with her, we watched admiringly as she persuasively articulated an inspiring and unifying vision rooted in American values and history. Then, through patience, hard work, leadership and political acumen, she transformed many of those rock-solid conservative counties into solid Democratic strongholds.

We look forward to working beside her in the general election as she uses those same talents to change once rigid opinions and political affiliations across the nation.

Like our father, Hillary has devoted her life to embracing and including those on the bottom rung of society's ladder -- giving voice to the alienated and disenfranchised and working to alleviate poverty and injustice, while urging that we cannot advance ourselves as a nation by leaving our poorer brothers and sisters behind.

She's been an equally effective champion for human rights and for women's rights, a worldwide cause that will profit enormously by her elevation to the presidency. She has worked for peace in Northern Ireland and fought to bridge religious, racial and ethnic divides from Bosnia to the Middle East to South Africa. She has shown a rare understanding that American values can only be exported by moral leadership, by a strong home economy and by a detailed understanding of the history and cultural backdrops of the nations we engage.

She understands, as our current administration does not, the uses of power. The world, she says, is hungry for U.S. leadership but will not accept our bullying. She knows the difference and will reestablish America's lost prestige and moral authority.

Hillary Clinton's political career has been centered in comforting the afflicted, afflicting the comfortable and reminding Americans what it means to be American. As a young lawyer, she focused on children's issues and legal aid. As first lady of Arkansas, she brought healthcare to rural areas and helped reform the state's lagging education system.

As first lady, she courageously took on healthcare reform. When a massive propaganda campaign by Big Pharma and the radical right derailed her efforts, she didn't give up. She helped create the nationally acclaimed Children's Health Insurance Program. That kind of persistence in pursuit of our highest ideals is the brand of leadership America now requires. Inspirational leadership comes in many forms.

Seldom has history confronted America with such daunting challenges: a catastrophic foreign policy that has cost us our international leadership and aggravated the threat of terror; a misbegotten war that is squandering precious American lives and treasure; a healthcare system that leaves millions of Americans without coverage; irresponsible corporate power that is corroding our democracy and outsourcing our jobs, aggravating global warming and other environmental crises and reducing our economy to shambles.

We need a leader who is battle-tested, resilient and sure-footed on the shifting landscapes of domestic and foreign policy. Hillary Clinton will move our country forward while promoting its noblest ideals.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an environmental advocate and Kerry Kennedy is a human rights activist.

So let’s see Barack got the endorsement of the screw up drunk of the family who only got elected because he was the brother of a president and another popular leader and then just kinda hung around because there’s some special magic with the Kennedy name (oh and left a woman to day) and his drunk of a son Patrick and of JFK’s daughter who is famous for being, well JFK’s daughter and of writing children’s books

While Hillary was endorsed by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend who was able to run in and right an difficult gubernatorial race in Maryland being elected Lt. Governor and giving the Democrats another Governorship and who is now " chair of the Institute for Human Virology at the University of Maryland, and also serves on the boards of directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, Points of Light Foundation, Center for American Progress, and National Catholic Reporter. She is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and the Inter-American Dialogue, as well as adjunct Professor at Georgetown University's School of Public Policy and Visiting Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard"
Kerry Kennedy who is an amazing and inspiring social activist and has received "high honors from President Lech Walesa of Poland for aiding the Solidarity movement. She has received awards from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for leadership in abolishing the death penalty, and the American Jewish Congress of the Metropolitan Region, the Emerald Isle Immigration Society, and the Institute for the Italian American experience three I’s award for outstanding efforts and achievements for human rights. She was named Woman of the Year 2001 by Save the Children, received the Crossing Boarders Award from the Feminist press in 2003, Humanitarian of the Year Award from the South Asian Media Awards Foundation, and the Prima Donna Award from Montalcino Vineyards and was awarded the Gold Mercury Award for Humanitarian Action 2006 for her efforts in defending human rights activists" and of course Bobby Kennedy Jr who is a nationally renowned respected environmental leader who if not for a weak and damaged voice due to Spasmodic dysphonia I would have supported for President to continue the work his father started.

Once again a battle of style versus substance, flash vs function, something that starts with one letter vs something else that starts with the same letter but means the opposite if not mutually exclusively. and all that jazz.

To be honest I really don't care at all about "The Kennedy Mystique"- the good ones died like at least 15 years before I was born, my image of JFK is back and to the left- and all the rest have been druggies or rapists or cocky socialites who fly their plans in weather they're not experienced enough to- it's just not my generation (though this is an amazing photo), but I guess some old people do still care about "Camelot"...but even Guinevere cheated on her husband the King with his chief knight. Idealism always cracks and falls away when it is let out into the cold open winds of the world.

I'm just left to wonder who Joe P. Kennedy Jr's kids would've endorsed; he was the best of them all, so I'm going to guess...John Edwards (because I'll for him until the bitterest of ends)

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