Sunday, February 20, 2011

Sunday's Quote: The Kennedy mythos

A recent Gallup Poll revealed that John F. Kennedy still maintains the highest approval rating of any U.S. President, which once again proves the far-reaching appeal of the Camelot legend beyond any question.  One of my generation's more polished thinkers took issue with that:

"The most amazing aspect of the History Channel's decision to cancel The Kennedys -- apparently under pressure from the family itself and no doubt informed by the Hollywood Left's paranoid hatred of Joel Surnow, the ultraconservative cocreator [sic] and the driving force behind the series -- is how badly that decision misjudges what everyone, including liberals, already knows about the Kennedys: that the aristocracy of the family was polished gangsterism; the supposed rude young all-American health hid cigar-chomping and constant drug-demanding back pain; the Harvard education hid a respectful, gentlemanly avoidance of real learning; and as for the Kennedys' family life -- pity is the only decent emotion for women who got involved with those boys.

"As for JFK's achievements in office, particularly in foreign affairs, you don't have to be conservative to be skeptical.  His prevarication and his cynicism led not just to the Bay of Pigs but to Vietnam.  And yet history has not been kinder to any American leader; he is an icon of peace who did more to foster war than any American president until Bush."
-- from "Is This (Finally) the End of the Kennedys?" by Stephen Marche; Esquire, March 2011

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