Ending the Boycott

As regular visitors are aware, yours truly does not spend much time on the 2008 presidential race in this space. It's fair to say I've avoided it.

Deliberately.

But now on the eve of "Super Tuesday," as we get down to the final TWO "horses" on each side...

PLUS, I just saw Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the assassinated president of my youth, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and niece of the assassinated presidential candidate of my youth, Robert F. Kennedy, tell me in a TV commercial to vote for Barack Obama for President of the States.

The indelible image of her as a child remains. I'd just turned 14 when her father, America's first Irish-Catholic President of the United States, was assassinated in Dallas. I was in a high school with Irish Christian Brothers in black cassocks in the front of the room. Brother John Dunne was at the front of my room at the time - religion class. [He also taught French and carried either a leather strap or wooden 2x4 for disciplinary reasons now considered aggravated assault/child abuse.]

Word came via the 2 PM end-of-day principal's send-off over the Iona Prep classroom intercom system. Brother Patrick Nagle ended whatever announcements he had soberly with, "And we ask your prayers for President Kennedy, who has been shot in Texas."

Instant gut level reaction: It's a joke! It can't be real! Beyond the beyonds! He's kidding!

We - most of us wiseguys - laughed!

Brother Dunne, however, realized he was deadly serious. He slammed the classroom door shut so hard it made the white chalk dance off the blackboard at the front of the room. And with the veins red in his neck, he screamed at us, his sophomore minions, along the lines of, "The president has been shot and you LAUGH about it?  What's WRONG with you? You should be ASHAMED of yourselves!!!"

As Brother Dunne let us out, I and others dashed to the school library which had the only television [black-and-white]. That's where I got the news. JFK was dead!

Sen. Teddy Kennedy, the only living brother of the president of America's "Camelot," has also endorsed Obama. So, too, has Maria Shriver, JFK's niece and wife of Arnold the Terminator, the Republican Governor of Colliephornkneeya

And, now, with Caroline also saying I should vote for Obama, who else matters, eh?

Mary Jo Kopechne?

Oh, that's right. Mary Jo cannot endorse anyone, can she?

 

Comments

[Phyllis]

Here's a reason to vote for Hillary. Only she can bring about universal health care, according to Paul Krugman:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/opinion/04krugman.html?hp

[Sir Winston Thriller]

Why are you bringing up Mary Jo Kopechne?

[JPC]

Ted Kennedy endorses Obama and that's a reason to vote for him? Last I checked Obama was still running from the tough votes in an effort to keep his squeaky clean image. Sorry, but that isn't the type of person I want running a country where there are unpopular and tough decisions that need to be made everyday. If I were forced to vote for Clinton or Obama, thankfully I'm not, Hillary maybe the better choice. Although, as for universal health care, I all I hear is that Hillary's plan won't work. So if that's the reasoning then you should rethink your vote.

[serenity450]

Having grown up in an uber-Republican home, I know all about Mary Jo Kopechne. Many thoughts on that--which I'll set aside for now (although I think it's outdated and irrelevant).

My question is: Why link to Wikipedia? Because of questoins surrounding content, many schools don't allow it as a reference.

[Vermonter]

Endorsements, I'll never understand them. Does anyone -- should anyone -- vote for a candidate because of what someone else says????

[Brattlerouser]

Go back to Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean. Look how far that got him in 2004.

[Aidan]

Hey, I'm also an Iona Prep grad ... though 2 years younger than you, but I sure remember Brother Dunne and his strap. That day was certainly a strange one ... I actually ended up at Iona Grammar School playing a championship football game, despite the assassination. Only the good old Irish Christian Brothers could pull that off.