Why doesn't Bobby Kennedy run for president?

[orleans]

just saw a bit of him on (scarborough) and scarborough asked why bobby doesn't run for a public office.

yeah...why doesn't he run?

[Lucky Luciano]

1. Doesn't want to die?

:shrug:

[Tiggeroshii]

2. that's a good reason.... nt

[Richard Steele]

6. You beat me to it, Lucky L!

When was the last time a potentially-presidential Kennedy male died under ORDINARY circumstances?

The only reason Teddy is still alive is because his drinking/womanizing problem has provided his enemies with thousands of valuable pics and films over the years...

He is NEUTRALIZED as a REAL threat to fascism;
if he ever actually became POTUS it would be a victory for the Extortionists, not the Liberals!

Bobby isn't in that kind of position, so he knows darn well he would simply be killed.
I can't blame him for not running for DOG-CATCHER.

[patricia92243]

28. That;s it. I'll always say the reason the other Kennedys were killed is

because the Republicans did not want to see a Democrat dynasty started. I AM NOT talking about who pulled the trigger.

[Tiggeroshii]

3. We need a Kennedy in office without scandal...

Ted's great, but he can't be President cause of that fucking bridge incident. If we had a Kennedy like Bobby in public office that'd mean we'd have more Kennedy's in public office which would be good for everybody. Right now almost every democrat so far in Congress is a spineless punk(with the exception of Kennedy and a small, selective few others).

[libertad]

17. Unfortunately, I don't think there is such a thing (as a Kennedy without

a scandal). I admire most of the Kennedy's a great deal, but I think the fact that Bobby was a junkie in the past may be too much for the general public to accept. I think Ted Kennedy has done a lot for his country, too, but there was the auto accident, the booze, and the "womanizing".

[earthboundmisfit]

42. Well, they accepted a born-again boozing cokehead quite easily...

and he's squattin' in the Oval Office as we speak. Why does past bad judgement seem to actually help Rethugs, yet hurt the Dems?

[formernaderite]

19. No more legacy families....please

I won't vote for someone's relative, and have never understood why the child of a former congressman, senator or President is elgible in the public's eye to run for anything, particularly their former seat.

[Tiggeroshii]

33. Just the way things work....

It seems easier to generalize and come up with an assessment of how affective a person would be in a particular office if their father, grandfather, brother, sister or cousin did well in that same office. I think that we take into consideration too much the assumption that their genes give them a greater authority for those postions. I think Bush Sr. was a somewhat respectable man, but there is no chance his son even matches his level of competence or logic.

[Wetzelbill]

4. He's the Coolest man alive! I'd love that!!!!

RFK Jr. is about the closest thing to a hero that I have.

[grasswire]

5. there's a drug addiction problem in his past

Seriously. I don't know all the details, but I'm sure they're readily available through Google.

[orleans]

7. drugs......damn! it's always something, ain't it?

[Tiggeroshii]

8. we have a President who did CRACK and that is well concealed,

isn't there some way he could find a loophole to get past it?

[patricia92243]

29. No! Kennedy is a Democrat. Bush is a Republican - thus the difference.

[wicket]

16. His brother David ODed in the 80s

I didn't realize Bobby had a problem too.

[bunny planet]

25. That was his brother David, who OD'ed

[maryallen]

43. Being a drug addict and alcoholic didn't hurt Shrub ...

Not to mention being a deserter, a liar, an incompetent, and the man responsible for 1700 American and 10,000 (?) Iraqi deaths ...

[alittlelark]

9. His voice is shot.

I'm not sure why, but it sounds horrible. Imagine the debates. His ideas are brilliant - he needs to find a candidate to back, and give advice to.... but he cannot speak well.... at all. If surgery could have helped the situation I assume they would have done so. It's very sad. His voice hurts the ears.

I speak from experience as a voice talent professional.

[baron j]

10. He would be useless as a figurehead. He can do more good,

and get more done, where he is at.

[cestpaspossible]

11. His speech problem is one hurdle.

I forget what causes it...

[SharonRB]

31. I don't remember the name of it, but he does have

some kind of illness/disability. It's the same thing Diane Riehms of of WAMU on NPR has. They both get treatments occasionally that I believe use Botox injections in the throat or something like that.

[AmericanDream]

12. Run for president? What gives him the credibility to start at the top?

Some other public office? Definitely!! The senate would be a good start. If some other democrat with great ideas was thinking about running straight for the presidency, people would call him arrogant and over-ambitious; but since he's a kennedy, I believe he gets a pass?!? Or is there something I do not know?

[AmericanDream]

13. Oops! Duplicate post....

[Senior citizen]

14. Lucky Lu said it all in the first response.

If JFK Jr. had a drug problem and has a voice problem, I'll bet both can be traced back to the same thing--that he doesn't want to be assassinated. Everyone dies and I'm sure he is better prepared than most of us. So what does a kid do when a whole country is suffering from the right wing coup that took place when his dad was assassinated, and lots of people would like him to take his dad's place? If it was me I think I'd use drugs, and I'd probably try to kill myself, but I doubt if he went that far. He IS like his dad, and he has done a lot of great stuff and is still doing it. But I'd never ask him to run for public office. Of course if some miracle happened and we took the country back, he'd probably be willing to serve in whatever capacity was most appropriate, probably Secretary of the Interior. Come to think of it, any miracle that could enable us to take our country back, would probably enable us to overlook any speech problems and elect a President on character and concepts alone.

Since everyone knows Cuckoobananas had coke and booze addictions and has had about 100 White House visits from a gay prostitute, I doubt if little things like that matter any more. The only impeachable offense these days is being a Democrat.

[no_hypocrisy]

15. He's getting more done on this side of the WH fence.

Whenever a civil servant is getting something accomplished that in reality government really doesn't want to see improved, that employee is either promoted to a position where s/he is incompetent (Peter Principle) or encouraged to run for office where her/his talents will lay to waste with the perpetual quest for the status quo.

Bobby is the clarion wake-up call and a moral leader as a writer and researcher. He gets the FACTS to folks like us which is far more valuable than being a figurehead. Don't forget, as a leader, he has to get the majority of Congress to go along with him. No guarantee there.

[1932]

18. The rumor on the streets is that he will run for president.

Probably he's doing it to make sure the environment and anti-neoliberalism is on the table for 2008, and he probably won't be doing it to win.

My guess is that he'll attach himself clearly to a set of ideas and then transfer what he builds up to the eventual nominee through a very public endorsement and campaigning.

[earth mom]

20. I would LOVE to see this happen....but the BFEE won't so

be careful Bobby!

[1932]

21. I'm not saying RFK Jr wouldn't make a great contribution to the debate

but I think you're overstating the risk of death.

He's no MLK or JFK or RFK, and it has been a while since the RW death squads have gone after anyone of that stature anyway (Welstone notwithstanding).

Also, I find it a curious response on a public liberal discussion board to imediately associate a risk of death to speaking out.

[earth mom]

22. Sorry but...You don't know much about the BFEE do you?

Welcome to DU BTW! :)

[1932]

23. No need to apologize.

I'm just saying -- even if I'm wrong -- people's first thought about speaking out shouldn't be that they're going to be killed.

The BFEE would never have to kill a single person and they could get exactly what they want if everyone's afraid to speak up publicly.

And especially RFK Jr. Are they shooting people for talking about the environment now?

[earth mom]

27. The popularity of the Kennedy family is what the BFEE fears and loathes.

For Bobby to stick his neck out on environmental issues and his recent exposure of the cover up by Big Pharma and the Government about the connection between Vaccines, Mercury and Autism is nothing short of heroic.

All of this combined makes him an even greater threat and even bigger target if he decides to run for the presidency.

[orleans]

37. what's the bfee?

[Lucky Luciano]

44. Bush Family Evil Empire

[quaoar]

24. Here's some info on his heroin charge

It is actually a great story of redemption. I think he'd be a fabulous candidate.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/18/48hours/main607225.shtml

By 1983, Bobby had become a successful young lawyer, and a serious heroin addict. “Bobby had this kind of arrogance that he could manage everything,” says Leamer. “He could manage being the true bearer of his family's legacy and living a kind of fairly wanton life with drugs and alcohol."

The delusion ended that year when Bobby was busted with heroin on a plane in South Dakota. The next year, his younger brother David died in Florida from a drug overdose.

“I’ll say this. Everyone’s given something to overcome. My addiction was a gift because I learned a lot about myself,” says Bobby. “I felt like I'd squandered a lot of the things that I'd been given, and that somehow, I had to turn those 10 wasted years into something good.”

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[bunny planet]

26. Oops, I hadn't realized that Bobby also had a drug problem. I thought it

was just his brother David, who died.

[Moderator]

32. quaoar

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragarphs from the
copyrighted news source.



Thank you.


DU Moderator

[powergirl]

30. HE SHOULD RUN BECAUSE HE'S CUTE!

Not to sound simple - but your basic voting public votes for candidates that appear friendly and attractive. I believe it is well established that, on the whole, Dems are much more attractive than Repubs ( just take a gander at Hannidate - yikes!)

He is also passionately devoted to environmental issues. :woohoo:

[orleans]

35. i think you should email him and tell him to run because he's cute!

:evilgrin:

[genius]

34. He's a great environmentalist. I've always thought he should run.

And if since we already have a cokehead with no brain in the White House, they shouldn't hold his drug usage from 25 years ago against him.

[AntiCoup2K4]

36. If I saw my dad and uncle get murdered when I was a kid....

....not to mention a shitload of other very publicized family tragedies, I would definitely want out of the "family business", so to speak, or at least the most public levels of it.

Also, after listening to Bobby on Air America, it's clear that he's not the gifted speaker that his dad and uncle were. Writing seems to be his strength, and maybe that's where he should continue. Though I certainly could see a cabinet position for him, such as EPA or Sec. of the Interior in a Democratic administration.

[orleans]

39. i'd love to see bobby somewhere in the government

anywhere. i know he's doing such a good job, and working so hard with riverkeepers and the nrdc--

plus his book was great


http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1120-01.htm

[OzarkDem]

38. He would be excellent

in any future Dem Cabinet, like his father. He's also cute, I've had a secret crush since we were both about age 15 :loveya:

[FreedomAngel82]

40. I don't know

From my understanding he's more involved in the enviornmental parts of politics. Why doesn't Ted Kennedy run again?

[Nikki Stone 1]

41. I personally would like to see a real Kennedy in high office

and not any more Austrian oafs who have married into the family.:dunce: