RFK, Jr. — Another Joke from the Kennedy Family

He is the perennial punchline. We have all heard a multitude of good jokes about Robert Kennedy Jr., most especially the more serious one about how every day he metaphorically spits on the grave of his uncle, JFK, by continuing to tarnish the Kennedy name that once stood for greatness, but which now stands for decadence. Arrested for heroin possession in 1983, the illustrious Bobby Jr. is now a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper, and president of Waterkeeper Alliance. In other words, he is a no good tree-hugger, with a knack for making outrageous comparisons and for frequently telling downright lies. With his track record, RFK Jr. could piss off the Pope. As a consequence, Brown University thought him the best man to be the keynote speaker for this year’s Parent’s Weekend.

When I first set out to do a little research on this guy, I did not plan to discredit him—and by extension, Brown University for bringing him to speak—so vigorously. All that I knew about him was that he involved himself heavily in environmental causes and that he had a penchant for behaving like a deranged mental patient, much like his uncle Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate. After doing only a little research, I found that he is a much more sinister individual. After doing much research, I am compelled to nominate him for dunce of the century.

Kennedy’s list of intellectual faux pas are far too numerous and humiliating for me to include in this piece, but there are several on which I would like to offer comment. First, there is his relatively recent book, Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and his Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy (2004). One should note that Brown University conveniently neglected to include this book in its official flyer promoting Kennedy as the keynote speaker. It did, and quite courageously I might add, include St. Francis of Assisi: A Life of Joy (2005). I guess that, somewhere between the heroin conviction and his divorce, Kennedy realized that he is a Catholic.

One excerpt from Kennedy’s book states: “My American Heritage Dictionary defines fascism as ‘a system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership together with belligerent nationalism.’ Sound familiar?” Further, upon quoting the advice of Herman Goerring, Adolf Hitler’s second-incommand, and describing the rise of Hitler in the 1930s, Kennedy writes, “The White House has clearly grasped the lesson.”

Kennedy is a joke, whose mere existence is the real crime against nature. The fact that this supposedly “fascist” administration has not executed Kennedy is evidence enough that President Bush is no 21st century Hitler. I should not even have to prove this, though. There is no moral equivalency between Adolf Hitler and President Bush, or between fascism and the policies of the current administration. It is a shame that I am reconsidering my favorable opinion of the original RFK because of the idiocy of the son that he reproduced.