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People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Irish America needs a new first family and not the Kennedys - Camelot dream long since lost as next generation screws it up

Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2012 at 08:18 AM
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Irish America needs a new first family. The Kennedys have become downright creepy.

For generations we were willing to bask in the reflected glow of Camelot and all that, but that afterglow has long vanished.

Now we have a bunch of malcontents, neer do wells, druggies, drunks and downright losers.

Still, we shine the light and hope that it will reflect back on us. No more says I.

Kerry Kennedy is the last straw. Apart from her broken marriage to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, she had rarely been in the headlines. She was a committed human rights worker and a dedicated mother.

Now she’s just another Kennedy problem child (at 52), arrested and allegedly under the influence after a crash in Westchester, New York, where she drove off.

I just don’t get it. There are lots of families born into privilege who end up doing the right things.

The Bushes are one such family. George W. sobered up and became president. Jeb Bush continues to speak eloquently on issues such as immigration. Their kids seem exemplary.

The Kennedys, on the other hand, are unable to handle their wealth and status. I won’t even go into the family’s litany of accidents, overdoses, etc.  It makes depressing reading.

Apart from young Joe Kennedy in Massachusetts, who is running for a congressional seat and seems to have his priorities right, there is very little good to say about individual Kennedys, unfortunately.

Which is why Irish America needs to leave that particular fantasy of another Kennedy dynasty down the road firmly aside.

We need to start looking for new leaders. The Bidens are an example of an upstanding, all American group intensely proud of their Irish heritage for instance.

The sooner we put the Kennedys in the rear view mirror the better.


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51 comments

Next Page 1 of 4 pages
cillowen | Aug 01, 2012, 09:09 PM EDT
looking for a family to use as a family

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cillowen | Aug 01, 2012, 09:08 PM EDT
test ................................................

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cillowen | Aug 01, 2012, 09:08 PM EDT
test

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Martin T. Quinn | Jul 21, 2012, 03:47 PM EDT
Every one is looking for a family to use as a family to use as the new Masai. Can it be that people in there search are overlooking the one family that is the most important. There own.......

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Martin T. Quinn | Jul 17, 2012, 07:17 AM EDT
McNamara31 You should red a bit more. Kennedy escalated the readiness of US first strike forces while aware that the USSR forces were stood down. General Jack Catton CO 822d Air Division stated that 'the Russians were so thoroughly stood down, and we knew it...We were never further from nuclear war than at the time of Cuba, never further.' Kennedy was posturing at the time... trying to make himself the big man. He continued to threaten to invade Cuba using the Soviet missiles and planes as the excuse, but don't forget, it was Kennedys' policy to invade Cuba even before he knew about the missiles. Castro asked the SOviets for the missles to prevent any US invasion. The Russiuns used unpublicised channels to provide a get out to Kennedy... that was the removal of the Jupiter missiles from Turkey. You are correct that McNamara suggested no action cause at the time the US had approx 3000 nuclear weapons capable of hitting USSR while USSR had 300 that could hit the US. Kennedy was a posturing bully.

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luxefaire | Jul 16, 2012, 06:35 PM EDT
we would much rather get over the bush crime family, but apparently that is not an option, as they have already been bought and paid for by the internationalists who really do not have Americas best interest in mind....to the contrary, they are just carrion feeders, and they have done their best to destroy what this country is about...they all do not speak fluent spanish for no reason, don't you know? Project elephant herd, and electronic mind control are just a few of the predations they have introduced here....they are the errand boys of israel, and are also mormon pawns. Money and conflict are their gods. It looks like they will illegally be appointed (jeb and mitt, mitt and jeb, my prediction from 3 years ago still stands) in the whitehouse, by hacking the electronic voting machines or by whatever means of cheating they can come up with, it is their forte...goodbye America, one book was good enough for you....b

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Sheilah | Jul 16, 2012, 02:33 PM EDT
well thankfully, we're not all fair weathered friends - Jeb Bush's daughter Noelle was arrested for drugs and sent to rehab for repeated use of same - his wife was arrested in Fl for failing to report net worth of items she bought in France- one of the Bush sons was forever banned from banking in USA for fraud in Texas banking - why should we forget the Kennedy's - many children of famous people get into trouble - in politics, in Hollywood, etc etc.

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McNamara31 | Jul 16, 2012, 12:49 PM EDT
@Schon... Do a bit more reading on the subject. My facts are right. Khrushchev and Kennedy were in dialogue. The heads of the American military were pushing Kennedy to make a strike. It was because Kennedy and McNamara both kept "cool, rational" heads, that nuclear disaster was avoided. At the time, their were 162 missiles positioned in Cuba (at us) and Castro told Khrushchev to give him the "go ahead" The truth is Kennedy and Khrushchev (both) went against pressure from their military leadership and avoided the crisis. Also years later it was learned Kennedy had agreed to withdraw the U.S. missiles from Turkey which had been the major reason for contention in the first place.

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cavan61 | Jul 16, 2012, 11:32 AM EDT
Mr. Roberts, you've stated the unpleasant truth. The baby-boom generation of Kennedys is not as great as their parents. Although the boomers were blessed with wealth, connections, and public goodwill, they are not the source of Irish pride that their parents were. Although I could make excuses for them (eg., the assassinations of JFK and RFK) it would be best to simply let them fade into obscurity. Most of them seem to be avoiding publicity as much as possible.

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Schon | Jul 16, 2012, 08:54 AM EDT
Yo McNamara31, get your facts right. It was Kennedy that brought the world to crisis with his standoff between himself and Kruschev over the Cuban missiles debacle. It was Kruschev who was the big man and stood down. It was Kennedy that authorised the Bay of Pigs fiasco and then withdrew support for the action, after the landings! It was Kennedy policy of involving the US in Vietnam, the policy that Lyndon Johnson continued to his personal regrets. Kennedy was too busy screwing people, literally and figuratively, to be an effective leader. His da bought him the Presidency. The same da that urged Roosevelt to support the Nazis.

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mayoman | Jul 16, 2012, 08:53 AM EDT
Patrick Roberts is better than this tripe.

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hillofcroghan | Jul 16, 2012, 07:00 AM EDT
What an idiotic article, and to propose the Bush's as exemplary, dear god.

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IrelandNorth | Jul 16, 2012, 05:27 AM EDT
Citizens of the United States of America (USA), and the Republic for which it stands, need to dispense with a residual peculiarly Anglo-centric need for a first family. USA is a Republic, for God's sake, not the 13 colonies of a megalomaniacle English king. Time to grow up politically, guys, unike the terminally infanticised Angles and their imperialised British franchisees. After all, it's a bit rich for Irish-America to be reimporting a system of political family surrogacy which their ancestors fought so hard to rid Ireland from.

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McNamara31 | Jul 15, 2012, 09:46 PM EDT
Such Crapola! Mr. Roberts should go back and read the accounts of how two Irishmen saved the world from nuclear obliteration in October 1962. One was John Kennedy (and the other Robert McNamara) The Kennedy's are like all families, a combination of saints and sinners however the Kennedy legacy is filled with far more good than bad. And an Irish paper should realize that.

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DaisyBright | Jul 15, 2012, 08:31 PM EDT
"Camelot"- the misguided and exaggerated symbol of the Kennedys has been in a downhill slide since 1963. It had nowhere else to go did it? Many of the family's current members look to be concerned solely with whatever press they can get, good or bad and while a few appear to lead productive and low-profile lives,it is RFK's kids who are providing the bulk of the current tabloid fodder. Bad choices, thinking they are above the law perhaps- lots of reasons. I don't believe Americans feel they need a royal family though and have grown beyond tired of the Kennedys. It would be best for the country and that family if they just went away for a few decades.

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