we need the REAL RFK more than ever + poll

Here's a thought: many of us here either weren't born or very young when RFK was assasinated.  Yet we have marvelled at his transformation. Make no mistake, JFK's little brother was one mean enforcer...and that's putting it mildly. He sounded, early on, like a guy you had to be 100% loyal to, had to agree with, or you might make it on some mental "enemies" list.

He could be a righteous pain in the ass if you disagreed with him. Of course if you agreed with him, you knew the Kennedys ran the show.

I'll leave it to the armchair psychologists to dwell on his brother's assasination and all that goes with it. Evidently a lot. There were some bitter Eugene McCarthy supporters who hated him for his decision to enter the 1968 race and cast aspersions on ambition. But we remember his courageous speeches, and I for one don't think his exploring of poverty in America by going to Mississippi was fake. He had the look of someone where it was finally dawning on him what a load of crap he believed before. But what we need from our leaders, more than ever, is revealed in one little episode below the fold.

Here from a New York Times' book review on a Robert F. Kennedy biography, we have for me a defining moment of rare honesty in a public figure:

When a medical student asked him who would pay for better care for the poor, he answered bluntly: "You will." Measured by the poll-driven caution of the stereotypical politician, Kennedy's willingness to speak hard truths seems almost quaint. But it worked to inspire many voters, particularly those most alienated from conventional politics.

And to me, whether you support Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Ralph Nader, or Mike Gravel, that is what I want from my candidate.

Discuss.

•  tips/recs/I wish my wife was named Ethel

  by Belvedere Come Here Boy on Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 05:30:34 AM PDT

•  I was 9 years old but...

  I argued with my parents that they should support RFK over Gene McCarthy.  Within the last few years, both of my parents have admitted that I was right on that one!

  by howardpark on Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 05:35:31 AM PDT

•  I couldnt' vote in your poll

  John Edwards wasn't listed.

  by pucklady on Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 05:39:54 AM PDT

  •  my bad, but where IS JRE? eom

    by Belvedere Come Here Boy on Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 05:41:34 AM PDT

•  With all due respect, JFK and RFK

  would be outed today as extreme womanizers. It was only hinted at during their tenure, but all the gloves are off now.  How that would have affected RFK's run for the White House will never be known, but it would be a huge issue today.

  by JFinNe on Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 05:41:45 AM PDT

•  Womanizer

  An old-fashioned word. Nobody today can womanize, because it doesn't imply that the woman is evil for being womanized. Nowadays she'd have to have an A branded into her forehead no matter how discreet she was.

  I was an adult when all three K's were assassinated. I wouldn't have cared how many women they womanized if I could have had them back, as long as the women didn't mind.

  Trouble with today's womanizers is that they're breaking the cardinal rule.

  I don't care what you do, as long as you don't do it in the street and scare the horses.

  And oh by the way, have some respect for the reflecting pool and suchlike places.

  by JG in MD on Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 06:03:31 AM PDT