The unimaginable, blatant corruption involving blackmail, theft of records, possibly murder, certainly payoffs is mind boggling and is evidence of that same kind of entitled liberal behavior we are witnessing today. To gain control, it would seem that nothing is beyond the pale. The fixing of elections, falsely attacking opponents and arranging positive personal publicity has been a long standing practice in the politics of the Kennedy family, and now, it seems it has spread to the party at large.
The Kennedy’s obviously believed that they were above the law, and their contacts insured that they were able to project and maintain that image. They slept with strange bedfellows, literally and figuratively. Somehow, their money and influence controlled all of the powers that be and their willing co-conspirators, a team of “good old boys”, went along with all of their schemes. Their friends were in high places, and they respected and revered the Kennedy name, yet it would seem, in retrospect, that it was an undeserved homage.
The book centers its focus on the scandals of the Kennedys and all of the people associated with them. They lived their lives with abandon, chewing up people and discarding them. They disregarded the laws that most people feel compelled to obey. Drugs and alcohol, sex in any form, and outright lies, seemed to be de rigueur for all of them. There was no law that was inviolable, no rule that they wouldn’t break, no lie that was beyond them in order to protect themselves or each other. There certainly was honor among those “thieves”. They seemed impervious to normal standards of decorum. For me, the worst observation about their lifestyles was the fact that those who could have exposed them for what they really were, actually supported their horrific behavior; they were actually in cahoots with them, colluded with them to protect them from scrutiny and appropriate verdicts and sentencing even when laws were broken beyond the shadow of a doubt; they prevented them from being punished and their victims from attaining appropriate retribution and justice. They painted a picture of the Kennedy’s that was indeed a fairytale, that truly was a fictional Camelot, but surely it did not exist in America. Yet the myth pervaded the country, especially after the death of JFK. They and the people surrounding them were dishonest, corrupt and corruptible. They were sycophants, plain and simple; but how could there have been so many, so willing to cover for them for their own fifteen minutes of fame?
There are secrets revealed in this book that are titillating, but today these same kinds of stories are not secrets, but are worn as badges of honor. President Clinton wore his badge named Monica Lewinski among others, without real detriment, and he still enjoys the praise and respect of his party and his followers, even as they cast aspersions and condemn those who have done far less. The Democrats were apparently corrupt for years under the Kennedy dynasty’s leadership, fixing affairs of the heart, hiding affairs of the heart and arranging affairs of the heart. They dealt with anyone who could advance their causes, bar none, and that may be ultimately what brought them down, in the end. You lie with dogs, you do get up with fleas.
The patriarch, Joe Kennedy was the worst one. Among other things he was a bigot. He began the crusade of lies, secrets and threats that invaded the family history. He used his money to buy influence and peddle it. He bought the office in the Senate for his son and later the Presidency as well. Still, those on the left don’t own up to this charade and still honor the memory of the Kennedys as superheroes, even though they were no better, in retrospect, than the mob. They were thugs. They were lords of the manor and had their own personal fiefdom. They also had more than their share of tragedy.
This first of a two volume tell-all book, will be an eye opener and a shocker for most readers who were brought up with the absolute fairytale idea of Camelot and JFK. Their collusion with mobsters, the bribes and the strong arm tactics they used seem quite truthfully, horrifying, and even more so today, because they are the stuff of reality, not fiction. One has to wonder if this kind of corruption continues. I am not sure that this book will be fully comprehended by those who have no real knowledge of politics in Massachusetts. In some cases, it felt as if the author assumed everyone who was going to read it was from Massachusetts and was familiar with the commonplace corruption and shenanigans still ongoing today in the party as a whole, a party that has, by and large, not played by the rules for years, as evidenced by their underhanded tactics in our most recent Presidential election of Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton. The book is not a fast read because there is so much “dirt”, that turns out to be real that it is hard to absorb it all at once.
On a practical note, I thought the heft of the book itself was too heavy, and it made it hard to handle easily. My advice for the second volume is to try and use paper stock that is lighter and more pliable. Also, since I couldn’t recognize all of the cartoon caricatures on the cover, I suggest they print a name underneath, or include a footnote identifying them. Also, after attending a very entertaining presentation of the book by Howie Carr and then reading the book, I realized he presented too much about the book in the public forum, so that when reading it, it felt repetitive. It would be better if he simply hinted at information in the book because exposing it with a detailed powerpoint presentation. It almost made it unnecessary to read the book, and it would be a shame if it didn’t get the readership it deserves.