Robert Kennedy jr. about to run for president

[Paul Brancato]

Ron - any luck today?

 

[Ron Bulman]

1 hour ago, Paul Brancato said:

Ron - any luck today?

 

Nope.  Just tried it same thing.  I was watching Robbie Robertsons Out of the Blank latest Bart Kamp interview last night with no problems.  

[Paul Brancato]

On 3/17/2023 at 6:32 AM, Karl Kinaski said:

Speech, RFK jr.

Karl - where did you locate this speech? It’s not on YouTube, though a brief news story covering the speech is. Our own Member Ron could not play the link you posted. I’m concerned, and think it would be good to try again. 

[Karl Kinaski]

With JFK not shot there would have been no Vietnam war. With JFK junior in the White House , there would have been no second Iraq war. With Trump in a second terme, there would have been no Ukraine-war and with RFK jr there will be no Ukraine war no more. This proxy war sh*t has got to stop. If I were a US citizen I d know whom to give my vote. -- this article endorsed by RFK jr, on Twitter IMO gives some clues where he would stand regarding his foreign policy: In line with his murdered father and murdered uncle.  

 

Quote

Robert F. Kennedy Jr
@RobertKennedyJr: "13h @ChrisLynnHedges nails it! As Eisenhower warned, the military-industrial complex has devastated our Democracy, impoverished our middle class, sewed chaos across the globe + obliterated our moral authority. Today, both political parties are the war party."

 

Edited March 22, 2023 by Karl Kinaski

[John Cotter]

8 hours ago, Karl Kinaski said:

With JFK not shot there would have been no Vietnam war. With JFK junior in the White House , there would have been no second Iraq war. With Trump in a second terme, there would have been no Ukraine-war and with RFK jr there will be no Ukraine war no more. This proxy war sh*t has got to stop. If I were a US citizen I d know whom to give my vote. -- this article endorsed by RFK jr, on Twitter IMO gives some clues where he would stand regarding his foreign policy: In line with his murdered father and murdered uncle.  

 

 

Amen to that.

[Paul Brancato]

10 hours ago, Karl Kinaski said:

With JFK not shot there would have been no Vietnam war. With JFK junior in the White House , there would have been no second Iraq war. With Trump in a second terme, there would have been no Ukraine-war and with RFK jr there will be no Ukraine war no more. This proxy war sh*t has got to stop. If I were a US citizen I d know whom to give my vote. -- this article endorsed by RFK jr, on Twitter IMO gives some clues where he would stand regarding his foreign policy: In line with his murdered father and murdered uncle.  

 

 

Second the amen. Chris Hedges tells it like it is. 

[Guest]

On 3/22/2023 at 8:41 PM, Paul Brancato said:

Second the amen. Chris Hedges tells it like it is. 

Amen x 3 

Hedges speaks a lot of truth. 

[Karl Kinaski]

RFK Junior's attempt to crush governement censorship.

[Michael Griffith]

He's not a viable candidate because his voice is now so weak and scratchy. It's hard to understand him when he speaks. He suffers from spasmodic dysphonia.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[Paul Brancato]

3 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

He's not a viable candidate because his voice is now so weak and scratchy. It's hard to understand him when he speaks. He suffers from spasmodic dysphonia.

You think that people won’t vote for a presidential candidate with a  disability? I don’t find it hard to listen to him. I would if he was untruthful, or in the pockets of billionaires. He’s not either. 

[Greg Doudna]

I reject his anti-vaxism and demonization of Fauci, but despite those disagreements I like him, because he’s the closest thing to a jfk/rfk legacy revival and because unlike turncoats to the right, RFK, Jr does not strike as having done that. He is core democratic left in soul and values in keeping with his father’s 1968 campaign values, despite liking of him by Fox News and many on the right, capable of crossover appeal. 

But the example of Bernie Sanders who had a statistical majority of the Democratic voter base favoring him as their preferred choice (but some of whom went for Hillary in 2016 and then Biden in 2020 nevertheless on perceived electability grounds) … shows an outsider to the Democratic Party establishment cannot win the nomination without the support of some significant sector of that establishment which Sanders did not have and which RFK Jr would have vastly even less. Most likely he will be fringe and a blip on the campaign if he does run, unlikely to win or do well in early primaries. Really a long long shot, in a 2024 election in which every voter in America will be voting motivated from stark terror above any other factor, up or down for or against fascism.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Greg Doudna

[Michael Griffith]

1 hour ago, Paul Brancato said:

You think that people won’t vote for a presidential candidate with a  disability? I don’t find it hard to listen to him. I would if he was untruthful, or in the pockets of billionaires. He’s not either. 

I'm saying that I believe his voice makes him an unviable candidate. I agree that in a perfect world his voice should not matter, but we don't live in such a world. 

Some of his anti-vax views concern me. I generally favor vaxing, but I know there are valid concerns about some vaccines. I agree with most of his criticisms of Fauci. I like his idea of tax cuts for restorative/regenerative farming. I think many of his views on the environment are based on junk science.

 

 

[Leslie Sharp]

5 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

He's not a viable candidate because his voice is now so weak and scratchy. It's hard to understand him when he speaks. He suffers from spasmodic dysphonia.

Diane Rehm has maintained a captive audience for over a decade.

We need these voices!  (as a side note, have you listened to Joe Tacopina. Which reminds me, Trump's voice is quite annoying yet he won an election.  Then again, he lost the next one but likely his tenor had nothing to do with that loss. I digress...)

"Investigations, Indictments, And The Political Future Of Donald Trump" — Diane Rehm, Mar 23 WAMU

https://wamu.org/story/23/03/23/investigations-indictments-and-the-political-future-of-donald-trump/

Edited March 30, 2023 by Leslie Sharp

[Leslie Sharp]

2 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

I reject his anti-vaxism and demonization of Fauci, but aside from that I would like to see him run and win and I think I would vote for him despite those disagreements, because he’s the closest thing to a jfk/rfk legacy revival, motivation and possibly ability to open the cans of worms surrounding the ‘60’s assassinations, and because unlike turncoats to the right, RFK, Jr does not strike as having done that. He is true blue core democratic left in soul and values in keeping with his father’s 1968 campaign values, despite liking of him by Fox News and many on the right. A rare authentic left (in values and core soul) capable of significant crossover appeal. 
 

On the voice problem, that didn’t stop Stephen Hawkings from large-scale and deserved adulation. A sympathy factor, voice for disabilities in general? But the example of Bernie Sanders who actually had a statistical majority of Democratic voters liking him best (but some of whom went for Hillary in 2016 and then Biden in 2020 nevertheless on perceived electability grounds) … shows an outsider to the Democratic Party establishment cannot win the nomination without the support of that establishment which Sanders did not have and which RFK Jr would have vastly even less. Most likely he will be fringe and a blip on the campaign if he does run, unlikely to win or do well in early primaries. Also weak on experience and competence criteria. Really a long long shot, in a 2024 election in which every voter in America will be voting motivated from stark terror above any other factor, up or down for or against fascism.

Should RFK Jr. decide to run,  his campaign will be compelled to explain his actual take on vaccines. For now, he seems to be comfortable with the ambiguity, but once he's on the campaign trail and defines his stance, the crossover appeal will be diminished significantly. And I don't think he can invoke his belated public stance on the assassinations of his father and uncle, having remained relatively agnostic for decades. 

The reality that anyone can use the phrase for or against fascism without a blink of an eye, metaphorically, is evidence that fascism has seeped into the collective American psyche yet again.

Having endured the coverage of Trump's Waco-Nuremberg-style rally last weekend, the penny dropped.  Trump and far too many of his supporters have come out of the closet and are no longer ashamed to admit their preference for fascism over democracy. Hallelujah while he waits in the wings.   

[Michael Griffith]

1 hour ago, Leslie Sharp said:

Diane Rehm has maintained a captive audience for over a decade.

We need these voices!  (as a side note, have you listened to Joe Tacopina. Which reminds me, Trump's voice is quite annoying yet he won an election.  Then again, he lost the next one but likely his tenor had nothing to do with that loss. I digress...)

But Trump's voice is not weak or impaired. His speaking style is annoying because he phrases his sentences in a disjointed manner, but his voice is strong and clear. 

I admire RFK Jr.'s willingness to think outside the box, even on issues such as vaccination. It shows guts. I'd like to know more about his political views. I've only heard him talk about three or four issues.

I just think that his voice defect would be a major problem if he ran for office.