Friends, if you watched the Superbowl, you should have seen a 30-second ad for independent presidential candidate RFK, Jr. It was an ad produced and paid for by a Super-PAC supporting Kennedy, and therefore not produced and paid for by the Kennedy campaign itself. Ergo, Kennedy had no role in creating the ad, but he seems generally pleased by its messaging. And that messaging is...remarkably unsubtle. It makes a direct analogy between the candidacy of JFK in 1960 and RFK, Jr. in 2024. In fact, it simply repackages a catchy pro-Kennedy ad from 1960 and turns it into a plug for RFK, Jr. in 2024. Fair enough. The strategy behind it is intriguing. It suggests that the Super-PAC supporting Kennedy believes that his number one selling point is his pedigree. It might even suggest a hope on the part of Kennedy's backers that people will vote for him mainly because they can't distinguish between him and his uncle. Then again, maybe it's based on the theory that a little harmless nostalgia, if it gins up enthusiasm for RFK, Jr. and encourages people to take a first or second look at him, can only be a good thing for his campaign. In any case, I liked the ad, and I especially like the fact that it will appeal to geriatric Democrats. They're exactly the kind of people who we don't want voting for Joe Biden. The more they consider Kennedy as an alternative, the better. I wish RFK, Jr. all the best, and, if his slavishly Democratic family members are offended by his outside-the-box thinking, hard cheese!
FROM RAY
ReplyDeleteHaving read the RFK Jr. campaign positions on various issues, I am impressed that he supports a secure border, and lauds the efforts of the State of Texas to protect its border with Mexico. He believes Biden's border policies are a disaster. On that issue alone I would vote for him. In any event, I don't think he will make president.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: I got a kick out of the ad; it certainly had a 1960 sound to it. If JFK were to return to life, I wonder where he would fit in politically (of course if he did we might be well advised to support). We know so much about him. I know his family is mad at him for it and I don't wish them any ill. If his partisans do intend to use JFK nostalgia they should adopt the rousing Kennedy era anthem New Frontier. It was done by the Kingston Trio back then and has been performed on line by aging boomers; why its perfect. Since the Presidential vote of any conservative in NY is meaningless, a vote for RFK Jr. could be the t, the way to go, all the better to have some wee chance of helping to derail Biden.
ReplyDeleteRay, it's kinda odd how Kennedy's political profile has become as conservative as it is liberal, since he started out as a garden variety lefty. I checked out his website, and he has plenty of good ideas, but he also skirts a lot of divisive issues. On the border, for example, EVERYONE says that the border needs to be controlled, we need barriers and monitoring in certain areas, and we need to hire more judges to process asylum claims quicker. That's the easy part. The devil is in the details -- and in how many of these migrants you actually have the gumption and the ability to send straight home. It's hard to say how RFK, Jr. would actually govern, therefore -- but as you say he almost certainly won't get the chance.
ReplyDeleteJack, we can only speculate on how JFK would feel about the modern Democratic Party and his plucky nephew. The two opinions would, of course, go hand in hand, because the likely effect of RFK, Jr.'s candidacy is to harm the Democratic Party. One suspects Kennedy himself knows that -- and presumably revels in it, or at least doesn't mind.