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no_hypocrisy

(52,943 posts)
Mon Sep 1, 2025, 02:52 PM Monday

Just a quick reminder that Junior's mother,

Ethel Kennedy, right before she died, called Joe Biden in the WH, to apologize for her son. She knew and was ashamed.

32 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Just a quick reminder that Junior's mother, (Original Post) no_hypocrisy Monday OP
The entire Kennedy family is embarrassed by this idiot LetMyPeopleVote Monday #1
its ok. they are only embarrassed. not sorry. Tetrachloride Monday #13
No real action... summer_in_TX Monday #15
"do or do not-- there is no try" Tetrachloride Tuesday #16
what were they supposed to do? travelingthrulife Tuesday #21
I don't blame her. Sometimes crappy mothers have great kids. twodogsbarking Monday #2
And sometimes great mothers have crappy kids. liberalla Monday #7
I think you have this reversed. AllyCat Monday #14
Jr is the crappy kid but I don't blame the mother. Nor would I give credit to a crappy mother who had a great child. twodogsbarking Tuesday #20
I didn't know that PatSeg Monday #3
Ethel was left a widow of 11 kids. Feel Good Inc Monday #6
I can only imagine what it was like for PatSeg Monday #11
i can't imagine one minute being a shoe-in for president MadameButterfly Tuesday #30
You are probably right PatSeg Tuesday #32
Though he was not a public person TNNurse Tuesday #23
No, actually I don't PatSeg Tuesday #26
It's not just one thing. Losing a parent is big MadameButterfly Tuesday #31
"" AllaN01Bear Monday #4
The kid took a wrong turn and developed sicko republicon "values" BoRaGard Monday #5
I worked a few seasons in Hyannis and got to see that family in action Warpy Monday #8
Your comments here are interesting and well stated. Thanks. (Old issues of "Prevention" - funny stuff). FadedMullet Monday #9
"Junior really needs to be impeached for negligence and gross incompetence..." OldBaldy1701E Tuesday #22
From Simpsons: Robert F Quimby Jr bmichaelh Monday #10
I gave RFK Jr the benefit of the doubt because of the murder of his father and how he found out mountain grammy Monday #12
wow did not know that mikenash54 Tuesday #17
there are people who are damaged from the word go NJCher Tuesday #18
One more NJCher Tuesday #19
Chump's childhood was a mess also FakeNoose Tuesday #25
Junior has done more damage than his family has done good RainCaster Tuesday #24
He should have been aborted. dalton99a Tuesday #27
Let's not bring abortion into this, please. ShazzieB Tuesday #28
A Kennedy Republican? czarjak Tuesday #29

summer_in_TX

(3,808 posts)
15. No real action...
Mon Sep 1, 2025, 11:25 PM
Monday

unless you count numerous members of the family endorsing Joe Biden en masse,

five family members denouncing RFK Jr's decision to endorse Trump,

Caroline Kennedy calling for the Senate to reject his nomination, calling him a predator who led siblings and cousins into drug abuse, addiction, and death, lacking any relevant experience and having nutty ideas.

The people who knew him best did their best to stop him.

AllyCat

(18,179 posts)
14. I think you have this reversed.
Mon Sep 1, 2025, 10:23 PM
Monday

Jr is definitely the crappy kid, unless a point has just flown past me.

twodogsbarking

(15,529 posts)
20. Jr is the crappy kid but I don't blame the mother. Nor would I give credit to a crappy mother who had a great child.
Tue Sep 2, 2025, 08:18 AM
Tuesday

Probably the exception in either case. Be a good mother not a mother****er.

PatSeg

(50,898 posts)
3. I didn't know that
Mon Sep 1, 2025, 04:10 PM
Monday

From what I read recently, RFK Jr. was a screwup from childhood, though it could have been caused by his father's death. Meanwhile, it appears that Ethel was far from an ideal mother and the children were often unsupervised.

Feel Good Inc

(25 posts)
6. Ethel was left a widow of 11 kids.
Mon Sep 1, 2025, 04:34 PM
Monday

She clearly struggled coping with that responsibility and was very distant throughout most their lives if you're to believe the many biographies that have been released over the years.

I know her and RFK Jr. had a very complicated relationship and she was not very nice to him when he was younger. But he also had a lot of issues that strained things as well.

It does seem the children reconciled with their mother over the years and all, including Jr., were close to her in her later years.

PatSeg

(50,898 posts)
11. I can only imagine what it was like for
Mon Sep 1, 2025, 05:27 PM
Monday

Ethel to be left with 10 children and pregnant with the 11th. Meanwhile, it is hard to know who or what to believe without first hand knowledge, though it sounds like a very chaotic household. I wonder what it would have been like if Bobby Kennedy had lived.

Edit to add: Welcome to DU!

MadameButterfly

(3,502 posts)
30. i can't imagine one minute being a shoe-in for president
Tue Sep 2, 2025, 02:57 PM
Tuesday

following the popularity of his brother--truly life n Camelot. Both the personal and public meaning of this moment is hard to even fathom.
And having it destroyed so completely and brutally in one instant.

It would mess up most people. Wife and son. RFKJr. was already difficult but I think he would have pulled through had his father lived. Ethel would have been a great first lady and mom. Our nation never recovered from the tragedy. I was nine, and I haven't recovered. No wonder that the family at the center of it didn't. Especially the son who had problems and already didn't measure up to the expectations of a Kennedy. He needed his dad to get him through.

PatSeg

(50,898 posts)
32. You are probably right
Tue Sep 2, 2025, 04:03 PM
Tuesday

That was such a rough time for America and the Kennedys lost so many people. Poor Rose buried far too many children.

I don't know what kind of father Bobby Kennedy was, but if he lived, I believe he could have held the family together better.

TNNurse

(7,395 posts)
23. Though he was not a public person
Tue Sep 2, 2025, 08:57 AM
Tuesday

who died violently, I also lost my father as a child. You cannot really believe that is an excuse for his behavior.

PatSeg

(50,898 posts)
26. No, actually I don't
Tue Sep 2, 2025, 10:10 AM
Tuesday

Though I believe it could have contributed. Meanwhile, his mother seemed to have little control over the children and the family appeared to be very dysfunctional.

Of course, I don't know what is wrong with RFK Jr., but clearly he has been very strange throughout his life, not a man you would want to give any power to.

MadameButterfly

(3,502 posts)
31. It's not just one thing. Losing a parent is big
Tue Sep 2, 2025, 03:14 PM
Tuesday

but at what age and what kind of support system is there after?
When you live in Camelot (even before RFK ran for president) and Dad is about to become leader of the free world, that's another factor.
RFK Jr. did have some problems before the assassination, we don't really know that nature of them, but he may not have had the skills his other siblings had to rebound.
Being a Kennedy has it's advantages but also a lot of pressure.
Once drugs entered the picture, of course everything gets worse.

We are all responsible for ourselves regardless of the circumstances and I'm not saying he isn't. His response to his situation is tragic and cruel.
But to say we know what it was like for him glosses over a lot we just don't know.

Most people who have taken the path he has taken would not have had the opportunies to act out with impunity, or ever been given the power he now wields. I expect there are lots of people who have crashed and burned, unable to overcome tragedies. We never hear from those people.

BoRaGard

(7,378 posts)
5. The kid took a wrong turn and developed sicko republicon "values"
Mon Sep 1, 2025, 04:31 PM
Monday

and the world is worse for it....

Warpy

(113,880 posts)
8. I worked a few seasons in Hyannis and got to see that family in action
Mon Sep 1, 2025, 05:04 PM
Monday

and I have to say most of the kids were decent for rich kids.

But

I think RFK Sr is waiting for his namesae with a rolled up newspaper.

His mum is probably waiting with a frying pan.

I'd like to hug them and remind them parents are never guaranteed great kids, any more than anyone was ever guaranteed great parents.

Junior really needs to be impeached for negligence and gross incompetence, He is not a medical professional in any way and his knowledge seems to have stopped with old issues of "Prevention."

Most government departments can mange a Dunning-Kruger afflicted head honcho. In fact, most do, careerists just do an end run around his incompetence and keep things going

Unfortunately, Kennedy is in one of those departments where some degree of competence, or at least a knowledge base that allows bad bosses some contact with reality is necessary. Kennedy lacks those and is doing real damage.

He's got to go.


FadedMullet

(475 posts)
9. Your comments here are interesting and well stated. Thanks. (Old issues of "Prevention" - funny stuff).
Mon Sep 1, 2025, 05:12 PM
Monday

OldBaldy1701E

(8,929 posts)
22. "Junior really needs to be impeached for negligence and gross incompetence..."
Tue Sep 2, 2025, 08:45 AM
Tuesday

No, he needs to be locked up for multiple charges of attempted murder.

mountain grammy

(28,161 posts)
12. I gave RFK Jr the benefit of the doubt because of the murder of his father and how he found out
Mon Sep 1, 2025, 06:04 PM
Monday

but I'm past that now. He's damaged beyond repair. He should never ever be in a position of power. His own mother knew it, we all know it.

NJCher

(41,284 posts)
18. there are people who are damaged from the word go
Tue Sep 2, 2025, 06:44 AM
Tuesday

Nancy Spungen, for example.

There's this book I read a long time ago about Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. You may remember them as punk rockers. I am not in the habit of reading such books, but I recall being attracted to this one because it is a topic of interest to me: people who get all the bad genes (or encounter insurmountable adversity at a very young age). They're a human mess. Well, that was Nancy, according to her mother in her book And I Don't Want to Live this Life.

She describes Nancy as being a screamer and a crier well into childhood. i won't belabor her long history of antisocial behavior, but it's everything from being a prostitute to threatening to kill a babysitter with scissors and something similar with her child psychiatrist. Violent behavior toward her sister. She was murdered.

I think Kennedy could be one of them. He has so much wrong with him. All those creepy, horrible instances to which he never should have exposed to children.

Trump himself is a masterpiece of bad genes and unfortunate incidents in childhood.



NJCher

(41,284 posts)
19. One more
Tue Sep 2, 2025, 06:57 AM
Tuesday

Reading about Epstein, I’ve learned Prince Andrew may be another.

He has a biographer who has a video on YouTube about it.

FakeNoose

(38,514 posts)
25. Chump's childhood was a mess also
Tue Sep 2, 2025, 09:40 AM
Tuesday

It's well known that his parents didn't try very hard to discipline him, teachers couldn't do anything so they expelled him. In high school Chump's parents sent him off to military boarding school for 4 years. He had very few friends, and his brother Freddy died of alcoholism after failing at 2 careers.

Chump's malignant narcissism may have been inbred, but his anti-social tendencies could have been corrected early, with understanding and loving parents. But that was not to be, and now look what's happening in this country as a result.

RainCaster

(13,070 posts)
24. Junior has done more damage than his family has done good
Tue Sep 2, 2025, 09:27 AM
Tuesday

He is bent on destruction. Pure and simple. In his short time in office he has managed to undo all the good things the rest of his family has done for decades.

ShazzieB

(21,519 posts)
28. Let's not bring abortion into this, please.
Tue Sep 2, 2025, 12:33 PM
Tuesday

There's no way to predict what someone's personality will be prenatally, and nurture has at least as much to do with that as nature.

I'm about as pro choice as a person can be, but the idea of terminating a pregnancy based on an assumption/prediction/guess that the fetus will grow up to be an "undesirable" person sounds like something out of a bad eugenics nightmare to me

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