KENNEDY STANDS STRONG FOR HILLARY
While Hillary Clinton was finding her voice in New Hampshire, Caroline Kennedy found her man in Barack Obama.
Senator Edward Kennedy is now lending his voice to the Obama campaign, along with his son, U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy. The three Kennedys appeared before a huge rally of Obama’s supporters at American University today, and on the same hallowed ground where JFK gave his landmark 1963 address, all heartily endorsed Obama.
In the flurry of media coverage that followed throughout the day, the story was too-often reported as a blanket stamp of approval from the entire Kennedy family. This, of course, is not true. But why let facts get in the way of such a delicious big story at such an “historic” moment as this?
For the record, anyway - if anybody wants `em, here are the plain ol’ unadorned facts:
While Senator Obama now has the support of the last living member of John F. Kennedy’s immediate family and his only surviving brother, many in the media today seemed to forget (or perhaps willfully ignored) that Senator Hillary Clinton already gained the endorsements of several important Kennedys months ago; the sons and daughters of Robert Kennedy.
Back in early October, this blog reported that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was supporting Hillary Clinton for president. Over the next two months, other media outlets gradually picked up the story, culminating in a formal endorsement on Nov. 29th. Soon thereafter, Bobby hit the campaign trail for Clinton in Iowa, and was joined in New Hampshire by his sisters Kathleen and Kerry. The mainstream media hardly noticed at the time.
Today was a different story entirely, as we all witnessed. All three cable news networks carried the American University rally live (NBC even aired it in it’s entirety), and the pundits went plumb Camelot crazy the rest of the afternoon; discussing historical and political ramifications of the Caroline, Patrick and Ted endorsements at length with an endless stream of historians, journalists, strategists, and Obama supporters.
Little was heard from the Clinton camp today in response. Whether by design or because the media was too high on some fine vintage Kennedy golddust, Hillary’s supporters were noticeably absent from most of the various cable news roundtable discussions.
Finally, late in the day, Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend stepped up to the plate for Hillary. In an exclusive interview with MSNBC, Kathleen was all smiles and seemed totally unshaken by the earthquake of the other Kennedys endorsing Barack Obama.
When asked about the “split” in the Kennedy family over this presidential race, Kathleen laughed it off and said, “don’t all families fight about politics over the dinner table? Of course, the Kennedys don’t agree on everything. We never have. But we respect each other’s opinions and choices, even when we have our differences.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. echoed his sister’s words later when CNN caught up to him late this afternoon. “I love and respect my uncle, Senator Kennedy, but I still believe that Hillary Clinton has the leadership and experience to lead this country right now, as I always have.”
Anyone who may have been hoping that RFK Jr. would defect to join the Obama camp is likely to be disappointed. As it stands today, he’s standing with both feet firmly planted in Hillary’s corner — and is making no apologies.
FULL STORY< PHOTOS< MORE COVERAGE HERE:
http://rfkin2008.wordpress.com/2008/01/28/bobbys-standing-by-his-woman/