Entire Chris Matthews Panel Says New JFK Sex Revelations Are Totally Irrelevant
The double standard by which the media view presidential sex scandals is nothing less than stunning.
On this weekend's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, the entire panel - which included two women, one being the supposedly conservative syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker - said the new revelations regarding former President John F. Kennedy having sex with a 19-year-old White House intern will have absolutely no impact on his legacy (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: This week a new book by Mimi Alford, the 19-year-old intern who writes that Jack Kennedy seduced her in the White House. Which brings us to this week's big question: Does this story and others like it diminish Jack Kennedy's place in history? John.
JOHN HEILEMANN, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: I think not at all. The notion of Jack Kennedy as a horn dog is pretty much priced into the stock I think historically on him.
[Laughter]
I don't think it changes the picture at all.
MATTHEWS: Gloria as a woman?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN: I agree. Look, the story is awful, terrible, despicable, disgusting.
KATHLEEN PARKER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: And delicious.
Delicious?
BORGER: But I think the question has been asked and answered about Kennedy.
MATTHEWS: Kathleen. You are yawning. Is that your answer?
[Laughter]
Okay, thank you. That was the most. That won't show up in the transcript.
CLARENCE PAGE, CHICAGO TRIBUNE: That was my reaction, too. No, this seems like a lot of deja vu once again as far as that aspect of Kennedy's character goes, but his image is still larger than all of that.
MATTHEWS: Yeah, I wrote a much more comprehensive book about Jack Kennedy. I got to tell you, it's all a part of the picture. You can't defend it. He's still a hero.
To sum up: we knew he was a "horn dog," his behavior was "awful, terrible, despicable, disgusting," but it's "a lot of deja" worthy of a yawn even from a supposedly conservative columnist.
Though "you can't defend it, "he's still a hero."
Bear in mind that one of Alford's accusations was that this "hero" forced her to perform oral sex on one of his special aides.
"But his image is still larger than all of that."
This from the very people who just a few months ago voraciously and savagely attacked former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain for unsubstantiated allegations concerning sexual harassment decades ago.
He wasn't worthy to be president due to such allegations, but a former president forcing a 19-year-old to perform oral sex on one of his friends doesn't diminish his place in history the slightest bit.
Got that?
As for Kathleen Parker, her yawn here should forever eliminate the slightest pretense of her conservativism.
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Comments
I agree this is hypocrisy
Submitted by shawn. on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:08pm.
..........however at the same time it is different. JFK is dead and not able to defend himself against allegations, unlike Bill Clinton or Herman Cain.
A reasonable argument....shawn
Submitted by Timothy H on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:13pm.
That I would be inclined to agree with, if it weren't for the fact that they would tear Reagan apart if it came out that he was forcing 19-year-old intern to pleasure his friends.
It would become the narrative of his legacy.
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe. -Albert Einstein
And for blonde:Some days it just doesn't pay to chew through the restraint. -Timothy H
Nixon is Dead
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:21pm.
But I heard this making the TV and radio circuit not too long ago with no concern about how Julie or Tricia might feel about it. It was a fairly light, comical topic when I heard it on NPR.
⇒ Excellent, Shawn
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:56pm.
I guess Thomas Jefferson is here to defend against those who call him a racist slave-raper?
Why don't you come out and admit you think the boys of Jerry Sandusky's exploits should have kept their mouths shut, too?
It's not like this 70-yr old woman is trying to throw an election, is it? Would she be the first woman to write her memoirs before she dies?
This book
Submitted by misterbee241 on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:00pm.
validates what my parents said about the Kennedys back then: they were white trash with money.
Cool
Submitted by shawn. on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:03pm.
I don't know of any recent news about Thomas Jefferson folks do you?. As far as Jerry Sandusty's exploits, looks like the investigation is happening. Jerry Sandusky is still alive right?
If you want to make a comparison cool at least use apples to apples.
shawn
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:22pm.
I just posted an apple above. The only difference is how long he's been dead and the gay.
Yes you did Tugboat
Submitted by shawn. on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:45pm.
That is a valid comparison. I am guessing this book is not going to get alot of sales.
⇒ I just did, Shawn
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:23pm.
Liberals are quick to Point out Thomas Jefferson had a, shall we say "fruitful" affair with a Slave, Sally Hemmings.
That you are unaware of the recent years' drastic liberal revision of Jefferson's character is testament to your penchant for selective cluelessness.
One may be a Jonathan, and the other a McIntosh, but don't sit there and tell me they ain't both apples.
Well Cool
Submitted by shawn. on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:41pm.
There is nothing left of the apple. Thomas Jefferson is dead and the slave is dead. The slave is not going on a talk show to promote her book.
I believe the msm media treatment of this person is awful, I totally agree, I am just saying making an allegation about somebody after they have dead for about 5 decades is kind of hard to compare to both parties. The accuser and the person being accused is still alive.
⇒ Are you kidding, Shawn?
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:50pm.
Maybe you should condemn everybody who has a discouraging word to say about Jeffrey Dahmer, as well.
He's dead, you know, and it could be hurtful to his family.
Now you are comparing Presidents to cannibals?
Submitted by shawn. on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 4:45pm.
Oky Doky Cool. I know when I have been bested. Have a nice day.
⇒ Well, Shawn
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 5:01pm.
It's just that you're having so much fun with your fancy new mobile goal post, (you know, the one that gives you the right to say an apple isn't an apple unless it's the kind of apple you wanted to hear about?)
You got caught trying to say the smearing of Thomas Jefferson is somehow less heinous than smearing John Kennedy.
You asked for "apples-to-apples" and I gave you just that. You're just having a problem with being entrapped in self-serving ignorance.
And, Shawn, I can only speak for myself here, but you're not nearly as fair-minded as you'd like to let on.
Everyone catch the rules according to Forward Shawn?
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 5:30pm.
1. No one can say anything bad about a dead President because dead Presidents cannot defend themselves.
2. You can say anything bad about a dead President so long as Shawn the Clueless has not heard about it.
3. You can say anything bad about a dead President so long as it involves accusations of homosexuality.
4. You can say anything bad about a dead President so long as everyone involved is dead as well.
5. Only live Presidents can be accused of bad things by live accusers.
6. You can not use Shawn's rules on anyone other than dead or live Presidents because doing so is making comparison to dead or live Presidents.
Anyone get the feeling these rules are just being made up on the fly?
⇒ In a nutshell?
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 5:40pm.
Yes.
Thomas Jefferson in the news.
Submitted by MrLuigi on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 4:32pm.
The NY Times does a story just about every year on this topic, there was a TV movie made about it in 2000 and in the philadelphia area ABC6 did a story just last february on some alleged descendants of Jefferson. This story is revisited from time to time, mainly by the grievance industry as another in their endless complaints about america. In addition other assorted left thinkers bring it up to besmirch the character of our founding fathers.
Thomas Jefferson
Submitted by 26CX on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 8:14pm.
The allegations that Jefferson fathered children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, are based on (1) unsubstantiated accusations by James Callendar published in 1802, (2) a DNA test conducted in 1998 using male descendents of Jefferson's uncle, Field Jefferson, and the descendants of two slaves who were said to be fathered by Jefferson, and (3) a statistical study that claimed to show Jefferson's presence at Monticello during the times that Hemings conceived her children was positive proof that he was the father of her children.
Callendar's charges came after Jefferson refused to appoint him Postmaster of Richmond and never rose above the level of gossip.
The DNA study showed that one of a number of Jefferson males was the father of one of Hemings' children. To further cast doubt on Thomas Jefferson being the father of Hemings' child, he was 64 and suffering from chronic health problems at the time the child would have been conceived. The other child - the one Callendar claimed was fathered by Thomas Jefferson - was not genetically related to any male Jefferson. No other descendants of Sally Hemings have had their DNA tested, so the contention that Jefferson fathered all of Hemings' children has no basis in fact.
The statistical study that proported to prove Jefferson fathered all Hemings' children is deeply flawed and proves nothing. The detailed analysis of the statistical study, along with assessments of the other claims against Jefferson are provided in this article, which is long and detailed.
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation's findings and conclusions, which claim that Jefferson was the father of all Hemings' children, can be found here.
CX: Follow-up on your Jefferson/Hennings post...
Submitted by Jer on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 2:22am.
A couple of months ago, C-Span telecast a lecture and discussion regarding this controversy which featured the research and findings of a blue-ribbon panel of Jefferson scholars whose work was published in a recently released book, the title of which presently escapes me [but maybe I can locate it.]
Anyway, it was a lengthy presentation which provided very compelling evidence that Thomas Jefferson fathered none of the Hemmings children. Every argument supporting the claim was addressed and meticulously demolished as either a physical and chronological impossibility or so demonstrably inconsistent with common sense and common knowledge that it must be dismissed on the grounds of sheer absurdity.
The conclusion was that the most likely planter of the seed was Jefferson's younger and n'er-do-well brother, Randolph.
Jer
Correct, Jer
Submitted by 26CX on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 8:43pm.
The name of the book that was being announced on C-Span is “The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission” edited by Robert F. Turner. The book was released on the 209th anniversary of the publication of Callendar's charges against Jefferson.
Here is the link to the video of the original telecast if you have an hour and a half to kill and want to learn more about the Jefferson-Hemings controversy.
That's the one, CX...
Submitted by Jer on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 10:41pm.
A couple of corrections of errors on my part:
I stated it was telecast by C-Span a couple of months ago. Actually I had recorded the original telecast and finally got around to watching it a couple of months ago.
Also, I somehow managed to misspell Hemings twice--"Hennings" and "Hemmings"--in a single post. Rather embarrassing.
Jer
To quote Mark Twain, Jer,
Submitted by 26CX on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 11:19pm.
It's a small mind that can think of only one way to spell a word. :)
Thanks, CX...
Submitted by Jer on Tue, 02/14/2012 - 12:16am.
You and Twain have made me feel a whole lot better. [Not that I was exactly prostrate with humiliation..."Hennings" was a typo, but I was surprised that Hemings has only one "m".]
Jer
Did I miss something?? I
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:51pm.
Did I miss something?? I haven't noticed that Herman Cain was able to defend himself against these kinds of allegations..........
and they sure seemed to disappear once Cain gave up the campaign.
And as for der Schlickmeister.................the press did most of his defending for him, and he flat-out lied about the rest of it when he had to. He still gets a pass, or just a passing statement, about all of this.
JFK has an army of Camelot Cultists to defend him
Submitted by frank14 on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 4:07pm.
just like BJ Clinton has his interns in the media to defend him.
Jackie Kennedy began the Camelot Myth after JFK's assassination and when the news of JFK and RFK's involvement in a plot to assassinate Castro came out inadvertently during the 1970s Church hearings on the CIA, the Camelot cultists were quick to trash Congressional hearing witness Judith Exner, the go between and lover of JFK and Chicago Mafia boss Sam Giancana. Every author who has dared expose the true JFK and the entire Kennedy Family's corruption has been likewise trashed by these mind-dead liberal robots. They even had the mini-series on the Kennedys banned from the broadcast networks just last year. They are a dangerous cult that fears the truth. This latest trashing is a warning to all the hundreds of lovers of JFK, RFK and Teddy who are still living to keep silent lest they be demonized.
LOL.....Kennedy and Clinton get a pass, but Newt Gingrich
Submitted by nonncom on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:12pm.
is absolutely crucified for the same thing....how can you tell a liberal is lieing? Their lips are moving....Kennedy wasn't all that great as a president.....time fogs the memory....he was a brilliant speaker, with a great sense of humor....as for being a great president?....Lucking out of the Cuban missile crisis doesn't make it so.....
JFK
Submitted by Phil N on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:24pm.
Since his primary legacy is the Viet Nam war this does seem minor. Also while having an affair with an intern shows a moral lapse, it does not copare with having an affair with a gangsters girlfreind ( I believe her name was Judith Exner) or an East German spy. In the case of the spy, J. Edgar Hoover, that man who the left believed was their enemy, went out of his way to warn him. Indeed, this whole little affair misses the more important point of how bad a president he was.
choice of words...
Submitted by Mark81150 on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:28pm.
"KATHLEEN PARKER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: And delicious.
Delicious?"
--
Uh,.... that kinda tells you where her mind is at,.. she thought it was a turn on.. One, leave your Harliquin fantasies at home Missy,.. Two,.. she gave away the game, she too thinks the legend JFK was hawt...
What is wrong with these people?
and what is wrong with some, SOME women who think they have to want to sleep with a guy, before they'd vote for him... I'd imagine the number of them is pretty small, but we always hear from them, remember all the bimbo's running outa the woodwork in 08? all proclaiming Obama the stuff?
The female journalists covering Obama, going nutz when he took his shirt off to reveal his Oliver Oyl like chest and shoulders?
What the Hell people,..
Liberals are utterly shamelss as a breed.
Well, Mark....she's a faux conservative,
Submitted by Blonde on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:34pm.
...and she's stealing a real conservative's signature phrase....our own Noel Sheppard's "delicious".
The alternative is just too disgusting to contemplate for long.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Oliver Oyl
Submitted by misterbee241 on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:04pm.
Now that's funny. And true.
Granny Parker, Peggy Noonan, Colin Powell and Dougie
Submitted by frank14 on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 4:31pm.
Kmiec: all 4 RINOs supported the socialist Obama over liberal Republican John McCain. None are conservative in the least.
the left always says they are
Submitted by TruthMonger on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:40pm.
the left always says they are just targeting the hypocracy of the family values party and that's why left leaders get a pass - so I guess that means as a rule its ok to be a homewrecker if you're on the left - its not hypocracy...? a very telling argument - i guess that just makes the right the default party by default...
Congratulations Jimmy Carter!
She's jealous
Submitted by CJohnson on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 2:44pm.
You just hope none of them have daughters to sell.
for once Mathews was right
Submitted by John Galt 2 on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:28pm.
JFK was a serial fiddler. Why do you think he ended up on PT109? his father sent him home from England when he got involved with a German (spy?) female. As one who experienced the disaster that was JFK's tenure another fiddle is no big deal. He would have been a one termer anyway. His list of failures was long and growing. Reminds me of the Big O in that respect.
Noel, you're stunned by this?
Submitted by CO2Maker on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:36pm.
Man, if anyone held any lingering doubts about liberals' double-standards about sexual conduct, Whoopi Goldberg's "it wasn't rape-rape" comment should have been the ultimate punch in the nose. Next to that, all of this "smearing the slut" is small beer. Whoopi actually defended a child rapist because of his "genius" and, needless to say, Euro-liberal views.
If that isn't enough, what about Robert Bird's Klan activity? Or Ted Kennedy's role in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne?
The good little Marxist always follows Alinsky tactics 24/7, 365
Submitted by djwolf12 on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:40pm.
Dehumanize your opponent then trash your opponent. Then throw them away. The Obama Pee-stream media spent this week trashing this woman while putting JFK on their proverbial pedestal again, claiming that this woman was only out to hurt Caroline Kennedy, you know, and make $$$ staining the legacy of Cumalot. Now, she is irrelevent. Kind of like all of those women that were out to destroy Herman Cain, right?
It may not change his place in history . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:41pm.
. . . but it further calls into question what kind of character this.
"JOHN HEILEMANN, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: I think not at all. The notion of Jack Kennedy as a horn dog is pretty much priced into the stock I think historically on him. [Laughter] I don't think it changes the picture at all."
The group all dismisses this as just another skirt-chasing tale in the legend of Sir Jack of Camelot, but what Alford's story reveals is a man who is so detached from human empathy that it begs for a reexamination of his public life. Matthews 'compartmentalizes' it for his hero Jack, and then relegates it to insignificance. But I would offer that JFK's sense of power -- both its application and its privileges -- is aligned more with Devine Right than the Founding Fathers sense of leadership in a republic.
And we know that his father raised his sons to be ruthless, take-no-prisoners men. Their family slogan was "Don't get mad; get even." The daughters were taught to be submissive wives. (When it became obvious that the one sister was not mentally up to the role, she was lobotimized and institutionalized.)
Regardless of their record of good works, the Kennedys are the most self-centered, self-indulgent American political family of the 20th Century.
Failure is a resume builder
Submitted by MrSnuggles on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:45pm.
Failure is a resume builder when you're a leftist.
JFK - Non-Reliable sources covered - but missed B Walters
Submitted by Gary Hall on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:51pm.
I would suggest, "unbelievably," but I guess it's really not un-expected; Howie Kurtz - yawn - had a segment on the media coverage of Alford's book and the revelations of JFK's appalling behavior, but somehow, he didn't bring up Barbara Walters, Shameless Hypocrite's pathetic interview of Mimi Alford, last week.
OK - unbelievable.
(;~/ gary
Mathews
Submitted by mmilesll on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:53pm.
Didn't Chris baby say the same thing about Cain-any charges about extra martial affairs were irrelevant? I lived thru JFK and thought he was a power grabbing jerk who's father stole the election for him. I guess I was right, wasn't I.
liberals always make excuses for liberal scum...
Submitted by ds7 on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 3:53pm.
it really is disgusting.
it's only "news" if they feel it is someone they can marginalize.
I agree, they're toally irrelevant ...
Submitted by stage9 on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 4:23pm.
unless of course you're Newt Gingrich, then they're TOTALLY relevant!
"If God is dead, somebody is going to have to take his place. It will be megalomania or erotomania, the drive for power or the drive for pleasure, the clenched fist or the phallus, Hitler or Hugh Hefner." — Malcolm Muggeridge
assasination
Submitted by Jerry Frey on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 5:58pm.
Matthews also thinks any one who thinks Dallas was a conspiracy is a loon. There WAS a shooter on the grassy knoll. His boss tip O'Neill wrote in his bio it was a conspiracy.
I don't see this as having much impact on JFK's legacy
Submitted by Dave. on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 6:22pm.
The MSM's blatant double standard notwithstanding, JFK's screwing around with women that were not his wife hasn't exactly been a well kept secret over the years.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Who was the faux conservative on this weeks program . . .
Submitted by Clemenza on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 6:30pm.
That kunt with the bad glasses?? And I wasn't referring to Clarence page.
Whoa,
Submitted by Boudin on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 6:41pm.
Try not to trash the place up, eh
Agreed. Spell check is there for a reason.
Submitted by krendler on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 6:42pm.
Agreed. Spell check is there for a reason.
How do they know it doesn't impact his legacy?
Submitted by krendler on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 6:41pm.
So these individuals have decided that they, somehow, are the decision makers when it comes to this politician's or that politician's legacy? Hysterical.
"Doesn't change JFK's legacy." It's been declared. Got that, everyone?
Seriously, their statements say a lot more about themselves than about anything or anyone else. "Not a big deal. The president of the United States pimped off some teenage girl to his buddy and sat there and watched." Really beyond the pale.
Imagine - just imagine - if this type of perverted act had been revealed about a Republican president.
If the MSM could only point to a moral equivalance...
Submitted by needle on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 7:28pm.
“Imagine … if this type of perverted act had been revealed about a Republican president.”
Indeed! That is just the sort of thing Liberal media hunger and thirst for: something, anything, to justify the libertine animal behavior of their entire stable of sexpot politicians and “uninhibited” modern-day Don Giovanni elitists.
They would scream about it at 120 DBs for a month or two, and then mention it whenever thereafter they need an excuse for why the outrage of Senator/Congressman Sex-Maniac (D) is no big deal.
- Looking forward to the self-annihilation of the Manipulated Stories Machine.
The ladies doth protest too much
Submitted by Eric the Fred on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 7:34pm.
Sure, we all knew JFK was a 'horn dog' and a serial adulterer, etc. But basically raping a 19-year-old and making her have oral sex on an aide is new, further information. It does go a bit beyond just the 'horndog' image we had of him before.
These 'reporters' may pretend this doesn't affect JFK's legacy overall - and it may well not - but it has put in the mind of the general public (the world, even) the image of the 35th President of the United States, a 45-year-old man, making a 19-year-old 'employee' of his perform oral sex on another middle-aged man while he watched, in the White House no less. I don't care how you slice it, that's pretty twisted and shows ol' Jack must've been up to all kinds of things we can only begin to imagine.
It is also funny how they call him a 'hero'. How is that, exactly? Where was the heroism? Oh, a good speechgiver, charismatic, an elitist. Ok. I get it. Gee, remind you of anyone?
For Chrissy, this could not have come at a worse time.
Submitted by KyWriter on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 9:04pm.
It's beginning to cut into his book sales. BTW, Chris, if anything is irrelevant, it has to be you.
Chris Matthews and Kennedy
Submitted by Steve Cakouros on Tue, 02/14/2012 - 12:47pm.
Matthews couldn’t care less about character if the person in question is a Liberal. However, if Kennedy had been a conservative he would treat the matter differently. Then again maybe not. Matthews and his kind do not think that what you do in the bedroom has anything to do with character.
One more thing: the Kennedy’s are rich but they are in spite of their wealth white trash. Money and charcter are not always in sync.
I would not mind it a bit if I never heard of the Kennedy's again.