Christiane Amanpour Spins JFK Assassination as 'Relevant' to 'Political Atmosphere' of Today
According to ABC's Christiane Amanpour, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is "eerily relevant" to the attempted killing of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords less than two weeks ago. Talking to President Kennedy's sister on Thursday's Nightline, she wondered if the "political atmosphere" between the two acts of violence was the same.
Amanpour, the host of This Week, was highlighting the 50th anniversary of JFK's inaugural address and offered the standard liberal praise for Kennedy, asserting that his "face still has a powerful grip on the American psyche." Interviewing Jean Kennedy Smith, the journalist connected, "It's an episode eerily relevant today in the wake of the assassination attempt against Gabrielle Giffords less than two weeks ago."
Like many other journalists, Amanpour indicated that even if gunman Jared Loughner wasn't motivated by politics, a connection could still be made: "A congresswoman was targeted. No matter what the reason, how would you describe the atmosphere, the political atmosphere today in the country?"
[See video below. MP3 audio here.]
Kennedy Smith refused the opportunity to offer political blame: "Well, I really think that was done by one individual...I don't think we should blame a whole group of people for it." (Nowhere in the segment did the reporter point out that President Kennedy was killed by a communist.)
Amanpour, who was a guest at Barack Obama's state dinner for China on Tuesday, spun the President as an heir to JFK's legacy. She speculated, "Do think that hope and idealism has been galvanized today by President Obama?"
Regarding the complete lack of Kennedys in elected office today, Amanpour opined, "For now, President Obama may very well be the closest thing the Kennedys have to one of their own in Washington."
January 20, 2011 was also the 30th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's first inaugural. That occasion was not highlighted by Amanpour or Nightline.
A transcript of the segment, which aired at 11:56pm EST on January 20, follows:
BILL WEIR: "We observed today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom." And so began the inaugural speech of John F. Kennedy, 50 years ago today. No one there could imagined what would happen to that man, his family and his country in the coming years, but the words he spoke will live forever. Jean Kennedy Smith is his only living sibling and tonight Christiane Amanpour gathers her memories in the Nightline interview.
JOHN F. KENNEDY: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: It was the clarion call for a new era. The youngest ever elected president and the first Catholic, a moment bursting at the seams bursting with hope. Kennedy's youngest sister, Jean Kennedy Smith, his only surviving sibling, remembers it well. What was it like, listening to that speech?
JEAN KENNEDY SMITH: Well, what we all remember is that very famous line about, "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." And I think that that sort of sums up his philosophy. That was very strong sentiment that he believed deeply in.
AMANPOUR: [Pictures of JFK on screen.] 50 years later, that speech and that face still have a powerful grip over the American psyche. Renowned Kennedy historian Robert Dallek says it's not just because his life was cut so brutally short.
ROBERT DALLEK: In a recent Gallup poll, people asked to assess the last nine presidents. John F. Kennedy had 85 percent approval rating. The only one close to him was Ronald Reagan, with 74 percent. I think a lot of it has to do with the sense that he was so young, so attractive, so witty, so charming. And, of course, we have Kennedy on tape. We can evoke his memory.
JOHN F. KENNEDY: The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.
KENNEDY SMITH: This was a picture that he gave us after we- after the inauguration.
AMANPOUR: For Jean Kennedy Smith, that memory of her brother's call to service lives on. Your father was ambassador?
KENNEDY SMITH: Yes.
AMANPOUR: And decades later, you became ambassador?
KENNEDY SMITH: That's true. And we are the first father-daughter ambassadors. My father was always a very powerful influence, well, always through my life. And he taught us very much that we were very lucky and that we should make a contribution to our country. We were very fortunate to live in America. And that was instilled in us in a very early age, all of us.
AMANPOUR: How was it instilled in you?
KENNEDY SMITH: Their whole life was their family. I mean, I don't ever remember a dinner party, a cocktail party in our house. Ever.
AMANPOUR: You mean, with outsiders?
KENNEDY SMITH: Yeah. It was always the family.
AMANPOUR: A family bound tightly together be power and later, grief. John F. Kennedy was assassinated less than three years after his inauguration, in November 1963. His brother, Bobby, in 1968. Two acts of political violence so traumatic that the country has never fully recovered. It's an episode eerily relevant today in the wake of the assassination attempt against Gabrielle Giffords less than two weeks ago. A congresswoman was targeted. No matter what the reason, how would you describe the atmosphere, the political atmosphere today in the country?
KENNEDY SMITH: Well, I really think that was done by one individual. And I think that that could happen. It's happened, we all know, in the past. And I don't think we should blame a whole group of people for it. I think it probably- it calls our attention to our country and are we doing the best we can for everybody? And if we cross the aisles, as my brothers did, and try to see another person's point of view- I think it can be done.
AMANPOUR: You were talking about your brothers and they were partisan. How did they deal with that in their political lives?
KENNEDY SMITH: I think they honestly felt that people march to their own drummer and that they have a point of view and their point of view should be respected. Teddy, of course, is well known for crossing the aisle and working out things. I think coming from a big family helps you to keep your sense of humor about certain things.
AMANPOUR: Even politics?
KENNEDY SMITH: Yes, even politics.
AMANPOUR: And politics is still very much the family business. Case in point, Ted and Caroline Kennedy's influential endorsements of then-candidate Barack Obama in 2008.
JONATHAN ALTER: Caroline Kennedy and Ted Kennedy not only endorsed Barack Obama but say explicitly that he was the heir to John F. Kennedy.
AMANPOUR: Jonathan Alter is the author of The Promise about Obama's rise to power and his first year in office.
ALTER: And that was not something that any of them had said about any politician in the intervening 50 years. He would not have beaten Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries on Super Tuesday without the help of the Kennedy family.
AMANPOUR: Tell me about why the family put their support behind Senator Obama.
KENNEDY SMITH: Because I think he's going to be a good President. I think he is a good president. I think he's had difficulty, big difficulties and the situation that he came into, and I think that he's handled it very well.
AMANPOUR: Do think that hope and idealism has been galvanized today by President Obama?
KENNEDY SMITH: I think he's trying to galvanize it and he has in some areas. He's doing what he feels is the right thing and I think we should support him.
AMANPOUR: For now, President Obama may very well be the closest thing the Kennedys have to one of their own in Washington. For the first time in 63 years, there is no Kennedy serving in national office. But it may not stay that way for long. Today there are no Kennedys in office.
KENNEDY SMITH: Yes.
AMANPOUR: For the first time in decades. How do you feel about that?
KENNEDY-SMITH: I don't even think about it, because I know one is going to crop up.
AMANPOUR: You know one is going to crop up?
KENNEDY SMITH: And I'll have to give another fund-raiser.
WEIR: Our thanks to Christiane Amanpour for that report.
— Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Comments
...5...6...7...8 who do we appreciate!!
Submitted by MidAmerica on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 1:37pm.
The place where obama and JFK are alike is that an ever syncophantic cheerleading press heaps praise and adulation is place of journalistic review.
Funny, I find Amanpour extraordinarily eery
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 1:38pm.
Not so sure about the Barack Fitzgerald Kennedy thing though.
So do I. She and Obama share
Submitted by celator on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 2:10pm.
So do I. She and Obama share a sort of cold-hearted, unaware, opportunistic cyborg personality. Zombie monotone, quirky movements, never quite getting to the crux of an issue, openly manipulative--that's what I see in both of them. Very cyborg-like, as I say. There's a kind of desperate clumsiness about the way they present themselves. Just plain spooky,
...and they both shop at Men's Wearhouse
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 2:13pm.
.
They Live
Submitted by Diesel on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 7:32pm.
Libs and the MSM are just like the aliens in the John Carpenter film "They Live", only difference being, we don't need special glasses to see their hideous faces & evil intentions.
Amanpour actually is correct in one sense
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 1:42pm.
As both Oswald and Laughner had communist sympathies.
They were/are part of Amampour's crowd.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Dave.. yep
Submitted by Gary Hall on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 1:54pm.
Dave.. yo stole my fire there.
Exactly. Now, I don't know if Rep. Giffords is as staunchly anti-Communist, as was JFK.
(;~/ gary
From different things
Submitted by Iron Tigers Vet on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 2:41pm.
I've heard, she seems to be more moderate than left. Not sure if that made a difference or not. Could have been shot due to not being leftist enough.
Gary,
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 6:25pm.
JFK had more than a few Reagan-like traits that the MSM ignores to this day - particularly in the area of taxation and true American exceptionalism, not the bastardized version the far-left keeps talking about.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Dave.. indeed
Submitted by Gary Hall on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 6:33pm.
So did Bobby for that matter. I swear, if the ole Bobby Kennedy was around today:
We'd be hearing his fears expressed about Chavez on a regular basis.
He'd called for an investigation for hate speech for Matthews, Schultz, Stark, Malloy, etc.
He'd already launched a inquiry into Sheriff Dupnik.
And, today, he'd be leveling hate speech charges against Tenn Democrat Steve Cohen.
Times have changed.
(;~> gary
"I'm liberal, but to a degree; I want everyone to be free." -B. Dylan
Gary,
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 7:28pm.
Times have changed.
Yeah, everything is inverted and bass-ackward. Nothing seems to make sense anymore.
I have often wondered what impact on history Joe Jr. would have made had he survived WW II.
After all, he was the one Joe Sr. had been originally grooming for the presidency.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
So Tuscon was like Dallas.....?
Submitted by NeoKong on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 3:00pm.
In a way she is quite correct.
Neither shooting had anything to do with right-wingers.
What it says
Submitted by KC Mulville on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 1:57pm.
When a person is reminded of something, it often says as much about the person as it does about the event. The fact that this event reminds Amanpour of the Kennedy assassination tells us a lot about her.
If Amanpour thinks that the Kennedy assassination was about "political climate," and that Tucson was about "political climate," then she doesn't understand either event.
correct
Submitted by lotr on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 11:03pm.
The Kennedy assassination had to with politics, not "political climate."
The relevance is apparent
Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 2:09pm.
"Well, I really think that was done by one individual. And I think that that could happen. It's happened, we all know, in the past. And I don't think we should blame a whole group of people for it."
Jean Kennedy Smith is the one who shows the real relevance between the recent shooting and the assassinations of both of the Kennedy brothers, they were all assassinated by individuals with absolutely no link whatsoever to Conservatives, although you never would have know that had you relied upon the press as you single source of information.
Just as is happening now, the press at the time of both Kennedy assassinations tried, in vain, to blame the Right Wing, to blame Conservatives before any of the facts were known. Just as is happening now, the press was wrong in their assertions. Just as is happening now the press NEVER retracted their false assertions. Just as is happening now, the press did their best to get people to forget those false assertions by issuing calls for a change in political rhetoric and self-censuring their own "violent" political terms. Just as in happening now, the press did everything they could to disguise their own political bias.
So, what's truly relevant? The world has changed since the early 60's, but the "press" has not. They, for the most part, are just as political, just as dishonest, and just as unprofessional as they were 50 years ago.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Ummm... Some Dems
Submitted by Quasi-socialist on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 3:31pm.
remember those lies winning them the 1964 elections. So I don't think they wanted people to "forget those false assertions".
No offense Quasi...but that's just plain silly..
Submitted by Jer on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 11:05pm.
Oswald's communist background was well publicized far in advance of election day,1964. Even if he had never been tied to the right, I seriously doubt it would have turned the tide of one of the more crushing landslides in presidential electoral history.
Jer
C'mon Jer
Submitted by Quasi-socialist on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 1:59pm.
As late as 2009, Nancy Pelosi was crying about the "Hate in Dallas" as a factor in JFK's death. This is a bedrock meme in modern liberal thought. I'm not saying that they tried to make Oswald out to be a conservative, I'm saying that they tried to use the tragedy to shift it to previous misgivings about Dallas' "hatred" toward the president.
And what would have made a dent in the historical landslide of 1964? A little less lying by the media. Rather ran a bogus story about children in Dallas cheering the announcement of JFK's death (when all they knew was that school was canceled for the rest of the day). Schorr floated a crap story about a tie between Goldwater and the German neo-nazis, when Goldwater had no plans to do anything but vacation in Europe.
I just read the other day about a prominant liberal (I don't remember who) reasoning that the shooting in Tuscon could be turned against conservatives like the shooting of JFK, which won them a landslide victory in 1964.
50th anniversary of JFK's inaugural - 30th of Reagan's
Submitted by Gary Hall on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 2:03pm.
,,highlighting the 50th anniversary of JFK's inaugural address
And the 30 anniversary of President Ronald Reagan's 1st inaugural address - the starting point in bringing the country out of 4 years of malaise.
Wonder if they noticed the Silver - the 25th - anniversary of Reagan's, 5 years back? Or, his 100th birthday - only 2 weeks away?
(;~> gary
Today???
Submitted by iveseenitall on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 2:18pm.
The "political atmospere" today, Amanpour? This stink has been around for at least five decades in America---fueled by the left. And ever since they lost the 2000 election, they've ginned up their hate-filled rhetoric. Poor President Bush got the brunt of it---day after day the lefty drums beat on and on, pitting American against American, destroying any semblance of civility until at last they gained back their power in 2006. All the gloves were off---"We won, we're in charge, so shut up" was their mantra. Then came 2008 and, drunk with victory, they told at least half the nation "Our way or the highway for you, America"" as they plundered our treasures and ignored the will of the people. Now the people have woken up and risen up and are saying "Enough, already". So the skunks stop their pissing for a while and want us all to be "civil". It's a canard; they have not changed their stripes --- they are still the same old skunks learking about , waiting for the right time to piss again and poison some more of the "political atmosphere". Puleeze:
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal" (progressive)
Kennedy speech hightlights libs never mention:
Submitted by metaphorsbwithu on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 2:23pm.
For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed...... And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe – the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution...... Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas...... Let us never negotiate out of fear...... Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world...... And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe – the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution...... Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty......exactly
Submitted by lotr on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 11:02pm.
GWB has far more in common with JFK than does BHO.
Does Christiane and E.J. Dionne Jr. Share Talking Points?
Submitted by Conservator on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 2:31pm.
Yesterday, like Amanpour, E.J. wrote an OP-ED that was eerily similar:
JFK's words: The torch still burns - Thursday, January 20, 2011 Would you believe that E.J. wrote, "Perhaps I should acknowledge that I fell in love with this speech when I was young, purchasing a long-playing record of Kennedy addresses for 99 cents at the supermarket and listening to it over and over after Kennedy's assassination." E.J. was about 9 or 10 years of age when he bought that 99 cent LP - leftists will lie about anything to push their extreme agenda."President Obama may very
Submitted by Iron Tigers Vet on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 2:46pm.
"President Obama may very well be the closest thing the Kennedys have to one of their own in Washington.".
Are you kidding me? It's now gone from comparing him to Abe Lincoln to JFK. So does that mean he needs to heed the warnings that he could be shot next?
Damn these people are really sipping the kool aid way too much.
As long as the press is
Submitted by tampamom25 on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 3:10pm.
As long as the press is dominated by liberal, left-wing granola people (fruits, nuts and flakes) like Omanpour, we just have to get used to listening to stupid statements....
Based on uh, uh, uh, uh, uh press conferences?
Submitted by Tomorama on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 3:14pm.
I detest this FN family being from the Kennedy bootlicking state of Massachusetts.......... that being said, for this "woman"????? to equate Kennedy with Obama is a bleepin' joke.
It is the same mistake the gushers.......... in my state make with JFK, they portray him as some kind of a liberal, he was at worst a moderate Democrat or a moderate Republican, but a leftist liberal like OBAMA, NO BLEEPIN' way.
It's the same LIE errrrr "mistake" they make about MLK, who had far more Republican leanings than liberal ones.
The ratings for her Sunday morning are in the tank and ABC is stuck with her, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
Christiane Amanpour, liberal
Submitted by Beukeboom on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 3:38pm.
Christiane Amanpour, liberal spin-mistress, is always in the back pocket of the Obama regime.
The only truthful Kennedy
Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 3:44pm.
The only truthful Kennedy story that 's ' Relevant ' to the ' Political Atmosphere ' of Today would be one that delves into the lives & premature deaths ( murders ) of the " The Girls of Camelot and Beyond, the Untold Story ".
Barack_Must_Go.....
Obama is the closest to having one of their own in office?
Submitted by ProudAmerican58 on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 4:54pm.
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
This sounds NOTHING like the Obama administration.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
Submitted by WastedForHim on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 4:57pm.
Personally, I don't see it. There hasn't been a President, since Kennedy, with Balls enough to take on the Babylonian Talmudic Bankers. They've all been opportunist. Now Giffords, a Babylonian Talmudic Believer, was fighting for gun control. Obviously, Jared Loughner, another Babylonian Talmudic Believer disagreed with that sentiment. How does any of that compare to JFK. Sounds more like la cosa nostra.
Whaaaat? Dude, you are on the wrong website. Bigtime.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 5:16pm.
This is about politics, not 2,500 year old religious vendettas.
John Kennedy
Submitted by 88Cid on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 4:59pm.
couldn't possibly be a Democrat in this time because he thought the rights of man came not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.
JFK inauguration....
Submitted by Forbus on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 5:06pm.
With all the MSM hoopla about the 50th anniversary of JFK's inauguration it's important to remember the most famous line from that speech....."And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. "
That statement is completely foreign to 99% of the Liberals in this country today. In fact, if JFK was in Congress today (which would be impossible as a Democrat) Chris Matthews would be comparing him to Michele Bachmann and other "extremists."
JFK was no "effeminate" liberal
Submitted by lotr on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 10:43pm.
"Effeminate" being JFK's own choice of wording when he described the liberal Adlai Stevenson.
JFK was a conservative Democrat in 1963. Accounting for "pop-liberal-inflation" that puts him (JFK) to the right of George W. Bush today.
It wasn't only this quote. Consider other choice nuggets such as:
"Let every nation know... that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
If I didn't know any better, I would swear that this came right out of one of W's speeches. In fact, IMO, I think that W intentionally mimiced JFK's style.
Another JFK/BO similarity
Submitted by markprice1983 on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 7:35pm.
The press never asked tough questions of either one.
Amanpoor
Submitted by ant on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 8:14pm.
"Do you think hope and idealism has been galvanized...by President Obama?"
Definition of galvanized - to stimulate to action; spur. I wish he would stop galvanizing intangibles and, maybe, start spurring some jobs or border enforcement or honest government. Only in liberal land are hopes and wishes oh so tingley and wonderful and so, so productive.
ant---
Submitted by matthewdean on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 1:10am.
I like the other definition of galvanize when referencing it to Obama: "to coat with zinc", cuz it rhymes with stink, and that's the Obama way. MDLOL, md
Submitted by ant on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 4:42am.
Sometimes I wish NB had a like button. It seemed like such a long process just to tell you that was really funny!
JFK was shot by a very sick
Submitted by mostlymoderate on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 5:01am.
JFK was shot by a very sick individual. Just like Reagan was shot by a very sick individual. Unfortunately, JFK died. The only parallel between then and now is that we still have a bunch of sicko's running rampant. Maybe even more. It doesn't mean we need to start giving in and giving up OUR rights, like the 1st Amendment or the 2nd Amendment.
there's more to it than that
Submitted by lotr on Sat, 01/22/2011 - 10:02am.
No matter how misguided he was, JFK's assassin was politically motivated, whereas Reagan's, to my knowledge, was not. However, unlike the recent tragedy in AZ, nobody during those two occassions tried to assign blame to the free speech of the loyal opposition.
I assure you that both The Worker and The Militant, which Lee Harvey Oswald subscribed to, used "inflammatory rhetoric," dare I even say explicit "revolutionary rhetoric," much of it directed against the Kennedy Adminstration. One might think that there would've been a similar backlash against Leftists at the time, but for the fact that there was a concerted effort to manufacture the myth of the "right-wing conspiracy," culminating in the history-rewriting, Alinsky-esque propaganda piece par excellence, Oliver Stone's JFK.
Has Amanpour perhaps examined
Submitted by TCinAZ on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 5:21am.
Has Amanpour perhaps examined her absolute certainty that the assassination of President Kennedy and the attempted killing of Gabby Giffords are "eerily relevant" to Islamophobia in our country!? Yeah! That's it! Islamophobia was the cause!
No wait... that's Another show.