The real reason the Gabby Giffords is resigning her congressional seat

[Oh Shoot]

...RE: The Kennedy thing. I still remember when JFK was shot (...i was 18 years old...) and i remember being at home sick.

One of history's few events, like Pearl Harbor, 9/11) where most folks remember exactly where they first heard it happened.

Can't remember which year of high school, but I was at a Powder Puff football game fund raiser thing we got out of classes for, and they announced it over the loud speaker. I also later saw Ruby shoot Oswald on live TV.

- OS

Edited January 28, 2012 by OhShoot

[Guest klwehunt]

Rep. was a popular represenitive but she sure didn't have good taste in best friends.(Debbie Wasserman Sholtz )can not stand that b****.

[Guest Skeeter]

JFK was a WWII Combat Vet ( not a trumped up on paper John Carey ) .

Later released transcripts during the Cuban missile crisis showed his cabinet aka Curtis Lemay and crew wanted to bomb and invade.

When the Soviet Union imploded information was revealed Tactical Nuclear Weapons were operational and the Soviet Ground Commanders along with their Nuclear Submarines were authorized to deploy those Weapons. We Surely would have Retaliated with both sides escalating to ????

Thank God cooler heads prevailed or the World as we know it would be a Very different place.

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[Guest lostpass]

I wasn't saying she would have won by a landslide because of her politics. I wasn't saying that her politics were/are any good or that she would be the 'right' person to hold the office. I was simply saying that the public goodwill and support she has garnered in the aftermath of the tragedy would likely have resulted in a huge win for her had she decided to run again.

I was not yet born or even conceived when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. In fact, I was negative eight, give or take. However, judging by his brother Ted and the politics of many of the other Kennedy's as well as New England politicians, in general (Romney being one), I can't imagine there would be as much goodwill for him, based solely on his politics, had he survived to serve two full terms and were living in retirement, now. My guess is that, from a PR standpoint, getting shot in the head did more for his public image and how society as a whole feels about him (and his brother Bobby, too, for that matter) than any amount of political achievement. I don't say that to be callous, it is simply what I believe.

I suspect you are right, dying at the apex of a public career is a way to be remembered fondly. Was Jim Morrison really that fantastic? Not really but overdosing on heroine helps out his legacy. Kurt Cobain? Some catchy songs but probably not a musical genius. James Dean? He's an icon now but was his acting range all that broad? Abe Lincoln is on Mount Rushmore but who he be there if he had to deal with the complexities of reconstruction? And let us not forget the King, Elvis. Elvis is revered but would he still be the King if he had lived to be 80 talking incoherently while steadily transitioning toward the Jabba the Hut lifestyle model?

As to whether JFK would be a modern democrat I suspect he would, just because the family seems to make a living off of being democrats (hey, they live in Mass, what do you expect?) They more interesting question is whether Barack would be a republican in 1968. Sounds crazy but check out the 1968 presidential platform.

There are three ways to look at this:

1. The country has moved so far to the right that the platform of 1968 qualifies as an approximation of the Dems today. In which case you'd be forced to admit the right has won and never bothered to realize this fact.

2. The right of 1968 was just surprisingly liberal.

3. The left and right don't really represent any particular ideals, they just pander. It's like choosing Coke or Pepsi and imaging you have a choice because you were told you had a choice. But you couldn't pick water.

I'm going with number three.

[JAB]

Was Jim Morrison really that fantastic? Not really but overdosing on heroine helps out his legacy.

Just to be contrary, Morrison didn't overdose on anything. He died of a heart attack that was the likely result of years of heavy drug use but doesn't seem to have been using at the time. Of course, by that time The Doors had already split and he was living more or less out of the spotlight.

3. The left and right don't really represent any particular ideals, they just pander. It's like choosing Coke or Pepsi and imaging you have a choice because you were told you had a choice. But you couldn't pick water.

I'm going with number three.

DING DING DING! We have a winner!

[Oh Shoot]

Just to be contrary, Morrison didn't overdose on anything. He died of a heart attack that was the likely result of years of heavy drug use but doesn't seem to have been using at the time...

Not sure where ya got that. No autopsy was performed, and various folks close to him all recounted various renditions of that night, much of it a good while after his death. Though jumbled, all seems to come down to his gal's stash of some particularly pure smack that he likely snorted in too much volume, perhaps thinking it was coke (or not).

Apologies for the continued aside.

- OS

Edited January 30, 2012 by OhShoot