MSNBC host Joy Reid fawned over the Kennedy family in a series of tweets Wednesday, despite their womanizing, abusive, and downright immoral behavior.
The Kennedys occupy a special place in our national consciousness. JFK had a roguish gallantry. Jackie O had the glamour and pathos of a Hollywood star. RFK had the seeds of goodness and greatness. Teddy chased redemption. Americans love those kinds of narratives. https://t.co/KAm1AxNYKn
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 22, 2017
Reid describes JFK as having a “roguish gallantry,” despite being consistently unfaithful to his wife, Jackie, and being accused of assaulting a waitress.
Reid says Robert Kennedy had “the seeds of goodness,” although he was considered just as much of a womanizer as JFK and was rumored to have had an affair with Jackie after JFK was assassinated.
Then there’s Ted Kennedy, who Reid says “chased redemption” — of course, redemption from crashing his car into a tidal channel and refusing to call authorities while his female companion drowned.
America is a land of myths. Those myths are what knit a disparate people together. Right now we feel rudderless because there’s nothing soaring or mythic about our leadership. It’s just crassness, greed and grasping.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 22, 2017
Obama gave us that mythical quality too, particularly with his soaring rhetoric, which I suspect is why the Kennedys embraced him. It may seem weird but America needs that. Presidents typically aim for it — the uniting power of mythmaking. We most certainly don’t have it now.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 22, 2017
In one response, Reid says the Kennedy family is “Catholic in the best sense” and “embody that sense of obligation to humanity.”
The Kennedy (and Shriver) family is Catholic in the best sense: they embrace service to the poor, the sick and the elderly, literally. They aren’t perfect. No one is. But they sure do embody that sense of obligation to humanity.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 22, 2017
Of course, Twitter wasn’t going to let Reid embellish the Kennedy legacy without some pushback.
It was totally gallant when #JFK forced young girls to sleep with #RFK too
& Ted needed redemption for killing a girl
Not role models https://t.co/oXBF2EaRyf
— Jim Hanson (@Uncle_Jimbo) November 22, 2017
They all slept around & treated women like sex toys. And one of them chose to save his career instead of the woman in his car. She died. He’s a hero to you.
Way to go.
— (((Jay Lampert))) (@MortChristenson) November 22, 2017
Glad as a society we’re finally taking sexual predation seriously wait what the hell https://t.co/5mxqS0Ne46
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) November 22, 2017
The Kennedys–even more than the Clintons–remain the best barometer to see whether people are actually willing to take male predation seriously.
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) November 22, 2017
Jackie O wasn’t a Kennedy. JFK had White House intern service his friends at the pool. Teddy abandoned a woman to die horribly in a submerged car. That family occupies a special place alright, but not in the way you think. https://t.co/39joq2Rocx
— neontaster (@neontaster) November 22, 2017
“Teddy chased redemption.”
You can straight up drown a woman, sexually assault a waitress, etc., etc. and *still* be eulogized with this fluffy shit.
The #MeToo movement sputters. https://t.co/ANLb283HiZ
— Tsar Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) November 22, 2017