Aaron Rodgers is no Robert F. Kennedy (RFK).
In the 1988 Vice Presidential debate, Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentsen famously said to Republican Senator Dan Quayle, “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” (Friends and family referred to President John F. Kennedy as “Jack”.)
More recently, the late President Kennedy’s nephew, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK, Jr.), floated the possibility of Aaron Rodgers becoming his running mate in an unconventional, independent bid for the presidency.
BREAKING: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has approached #Jets QB Aaron Rodgers about becoming his VICE PRESIDENT as he is running for President, per the @nytimes. pic.twitter.com/NF5XpQvL8Y
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) March 12, 2024
Hearkening back to Senator Bentsen’s famous quip, neither RFK, Jr. nor Aaron Rodgers are Bobby Kennedy. Far from it.
RFK
Bobby Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on November 20, 1925. His elder brother John (JFK) became the 35th President of the United States in 1961.
Bobby served in the U.S. Navy Reserve during World War II. He graduated from Harvard in 1948 and then obtained a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1951.
Throughout the 1950s, he worked in various legal capacities for the United States Senate.
When his brother became President in 1961, Bobby became Attorney General of the United States.
When JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, Lyndon Johnson became president. RFK remained AG until September of 1964, shortly after he announced his intention to run for the U.S. Senate.
RFK’s Civil Rights Legacy
Bobby Kennedy is warmly regarded as a champion of civil rights.
RFK brought “the power of the federal government to bear when state and local governments attacked civil rights workers” in the racially charged 1960s. His role in “pushing through and enforcing groundbreaking changes in racial relations was pivotal in a moment that culminated with the introduction of far-reaching civil rights legislation.”
In a letter, Martin Luther King, Jr. praised RFK for his efforts in securing the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“Your able, courageous, and effective work in guiding the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through both Houses of Congress has earned you an even warmer spot in the hearts of freedom-loving people the world over. I add to theirs my sincere and heartfelt thanks.”
RFK’s Brother Signed the Vaccination Assistance Act of 1962
JFK signed the Vaccination Assistance Act into law in 1962. The Act made funds available “to ensure all children under the age of five could receive vaccines, regardless of family economic status.”
In urging Congress to pass the Act, JFK stated:
“There is no longer any reason why American children should suffer from polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, or tetanus. I am asking the American people to join in a nationwide vaccination program to stamp out these four diseases.”
Hence, it is quite ironic that RFK, Jr. is now a champion of the anti-vaccination cause. This and other unconventional views held by RFK, Jr. (and Aaron Rodgers) are discussed below.
RFK’s Bid for the Presidency
In the words of historian James T. Patterson, RFK built “coalitions of supporters that cut across race and class lines.”
The murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1968, had a dramatic impact on RFK’s campaign. RFK was widely viewed as a leader in the struggle to tamp down the divisive forces that were fraying the social fabric.
History.com reports:
“As riots erupted in more than 100 cities, Kennedy, ignoring the pleas of his aides and the police, went ahead and held a campaign rally in an African American neighborhood in Indianapolis. From atop a flatbed truck, Kennedy broke the news of King’s murder, referenced his own brother’s assassination, and vowed to continue the quest to achieve national understanding and racial reconciliation.
“His speech cemented his image as a leading liberal seeking to maintain people’s faith in American institutions and its political culture.”
Kennedy attended MLK’s funeral. Civil rights activist and eventual Congressman John Lewis, who was also in attendance, remarked: “I felt I had lost a friend, a big brother, a colleague. [But] … I said to myself, ‘Well, we still have Bobby Kennedy.'”
RFK’s campaign message has been described as “inclusive patriotic populism”.
RFK’s Assassination
Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, 24-year-old Sirhan Sirhan shot and killed RFK in Los Angeles. The shooting occurred after RFK had given a speech to supporters following his victories in the California and South Dakota primaries.
Decathlete Rafer Johnson and former professional football player Rosey Grier are credited with wrestling Sirhan to the ground after he shot Kennedy.
Sirhan, a Jordanian nationalist, reportedly shot Kennedy because of Kennedy’s “advocacy of U.S. support for Israel.”
To this day, Sirhan is an inmate in the California state prison system.
Kennedy’s death, like the 1963 assassination of his brother John, has been the subject of conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, one of the proponents of such conspiracy theories is RFK, Jr.
At Kennedy’s funeral, his sole surviving brother, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, eulogized him with these eloquent words:
“My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will someday come to pass for all the world.
“As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: ‘Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.'”
A look back at the funeral of Robert F. Kennedy 50 years later. #RFK50 https://t.co/bVyOFJBA3v pic.twitter.com/4uMs5pF6Sq
— Inside Edition (@InsideEdition) June 6, 2018
RFK, Jr.
Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954), also known by his initials RFK, Jr., is an American politician, environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist, and conspiracy theorist. He is the chairman and founder of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group, and an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
Like his father, RFK, Jr. did his undergraduate studies at Harvard and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia.
In 1984, RFK, Jr. was convicted of felony possession of heroin.
He went on to work for law firms that enforced environmental regulations against corporate polluters. He was admired for leading efforts to clean up the Hudson River in New York.
However, he veered into the fringe in the early 2000s, writing articles in Rolling Stone and Salon promoting conspiracies about vaccines.
RFK, Jr.’s Scientifically-Refuted Anti-Vaccination Viewpoints
Time Magazine reports:
“[RFK, Jr.] has become a hero of the anti-vax crowd with his persistent claims that vaccines contain deadly ingredients, particularly a mercury-based preservative known as thimerosal, and that they are linked to autism.
“He is wrong on both scores. No vaccines except some formulations of the flu vaccine contain thimerosal, and the type of mercury it uses is ethylmercury, which is cleared from the body quickly and harmlessly. And vaccines do not cause—and are not even associated with—autism. Full stop.”
Members of RFK’s family have distanced themselves from his anti-vaccination activities and conspiracy theories on public health. They have specifically rebuked him for making comments equating public health measures with Nazi atrocities. At an anti-vaxxer rally in Washington, D.C. in 2022, RFK, Jr. said:
“Even in Hitler’s Germany you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did.”
He later apologized for the remark, but said his point “was to use examples of past barbarism to show the perils from new technologies of control.” Of course, the teenage Anne Frank hid from the Nazis in an attic for years in Amsterdam, not in Germany. And, her harrowing story was detailed in a diary published after she died in 1945 at a German concentration camp. She was one of six million Jews killed by the Nazis.
In 2019, three of his siblings, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Joseph P. Kennedy, and Maeve Kennedy McKean wrote an open letter saying that while RFK, Jr. has championed many admirable causes, he “has helped to spread dangerous misinformation over social media and is complicit in sowing distrust of the science behind vaccines”.
I STRONGLY condemn my brother's deplorable and untruthful remarks last week about Covid being engineered for ethnic targeting. https://t.co/9YCag7JtHm
— Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) July 17, 2023
On December 30, 2020, Kennedy’s niece Kerry Kennedy Meltzer, a physician, wrote a similar open letter, saying that her uncle published misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines’ side effects.
Per the New York Times:
“Mr. Kennedy’s rise as the face of the vaccine resistance movement has tested as never before the solidarity of a family that has for decades remained resolute in the face of tragedy and scandal. It has rattled the Hollywood and entertainment circles that he inhabits, while showing how the vaccine debate is upending traditional political alliances.
“And it has left the Kennedys and his friends anguished and mystified about the dramatic turn in the often troubled life of a man who was a pallbearer at his father’s funeral when he was 14, who emerged from drug addiction to become one of the leading environmentalists in the country and who is regarded as among the most politically gifted Kennedys of his generation.”
My family, and particularly my sister Maeve, has always inspired me to speak up and speak out. I love my uncle, but he is wrong about vaccines. https://t.co/NPNbTOyhmq
— Kerry Meltzer (@drkerrymeltzer) December 30, 2020
RFK, Jr. was banned from Instagram for two years for posting disinformation concerning vaccines.
RFK, Jr.’s Independent Presidential Campaign
RFK, Jr. announced his campaign for the presidency on April 19, 2023. He initially ran for the Democratic nomination. However, on October 9, 2023, he declared that he was running as an Independent.
As Politico notes, the Kennedy “family name is almost synonymous with the Democratic Party.” Thus, when RFK, Jr. announced he was running as an Independent, members of the Kennedy family released a joint statement, calling his announcement “deeply saddening” and “perilous for our country.”
Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. Today's announcement is deeply saddening for us. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country. @roryekennedy @joekennedy @KKT_Kennedy pic.twitter.com/WJfGwSxN1z
— Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) October 9, 2023
RFK, Jr.’s official campaign website is up and running.
At the outset of his campaign, Kennedy gave an interview to Joe Rogan, during which he expressed a belief that the CIA might try to kill him. His remarks were in synch with long-running conspiracy theories regarding his father and uncle’s assassinations.
RFK, Jr.’s campaign has gained traction with a “wave of unconventional donors, including yoga studio owners, retired individuals, and former sports stars, drawn by his anti-vaccine stance and dedication to grassroots engagement.” Many of his donors are first-time contributors, and he has drawn support from people disillusioned by both Trump and Biden. His campaign reflects “a growing sentiment of discontent with traditional political choices and a desire for change among certain voter demographics.”
Kennedy has received financial support from Republicans associated with former President Donald Trump and promoters of conspiracy theories.
The campaign sparked controversy when a super PAC funded by Trump donors ran a controversial commercial during Super Bowl LVIII featuring historic images of JFK and RFK, with captions that read, “Vote Independent.”
Criticizing the ad, the Democratic National Committee spokesman said, “It is fitting that the first national ad promoting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s candidacy was bought and paid for by Donald Trump’s largest donor this cycle.”
Salon elaborates on this point:
“Unsurprisingly, the Republican-affiliated donors funding Kennedy’s campaign have a laser-like focus on getting his name on ballots in swing states, while ignoring deep red or blue states where his presence won’t affect the outcome.”
Once again, members of the Kennedy family inveighed against RFK, Jr. for the ad, which they described as deceptive and hurtful.
Response to RFK Jr superpac ad invoking JFK 1960 campaign from member of Kennedy family https://t.co/AwXjjGGwqV
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 12, 2024
Aaron Rodgers as VP?
In early March 2024, RFK, Jr. floated the idea of naming Aaron Rodgers his running mate. The campaign went so far as to register a website for Rodgers as the VP pick. However, as reported by The Nation, “The project, like many of those associated with Kennedy’s quixotic presidential bid, faltered under further scrutiny.”
Kennedy saw in Rodgers someone who thinks like him. He praised Rodgers for showing a healthy skepticism of authority.
On the Fox News Channel, RFK, Jr. made the following remarks about Rodgers:
“He’s … somebody who I think will help me get the country healthy again. You know, he’s 40 years old. He’s focused on his own health. He’s very aware of health issues. And you know, that’s one of the things I’m going to—that’s one of the key parts of my agenda, is to get the country healthy again.”
Kennedy posted a photo of himself hiking with Rodgers recently.
RFK Jr says he's considering antivaxxer Aaron Rodgers for VP.
His push to take us back to the days when children routinely died of measles or were paralyzed by polio is an assault to the legacy of his uncle, President Kennedy, who signed the Vaccination Assistance Act in 1962.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) March 13, 2024
The “Rodgers for VP” project was ultimately short-lived. It was derailed by reports that Rodgers had embraced a far-out conspiracy theory that the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting did not take place. Evidence surfaced that “Rodgers claimed the shooting was an inside government job and the media was helping to cover it up.”
Kennedy Settles On A Different Running Mate
RFK, Jr. recently named Nicole Shanahan as his running mate. She is a wealthy Silicon Valley tech attorney and entrepreneur. Shanahan used to be married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin.
Shanahan has the wherewithal to fund the expensive effort to get the Independent Kennedy campaign on the ballot in all 50 States.
Rodgers Is Still An Ardent Supporter of RFK, Jr., And Is Still Promoting Conspiracy Theories And Misinformation About Vaccinations
Aaron Rodgers is inviting Travis Kelce to have a vaccine debate.
Rodgers proposes that it be him and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. against Kelce and Anthony Fauci.
(via @PatMcAfeeShow)pic.twitter.com/tcqPmptGtB https://t.co/xvH9M5MlpR
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 10, 2023
Rodgers recently stated:
“The two-party system that we got in place doesn’t work, hasn’t been working, hasn’t been working really since JFK was in office, and we need somebody who’s willing to lay it on the line.
“That’s what I love about Bobby. Think about it. They killed his uncle. They killed his dad. We know the CIA was involved, right? I mean, they can’t declassify it because it’s so damning. We know the FBI was involved. [J. Edgar] Hoover hated the Kennedys. Hated them.
“Allen Dulles was fired as director of the CIA after he botched the Bay of Pigs and tried to get Operation Northwoods to happen to literally start World War III and invade Cuba. He was fired. He was on the fucking Warren Commission, Allen Dulles was, as was Gerald Ford, who was the right-hand man to J. Edgar Hoover, who hated the Kennedys. Like, we know they’re involved.
“So Bobby loses his uncle, JFK, and his father, RFK. His cousin died in a plane crash when he was running against Hillary Clinton. I’m not saying that was a conspiracy, but it’s kind of a weird coincidence. Bobby’s in danger, you know? Like he’s putting himself on the line. Why? Because he fucking believes in this country. He believes in this country. He believes in the good in people and he believes he can make a difference. That’s somebody I can get behind who’s willing to lay it on the line.”
Not that facts matter much to Rodgers, but JFK, Jr. was not “running against Hillary Clinton” when he tragically died in a plane crash. JFK, Jr. did die ten days after then-first lady Hillary Clinton began exploring a run for a soon-to-open U.S. Senate seat in New York. And, in 2020, a meme circulated on social media, suggesting the two events were related. However, the suggestion was promptly debunked. But, Rodgers still posits it as fact.
With regard to RFK, Jr. not selecting Rodgers as his running mate, the star quarterback said:
“I got mentioned as a finalist to be, you know, Vice President on a ticket and they fucking attacked me with some bizarre story from years ago. There was a third-hand account or something. They’re terrified. They’re terrified of people that think for themselves that aren’t controlled. I’m not beholden to anybody…. Nobody controls my messaging. Nobody controlling my social media. Nobody can control me. You know, I think for myself. I speak for myself. And that’s dangerous to an establishment that wants more power, control, and obedience.”
Mike Florio of NBC Sports recently excoriated Rodgers:
“He’s a habitual conspiracy theorist…. [I]t’s fair for people of sound mind and common sense to reasonably conclude that he’s reckless and shallow and a faux intellectual….”
Salon chimes in:
“Rodgers, [with his] outstanding career[,] … was once a popular enough figure to be considered as a replacement for Alex Trebek on “Jeopardy! But as he’s dived deeper into the world of conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine vitriol, the majority of Americans are sensible enough to be grossed out by Rodgers.”
One of the more bizarre suggestions that Rodgers has made is that the noises made by mating dolphins have the capacity to heal injuries.
THIS IS CRAZY: #Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers described how the sounds of Dolphins HAVING SEX are therapeutic for his body 😳😳😳
“There’s ideas that some of the noises from the dolphins, when they’re lovemaking, the frequency of that is actually healing to the body.”
(Via the… pic.twitter.com/zmvejzp9QZ
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) September 15, 2023
Members of the Kennedy Family Have Endorsed Joe Biden and Condemned the Strange Anti-Scientific Views of RFK, Jr. and Aaron Rodgers
On April 18, 2024, more than a dozen members of the Kennedy family publicly endorsed President Joe Biden for a second term, notwithstanding their family member’s candidacy. NBC News reported:
“‘We want to make crystal clear our feeling that the best way forward for America is to re-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to four more years,’ Kerry Kennedy said in remarks announcing the endorsement at a campaign event in Philadelphia.
“She made the endorsement on behalf of 15 Kennedy family members at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center alongside five of RFK Jr.’s other siblings: Rory Kennedy, Joseph Kennedy II, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Christopher Kennedy and Maxwell Kennedy Sr….
“‘We can say today, with no less urgency, that our rights and freedoms are once again in peril,’ she said. ‘That is why we all need to come together in a campaign that should unite not only Democrats but all Americans, including Republicans and independents who believe in what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature.’
“Kerry Kennedy directlyattacked Trump and invoked her father, Robert F. Kennedy.
“‘I can only imagine how Donald Trump’s outrageous lies and behavior would’ve horrified my father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who proudly served as attorney general of the United States and honored his pledge to uphold the law and protect the country,’ she said before she compared her father’s commitment to equal justice and human rights to Biden’s.”
"I can only imagine how Donald Trump's outrageous lies and behavior would horrify my father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy…"
WATCH: Kerry Kennedy slams former President Donald Trump and officially announces the Kennedy family's endorsement for President Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/7DZQcdxa1Z
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 18, 2024
Just as Sen. Lloyd Bentsen told Dan Quayle he was “no Jack Kennedy,” the siblings of RFK, Jr. are telling us loudly and clearly that he is “no Bobby Kennedy.” Nor is Aaron Rodgers, who peddles the same misinformation and conspiracy theories as RFK, Jr.
For more sports-related news, focused primarily on the USC Trojans, SMU Mustangs, Sacramento Kings, and Los Angeles Rams, please follow me at @vshjah_Victor.
1 Comment
Aaron Rodgers is such a douchebag. Thanks for the well-crafted historical tour; that brought back some memories.