Er-Ah, What He Said

I've never been a big fan of the Kennedys, and I've always been shocked at how gullible Americans have been, believing these people to be truly gifted instead of just a bunch of silver spoon hacks enjoying a bootlegger's ill gotten gains. Beyond what is described below, it's entirely possible Joe Kennedy rigged the 1960 election with his Mafia pals in Chicago, and the country was denied the privilege of having Nixon as President at the beginning of the decade, instead of the end. Who knows, if Nixon had won in 1960 he might never have been brought down by scandal, and he could've geared up the Vietnam War much sooner, but we'll never know.

Even Kennedy's eloquence was not genuine, but rather the product of his life of prep schools where somewhat gifted teachers lectured ignorant rich brats who only had one real worry in life - "when do I get my trust fund?" Turns out this whole "ask not blah blah" thing is ripped off from some guy trying to instill a lifelong love of Choate. Fabulous.

There are a lot of writers who would love to turn to their Dad and say, "hey Dad, er ah can you get me a Pulitzer? Will help me look smart and win." And then Dad goes out and does it. I don't know if I'm more upset with the Kennedys or with my own Dad, who did not provide a Pulitzer OR a trust fund. Double downer, once again.

John F. Kennedy's most famous turn of phrase was inspired by the headmaster of his New England prep school, according to a new book on America's only president to have won the Pulitzer Prize.

In his 14-minute 1961 inaugural speech, which addressed the United States' role in the Cold War, Kennedy told Americans to "ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country."

Kennedy, it turns out, had heard something like it before.

Two documents unearthed by MSNBC television host Chris Matthews in his book "Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero," show that the future president's headmaster at the elite Choate boarding school in Connecticut in the early 1930s had used a similar exhortation.

"The youth who loves his alma matter will always ask not 'What can she do for me?' but 'What can I do for her?" the headmaster said, quoting a Harvard University dean.

Kennedy's 1957 Pulitzer Prize for "Profiles of Courage," a credential that helped bolster his prestige as a candidate, was "no happy accident," the book says.

In fact, Kennedy's father, Joseph Kennedy, had lobbied members of the Pulitzer screening board one at a time.

[Reuters]