I was lucky enough to attend the RFK jr presidential campaign’s anticipated announcement of his vice presidential running mate. My friend drove as we debated potential selections that might boost Bobby’s campaign. He had barely broken the surface of media mention since the Superbowl ad. Angry family over smearing the memory of his uncle’s 1960 campaign song. Seems like upsetting his family is the only angle they will cover. He could court all estranged family voters, and win on them alone.
A few hiccups emerged from Bobby’s dark pool about his potential VP, a waterboarding gasp for air signaling there was life in the campaign. He’d gotten on the ballot for Utah, claiming enough signatures for another four, but he would need a running mate to gain access in 26 other states.
My buddy was leaning towards celebrity anti-vaxxers like Aaron Rodgers, while I favored a “centrist” politician with charisma and gravitas for strategic reasons. Unfortunately, they’re rarer than unicorns.
Walking from the parking garage, we ventured through a homeless encampment adjoining the Arts Center, a former basketball gym for UC Berkeley. It was a glaring example of the dissolution of American society as a major theme of the campaign. Not sure anyone can solve the homeless crisis, because this village looked entrenched.
Private security, (RFK jr has not been assigned Secret Service protection as a presidential candidate, reportedly burning through a million a month), wanded us for weapons. Wandered into the former cathedral of an American sport as homegrown as baseball. There were several hundred attendees in the floor of the cavernous gym, so not a Trumpianturnout, with a fair share of media and staff.
Kennedy was still speaking, even though we were an hour late, missing the warm up speakers. Introduced Nicole Shanahan, whom I would never have heard about, if not for her alleged affair with Elon Musk, (which both deny-so probably true), breaking up her marriage to a Google founder.
So there’s the wealth solution, paying for the ultra expensive presidential campaign caravan is an enormous hurdle. A large enough party with registered voters is required for most states. We the People party is their ticket to being on ballots in California,[2] Delaware, Hawaii, Mississippi, and North Carolina. Texas Independent Party for its electoral votes. It’s an uphill battle just to be listed as a candidate, while write-ins are routinely rejected for spelling errors. So much for democracy.
Nicole’s speech was surprisingly human, considering one of her aims is to apply Good AI to decipher government medical data to determine causation of chronic diseases, - a major focus in the party’s promises. That sounds potentially promising one way or another. Her first millions came as CEO of ClearAccessIP, “a patent management company utilizing AI and automation to support the innovation economy. She’s a Top 50 Femtech Healthcare Influencer & Longevity Leader and a San Francisco Business Times’ 40 Under 40 at the forefront of ethics in AI and access to justice.”
Not a politician, far smarter, if that’s helpful. For sure there will be no VP debates. A mother of an autistic daughter, rapidly regressing after a Well Baby visit, she will champion the currently 1-22 autistic children and their families in the US. That’s a significant base, and prevent those numbers from growing by finding the cause— hinting about “jabs upon jabs.” She choked up as she called all mothers, her true heroes.
The true test would be if and how the corporate media covered their announcement the next day. Surprisingly, most corporate and new media companies covered the announcement, some even in person. The usual suspects almost uniformly led with “anti-vaxxer, conspiracy theorist, spoiler”, (surprisingly, antisemitic didn’t make the cut of epithets this time). Nicole’s alleged affair was her primary attribute. None of their platform’s extensive promises were featured, except for one mention of “alleged chronic illness epidemic.”
The Associated Press provided helpful sidebar stories on Bobby. One tallied how his anti-vaxx rants have harmed people. A Canadian woman was the only North American victim identified. She exempted her child, then delayed early treatment for autism because she believed it was only caused by vaccines. Blame delayed treatment for autism on the medical system, because it’s universal.
Weirdly, a 2019 deadly outbreak of measles in Samoa was blamed on Bobby because he’d visited that year. Not for carrying the virus, just the anti-vaxx viral meme. It arrived a year before his visit, after dozens of Samoan children were injured or died from the MMR vaccine given.
The government itself paused the injections for a year, before adding to an epidemic by rapidly injecting thousands of measles infected and shedding children. Then it became a crime to be an anti-vaxxer.
The other sidebar was more damaging to RFK jr’s repeated claim that he’s not an anti-vaxxer, he only wants safer vaccines. Since there is no such thing, it’s a moot point. On some obscure blog, years before he was running for president, he said he told parents of young babies he met on the trails “better not get vaccinated.” So far none have come forward, but a candidate is supposed to kiss the babies, not provide child rearing advice.
Kennedy is only covered when he provides fodder for “liberal press” ridicule. His most recent speculation on CNN that Biden is more dangerous to democracy than Trump, because his administration actively censored free speech on social media platforms is documented by internal communications between them. They scoffed at evidence, because Trump is the identified Danger to Democracy, with Bobby a Stalking Horse for the Orange Ogre.
Thank you Stephen. Your nail it ! I sure wish people would wake up and vote for him ! He is a hero IMO and i will do whatever i can to support him. Maybe gather signitures to get him on the ballot in Missouri. 80 % voted for Trump in this little town of 2000 in the Ozarks so might be hard to flush out the few who can read and think. Gratefully, Martine