Three quick observations:
• Last year I gave a Boston Phoenix Muzzle Award to Max Kennedy for refusing to release Robert Kennedy’s papers. Bryan Bender, who did the original reporting on this story, is back, and finds that nothing has changed. What are the Kennedys trying to hide?
• The Springfield Republican has had to muzzle its editorial page as the paper’s owner ponders the possibility of selling the property to build a casino, according to Mark Arsenault. It probably won’t matter much — the Republican was pro-casino even before the possibility of cashing in came along. Still, this is an interesting conflict of interest to say the least.
• Sally Jacobs writes a long feature on U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s troubled childhood — and finds that his aunt bitterly disputes his account of how she treated him. I hope Brown today is reflecting on the propriety of questioning people’s recollections of their backgrounds. Life is complicated.
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Stephen Stein
Regarding Brown – “The world is made for people who aren’t cursed with self awareness.” – Annie Savoy (Bull Durham)
Mike Benedict
Scott Brown’s “autobiography” sounds an awful lot like Bill Clinton’s, what with the alleged abuse by his father, the dysfunctions of his mother, the welfare, and so on. Even the high school aged son’s intervention against his abusive stepdad sounds awfully familiar.
Just waiting here for Brown’s “Monica moment” be to revealed.
Not that I’m implying anything.
Michael Pahre
Not just Brown’s aunt, but also his aunt’s family, dispute that part of his story. It’s hard to remember stuff that happened to you when you were nine — forty years later.
You might want to read the RFK papers story to the end. It provides some possible reasons why they are having difficulty resolving the case, including assessing the monetary value of the collection for tax writeoff purposes.
Dan Kennedy
@Michael: I read it all. I’m putting this in the context of Bender’s reporting from a year earlier, when we learned that the Kennedy family was keeping a tight lid on the papers because of what was in them. That hasn’t changed. I wouldn’t doubt that they are trying to get a tax break while still keeping the wraps on them.
Here is Bender’s original story. Pretty clear that the tax break is a side issue at most. There’s stuff in there.
Rick Peterson
Re Sally Jacobs piece:Yes, by all means, I’m surprised that people who may have acted inappropriately or cruelly around foster children aren’t in a big rush to cop to it. Huh? What exactly did we expect?
@Mike: so glad you’re NOT implying anything. I suspect that the Senator’s social life before politics was a bit different from that of the chubby Boys State participant with the saxophone. I would imagine that being a straight male model in Boston offered enviable opportunities for sowing wild oats. The picture perfect home life of today’s Brown would seem to indicate however that those wild oats are far in the past, despite how frustrating it must be for those “implying” otherwise. Clinton was over-compensating. I suspect that Brown has nothing to prove to anyone in that arena.