DBWI: JFK Jr dies in 1999

Leaving our own preferences out of it, I think the 2016 primary season is one of the most interesting in a long time. I know Hillary is steamed about having to settle for Veep after all these years, and even that's not official. But, with John F. Kennedy Jr. having things more or less locked down, it's a terribly kept secret that although Clinton is still officially in the race, she's going to be his number two.

Something I'm surprised isn't getting talked about is a brush with disaster that Kennedy had in 1999. Bobby Kennedy's daughter, Rory, had her wedding on July 17th, 1999. Obviously her cousin John Jr was in attendance, though he, his wife and her sister arrived in town a little later than planned. John Jr was originally going to fly the three of them into Martha's Vineyard Airport in his own small plane, and in the minutes leading up to takeoff Kennedy was arguing with Essex County Airport employees who were trying to talk him out of the flight. Conditions along the route were such that in some sections he'd be visually blind and flying by instrument flight rules (IFR), for which he wasn't rated. Before takeoff however, a maintenance issue arose with Kennedy's plane; it wouldn't be airworthy for another day. Alternate transportation arrangements were made. Later, John Jr checked what the conditions in flight would have been like and was appalled; he was sure he would have become disoriented and said that they might not have made it.

Suppose the plane is all systems go, JFK Jr heads into the fog and down they go. John Jr's entry into politics in his early 40s was late, but his rise has been quick. How do politics of the last fourteen years play out in his absence? Thinking about the current race, without JFK Jr I don't think Rand Paul would be the Republican frontrunner. The GOP as a whole didn't seem all that keen on him until Kennedy declared his candidacy, which doesn't make a lot of sense as none of the other Republican hopefuls seem electable in November. The Republican machine realized that really only Paul or Ted Cruz could hope to match Kennedy's charisma, and Cruz, well, hasn't exactly worked out on that front. This primary is what got me thinking about this WI, but what of the other races Kennedy has been in, offices he's held? What other fallout could we expect from JFK Jr, his wife and sister in law dying in 1999?
 
Not only did he start late, but he aimed low, at local politics. Its as if he wasn't really interested and sort of took up the least amount of political power he could get in the Borough of Manhattan. Of course New York is a unique case in the US where the Municipality sits above the Borough, but still, its a big jump from Mayor of NYC to US President.
 
What I don't understand is why he is even considering HRC as his #2. She will be way to old to run again and it's not like he owes her anything. Frankly, I am amazed at the inability of the Democratic Party to shed the Clintons even though it is clear a significant portion of the Democratic base would like to, they are so yesterday's news.
 
I understand that Hillary was planning to run for the US Senate from New York and rumors are that JFK Jr. was also interested. Unwilling to have to face him in a Democratic party primary, she settled for the next best thing and bought a house in New Jersey where she ran for and won the Senate seat.

Had Kennedy flew that plane and perished, would Hillary have ran for the Senate from New York? And would Governor Corzine have run for the Senate in 2000 instead of his current job?
 
Hillary lives in NJ. Good I wondered about the EC. Unless per Clinton rules she claims AR as her home. You know like Cheney did not live in TX. Or Liz Cheney keeps running for office in WY and not VA.

Bill can run for Gov in '09 because Corzine was going to jail.

Teddy told John-John, "thank God I have lived to see grey in your hair John
But, you must finish what your dad started, and Bobby took up the torch for. Caroline is as beautiful as your mother. Bring back the time that for a moment was Camelot."

Teddy then died. From that moment John-John would run.

On June 24th, 2015 John stood on a stage in liberty park and said " Again, it is time for us to pass the torch. In 2017, 100 years since my Father was born, we will swear in a new President. We must again to ask ourselves what we can do for our country."

" That son of a bitch! That bastard is going to cost me every thing!"Hillary Rodham Clinton in n e-mail to Huma

" What do we have a royal family on this country? Father to Son, maybe Chelsea should just run? For Christ sake." JOHN ELLIS BUSH

"John, is great. He is a really good friend of mine. I worked with him when he was Mayor, great guy." Donald J. Trump
 
We are fortunate that JFK, Jr. didn't make that flight--I believe he went to Martha's Vineyard the next morning on a private turboprop plane owned by a friend who was a high-level manager at Goldman Sachs.

By the way, JFK, Jr. is not enamored with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Let's just say Donald Trump--who knows the Clintons VERY well through public contact--has quietly told JFK, Jr. a lot of very unflattering things about the Clintons, and in fact is trying to pry Chelsea Clinton out of her parents' influence. By the way, Hillary Clinton is in big trouble anyway--apparently that private e-mailer server she ran from her house in Chappaqua had its traffic secretly monitored by the NSA through the NSA "tap" into Verizon's data lines--and the emails were sent to that server in a relatively unencrypted form (there are quiet whispers that hackers working for the Russian FSB may have read that traffic, too).

But I digress. One thing that JFK, Jr. did from 2001 on was to learn Spanish, almost on a dare. Today in 2016, he actually speaks the language surprisingly fluently, in fact he's said he could actually read most of Cervantes' Don Quixote untranslated. His fluency in Spanish could attract the Hispanic vote in a big way, especially now that the Hispanic vote is the fastest-growing voting bloc in the USA.
 
Last edited:
We are fortunate that JFK, Jr. didn't make that flight--I believe he went to Martha's Vineyard the next morning on a private turboprop plane owned by a friend who was a high-level manager at Goldman Sachs.

By the way, JFK, Jr. is not enamored with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Let's just say Donald Trump--who knows the Clintons VERY well through public contact--has quietly told JFK, Jr. a lot of very unflattering things about the Clintons, and in fact is trying to pry Chelsea Clinton out of her parents' influence. By the way, Hillary Clinton is in big trouble anyway--apparently that private e-mailer server she ran from her house in Chappaqua had its traffic secretly monitored by the NSA through the NSA "tap" into Verizon's data lines--and the emails were sent to that server in a relatively unencrypted form (there are quiet whispers that hackers working for the Russian FSB may have read that traffic, too).

But I digress. One thing that JFK, Jr. did from 2001 on was to learn Spanish, almost on a dare. Today in 2016, he actually speaks the language surprisingly fluently, in fact he's said he could actually read most of Cervantes' Don Quixote untranslated. His fluency in Spanish could attract the Hispanic vote in a big way, especially now that the Hispanic vote is the fastest-growing voting bloc in the USA.

And I wish he would quit making such a big deal about that. Okay, so he knows Spanish, good for him. It's getting as annoying as Jeb Bush was when he tried and failed to get the Republican nomination in 2012 when kept going on about how having a Mexican wife combined with his ability to speak Spanish pretty well would in effect make him the nation's first Latino president. I know he was trying to put his own spin on the equally stupid claim that Clinton was the nation's first black president but still, it got old quick and it certainly didn't help him.
 
And I wish he would quit making such a big deal about that. Okay, so he knows Spanish, good for him. It's getting as annoying as Jeb Bush was when he tried and failed to get the Republican nomination in 2012 when kept going on about how having a Mexican wife combined with his ability to speak Spanish pretty well would in effect make him the nation's first Latino president. I know he was trying to put his own spin on the equally stupid claim that Clinton was the nation's first black president but still, it got old quick and it certainly didn't help him.

While I'd almost agree, JFK, Jr., unlike Jeb Bush, won a lot of Hispanic votes by actually ordering and eating real Mexican food off a lunch truck during a visit to Los Angeles and eating at the famous Versailles Restaurant (OOC: that place is real and an iconic Cuban cuisine landmark) in Miami. Given how influential the Hispanic vote is nowadays, that puts him WAY ahead of Hillary Clinton, who has been ridiculed by the Hispanic community for her bad habit of changing the way she speaks depending on what part of the country she's in (OOC: it's real--go listen to her speak whenever she goes back to Arkansas).
 
Top