WORK SONGS: Why would they be concerned about Bobby?

THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2025

One worker had no idea: Yesterday afternoon, hours before the plane disaster, Robert F. Kennedy was being discussed on the cable show, Deadline: White House.

The nominee had completed a weirdly hapless performance at the first of his confirmation hearings. At 5:11 p.m., Tim Miller—he's a former Republican strategist—shared his favorite story about the person in question.

Warning! When Miller spoke about Kennedy Jr., he used some challenging words:

MILLER (1/29/25): To me, the worst of all the RFK stories is, he said himself that when he goes on hikes and he sees mothers with small children, he confronts them and tells them not to vaccinate their children. 

Like, that is the behavior of a madman—an insane person.

Say what? Has Kennedy ever said any such thing? Yesterday, in this detailed report, CNN tried to claim that he has:

RFK Jr.’s litany of controversial views to come under scrutiny in Senate confirmation hearing

[...]

NBC News senior reporter Brandy Zadrozny noted Thursday that when Kennedy was asked on the “Health Freedom for Humanity” podcast in 2021 how parents should respond to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention schedule of immunizations for children, which his questioner described as “insane,” he responded by encouraging people to join him in telling strangers not to vaccinate their babies.

“For many, many years, I think parents were so gaslighted, and they were scapegoated, and they were vilified and marginalized, so that even parents of kids who were very, very badly injured, knew what happened to their kid, but they were just reluctant to talk about it. And I think now those days are over,” Kennedy said.

“We—our job is to resist and to talk about it to everybody. If you’re walking down the street—and I do this now myself, which is, you know, I don’t want to do—I’m not a busybody. I see somebody on a hiking trail carrying a little baby and I say to him, ‘Better not get him vaccinated.’ And he heard that from me. If he hears it from 10 other people, maybe he won’t do it, you know, maybe he will save that child.”

Kennedy repeated later in the podcast: “If you’re one of 10 people that goes up to a guy, a man or a woman, who’s carrying a baby, and says, ‘Don’t vaccinate that baby,’ when they hear that from 10 people, it’ll make an impression on ‘em, you know. And we all kept our mouth shut. Don’t keep your mouth shut anymore. Confront everybody on it.”

So claimed CNN. Meanwhile, you can see the nominee say that yourself, simply by clicking here. 

(For the record, Kennedy Jr. isn't a busybody. He's just someone who says things like that to young parents he doesn't know when he sees them on hiking trails.)

Also this:

For whatever reason, for better or worse, Kennedy Jr. has said a million such things in the past. (Until such time as he starts insisting that he actually hasn't!)

Some rather tough language is on display in the statements we've posted above—first in the Health Freedom for Humanity podcast, then on Deadline: White House. As a courtesy, we'll assume that Miller may have bene speaking colloquially when he said that the behavior he described was the behavior of "a madman"—of someone who is "insane."

For the record, our own assessment would pretty much have to be this:

Speaking on a non-clinical basis, Kennedy Jr. has possibly seemed to be severely disordered during the full extent on his life.

In his defense, we'd point to the trauma which may imaginably result from seeing your uncle shot and killed on national TV when you're ten years old, followed by the experience of seeing your father shot and killed, in a similar way, less than five years later.

Can such experiences possibly leave a young person (colloquially) "insane" or "disordered?" 

Not being medical specialists, we don't know how to answer that question. But Kennedy's routinely bizarre life history almost seems to speak for itself. That includes his bizarre sexual conduct, which "legacy media," for whatever reason, have generally agreed not to report, discuss, explore or assess. 

Two days ago, his cousin Caroline took us out beyond that. She spoke about the chickens and mice. She spoke about the drug dealing.

At any rate, there was Miller, citing one of the three million unusual past behaviors by the nominee. These odd behaviors are quite well known—unless you're watching someone like Rachel Campos-Duffy on an imitation of life like the Fox News Channel.

Last Sunday morning, there she sat, making remarks about "Fauci" which strike us as almost insanely irresponsible. 

Did she have the first freaking clue what she was talking about? If she'd been challenged by a knowledgeable interlocutor, could she have defended her remarkable statements—including her amazingly stupid claim to instant certainty, right from the jump, about the alleged lab leak? 

We'll guess that she quite likely couldn't have done that. That said, there's no earthly chance that she'll ever be so challenged on Fox & Friends Weekend, where she has labored, for almost four years, as one of the show's co-hosts.

Last Sunday morning, she sat in her standard position on the tuffet, accompanied by two of her friends. As we noted on Tuesday, a call of the roll reveals this:

Fox & Friends Weekend, 1/26/25
Rachel Campos-Duffy: co-host, Fox & Friends Weekend
Charlie Hurt: new co-host, Fox & Friends Weekend
Jason Chaffetz: former congressman (R-Utah); Fox News contributor

So sat the Fox News Channel Work Song Gang—that day's Stepford Singers. As they sang their tribal war songs, Campos-Duffy—she of the genial demeanor among her own—was even willing to say something as blindingly stupid as this:

CAMPOS-DUFFY (1/26/25): It's interesting because you have Tulsi Gabbard and Bobby Kennedy, who are also Democrats.

HURT: Exactly.

CAMPOS-DUFFY: So what do they do with that, and what exactly is it that they don't like about these guys? In the case of Bobby, they don't like that he's against Big Pharma and big corporations. 

And Tulsi Gabbard—you know, she's someone who's willing to give peace a chance. I guess that's not a Democrat [sic] value any more.

So sang the multimillionaire "cable news" field hand. 

She didn't have the slightest idea what they didn't like about "Bobby!" As early as 6:06 on a Sunday morning, this is the pablum Red America is fed by "work song gangs" of this type.

Is Robert Kennedy Jr. "insane?" Miller may have been speaking colloquially, though then again possibly not.

In Campos-Duffy herself disordered in some major way? Or is she simply a true believer? Is it possible that she simply does what she does for the cash?

We can't answer those obvious questions. 

Next week, as we return to our MADNESS theme, we'll be sharing more of Campos-Duffy's biography. But make no mistake:

Even now, as we type today, our failing nation has long since crossed the border into the realm of the madness. 

At any rate, there you saw the kind of "sifting" these work song gangs provide. Viewers of programs like Fox & Friends Weekend will never be exposed to the full range of facts about the great men and women the God-chosen commander has nominated for service here on this earth. 

(Also, such viewers will never be exposed to the full range of facts about anything else! That's how the sifting works.)

As for the commander himself, he was saved by Campos-Duffy's "lord and savior, Jesus Christ." Along with two other friends (one of whom was Pete Hegseth), she finally copped to that sectarian assessment on the Sunday morning after the assassination attempt in Butler.

(Stating the obvious, she's fully entitled to her view. Within the norms of American journalism, it's a slightly unusual framework.)

Who or what is Campos-Duffy? In the simplest formulation, she's a highly genial presence (among her own) who's willing to put "Fauci's" life at risk. Also, who says she doesn't have the slightest idea why anyone would have reservations about the wonderful "Bobby."

She can't imagine why that would be! She has no earthly idea!

For the record, Tulsi" isn't a Democrat; she left the party in 2022, which was her perfect right. But last Sunday, the field hand was singing one of her (many) favorite work songs—and as she did, she reminded us of one of our favorite scenes from all of literature

Full disclosure—we aren't "well read." But we'll share that scene tomorrow.

Tomorrow: Democratization and madness