I went to see Bobby this afternoon

[proud2BlibKansan]

Here's a trailer -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3G11udQvyU

Maybe because I was 14 years old in 1968 and remember it so well. Maybe because I was raised in a Catholic yellow dog Dem family. Maybe because I remember so well how much my parents loved JFK and Bobby too. Maybe because I remember the hope Bobby was bringing the country. Maybe because I believe to this day that his death turned this country in the wrong direction. For whatever reason, I was back in 1968 watching this movie and it made me so sad.

I had forgotten so much. How Bobby connected with the poor, how he reached out to the little people, and how he was a rock star who didn't act like a rock star.

My god, how he got the young excited! His campaign was swamped with teenagers and college students. We saw in Bobby a hope for ending the war. We saw hope for ending poverty.

Just 2 weeks after he declared his candidacy, Martin Luther King was killed. By then, Johnson was a lame duck president, a great disappointment to us all. I don't even remember Johnson's reaction to King's murder. But Bobby brought us hope. I remember my dad saying if Bobby was president, he would know how to calm the country down and prevent the riots erupting all over the USA in the spring of 1968.

And Bobby actually had minorities and women working on his campaign. That was the first time I ever saw anyone but a white man working on any campaign. That was so exciting!

Sadly, when Bobby died, the Democrats disintegrated. His death was followed by the riots at the Chicago convention and the selection of a candidate who had no hope in winning. And we got Nixon. And more war. And a draft. And more death. And then Watergate. It was a sad sad era to become a young adult.

And now we have the BFEE family dynasty making its mark on our history instead of the Kennedys. That thought is so repulsive.

So this movie made me sad. But I am recommending it highly. Young Duers go see it and find out what the Democratic party was like when we had hope. Those of you who can remember Bobby Kennedy, go see it and remember 1968. It might make you smile a little.

[msongs]

1. actually hubert humphrey came close to winning in 1968

lost to nixon 43-42% and plus or minus 1 million votes (less than, I believe). Nixon lost a lot of the white racist christian vote to george wallace that year.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Wow I hadn't remembered that

I just remember all the adults saying that Bobby's death was the death of the Dem party and no Dem candidate had a chance after the convention in Chicago and the riots.

[IndyOp]

60. Watch "One Bright Shining Moment" about McGovern's 1972 campaign...

It gives me a sense of courage to know that even after losing Jack, even after losing Martin, and even after Bobby...

The people came together in 1972 to try again - McGovern was the peace candidate and his acceptance speech Come Home America was one of the greatest American speeches ever. The campaign ran into a series of terrible problems and Nixon was back in office for "4 more years"... :(

"One Bright Shining Moment"
This documentary on George McGovern shows us what the Democratic Party lost.

September 16, 2005 | A couple of years ago I was talking to a prominent liberal political columnist at a New York cocktail party. We had met before, and knew we didn't precisely see eye to eye. I said something pretty innocuous -- or so I thought -- about the 1972 presidential campaign, suggesting that it might be time for journalists and historians to take another look at that momentous event, which had so profoundly shaped American politics of the past 30 years.

"No it's not," said Mr. Columnist, cutting me off. "Because in this case the conventional wisdom is right. The left took over the Democratic Party, and it was a total disaster."

I don't really know whether Mr. C's analysis is right or wrong; he is certainly more experienced in politics than I am. But what struck me was the fact that he didn't want to talk about it. Three decades later, the Democratic Party mainstream still can't face the living ghost of George McGovern, who challenged the party to live up to its ideals and then led it to one of the worst defeats in the history of American electoral politics.

If that last sentence summarizes the facts about McGovern's epochal 1972 campaign, those facts are open to endless interpretations, and pose more questions than they answer. Stephen Vittoria's forceful pro-McGovern documentary, "One Bright Shining Moment," offers one interpretation, and it's not going to make Mr. C very happy. It's a deeply flawed film but also an important one; if it does nothing else it should bring this decent and courageous prairie populist, whose very name has become a patently unfair term of abuse, before at least a few members of a new generation.

=====================lots more at the link above...

[hedgehog]

59. He began the custom of ignoring the pundits and going Left out

of desperation at the end of the campaign. It's amazing; going Left always gets people excited and starts turning the poll numbers in a big way, but too many Democratic candidates have left it too late and lost by one or two points.

[Le Taz Hot]

74. Nixon also gained

a lot of Southern Democrat votes via the "Southern Strategy," i.e., appealing to southern voters enraged by recently-enacted and Democrat-backed Civil Rights legislation.

[durtee librul]

2. I also saw it

this weekend and the speeches.....ohmygawd.....again, what has happened to this once great country of ours? And you raise a good point, I also don't remember Johnson's reactions.....

One can only guess at what could have been if the Kennedy's had been allowed to live and lead this great country of ours. I think John Jr would have also had a great future.

It is so sad and when you look at chimpy and listen to that bumbling idiotic drug crazed drunk try and speak and be cute, and then see Bobby....it makes you sick to think bush could have been (s)elected. He is a patsy for the big business and the war machine, pure and simple. I have a bichon frise (a breed not known for 'brightness' but the cuteness factor) who has more brains than chimpy. I can hardly wait for him to leave office and hopefully SOMEONE SOMEWHERE will press charges and put him behind bars for crimes against humanity.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. How about the films of Bobby in Appalachia and in the inner cities?

Remember how he connected with the poor? He was so brilliant. What a tragic loss.

I loved all the pictures at the end too. That family was so beautiful.

[mike_c]

3. damn, you and I are about the same age-- I remember those days so well....

Reading your post gave me goosebumps. I don't know if I could watch the movie, especially after all of the recent conspiracy allegations surrounding both JFK's and Bobby's deaths. To think that their loss might not have been the acts of deranged and isolated individuals, but rather of power hungry conspirators who capitalized on those deaths for more than a generation afterward is more than I can bear.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. The movie doesn't go into all that

It just tells about 1968 and the hope in Bobby's campaign.

You know damn sure he would have won. I had forgotten how charismatic he was.

[mike_c]

11. oh I know it doesn't-- I just don't think I could watch it without...

...bawling my eyes out. Oh yes, he would have won in a heartbeat.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. I cried like a baby

But in all fairness, there are a lot of funny parts too.

[QuestionAll...]

32. just a tad too much coinkydinky deaths for the that family, no? n/t

[DemBones DemBones]

4. There was a draft before Nixon. We saw

my husband's best friend off to Viet Nam in the spring of 1967 and he had been drafted. As the plane took off, his father said "Better him than me" and laughed. We'd always know his father was an asshat but that was really bad.

(You wrote ". . . And we got Nixon. And more war. And a draft. . ." which made it sound like there was no draft before then. I'm pretty sure they were drafting men by 1964 or 1965 but all the guys I knew who went had enlisted so that's why I remember my husband's friend being drafted in 1967.)

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Yes you are right

I guess I meant to say that we thought the draft would end if Bobby was elected. Cause we believed he was going to end the war.

[tinfoil tiaras]

8. I saw that movie too

Though I wasn't even born at the time, Bobby was and is one of my mom's heroes. And now I can see why. Bobby seemed like such a hope for America and I now have this feeling that things would have turned out so much more differently (and better) if Bobby became president.

RIP RFK :patriot:

[Cooley Hurd]

9. For context, see Bobby's last speech and the aftermath:

DUer jefferson_dem posted links to YouTube videos showing RFK's last speech and the aftermath, as it happened. A must-watch for anyone interested in RFK's assassination.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x5989

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Wow thanks!

I also love that sig pic of yours. :)

[montieg]

13. I hated Bobby Kennedy.

We 'came clean for Gene' and worked our asses off to give peace a chance---to make anti-war credible. Kennedy sat on the sidelines till he saw there was a wave to ride and then he sandbagged McCarthy and sucked out all his support with the Kennedy money, name, and charm. Bobby Kennedy was no hero--he was apolitcal opportunist of the most insidious kind.

But that's just my experience.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. I remember my uncle called McCarthy a wimp

We were a Kennedy family.

[onecent]

17. I loved Bobby Kennedy...So did thousands and thousands.

[montieg]

18. Gene McCarthy was, without doubt, the bravest man I ever saw.

He stood up to Lyndon Johnson at the height of LBJ's power, looked him in the face and Johnson backed down. I was majoring in poli sci the semester that Johnson went on the tube an said, "I will not seek nor will I accept the nomination..."

Taking Political Parties that semester. Prof walked in the morning after the speech, walked over, opened the window, threw his textbook out, and made the entire class do the same. A sitting President AUTOMATICALLY gets the nomination.

Gene McCarthy changed EVERYTHING. politically. Bravest man I ever saw.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Found this on Wikipedia

In 2000, McCarthy was active in the movement to include Green candidate Ralph Nader in the Presidential debates. In 2005, he was listed as a member of the board of advisors of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

McCarthy was part of FAIR? Tell me that is not true.

[Neecy]

35. and you have a valid point

McCarthy *is* a part of 1968 history and yes, there was a tremendous amount of bitterness amongst his supporters when RFK entered the race. I don't think we should ignore that but acknowledge this as part of our history as a party. I just wish, almost 40 years later, that we could discuss it with more civility than getting down to the "I hated him" level on a thread meant to discuss a movie about Kennedy.

My own feeling is that Humphrey would have gotten the nomination even if Bobby had lived. He had the machine and if you remember, much (not all, of course) of the agitation in Chicago in 1968 was about the power of the machine vs. the wishes of the party rank and file. So really, whether RFK stole McCarthy's thunder or not, neither really had a chance to take the nomination from Humphrey. Maybe it's time to make peace.

[proud2BlibKansan]

41. You make a good point Neecy

Yes, Humphrey did have the machine. But I remember Bobby's momentum and thought he would get the nomination. I was young then though and at my ripe old age today I do know how powerful that party machine is. I also know first hand how many dumb mistakes Democrats make. So perhaps you are correct and Humphrey had it nailed even if Bobby had not died.

[Neecy]

46. well...

At least that horrible convention in '68 forced some much needed reform in our nominating procedures. I doubt that McGovern would have gotten the nomination in '72 without those reforms.

I lived in Chicago in 1968 and I remember being shocked, repelled, frightened and fascinated by what was happening. The police riot shaped my views on state authority for many years and continues to do so today.

[proud2BlibKansan]

48. I still hate cops and resist authority to this day

I had so many male friends who were tormented for being long haired hippies back in the 60s and early 70s. We could not drive through many small towns for fear of being pulled over and thrown in jail overnight. My boyfriend (now hubby) was a long haired musician and boy can we tell some stories.

Once when his band was in Wyoming, they went mountain climbing and one of them fell and was hurt badly. They raced him to the nearest town for help and stopped at the police station (they found it before they saw a hospital) and the cops didn't want to help them since they were just sure these long haired hippies had been doing drugs. What else could explain one of them falling off a mountain? Anyway, the guy nearly bled to death by the time they got him to a hospital. He survived and they all laugh about it today but it was horrifyng at the time.

So yeah, I don't think too kindly of authority myself.

[Neecy]

49. Nothing much has changed, either.

I participated in one of the protests in downtown San Francisco before the start of the Gulf War. Unlike some of the activities of previous evenings (a couple of newspaper racks were burned - big deal) this night was very quiet and the crowd was mellow. I bought a peace button from a guy on the street, someone was playing a guitar, there were some chalk outlines of bodies on the sidewalk with "NO BLOOD FOR OIL" scrawled next to it...that sort of thing. There were maybe a couple hundred of us there and nobody was causing problems.

All of a sudden, a HUGE contingent of SF police dressed as robo-cops appeared and they had us blocked in on all four sides. They had horses, paddy wagons, and their nightsticks were out and swinging. They got on the PA and ordered us to 'disperse', but when you looked around we were surrounded. Again, since it was so peaceful I really didn't imagine they would do anything because there was no reason to do anything. Given that there was no place to go, we stood there quietly for a couple of minutes and then some cop guy who was running the gig gave the order to charge us and that's when all hell broke loose.

When the cops in those bizarre outfits came after us we all started running. All around us cops were catching people and beating them to the ground with their sticks. One of my friends fell as we were running downhill and with a cop right on our heels my other friend and I just kept running until we hit another police line - then we'd take off in another direction. Everyone was doing this and it was total panic and the cops were just beating PEACEFUL people everywhere you looked. Finally we got to another police line by the main library and my other friend, who was from Louisiana, put her accent on thick and explained that we were tourists caught up in something and could we get out? The cops let us through and we were in the small group of people who weren't beaten/arrested or both that night. My friend who fell dove under a truck parked on the street and stayed there for hours until the cops dispersed.

The whole experience gave me serious flashbacks to that '68 convention and the police going insane. Maybe the violence with which the police met the Gulf War protests are holding back the protesters of this current war. I finally ended up dropping out of the Kansas City anti-war movement because it seemed so pointless to stand at the JC Nichols fountain with signs and wait for people to either honk or flip us off. I wanted to march, to show a little non-violent anger, to make some kind of point other than milling around. I'm like you, I remember how we tried to stop a war before and what's happening now is so TAME that even our own party, I believe, is going to ignore us.

Sorry to go on and on, but this thread is really bringing back memories. Thank you for starting it (and yes, I'm going to see the movie this weekend).

[proud2BlibKansan]

50. You ought to come down to Nichols Fountain for old times sake

Tomorrow we are having a speaker. We have a program every 4th Sunday. And we do a LOT more than just stand and hold signs. We have several exhibits that travel around the city - the shoes are especially powerful. We also do lots of letter writing and we meet regularly with our congress critters. Cleaver is 100% behind us! We also have a member of The Star's editorial board who comes regularly.

Then we go out for drinks afterwards nearly every Sunday. The friendships I have formed at the fountain are treasured. Good good people, and largely pro-active.

Anyway, you are welcome to join us (as I hope you already know) anytime. I see this as about a lot more than just holding a sign.

[montieg]

57. I apologize for using that term. It apparently upset you and for that

I truly apologize. A couple of the other posters have taken me to task also. I don't still carry a grudge. My term was "hated"---at the time. I was even sad to see us loose such a one as BK when it happened. But in my defense--and MANY of my friends at the time-- to see all your hard work be destroyed in one fell swoop (his announcing his candidacy so late in the game) is devastating.

With the perspective of years, the general consensus that the "Hump" would have won anyway is probably right. I've thought so for quite some time now. It hasn't kept me from being a Democratic Party hack for a day of the past 40 years. And still at it as County Party Chair in the reddest of red counties in Texas.

Again, my sincere apologies for offending anyone here.

[GalleryGod]

64. Your conclusions are invalid. I attended the Celebration of RFK's 75th birthday

at the JFK Library in November,2000.
All those in attendance < including Mayor Daley's son, William> concluded that HHH wouldn't have had the votes for a first ballot win, and that Mayor Daley was "going to return to the Kennedy Family fold " on the 2nd Ballot.



"neither really had a chance" ? Far from it...these participants and experts concluded that Gene, ever the pol-i-ti-cian for peace, would've released his delegates, thus, becoming "Kingmaker of '68"

[Neecy]

73. "invalid"? Um, okay.

It was an opinion, not a conclusion - and I'm not alone in thinking that Humphrey controlled enough of the party apparatus to have won the nomination.

I'd also concede that RFK wouldn't have gone after the nomination if he thought there was no chance of winning it, and Daley might have made a difference. Here are the estimated delegate totals at the time of RFK's death:

Hubert Humphrey 561
Robert Kennedy 393
Eugene McCarthy 258

Daley controlled a delegation of 118.

I have a hard time accepting the idea that McCarthy would have released his delegates to Kennedy. He had already refused to drop out of the race after a Kennedy primary defeat and despised RFK for entering the race late. Once Humphrey had molded himself (unconvincingly, to be sure) as a "peace candidate" and distanced himself from LBJ on the war he might have been more palatable to McCarthy than Kennedy. We'll never know, and it's an interesting topic, but to argue either side doesn't make either conclusion "invalid".

[montieg]

76. Sure, my conclusions may be "invalid",

but they represent the political reality as I lived through it as a young adult. Having seen the control the party execs exerted at the time first hand, I still maintain that HHH would have been the nominee--HAD HE WANTED TO FRACTURE the party. Had it come down to a bitter floor fight between him and RK, HHH may very well have withdrawn for the benefit of the party. That was the kind of Democrat he was. That was not what I saw in Kennedy.

[FogerRox]

20. You have 38 yr old bagagge, It shows.

[montieg]

22. Yep. Still wish I could have seen what difference Mc would have made.

My guess is approximately 20,000 lives.

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. Maybe

There are many who think he never would have beat Nixon. He didn't get the party nomination.

[montieg]

26. Party bigwigs never gave him a chance.

They were counting on BK to pull their collective ass out of the flames of Vietnam. Had to fall back on the "Happy Warrior", Humphrey. God, it was a f___ed up fiasco.

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. I do remember how messed up it was

[durtee librul]

28. Well they say

history repeats itself....see any comparisons to getting HRC shived down our throats rather than a 'winning' candidate? Think about it.

[jbnow]

52. First we need that "winning" candidate

with the draw of RFK...then we'll see if the shoved HRC wins instead.
(Except np assassination please)

Wouldn't we love the chance for such a candidate that inspired that hope!

[Southsideirish]

29. Ever hear of something called "history"?

[montieg]

75. I'm sorry, I don't understand what you are trying to say.

Could you please elaborate a bit?

[shance]

30. What is even your point in trying to poison this thread?

People are sharing their thoughts and feelings about their experiences and you try to ruin the tone of the thread.

Why?

What more selfish action can one take than spewing your own hatred where it is not requested or even warranted?

Do you comprehend that no one CARES if you hate Bobby Kennedy here?

Go talk to the neo cons who killed him and tell them how much you hated Bobby if it makes you feel better.

But don't continue to add salt to peoples wounds with your bitter, unecessary, inappropriate words.

[PassingFair]

33. I am interested in the other sided, politically.

My family, life-long democrats, were also
NOT Kennedy backers.


I think it was an
anti-catholic thing more than anything else.
I remember a LOT of "Joe Kennedy" this, and
"Joe Kennedy" that, in my house. ..

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. I understand the point

I think these comments make this thread interesting because they reflect what was happening in the Dem party in 1968. It was a mess. Hell, the country was a mess. Blacks were rioting, young people were turning on and dropping out (the movie has a great story about dropping acid), the seeds of the anti war movement had taken root (we have yet to match the passion of that movement in the late 60s - our out of Iraq protests today are NOTHING compared to what we did in 1968) and women were demanding to be liberated. The 'generation gap' was born. The turmoil in the Dem party was a reflection of what was happening in the country as a whole.

So a little turmoil in this thread just creates a better picture for those too young to remember 1968.

[jbnow]

39. Sounds like the debate

I had with my teachers. They agreed with you and I ferociously defended Kennedy. I was 13.

But seems creepy if you hold the opinion that he was "a politcal opportunist of the most insidious kind" all these years later. However you felt at the time I'm sure you've seen some more insidious kinds since.

[proud2BlibKansan]

44. The BFEE is much more more insidious and downright evil

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

47. I worked for Gene too but was devistated by Bobby's death and NEVER hated him.

[Clinton Crusader]

56. sounds like sour grapes and not...

what really happened.

Also, HATE is a very strong word.
:thumbsdown:

[DearAbby]

16. Tears still well up in my eyes

when I remember those days in 1968. I too was young, too young to vote. But I knew enough to see a great man, and I saw one in Bobby Kennedy. He was hope personified. And he was snatched away so quickly.

And the pain of what could have been, is still fresh, and still very painful. What we could have been.

We miss you Bobby.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. You captured my feelings exactly

[DearAbby]

31. I watched the first 3 minutes

of the BBC program about CIA involvement in Bobby's death. They showed his last speech at the Ambassador after winning the primary there. Seeing him, and hearing the strength of conviction in his voice again, I had to turn it off. I could not see for the tears.

I want to see the movie, I just dont know if I can yet.

[FogerRox]

24. Dear Abby, it is hope for how good we can make our country

"What we could have been. "

It is no longer what could have been, its about what WILL BE. SO help me god. I heard Booby in '67, What I took away from the speech was I would do something great. WE WILL do something great. Dear Abby, you & I both have a bit of Camelot tucked away in our heart. Its about what will be. Its about how great it will be. And do it, we will.

[Sydnie]

38. I can't agree with you more

I was following the campaign closely myself, only 12 years old and I couldn't wait for Bobby to win that primary. I had stayed up alone that night to watch for the returns and listened to the speech as it was broadcast. I clearly remember turning off the tv right after he said "Now on to Chicago and let's win there." I floated off to bed with inner squeals of joy bouncing in my head.

The next morning, my brother woke me up with the morning paper in his hand. He announced "your boy Kennedy is dead", handed me the paper and left the room. I will never forget either of those moments as long as I live.

We WERE a Kennedy family. We had a picture of JFK that hung in our upstairs hallway, right outside my bedroom door. After he was killed, I used to think that picture both watched me and watched over me. I now have that same picture hanging in my house. I like to think it still both watches me and watches over me. BTW, I only took possession of that picture when my brother, the one that informed me of Booby's death, passed away himself a little over a year ago now. Until that time, he had it tucked away. I think he secretly thought that it watched over him too.

Yes, things would have been very different had he lived. How I long for THAT America.

[DemonFighterLives]

19. Larry King has cast and eyewitnesses to Bobby's shooting

On now.

[Mme. Defarge]

34. Ok, here goes ...

I was a Junior in college and a-political until I finally "got it" with Eugene Mc Carthy. I became a McCarthy supporter and began working on his campaign. The day before Bobby Kennedy died, he and his entourage -- including Warren Beatty -- came to my hometown, Portland, OR, and made an appearance on my college campus (what is now known as Portland State University). In the midst of the crowd, I managed to pin a McCarthy button on Warren Beatty's back. Later on that day the event progressed to downtown Portland and it was the first time in my life that I understood the brute force of the police -- I was on the street with a McCarthy sign and was shoved out of the way by one of our boys in blue. It was the first (and only) time in my life that I realized that I was a non-entity when it came to the power of the state.

The next evening my boyfriend and I were watching the news featuring Bobby's appearance at the hotel in L.A., and witnessed the subsequent scene of chaos surrounding Bobby's assassination. I would say that you couldn't imagine what that was like, unless you witnessed people in the twin towers jump to their death.

[GalleryGod]

65. I'm Sorry. You have your dates totally mixed-up.

Monday,June 3rd,1968, Bobby Kennedy and his entourage campaigned exclusively within the State of California. The Oregon Primary,where McCarthy had upset RFK, was held some weeks prior to June 4th.

There would be no reason whatsoever for Kennedy to campaign in a State where the Primary was already concluded, and, to ignore the State of California the day before the Winner-take-All primary and 168 delegates.

I think the event you recall took place the month before.

[GalleryGod]

68. The Oregon Primary was May 28th, 1968.

RFK and Campaign left Oregon that night...alas, never to return.

[Mme. Defarge]

72. I stand corrected ...

time has blurred my memory by about a week.

RFK in Oregon with his dog Freckles, 1968.

[GalleryGod]

77. I loved that "Life" cover...Thanks for the Loving Memory !

:grouphug:

[dflprincess]

36. I just got home from "Bobby"

The theater was packed - mostly people who looked old enough to remember Bobby. The only young ones I noticed were ones like my niece who accompanied an aging boomer to the movie. I'd encourage everyone to take a kid to it with them. My niece, (she's 20) went along to humor me and wound up crying harder than me - on the way home she said they never learned that much about Bobby in school, she'd never heard one of his speeches and she concluded that "everything would be different if he'd lived" (Yup).

I was struck by how you kind of get involved in the various stories (one of which provides some comic relief) so that you almost forget what's coming until the moment gets close and then you just want to scream "No, no, no don't go through the kitchen."

As the theater emptied, it was like leaving church at the end of a funeral. No one was speaking, you only heard the sniffling. I wound out walking out next to a real big guy who was awfully upset. When we got into the lobby he told me he had been at the San Jose campaign office that night and the movie brought it all back - the excitement of the campaign, the thrill when Bobby won and the horror at how the night ended. He said he hadn't expected the movie to be so powerful.

[proud2BlibKansan]

43. As soon as the Sounds of Silence started,

I started crying and didn't stop until I got to my car. :cry:

[jbnow]

54. Glad your niece went

so she could "meet" Bobby.

I told my son to go with his wife, he said they wants to see it with me when he comes home next month. (Don't know how long it will be in theaters though)
I said I wasn't sure I could stand to go but he had to because then he'd understand the key event of my childhood and the hope and inspiration we've not seen since.
He thinks I need to go and I am a big girl now....but that devastated pre-teen in me still aches at the memory. Even the hope he wrought hurts to remember now. Don't know if it would be healing...if it would help the old wounds or rip them open anew.
When I think of him I literally feel the ache in my chest. I was too young to feel the personal effect of JFK, mostly recall being irritated that there were no cartoons on and just understood in retrospect. I am sad when I watch things about JFK but no knife wounds. RFK was so real and important to me.

I feel/sound like a little girl still when it comes to RFK!

[GalleryGod]

67. That's OK, Sweetie. He still "walks among us...in our hearts"

[Greylyn58]

37. I want to see this movie as well

I was 10 years old that year and remember how excited my mom was about Bobby's candidacy. My father-a Gunnery Sargent in the Marines-was stationed at Camp Pendleton in California at that time. I can remember how excited he made the Dems feel. I was only 5 years old when John was assassinated and can remember bits and pieces of what happened, but Bobby was a different story. She let me stay up to see his victory speech after the California primaries. It was thrilling. I so wanted to be able to vote.

And then came the awful news of his shooting. God, it really got to my mom. I seem to remember her saying something to the effect of: "Oh Lord they got Bobby too!"

1968 was a terrible year. We lost Martin and Bobby within 3 months of each other.

So tragic and sad.

[Raine]

40. I couldn't stand to go see it

it would break my heart. :cry:

[rainbow4321]

45. Multipart video over in the Pol. Video forum from that day

They have several youtube video clips..each like 9 minutes long. "Must see" stuff.

First one is his speech and then each one after that shows the cheering crowd right after the speech and progresses to the crowd finding out what happened in the kitchen. Absolutely CHILLING to watch the transformation in the crowd as word spreads. First hand initial reports/interviews from witnesses who were there in the kitchen, video from the news reports as the story unfolded.

I took my teens to go see Bobby the other night, they were moved by the movie, also. At least one lady behind us was crying as it got closer to the end.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=5989&mesg_id=5989

[ComerPerro]

51. Well, lets not forget that 1968 wasn't all good for Dems...

I've been wanting to see this movie for a while now.

[Clinton Crusader]

53. Want to see it very badly but.....

It isn't playing anywhere near here. We are so beyond frustrated. The closest theater is 65 miles away one way! Funny thing is the theater it's playing in (the 65 miles away one) is the owned by the same company, as the one 10 minutes from us but they're NOT showing it; I can't help but think since this area is overrun with wingnuts that is the reason. I called the theater and asked why and all I got was--> 'if it becomes popular, maybe we'll have it in a few weeks"

IF it becomes popular??? huh?
Im calling again today and am going to ask to speak to the manager.

Watched the Larry King show on it last night and it made me spitting mad I cannot see it.

[Clinton Crusader]

55. Just spoke to the manager in our theater...

He gave me this reason for not showing 'Bobby'--->

"there's only so many theaters to show new releases in, and we cannot accomodate every new release out there.'

I said - 'so you'll show something like 'Borat' for three weeks, and not show 'Bobby'?

'I'm sure it's a wonderful movie on his life, but we cannot accomodate every new release'.

'Are you EVER getting it?'

"No, I don't see it happening'.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

So I either somehow convince my husband to drive 130 miles to see this on his ONLY day off, or I wait till DVD.
:cry: :mad: :banghead:

[onecent]

58. I just got home from the movie Bobby. I'm still floating. Brought back

such wonderful memories. We SO need a candidate like him. I wish RFK Jr would run. Anything in that blood line would make me happy.

Bobby SO cared for people

[IndyOp]

61. No, please not RFK, Jr. My heart skips a beat when I hear anyone suggest it...

I think WE have to be Kennedy's -- we can't put another sacrificial lamb on the altar.

We've got to solve the assassinations and we've to overthrow the military-industrial-congressional complex -- then it will be safe for a Kennedy to run again.

:cry:

[GalleryGod]

62. I Marched with Bobby.

I was very disheartened to see the vitriol leveled at RFK from former McCarthy workers,but,some things nev-uh change.

I worked for Bobby in the California Primary. He was my Last American Hero. I am a college Poli Sci teacher, today, because of him.

[lonestarnot]

63. Why hasn't this thread been recommended! Kick for the resistance and

the one lone cross at Arlington!

[nini]

66. I was 11 years old and volunteered in his campaign

I blame him for making me a political junkie :D.

I loved RFK and was devastated when he was murdered. It was a tough lesson for an 11 year old to learn.

He could have done so many positive things for the country. What a loss for all of us.

[Codeblue]

69. I wish...

I wish I could go back in time. Back to a time when America did have hope. Back to a time when there were candidates worth getting excited about. I wish I could have known some of the great people that were cut down well before their time. It makes me so sad when I compare what I know of past eras to today.

[dailykoff]

70. Great movie!

One thing it might help to know beforehand is that at least half the movie is a "Grand Hotel" style dramatization of the lives of various hotel guests and employees that day, which seems a little beside the point until you realize that they're supposed to be the five people who were wounded when RFK got shot.

I didn't pick up on this (most reviewers don't seem to, either) until I saw several members of the cast interviewed on Larry King last night along with some of the shooting victims whose lives they were dramatizing.

An explanatory title card at the beginning would help. As it stands, there's nothing to tell you that Emilio hasn't just made up a bunch of wacky characters to fill out the documentary clips, which are terrififc.

[proud2BlibKansan]

71. Yes it is hard to tell which characters are based on real people and which

are made up. But I don't think that takes away from an excellent film.