The Afternoon Dispatch is written by BillOReilly.com staff.
Right now, Democrats are competing in their own Super Bowl, a contest to see who can hurl the most vile accusations against Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump's unorthodox pick to run the Health and Human Services leviathan. Even if one thinks RFK is exactly the wrong person to head the department and its $1.8-trillion budget, his vilification is, to borrow an old Irish expression, beyond the pale.
Unknown Democratic Senator Brian Schatz stood in front of microphones and accused Kennedy of planning to run large-scale versions of the notorious Tuskegee experiments, in which Black men were intentionally infected with syphilis. Not to be outdone, Sen. Elizabeth Warren claimed RFK's main priority is making heap big wampum.
Perhaps the unkindest cut of all came from Kennedy's cousin Caroline, who conveniently ignored Uncle Teddy's high crimes and misdemeanors. 67-year-old Caroline called her cuz a 'predator' who is addicted to attention and power.
The worst part of all this can be demonstrated with another of those thought experiments. Suppose, just suppose, that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had been nominated not by Donald Trump but by President Kamala Harris.
At this very moment, Democrats would be hailing his background as an environmental hero who helped clean up the Hudson River. They would laud his courage for taking on vaccine makers and big pharma in general. And Dems would be absolutely reverential of his last name and family pedigree.
Of course, hypocrisy cuts both ways. Had RFK Jr. been nominated by a Democrat, Republican senators would be denouncing him as a loony conspiracy theorist, an anti-vaxxer, and a muscle-bound, testosterone-laden guy who dumped a dead bear in New York's Central Park.
As we witness every day, Republicans and Democrats can turn just about anything into a brawl, be it a flood or a wildfire or a nomination. As Bruce Hornsby sang, 'That's just the way it is'... and it's downright depressing.
