by Jill Burdigala » Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:30 pm
Please understand that I'm not being argumentative or hostile, nor am I issuing any kind of challenge. I am honestly interested in hearing what you think about this:<br><br>Let me start by admitting that I really know very little about Johnson, and I am unable to determine if the little I have heard is really true. What I have most often heard is that he was a sublimely political being: someone utterly committed to power and ambition, who was happy enough if he could get what he wanted with a smile and a pat on the back, but failing that would just as willingly break your arm; yet at the same time someone who was well aware of what was <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>realistic</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> and <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>possible</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, and would not break arms merely for the sheer pleasure of doing so.<br><br>Anyway, my question is, how do you interpret Johnson's decision not to run in 1968 in light of his culpability in the Kennedy assassination? Was the killing of Kennedy simply an affair of revenge or honor that had nothing to do with Johnson's motivations in 1968? Or, at the risk of sounding like I'm baiting the waters, is there a more sinister reason? To me at least, his decision in 1968 appears to rule out the usual motive of usurpers to seize power for its own sake and hang onto it until it is pried from their cold dead fingers. <p></p><i></i>