Video: RFK says hog producers more dangerous than Osama bin Laden
posted at 5:55 pm on February 4, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
It’s not the first time Robert Kennedy Jr has said it, either. Thankfully, he confirms it in his appearance today in Congress to gripe about hog producers and some admittedly stupid laws restricting criticism of farmers, so we don’t need to do a Lexis raid to corroborate it. Kennedy manages to amp up the hysteria even further when he accuses Rep. Steve King (R-IA) of being a paid stooge of farmers.
Er, who does RFK think a Congressman from Iowa would represent, anyway?
Today during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Congressman Steve King asked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to confirm a quote he made to the Des Moines Register in 2002: “Large-scale hog producers are a greater threat to the United States and U.S. democracy than Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, says Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a New York environmental group.”
Kennedy responded: “I don’t know if that’s accurate, but I believe it, and I support it.”
I’ll go on record here in noting that RFK’s point isn’t entirely insipid, but just mostly insipid. He’s right about the laws that make criticism of farmers illegal, outside of the normal restrictions on slander and libel. At their heart, they’re in conflict with the First Amendment, but then again, so is the BCRA’s same exact restriction on criticism of incumbents within 60 days of an election by interest group advertisements. Did RFK criticize his cousin Patrick or his uncle Ted for supporting the BCRA? If so, I’ve never heard it.
However, even if RFK had a point to make, he overwhelms it in a flood of cockamamie moral relevancy. Have hog farmers killed 3,000 Americans? No. The hysterical nature of Kennedy’s attacks reveal him as an extremely unserious person, a mental and moral lightweight, and an attention seeker of the first order.
Watch to the very end, when King plays RFK’s little personal-attack game and brings up his prior conviction for heroin possession and his light sentence of community service, which King underestimates by almost half (it was 1500 hours, not 800). Kennedy gets so apoplectic he can barely respond.
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this was a waste of bandwidth…
jerrytbg on February 4, 2009 at 8:53 PM
Anyone notice how much water Kennedy was drinking? Maybe he was trying to heal being hungover. Since he is a Kennedy perhaps he is still doing alot of drinking. I don’t mind people drinking water but he sure seemed to be taking alot in during that short period of time. Maybe the Congressman was making him hot.
garydt on February 4, 2009 at 9:00 PM
Pig farmers worse than Osama Bin Laden. Does this have anything to do with sucking up to Islam?
Dollayo on February 4, 2009 at 9:12 PM
Pelosi Farms is putting out so much toxic pork that it could doom the whole country. Even if RFK Jr doesn’t know it, he’s got a point.
Mark30339 on February 4, 2009 at 9:14 PM
Does this tool have a problem with his jabbing finger-pointing? Does he lobby for the Muslim anti-pork PAC?
onlineanalyst on February 4, 2009 at 9:19 PM
If you watch it, rate it.
Tzetzes on February 4, 2009 at 9:22 PM
So he makes the accusation that every elected official in the state has been corrupted by the industry, and when he’s called to the mat on it, he says, “I don’t know – that’s what the article says.”
lol. What an a-hole. I think I’ll dig up some article from a tin-foil hat website and use it as “evidence” to support my agenda.
swash_plate on February 4, 2009 at 9:32 PM
……….. is that like being a paid stooge for the environmentalist lobby?
…………. pure gold.
Seven Percent Solution on February 4, 2009 at 9:52 PM
Anyone else notice the scratch of the nose flipping off the typical Democrat way that RFK did? Seemed like he was on heroine there at the meeting.
WoosterOh on February 4, 2009 at 10:14 PM
Perhaps he’s been re-educated through reading all that Leftist pro-jihadi literature Chavez sent him…you know, pork bad, OBL good…otherwise, he’s nuts. Has been for a long long time.
coldwarrior on February 4, 2009 at 10:18 PM
Gotta love a nutty blogger dismisses a Harvard and Virginia Law grad as a “mental lightweight.”
benny shakar on February 4, 2009 at 10:21 PM
This figures
they want to get rid of Pork
before they surrender to all the muslim terrorists..
heck you gotta clean up the streets for your new islamic terrorist masters….
I suggest we start barbequing PORK on every corner in america..
Call it a neiborhood muslim welcoming comittee..
jcila on February 4, 2009 at 10:31 PM
Nancy Pelosi wants to pee on the Washington Times?
That’s why the “Lady” is a Tramp!
Mr. Joe on February 4, 2009 at 10:56 PM
I have a serious question. What the heck is the matter with RFK’s voice? Was he strangled as a child, or is there some other physical reason that I haven’t heard about? Honestly, listening to him speak really creeps me out.
Barb Dwyer on February 4, 2009 at 11:31 PM
Benny Shakar,
Is that the same as all those bloggers that dismissed a Yale and Harvard MBA graduate as a mental lightweight?
The Opinionator on February 4, 2009 at 11:49 PM
Is this the same Kennedy that was banging the 14 year old babysitter?
Or the one that crashed his car into a cop car at 3 AM?
DSchoen on February 5, 2009 at 12:58 AM
Nobody should be immune from criticism and I fear any law that says so. This is because that restriction on free speech is arbitrary and whimsical. It is used by the powerful to muzzle the masses and convey legitimacy to stupidity.
Still, RFK is a dyck (not misspelled, it’s the feminine form).
SKYFOX on February 5, 2009 at 5:34 AM
Send this clown on a ski trip out west.
Jaibones on February 5, 2009 at 7:54 AM
It is was not for his family name he would be considered a sad and disturbed man. I think bringing up his substtance abuse because there is a media blackout about it was a low blow but if Kennedy was a Republican, that would be ALL we would hear.
RobCon on February 5, 2009 at 7:56 AM
The guy is not only a Troofer, but an anti-vaccinationist as well. Can’t we get a law passed that keeps Kennedys from wasting Congress’ time by keeping them out of the Capitol?
blish on February 5, 2009 at 7:58 AM
This guy has major problems…Medication? Or lack thereof? I almost feel sorry for him, but then remind myself he’s just another moonbat………
adamsmith on February 5, 2009 at 8:48 AM
Isn’t this the same doper that ran his care into the capitol barricade? Good God this country is sinking fast.
rplat on February 5, 2009 at 8:59 AM
Why do those Kennedys all look like their family tree never forked?
DanaSmiles on February 5, 2009 at 9:01 AM
That really ticks me off! RFK Jr doesn’t know WTH he’s talking about. I live in a rural community and my family has raised hogs for generations.
I bet that chicken $hit’s never even been on a hog farm. He obviously just doesn’t get how folks in the real world live. He wouldn’t be listening to him at all had his uncle and father not been assassinated.
Sorry, but I’m ticked.
Oink on February 5, 2009 at 9:09 AM
Those Kennedy genes seem to have run out of steam after JFK/RFK, didn’t they.
petefrt on February 5, 2009 at 9:13 AM
Ok, I already slapped myself along side the head . . . “care” should be ” car”.
rplat on February 5, 2009 at 9:14 AM
rplat on February 5, 2009 at 8:59 AM
Nope, this one is a heroin junkie who is a whore of the eco-Nazis and Comrade Chavez. Probably in exchange for smack.
PimFortuynsGhost on February 5, 2009 at 9:15 AM
Americans voted for this shithead. Just think about that for a moment.
Akzed on February 5, 2009 at 9:16 AM
You can put lipstick on a Kennedy…and they are still a Kennedy…
right2bright on February 5, 2009 at 9:20 AM
unimportant on this blog…your post was right on, and I did not know about that incident.
right2bright on February 5, 2009 at 9:21 AM
This dunce has been exposed as a hypocrit. He flies around in a private jet, yet spouts nonsense about everyone else. Get a job.
marklmail on February 5, 2009 at 9:39 AM
Meanwhile Al Gore is telling kids their parents are the same ignorant fools who were racists if they don’t believe in global warming!
Just don’t try to take away those kids Wiis, DSs or other computer games!
Mr. Joe on February 5, 2009 at 9:44 AM
You’re mixing up the Kennedy progency.
Patrick “Patches” Kennedy, Ted Kennedy’s son, is a Rep. from Rhode Island, who took a Capitol crash course while overmedicated.
RFK, who is the son of Robert Kennedy,is the eco-Nazi friend of Chavez that is featured on this vid. He has a tendency to publish hysterical political and environmental diatribes. Like Al Gore, he has made the environment and global warming issues personally profitable as he travels about on his Rosinante.
onlineanalyst on February 5, 2009 at 9:45 AM
Why is this idiot of unparalleled magnitude even given a f’n congressional microphone??
Oh wait, someone says he is a HAAVAAD Law graduate…
Oh the analytical mind of the Ivy Leaguer…
This guy is a moron
deedtrader on February 5, 2009 at 9:53 AM
How DARE they insult a Kennedy! DON’T YOU KNOW WHO HE IS!?
Tantor on February 5, 2009 at 10:04 AM
He has the same antipathy for windfarms 3 miles off of the shoreline of his family’s Nantucket (or Cape Cod) compound.
Does he think he would be testifying before Congress or “working” for his family’s 501(c)(3) organization if his last name was Smith?
molonlabe28 on February 5, 2009 at 10:14 AM
benny shakar I gather by your rather ineptly written sentence that a blogger shouldn’t knock this tool. Because he is (drum roll) a Harvard and Virginia Law grad? You jest.
Have any Kennedys been caught cheating in college?
Do you think there is any sort of affirmative action just for them or other liberal elite members?
Have YOU ever made remarks about President Bush and his low intelligence despite attending Harvard?
I have some information to add but I shall desist.
IlikedAUH2O on February 5, 2009 at 10:15 AM
RFK Jr. is a nut case! I can’t believe he believes this crap. a Harvard and Virginia Law Grad? Yea right. Just like Obama. Would never know those two were Law Students. What a waste of my tax paying money to have this fruit spewing such nonsense. Colleges, and to much Education means nothing.
sheebe on February 5, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Agree big-time. ND doesn’t let corporations own farms/ranches & though I hate when weird laws like this IA law I have never heard of (can’t say bad stuff about farmers?!) are around, the corporate law for our state I think is a good thing.
Family farmers/ranchers actually CARE about their animals & their land (most of them).
Corporate farms/ranches in many cases abuse the animals & the land.
Corporate ranches I’ve been on & seen are less likely to do this, but I’m talking beef cattle operations.
Poultry, hogs, dairy, & farms that are corporately owned are oftentimes managed so tightly that animals do suffer needlessly.
But with Big-Ag taking over in a lot of sectors, Terrye is right-you folks that participated directly or indirectly to the demise of the family farm/ranch got just what you asked for.
RFK is a retard for this comment. Perhaps he’s worried about suicide pigs bombing places.
Badger40 on February 5, 2009 at 10:34 AM
This is as sharp as Kennedy’s get. Every thing they have “earned” came from prohibition booze money.
Now that Islam has found friends and fertile ground in North America the groundwork for the elimination of pork must begin some where. :)
BL@KBIRD on February 5, 2009 at 10:57 AM
When hogs attack… a study by RFK.
Maxx on February 5, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Ok, I’ll buy into Macro-De-evolution now, the Kennedy’s devolved from Swine.
kirkill on February 5, 2009 at 11:26 AM
I really thought that was a horror movie.
Badger40 on February 5, 2009 at 11:28 AM
What he meant to say was pork producers are more dangerous than Osama bin Laden…He was talking about Democrat congressman.
NoFanofLibs on February 5, 2009 at 11:31 AM
Pig farmers produce food. Bin Laden produces carnage. Kennedy is obviously an idiot.
zoyclem on February 5, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Idiot! Hog farmers produce a product that they must sell on the free market. That’s the rub for comrade Kennedy. The Free Market just rubs him the wrong way. As for large farms, years ago many farmers in Iowa were forced to sell due to very low prices (the results of government policies). They simply could not make a living any more. Now land in Iowa is selling for $8,000 to $12,000 per acre so the only operations that can afford to farm there are large corporate farms. It’s simple economics…
sabbott on February 5, 2009 at 11:44 AM
So we can’t critize hog farmers? Even if we are b!tching about their living off of government doles?
Tim Burton on February 5, 2009 at 11:46 AM
Your assessment as to why farmers go out of business bcs of govt intervention & land prices is accurate pretty much all over farm country in the US.
But as for hog farmers selling on the ‘Free Market’-Captive supply mean anything to you?
The hog & poultry markets are basically non-existent.
Many have to have forward contracts. This is the way the Big Packers can legally keep they ‘captive supply’. This hurts the auction markets.
Many cattle producers do forward contracts, but it’s a gamble.
Many of us beef people sell at auction markets. But they are few & far between in certain areas.
I am fortunate to live in an area with several sale barns to choose from in a 500 mile radius.
Others without the access to markets often get into forward contracts with feedlot people, which then are at the big packer’s mercy.
If the feed lot guy can’t make $$, then we cow-calf folks can’t either.
Look at the govt’s laziness in applying the Stockyards & Packers act.
They are allowing the beef industry to concentrate just like they let the poultry & pork industries & see how that made family producers disappear?!
Badger40 on February 5, 2009 at 11:54 AM
I’m sure Card Check will solve all this… Pig Poop.
Kini on February 5, 2009 at 11:57 AM
RFK jr. DON’T EFF with MY Ham Sammich, or I take your Smack!!!
44Magnum on February 5, 2009 at 12:08 PM
That’s right. Hmmm, a ham sandwich sounds good for lunch, easy on the mayo.
Maxx on February 5, 2009 at 12:12 PM
You are right, he needed some blow
Wade on February 5, 2009 at 1:09 PM
That’s right. Hmmm, a ham sandwich sounds good for lunch, easy on the mayo.
Maxx on February 5, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Badger40 on February 5, 2009 at 1:38 PM
This from a man whose family got it’s start in politics from illegal bootlegging proceeds. The Kennedy’s are all a bunch of crooks!
TrickyDick on February 5, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Well I guess they are more dangerous to Islam. After all!
I think this guy is deminted from inbreeding, or too much imbibing of grandfather’s bootlegged products.
Bambi on February 5, 2009 at 1:48 PM
A while back Hannity had this whacko on his show talking about how people needed to give up driving SUV’s and mini-vans. Hannity let him spew out all his leftist eco-marxist rantings before making him admit that, right after his appearance on his show, he was going to get into his chauffer driven SUV and drive to Teterboro airport to get on a private jet to fly down to Florida. Talk about being apoplectic and not able to respond, he was totally broadsided and couldn’t believe that anyone would question his authority on the subject. Last time I checked, there are over 250 commercial flights a day between NY and Florida.
People like this need to be shown as the true frauds and phoneys that they are.
AZ_Mike on February 5, 2009 at 2:17 PM
Idiots like RFK are more dangerous that Bin Laden.
nelsonknows on February 5, 2009 at 5:44 PM
We need to have frequent mandatory drug testing of congress folk. How can the government say that truck drivers should be tested for drugs but not themselves?
Buddahpundit on February 5, 2009 at 5:46 PM
“Harvard and Virginia Law Grad”
Bringing up accolades?
That’s what’s done when your argument fails.
This moron doesn’t even know the USA is a Republic NOT a Democracy!
Seriously how dumb would you have to be if this “Harvard and Virginia Law Grad”
Impresses you?
DSchoen on February 5, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Whoa Uncle Teddy! Be careful – RFK, Jr. is out for you!
Branch Rickey on February 5, 2009 at 7:17 PM
ROFLMAO!!!!!
Branch Rickey on February 5, 2009 at 7:38 PM
His voice sounds that way probably from years of self-admitted drug use.
malkinmania on February 5, 2009 at 8:51 PM
Thanks for the update on which Kennedy did what.
I really need to know which Kennedy is giving us the lectures on MORALS.
Kennedy the drunk. Ted and Pat
Kennedy the pedophile banging the 14-year-old babysitter
Kennedy the rapist
Kennedy the drug addict
Oops, just realized there’s a lot of cross over here!
No wonder it’s so confusing.
DSchoen on February 5, 2009 at 10:09 PM
I wonder just how much Jr. makes as president of his non-profit? Rep. Joe Kennedy quit Congress for the big bucks of non-profitdom after his babysitter molester brother died. At this time of year, Joe runs many TV ads for his allotment of cheap oil. Joe stars in the commercials and his name is repeated like a mantra during the spots. And he is careful to thank ‘the people of Venezuala’ for their help in supplying the lower cost fuel.
thegreatbeast on February 5, 2009 at 10:11 PM
The dude has to get high just to function. When you hear someone who sounde like that it tells you they are high, usually on heroin,methodone or derivative of opium. This guy is an out and out junkie. The sins of the father(in this case the grandfather)
sonnyspats1 on February 6, 2009 at 1:32 AM
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