Bob Bird: The RFK interview on ‘Talk of the Kenai’

By BOB BIRD

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was a guest on KSRM’s The Talk of the Kenai on April 4. I will characterize the interview here, but for those who want to listen to the commercial-free 45 minute conversation, you may do the following:

1. Go to www.radiokenai.com.
2. At the top right of the Home Page, click “Podcasts”.
3. Scroll past the “Morning Update” and “Sound Off” programs to “The Talk of the Kenai” and choose Hour 1 on the proper date, above.

Mr. Kennedy’s speech impediment is easy to overlook once you know what to expect, but some listeners may still be unaware of it. It is not the result of a stroke but of damage to his vocal cords.

The Alaskan Independence Party was sought out by the RFK presidential team because we could easily put him on the ballot in Alaska. In the past, some chairmen have placed Constitution Party candidates under the AIP banner, but was discontinued by the late Chairman Lynette Clark because she felt that even with good parties and good candidates, Alaska would be better off avoiding the machinations of national issues and campaign staffs. Her wisdom in this regard may be right.

Negotiations with the RFK team gave us great hope. As you might expect, the staff stressed what we had in common: opposition to Covid tyranny, the weaponization of the federal Justice Department, the open southern border, undeclared wars of dubious purpose and even amending the Jones Act, that endless bugaboo that keeps our cost of living so high, and was a major driving force towards statehood. At one point the staff said that they would even try to get RFK at our Fairbanks convention, which gave us much to worry about finding a venue big enough to hold visitors.

This was scaled back to radio interviews on Alaskan topics. With that, I sent RFK a list of questions so that he could be prepared, as well as the AIP’s colorful and tragic history of its founder Joe Vogler and his mysterious disappearance and murder. I wanted him to be aware of how Sarah Palin was treated simply because she gave a cheerful welcoming address to our 2008 state convention.

The AIP was fully aware that an RFK presidency would be a mixed bag, and the interview proved that the bag contained some absolutely impossible policies for Alaska. Nevertheless, the man has courage and integrity as he has faced the vicious mainstream media’s full guns turned on him. His candidacy now represents an overt threat to the Democratic Party’s power. With an RFK presence, plausible deniability of a Biden victory being engineered by electronic and mail-in voting systems in all fifty states would be harder to maintain. 

The ”Plus factor” of the interview:

1. He was, as expected, foursquare against the forced and coerced Covid vaccinations.
2. He was strong against the Biden disaster of open borders.
3. He agreed that the Jones Act should be modified.
4. He identified the weaponization of the Justice Dept as a threat to the Bill of Rights. Kennedy himself has been denied Secret Service protection, an outrage that ought to be a bi-partisan issue.

The “Minus Factor” of the interview:

1. When asked about the flawed statehood vote of 1958, he admitted he was only recently briefed, but said that if there was an unfulfilled federal treaty obligation, he would rectify that.
2. As an environmental lawyer, he sees Alaska’s development of its vast natural resources as something to be controlled by the federal congress. His appointment of Nicole Shanahan as VP firmly glues himself to the Green Lobby.
3. Despite calling himself an “absolutist” regarding constitutional philosophy, he would deny states rights as returned through the Dobbs decision regarding abortion. When asked about institutionalizing the Roe v. Wade decision through a federal statute, as called for by Biden in a recent major speech, he said that he would sign it. He also tried to mitigate that by calling for supporting wanted pregnancies through federal welfare, an obviously unconstitutional idea — as are most federal welfare programs, anyway.
4. The control of 65% of Alaska’s lands, along with most of the western states, precludes the stifling of not only Alaska but America’s economy. With states rights being denied for the contentious social issues, Kennedy’s idea of what “absolute constitutionalism” truly means, is not his strength.

Many conservatives see Kennedy’s VP pick as a way to snidely strengthen the Trump campaign, placing him firmly on the Left side of the spectrum. In all likelihood, Kennedy represents merely a fading vestige of fair-minded liberalism. It is impossible to have a perfect candidate for any office. A Ronald Reagan presidency gave Alaska only a temporary mitigation of unconstitutional federal control. A Trump presidency would likely do no better.

The AIP will not be placing RFK on the ballot. Our liberty and prosperity must come from within ourselves, not from a knight galloping in from the Lower 48. The Republican Party is too timid to admit that our 1958 statehood was flawed. Until that is changed, the AIP will continue to be that thin reedy voice of truth, crying out in the wilderness, and placing our Hope elsewhere in the motto: “In God We Trust.”

Bob Bird is chair of the Alaskan Independence Party and the host of a talk show on KSRM radio, Kenai.