Just checked back for more comments on JFK - looked at the early ones and man-oh-man what a bunch of sourpusses this audience can be! Also willing to bet that the above-mentioned sourpusses were not alive when JFK was. I come from a huge Irish Catholic clan and the shut-down emotions of Rose toward her children (hence those of JFK toward Jackie?) are no surprise to me! (We can be a very shamed lot - maybe it's the extreme brand of Catholicism from Ireland (Jansenists sent from France because the French couldn't stand them) or just a terrorized/traumatized people living next door to Brits afraid of the Pope. Don't guess it's Celtic because Celts were everywhere in Europe.

Chris Matthews is always a fascinating guy. Wish you had him on more! Of course an easy interview. Press start, walk away. But Chris has lots to say!

I can never get enough of the Kennedy's, he's the only President in American history who had the forsight to shoot for the stars, they stood for the best of everything.

i didn't listen to the interview, but, i wonder if chris matthews stumbled across james w. douglass' book, "jfk and the unspeakable" in which the author proposes a new theory about the assassination. mr. douglass cites a jfk's commencement speech at the american university, june 10, 1963. it is all about peace. which american president, either before or after jfk, made a speech about peace? you can see most of the speech on you tube.

i love info on the kennedys

Matthews' imagined advice from Kennedy to Obama about asking the rich to do more for their country ignores the context of 20-30 years of an attitude that taxes are always bad & acceptance of a vastly widening income gap. It wouldn't go over the same way now that it did in JFK's time.

Geez, what a blowhard. That guy should learn some speaking etiquette, stop anticipating questions and stop interrupting.

Nonsense, Chris. There's nothing currently being said on the right that remotely makes sense. If this doesn't change, Obama SHOULD be under much less "pressure" during the campaign.

chris:

i agree: were it not for jack and bobby staring down lemay, none of us would be here today to talk about it. but JFK over FDR on mt. rushmore because FDR doesn't meet your criteria for a hero overlooks FDR's courageous ability to overcome his severe disability to lead the country through some of the darkest years in our history. it's a no-brainer, pal.

And what would be the biggest change in the country since Kennedy?

I say the buying power of the average income. Today's earner would need to make $106K in order to have the same buying power of the average wage in 1963...same ratio of income to GDP that is.

Letting the landing force in the Bay of Pigs get slaughtered can be seen as a negative??no. Was that heroic.

This hero business is ridiculous! FDR was crippled from polio yet managed to instill courage in millions of Americans for over 20 years.

Jesus F Kennedy! Chris, go find another deity.

JFK was just like his dad. Apple did not fall far from the tree.

Oh gawd, Leonard: Chris Matthews? Major bore.

Listen to him. You mention nostalgia and Matthews says "Well, I don't know if it's nostalgia so much as a yearning for what we don't have anymore."

Another book on Kennedy? Just demonstrates what a complete lack of imagination Matthews has.

May I please leave the table after I finish my peas?