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16 March 2005

I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine.....

In doing a google search, I came across this John F. Kennedy quote and felt a chill in my bones.

"It is time for a new generation of leadership, to cope with new problems and new opportunities. For there is a new world to be won." [That's the JFK quote]

"The time has come for new heroes to step forward: men, women, and young people who can build their community, grow our economy, foster cooperation, and inspire the confidence we need to pursue our dreams together." [That's the Danny version from yesterday's Throne Speech]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Plagiarism is wrong. Bad paraphrasing is just pathetic.

["Short term pain for long term...; compare Crosbie's memorable line with the absolutely gruesome version of the stolen phrase some bureaucrat stuck into the January speech from last year.]

Of course, in Kennedy's case, he was riffing on the theme that he personified a change in generations among American leaders. Kennedy himself represented optimism and altruism if his and following generations.

In Danny's case, he was basically saying that it is now time for someone else to run the place.

Somebody look around on this day after the Ides of March to see which of the senators is rehearsing the lines: "Friends, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, countrymen and women. I come not to bury Danny but to praise him..."