" But there was also the aspect that lay beyond the political , and beyond analysis , too , the aspect that led George Reedy to ask , " Did you ever see two dogs come into a room ............ ? " There was Bobby's hatred for liars , and his feeling that Lyndon Johnson " lies all the time ....... lies even when he does not have to lie . " There was his hatred for yes - men --- and for those who wanted to be surrounded by such men , an insistence which , Bobby was to say , " makes it very difficult , unless you want to kiss his behind all the time . " He detested the politician's false bonhomie , and Johnson embodied that bonhomie . " He [ Bobby ] recoiled at being touched , " and of course Lyndon Johnson was always touching and hugging . And talking . " It was southwestern exaggeration against Yankee understatement , " Arthur Schlesinger has written . " Robert Kennedy , in the New England manner , liked people to keep their physical distance . Johnson ...... was all over everybody . " So many of Bobby Kennedy's pet hates were embodied in Lyndon Johnson .
" No affection contaminated the relationship between the Vice President and the Attorney General , " Schlesinger writes . " It was a pure case of mutual dislike . " Lyndon Johnson , he writes , " repelled Robert Kennedy . " The two men were , as he portrays them -- in the portrayal that has become the model for other historians -- opposites , and certainly , in many ways , in all the obvious ways , perhaps , they were . "
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" Yet , in some ways , ' opposite ' is not at all an apt adjective to apply to Lyndon Johnson and Robert Kennedy , as is shown by their approach to two of the most fundamental elements of politics .
One was counting votes .
A Master of an art recognizes another Master when he encounters one , and Johnson knew there was a Master battling --- and counting votes --- against him . "
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The New and Improved Joey? thread (Read 2,362,409 times)
