21-11-2010, 06:43 AM
(This post was last modified: 21-11-2010, 07:09 AM by Charles Drago.)
Thank you, Peter, for your cogent and powerfully stated assessment of LBJ's relative position in the power structure that struck John.
The "Mastermind" book -- which I'm reading -- so far has offered absolutely NOTHING to persuade anyone with intimate familiarity with the evidence in the JFK case in particular and 20th century deep polititics in general that Johnson was anything other than a Facilitator of a conspiracy whose Sponsors were so far above his pay scale as to be as invisible to him as the dark side of the moon.
The author, Phillip Nelson, does offer cogent analyses of LBJ's facilitation efforts. And then repeatedly he makes the leap to "mastermind" without providing a scintilla of evidence to support the charge.
Noel Twyman, the deservedly respected author of Bloody Treason, is quoted on Nelson's website thusly:
"This book is very comprehensive about Lyndon Johnson as related to the JFK assassination. Nelson strips away the restraints and tells all that is known about the criminal character of LBJ. He plunges fearlessly into 'the unspeakable' about him. Nelson deliberately avoids going into scientific and forensic detail, without compromising his story. It is a well written book, easy to read, and exhaustive in its summations of the scores of other writers on this profoundly disturbing time in history."
Noel and I stand in near-total agreement. Alas, Nelson does not come close to telling us "all that is known" about LBJ's involvement in the assassination -- even as he repeatedly tell us more than is known -- and Noel does not see fit to comment on the "mastermind" claim, let alone define "mastermind" in this context.
Also quoted by Nelson is this passage by Jim Fetzer:
"Brilliant and pivotal, bringing coherence to our understanding . . . From first chapter to last, this is a beautifully written, intellectually captivating, and ultimately persuasive account of the role of LBJ in the assassination of JFK."
Alas, Nelson is absolutely incoherent whenever he makes the "mastermind" charge -- one that he leaps to without a shard of supporting evidence. Regarding his work's central conceit, Nelson persuades no one except those predisposed to avoiding the terrible truth revealed by LBJ's role not as "mastermind" of the hit but rather/only as faithful retainer to the true Sponsors of JFK's murder.
Folks, as we near the 50th anniversary of the death of our last president, we shall see paraded before us a platoon of False Sponsors. Prior to the ascendency of LBJ in that role, we were given E. Howard Hunt's deathbed "confession." Anyone care to wager who the next patsy will be?
(It looks like the Leonardo DiCaprio adaptation of Legacy of Secrecy will resurrect the Mob-did-it False Sponsor tale. One waits breathlessly for the endorsers of Nelson to jump on Leo's bandwagon.)
Make no mistake: Both EHH and LBJ conspired to kill John Fitzgerald Kennedy. But neither of them can be placed on the Sponsor level.
One is left mystified by Nelson's lamebrained "mastermind" charge. Why go there?
Here's one possible answer: The best way to bestow historical absolution upon LBJ is to inflate his role in the JFK assassination to the degree of absurdity. Thus all evidence for his complicity in the conspiracy will be flushed down history's toilet along with the patently absurd "mastermind" charge.
Another disastrous side effect of the "Mastermind" endorsements: its boosters' favorable comparison of Nelson's disinformation volume to James Douglass's utterly superb, incisive, and sound JFK and the Unspeakable.
It is Phillip Nelson's JFK: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination that is in all respects unspeakable -- in the Douglass sense of the word.
The "Mastermind" book -- which I'm reading -- so far has offered absolutely NOTHING to persuade anyone with intimate familiarity with the evidence in the JFK case in particular and 20th century deep polititics in general that Johnson was anything other than a Facilitator of a conspiracy whose Sponsors were so far above his pay scale as to be as invisible to him as the dark side of the moon.
The author, Phillip Nelson, does offer cogent analyses of LBJ's facilitation efforts. And then repeatedly he makes the leap to "mastermind" without providing a scintilla of evidence to support the charge.
Noel Twyman, the deservedly respected author of Bloody Treason, is quoted on Nelson's website thusly:
"This book is very comprehensive about Lyndon Johnson as related to the JFK assassination. Nelson strips away the restraints and tells all that is known about the criminal character of LBJ. He plunges fearlessly into 'the unspeakable' about him. Nelson deliberately avoids going into scientific and forensic detail, without compromising his story. It is a well written book, easy to read, and exhaustive in its summations of the scores of other writers on this profoundly disturbing time in history."
Noel and I stand in near-total agreement. Alas, Nelson does not come close to telling us "all that is known" about LBJ's involvement in the assassination -- even as he repeatedly tell us more than is known -- and Noel does not see fit to comment on the "mastermind" claim, let alone define "mastermind" in this context.
Also quoted by Nelson is this passage by Jim Fetzer:
"Brilliant and pivotal, bringing coherence to our understanding . . . From first chapter to last, this is a beautifully written, intellectually captivating, and ultimately persuasive account of the role of LBJ in the assassination of JFK."
Alas, Nelson is absolutely incoherent whenever he makes the "mastermind" charge -- one that he leaps to without a shard of supporting evidence. Regarding his work's central conceit, Nelson persuades no one except those predisposed to avoiding the terrible truth revealed by LBJ's role not as "mastermind" of the hit but rather/only as faithful retainer to the true Sponsors of JFK's murder.
Folks, as we near the 50th anniversary of the death of our last president, we shall see paraded before us a platoon of False Sponsors. Prior to the ascendency of LBJ in that role, we were given E. Howard Hunt's deathbed "confession." Anyone care to wager who the next patsy will be?
(It looks like the Leonardo DiCaprio adaptation of Legacy of Secrecy will resurrect the Mob-did-it False Sponsor tale. One waits breathlessly for the endorsers of Nelson to jump on Leo's bandwagon.)
Make no mistake: Both EHH and LBJ conspired to kill John Fitzgerald Kennedy. But neither of them can be placed on the Sponsor level.
One is left mystified by Nelson's lamebrained "mastermind" charge. Why go there?
Here's one possible answer: The best way to bestow historical absolution upon LBJ is to inflate his role in the JFK assassination to the degree of absurdity. Thus all evidence for his complicity in the conspiracy will be flushed down history's toilet along with the patently absurd "mastermind" charge.
Another disastrous side effect of the "Mastermind" endorsements: its boosters' favorable comparison of Nelson's disinformation volume to James Douglass's utterly superb, incisive, and sound JFK and the Unspeakable.
It is Phillip Nelson's JFK: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination that is in all respects unspeakable -- in the Douglass sense of the word.