Yes, but no: Kennedy didn't just have a thing for Social Register girls; he had a thing for humiliating Social Register girls. He also had a thing for humiliat

Yes, but no: Kennedy didn't just have a thing for Social Register girls; he had a thing for humiliating Social Register girls. He also had a thing for humiliating his fellow Irishman, Dave Powers. Alford and Powers may have felt humiliated, but it's a jump to say that since a) they felt humiliated, therefore b) Kennedy had a thing for humiliating them. Rather, he had a thing for power--power over others. A measure of his power would be, can I make this person humiliate herself? He could. Power was exercised, apologies were professed, and on he went. This is much more damning than to say, he was a monster, he enjoyed humiliating others. It incriminates not just Kennedy, but a huge swathe of society, were such power differentials are common. By characterizing the behavior as he did, Noah calls it out (good man!), but then quarantines it (phew!). You can see it when he contrasts Kennedy to Nixon and Clinton--even they were not so monstrous! We're still mostly decent people in a mostly decent world. Well, that's nice to believe.