This is going to be a loooong book tour

Pop quiz, hot shot: Let's say you're going to see a reading by David Talbot (right), founder of the left-leaning Salon.com, who's out promoting his new book about Robert F. Kennedy's quest to learn about John F. Kennedy's assassination. Say that he gives some prepared remarks, reads from the book a little, and then takes some questions from a Boston-area audience. What does the crowd ask?

A) Instead of asking a question, a man simply uses a Kennedy transition to identify his politican leanings. "Nothing's changed much in politics," he says. "I despise everything Bush has done, just like those people despised everything Kennedy has done."

B) A woman says that George H. W. Bush has said he doesn't remember where he was when JFK was shot. Furthermore, she wonders: Wasn't Bush working for the CIA around the time of the shooting? And wasn't the CIA suspected to be involved in the shooting? You don't think...?

C) A young guy with large sideburns in the back of the room asks if either of the Kennedy brothers ever did LSD.

D) The crowd spends the rest of the evening asking very specific questions about the who's-who in the JFK shooting conspiracy.

If you answered "All of the above, and in that order," you're right! I went last night, and the crowd really outdid itself in living up to stereotypes. Go Boston!

On the upside, Talbot's a nice guy. I don't have much interest in the Kennedy story, but went just to see what he's like, because Salon was the first major outlet I ever wrote for. He seemed happy to chat, despite me not buying a book.

Posted by Jason Feifer at May 9, 2007 11:21 AM