October 9, 2018: Del Rio News-Herald * OPINION * Letter to the Editor * A tale of two men of Irish descent
Letter
to the Editor,
A
tale of two men of Irish descent
Once
upon a time in the great country of America, there lived two men with “magically
delicious” Irish surnames Young Mr. O’Rourke and Young Mr. Kavanaugh.
Both
grew up as highly privileged white males enjoying the good life afforded them
by their social status; a “Lucky Charms” life “filled with marshmallow
surprises, pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, green clovers and blue
diamonds”.
O'Rourke
was born on September 26, 1972 in El Paso, the son of Melissa Martha
(Williams), stepdaughter of Fred Korth, Secretary of the
Navy under President John F. Kennedy, and El Paso County
Judge Pat Francis O'Rourke. His father was a political associate of
former Texas Governor Mark White.
Kavanaugh
was born on February 12, 1965, in Washington, D.C., the son of Martha
Gamble (Murphy) and Everett Edward Kavanaugh Jr. His mother was a history
teacher at Woodson and McKinley high schools in Washington
in the 1960s and 1970s. She earned her law degree from Washington College
of Law in 1978, served as a Maryland state Circuit Court judge
from 1995 to 2001 in Montgomery County. His father was an attorney and served
as the president of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance
Association for two decades.
Both
attended prestigious Ivy League universities: O’Rourke graduated from Columbia;
Kavanaugh graduated from Yale.
Both
were athletic: O’Rourke captained Columbia's rowing crew; Kavanaugh
was captain of the high school basketball team, a wide receiver and cornerback
of the football team; in college two years on the junior varsity basketball
team.
Both had families: O'Rourke
married Amy Hoover Sanders in 2005, the couple has three children. Kavanaugh married Ashley Estes in 2004, they have
two daughters.
As luck would have
it: One came under the limelight, as a media shining superstar; the other into
the spotlight, scurrilously savaged by the media.
One is running for
United States Senator from Texas; the other was nominated to be a Justice in
the Supreme Court by President Trump.
One is a Democrat;
the other is a Republican.
Marian Casillas, Ed.D.
Del Rio, Texas