On October 12, 1979, CBS correspondent Roger Mudd asked Senator Edward M. Kennedy why he wanted to be the next president of the

United States. With the cameras rolling, Kennedy began: § “Well, I'm — were I to make the announcement and to run, the reasons I would run is because I have a great belief in this country. That it is — there’s more natural resources than any nation in the world; the greatest education population in the world; the greatest technology of any country in the world; the greatest capacity for innovation in the world; and the greatest political system in the world.”§ The answer went on for 336 words. If this were a painting, it would be a bad Jackson Pollock, at once incoherent and repetitive.