This looks like another "eerie similarity" between JFK I and JFK II: both Kennedy and Kerry had fathers with unorthodox and potentially embarassing views on foreign policy. Of course Kerry's father didn't have the fortune of Joseph Kennedy and didn't live to see his son's Presidential campaign, but Richard Kerry's influence on his son is rather disturbing.
Speaking of the New Republic, they sent a reporter up to Massachusetts in 2000, to assess Kerry's chances of becoming Al Gore's running mate. The writer was originally pro-Kerry, but after seeing how much politicians in Kerry's home state despised the Senator, changed his mind.