The Improbable Political Existence of Teddy Kennedy
The only people being moronically partisan are those who didn’t condemn the man and didn’t stand aghast at the fact he was still in politics. What excuses are there for him? I’ve never heard anyone try to defend what he did; they just brush it off like time made the grossest irresponsible treatment of human life imaginable now a minor indiscretion.
Are mindless liberal politics really all you need to look past crimes like that? If you’re reading this and feeling outraged on Ted Kennedy’s behalf, you’re the one putting partisanship before basic decency.
People are praising all the great things he’s done, and it’s pure madness. Some are calling him a civil rights champion. What great things has he done? He was in the Senate basically his whole life. All he did was be rich, privileged, and talk his mouth off about whatever was the fashionable subject of the time. That’s something we should strive for? What sacrifice did he make for civil rights (I know of the human sacrifice he made — I’m talking about personal sacrifice)? Wouldn’t someone who understands civil rights not have failed so miserably on the subject of how you treat an individual human being in your own car?
Can you really understand civil rights in the abstract while not knowing how to treat actual people?
And what was his civil rights legacy? He was a rich white guy who killed a woman and got away without consequences, and so paved the way that one day a black man, O.J. Simpson, could do the same?
One I’ve heard from conservatives, struggling to be nice, is that he was someone who stood up for what he believed in. Well, obviously someone who commits manslaughter and still thinks he can run for president doesn’t care what other people say about him. He might have been so beyond normal humanity he didn’t even comprehend it.
Still, people liked the guy, Republicans and Democrats alike. Anyone who worked with him seemed to have nice things to say about him. But I don’t get all the praise about his accomplishments that seems to ignore what a grotesque blemish it was on our country that he was one of our democratically elected officials, and how completely insane it was that such an amoral wretch had any say whatsoever in the lives of other Americans. Is everyone inside the beltway really that out of touch that they don’t realize that to the average American, Ted Kennedy is rightfully nothing more than a punchline?
I feel bad saying this about someone after he died, but I keep taking a dispassionate look at the facts and don’t see how I am in any way overreacting. I just don’t get his existence at all. Still, I feel I should say at least something nice about him, as so many care for him, so I’ll use a technique I once saw on The Simpsons — saying the complete opposite of what I was planning to say.
Ted Kennedy was a wonderful person who had genuine concern for his fellow man. He was someone who started with little and built that up to accomplish great things. What I’ll remember most about him is his common decency, his humility, and how his head was quite normal-sized.
Edward M. Kennedy, rest in some fashion somewhere.
If one is Liberal enough, then any immoral behavior becomes a badge of honor. Go ahead a leave a woman to die so long as you are pro-abortion.
Kennedy was a dilettante, a murderer, a liar, a letch, a drunk, and a demagogue of the worst kind. He never worked a day in his life. I would be quite surprised if his IQ was much over 100. It will be the everlasting shame of the people of Massachusetts that they kept re-electing such a low-life. That said, it is always sad when someone dies.
You’re not overreacting.
“We debate whether an adulterer should resign, but shouldn’t unrepentant manslaughter be beyond debate and partisanship? Wouldn’t someone with even the smallest amount of humanity and humility resign from public life after that? No one could be so egotistical and out of touch as to later run for president thinking: “Wow. The country sure could use someone with my judgment and moral fortitude to run it right now.” Right?”
Frank you’re not old enough to remember, but the moment Kennedy lost the race in 1980 was when he couldn’t give an answer to a news correspondent’s question as to why he wanted to be president.
Kennedy the despicable COWARD should not have been in the Senate he should have been in the Penitentiary
I am only sorry I could not stand beside the road to pay my tributes dressed in SCUBA gear and holding a scales of justice across from one of the fawning network cameras.
“Mary Jo could not be reached for comment”.
It’s astonishing that Democrats are so morally inverted as to hold Kennedy up as an example of an honorable man.
Kennedy was little more than an arrogant frat boy punk that got away with everything because of daddy’s money. Despicable.
Frank – You overlook the obvious – Mary Jo’s death was just a late term abortion.
Until he died, I did not realize how much I disliked him. How he handled the “driving accident” defined his life. It showed us who he was. There is nothing funny about Edward or the number of times in life he was “graded on the curve”. Glad that does not happen anymore, nosiree.
This just reinforces to me what I already knew PJM to be: a hatefest.
I’m no Kennedy fan. The guy is dead and gone. Pouring it on now just make you look bad. But what should I expect from this group? Anything constructive? No. Just hate and racist spew (we need to call it what it is when you all fall 100% based on racial lines). Don’t look now but conservative wing is a disorganised mess and the country is no better for it. I challenge PJM to do better than just hate. God forbid you rally behind something productive.
He said some unattractive things:
http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=5711
I have to apologize for some comments made on another thread.
I’d thought Ted was the architect of the monstrosity ‘No Child Left Behind’ Act.
Mr. Kennedy was but a supporter of this Bush crap sandwich.
I like reading both stories and people’s takes on the story. I needn’t wish to spout fiction nor emotional laden diatribes.
I also used the spelling ‘turrets’ when referring to ‘tourettes.’ Suffice to say somebody corrected me on the gaffe. My just desserts when attempting to insult someone instead of commenting on the story itself.
Thanks.
While crossing the river Styx, Ted Kennedy was thrown overboard by Mary Jo Kopechne.
‘Is everyone inside the beltway really that out of touch..?
-Yep.
I’m so glad I’m not the only person who feels the same was about Teddy boy. I just wonder how many of my fellow MA residents feel this way and are afraid to express their opinions for fear of being castigated over critisizing ‘…this great man.’
Mary Jo, may you finally Rest in Peace.
Integrity defined Ted, he had none.
“It should be unquestionable that the majority of people in Massachusetts are amoral, empty-headed scumbags for constantly voting for that man. That’s an objective fact, right?”
Yes Frank it is a fact and the proof is they keep reelecting that poor excuse for a politician Barney Frank!
The Democrat Party is a criminal enterprise.
Are you wackjobs sure he’s dead? We haven’t seen the vault copy long-form death certificate.
Fat, gluttonous, drunken, philandering murderer, last fat spawn of Honey Fitz’ Irish Mafia.
Remember this monster’s closest friends when you vote. Start with Orrin Hatch.
I lived in D.C. during JFK’s reign. I could no longer stomach going to my favorite restaurant after drunken Teddy and a sidekick (Evan Bayh?) joked around with the Camelot groupies of the time by “rubbing their genitals across the napes of women patrons” (WP). Wasn’t he funny? Everyone at the time thought so.
The people that are to blame for foisting this drunken, womanizing, murderer on the rest of us for 50 years are the voters of Massachusetts. There must be a kind of madness in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts because even when he spit on them, killed thier children and treated thier state as his personal fiefdom, the voters continued to return him to the Senate. Why? Because he was Kennedy? That is the no reason at all.
Thank God it appears that the Kennedy’s next generation are too lazy, stupid and immoral for even the voters of Massachusetts to elect to high office. Then again maybe not.
wormburner:
We’re racists? We hate Ted Kennedy because he’s white? Do you have some mental problems or something?
Kennedy escaped to a life of hedonism, debauchery, selfish destructive policy. He loved to demonize and ruin good peoples lives. He did this by projecting his rabid guilt on this country! There is little good to say about this fat man.
Millions and millions of people loved Ted Kennedy and believed he made a significant and positive contribution to this country. Nothing said here can change that. Don’t take my word for it. Watch the coverage. Sit in your Barcolounger and wring your hands as the country mourns the passing of an icon. Wipe the sweat from your brow as Hannity pledges “not to bring up Mary Jo Kopechne or his radical socialism out of respect for his family.”
That’s all. Pretty simple. And I do hope[ they name it the Kennedy health Care Bill. And I do hope it passes. And you should, too, right? Wouldn’t that be the best thing for Republicans, if this terrible bill, whatever it ends of being, passes?
21. Pat B wrote:
Thank God it appears that the Kennedy’s next generation are too lazy, stupid and immoral for even the voters of Massachusetts to elect to high office. Then again maybe not.
Peter writes: I’m fully expecting Carolyn to announce she’s moving from Manhatten to either Boston or Hyannis shortly after the funeral.
This piece reminds me of an illustrated story that ran in the old National Lampoon long ago. It was in some respects a typically cynical piece for the time: political handlers touting a non-functioning human being for president. But trouble ensues, and the last panel is a scene of damage control: “This is bad….but I don’t think many people actually saw him eating the rat.”
Yes, the candidate, being kept in a cage between viewings had caught a rat, had it in his hand when they took him onstage, at which time he took a bite out of it. It would be a difficult thing to spin, but, as Kennedy’s career demonstrates, probably not impossible.
Ooooh. Looky at me. I’m on the internet and I have an opinion and I’m angry. Oooooooh.
It’s interesting how Leftits gets indignant when they are called out for whitewashing evil.
Welcome to the inverted world of Leftism.
Frank J cuts right to the heart with this one. It’s almost impossible to imagine any other state electing someone with this albatross about their neck.
Also notice, there has been no actual defense offered, just wails of “HATE” or “Respect the Dead”. Even the Democratic partisans are at a loss to explain away such lunacy by the Massachusetts body politic.
I feel like I’m on crazy pills just writing this!
I didn’t know there was such a thing, but that seems to explain Pajamas Media perfectly.
Look, he got a free pass because so many felt guilt about the death of his brothers. As a stand alone act, without that family background, he would have been relegated to the dung pile.
While I enjoyed this article and agree with its thesis, the author is showing his age by using colloquial and unprofessional phrases to define his subject, such as “scum bag” or “I feel like I’m on crazy pills just writing this!” I think it is possible to get one’s point across and engage one’s readers in an informal conversation without resorting to such undescriptive and unproductive language. Victor Davis Hanson is an example of someone who can do this well.
Sorry–but as a former English/writing professor, I couldn’t help but mention it. Conservatives are in a world of hurt right now in our Obama-dominated country. We can’t afford to be making mistakes, or looking bad at a time when we need to bolster the Republican and Libertarian parties.
Moho:
Can any of you even attempt to answer my confusion? How can you support and vote for someone after he left a woman to suffocate and die in a car? What human being does that? What human being excuses that? What possible explanation is there for this? You just all try to dismiss it like it’s a settled issue, but I never heard how it got settle. It’s like you’re all just comfortable with depravity as long as you aren’t asked to think about it.
mariecurie:
Thank you, but I reject your criticism as stupid and missing the point.
Ted Kennedy was a scum bag, a liar, a drunk, a louse, & believed he was above the laws he himself help write as a senator; he was really nothing & a very small person with the sycophantic MSM to prop up his corpse. He treated most women like dirt. He was a Kennedy. If not for his name, he might have accomplished something other than being a demagogue, lush, & otherwise abuser of women. Power corrupts & absolute power corrupts absolutely. This holds true for Ted Kennedy & the Kennedy Family in general.
If he is indeed in Heaven, he better have a good reason being there. I cannot find any.
So much vitriol spewed against the Senator. The way I see it, Kennedy’s life is a lesson in redemption and closer to the core of Christianty’s teachings than the hate spewed by so-called conservatives. Kennedy was driven by a sense of justice for all more like Christ than not. Even those on the right who have the character to admit it, recognize that Kennedy was driven by the politics of inclusion and compromise. The hidden mesage in the hatred exhibited toward Kennedy in the hours after his death is a latent manifestation of the racism which still exists at the core of the American White Far Right. Get over it, “Christians”, your days in the majority are at an end. Praise Jesus!
Can someone explain how Ted Kennedy is getting a Catholic burial? His support for partial birth abortion caused him to be separated from the Church even without a formal ex-communication. How can someone who advocates for such a notorious and scandalous policy receive a Catholic burial?
“Also notice, there has been no actual defense offered, just wails of “HATE” or “Respect the Dead”. Even the Democratic partisans are at a loss to explain away such lunacy by the Massachusetts body politic.”
That’s not true at all. Ted Kennedy was an extremely HARD-WORKING and EFFECTIVE legislator, as almost every Republican Senator past and present will acknowledge. He was a compromiser and deal-maker, and a strong advocate of both the liberal national policies he believed in and good old-fashioned Massachusetts-first parochial politics.
I’m not making a partisan statement. There are plenty of Republican Senators who were also similarly effective.
[strike]Reagan[/strike] Kennedy is dead, get over it.
I guess that advice only works for conservatives, huh?
Mass went from a root of the tree of liberty, to the worm in the fruit. Will they take this opportunity to break from habit?
Not holding my breath.
Silas, it is comments like yours that keep conservatives from ever gaining an understanding of liberal thought process, if there is such a thing. You perfectly frame Kennedy’s politics by imagining what may have passed through his mind. Apparently Harvard, that bastion of conservative thought, did not agree with that assessment and asked him to vacate the premises. What galls the thoughtful about Kennedy was not merely that Mary Jo Kopechne died at Chappaquiddick, but that he ignored her plight, never apologized for that horrible trangression against humanity and also never suffered anything beyond pangs of guilt for his actions (resistible pangs, obviously). The voters in Massachusetts that re-elected him seven more times have no excuse given that it was all known, but ignored. His election record is damning to those voters.
Silas Kain:
He left a woman to suffocate and avoided all responsibility. He continued on as a Senator and even tried running for president. He obviously didn’t care a whit for justice or he would have at least dropped out of the Senate after that incident. You are a weird, depraved individual to excuse him like that.
Wow. For people who claim the moral high ground, I would have expected a bit better out of the comments. Stay class, folks!
Silas Kain
Spare me your ‘redempation’ claptrap. To be redemned the sinner must firt admit the sin, do the penance and then live a good and upright life.
Which One of those three things did Teddy even make a pass at?
“Those are the actions of an irredeemable scumbag, right? Yet not only was he not imprisoned, he didn’t even lose his Senate seat. In fact, he was reelected seven more times! I feel like I’m on crazy pills just writing this!”
Hey, I know how you feel, Frankie. But get this: There’s this other guy who lies us into a war, gets 4,000 Americans killed, screws up the war – and gets reelected!
What I’ll remember most …. how his head was quite normal-sized.
actually I thought his head was huge and didn’t seem to fit his body …like his ego.
FRANK FLEMMING ..this is a well written piece, you got the nail on the head with this. You were nicer then I would be in describing him. You didn’t even mention his role in his nephews rape case.
bibio44:
Yes, your myopic political differences and the dishonesty you project on politicians who disagree with you completely excuses how Ted Kennedy left a woman to suffocate and went on with being a rich Senator like nothing happened.
You people are just unbelieveably depraved. None of you can defend Ted Kennedy or your support for him, and least most of you recognize that by not even trying to.
I hope Mary Jo is waiting at the gates to tell him to go to hell.
bibio44: I know you’re just a lib idiot trying to sound intellectual and debate among adults, but once again your facts do not support your assertion. Let’s see how many Dems supported the war??? Clinton, Kerry, Reid,etc. So they must have lied to us as well. Canada, UK, and 27 other nations supported defeating Iraq; so they must have bought the same LIE, eh?? Ummm, the war ended in two months and was successfully prosecuted. The aftermath is somewhat more muddled, but the people are free to vote, no more rape rooms, and only insurgents causing trouble… The surge was a tremendous success.
Talk about LIES. How’s that hope and change going for you???
Tool!
His election and continue re-election can be laid at the feet of the arrogant people of Massachusetts!!!
His name was all they looked at…he was one of “them”, and I suppose they overlook manslaughter…
“intentional” manslaughter, unless it would be their daughter of course. He left the woman to die for heck sakes!!.
The people of Massaloser are the ones that shoulder the disgrace. He may be liked there, but I surely had no use for him..
Wonder how BO will handle himself at the funeral…
..he probably got the family permission to push the health care plan in “uncle teddy’s” name. PUKE
I usually just pass right over postings by the likes of vivo, jharp, and bibio, but I take it from some other postings here that the B-man brought up the whole “Bush Lied!” meme again?
Typical, when you can’t refute facts, tell falsehoods, change the topic, and villianize someone else; the standard Lib playbook.
Never minds what this sordid life tells us about the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, what does it tell us about his supporters when environmentalists love him after he kills a wind power project, and feminists love him after he kills a woman?
It would be hypocritical of me to hold y’all’s vitriol against you, I guess. I felt the same way y’all do now when that piece of crap Reagan died.
Blarty Blarckleblart:
He let a woman suffocate and covered his own fat ass?
You people are just completely depraved and have no sense of scale. Just because you disagree with someone on politics doesn’t make him a monster and just because you agree with someone doesn’t excuse him of some of the most cowardly, craven behavior imaginable. You stand behind Ted Kennedy, but don’t you dare ever lecture anyone on morality and justice.
52. Frank J. Fleming:
I’m sure you’re equally outraged over the Nicaraguan women who were raped and murdered in front of their children by the Contras, with Reagan’s support. Shot in the head with bullets Reagan bought for them.
I’m sure you care just as much about that as you do about Mary Jo Kopechne.
“Yes, your myopic political differences and the dishonesty you project on politicians who disagree with you completely excuses how Ted Kennedy left a woman to suffocate and went on with being a rich Senator like nothing happened.”
Whoa … whoa, Frankie … take it easy, calm down, have another drink. I was only tryin’ t’ help you collect stories about scumbags who get reelected.
“You people are just unbelieveably depraved. None of you can defend Ted Kennedy or your support for him, and least most of you recognize that by not even trying to.”
You got me there, Frankie. I can’t think of anyone who’s gonna say a good word about him. Probably no one’s gonna come to the funeral.
All hail the triumph of the Mary Joe Kopechne Memorial (*) Brain Tumor.
Brian Richard Allen
Lost Angels – Califokennedycated 90028
And the Far Abroad
(* Wet, as in Pickled/Korsokoff’s)
Kain: “The way I see it, Kennedy’s life is a lesson in redemption and closer to the core of Christianty’s teachings than the hate spewed by so-called conservatives.” Please explain what he did that was “redemptive”? Did he give away his families fortune to the needy?? Did he help Mother Theresa? What he did do was confiscate American tax money ahd give it (redistribute) it to others…
“Kennedy was driven by a sense of justice for all more like Christ than not.” Yet he fully supported abortion. Reconcile that for me.
“Even those on the right who have the character to admit it, recognize that Kennedy was driven by the politics of inclusion and compromise.” Please cite just one bill that he compromised on? One bill that was inclusive of what conservatives wanted? And don’t use NCLB because that was our mistake; McLame is not really a conservative. Did he ever compromise on late term abortion??? In fact he stood in the way of Megan’s Law until it was political suicide for him not to pass it.
“The hidden mesage in the hatred exhibited toward Kennedy in the hours after his death is a latent manifestation of the racism which still exists at the core of the American White Far Right. Get over it, “Christians”, your days in the majority are at an end. Praise Jesus!” This is just rich. It needs no rebuttal. You have a knack for mendacity. It will serve you well, tool.
55. Brian Richard Allen:
All hail the triumph of the Mary Joe Kopechne Memorial (*) Brain Tumor.
I dunno, Bri. When it comes to killing scumbag politicians, it’s hard to beat Alzheimer’s.
“Millions and millions of people loved Ted Kennedy and believed he made a significant and positive contribution to this country. Nothing said here can change that. Don’t take my word for it. Watch the coverage.”
A lot of people loved Hitler and thought he made a “significant and positive contribution” to Germany. I suggest liberals start thinking for themselves and stop relying on the opinions of the masses.
Everything you ever wanted to know about trolls but were afraid to ask:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNBNqUdqm1E
bibio44:
Again, you ignore the elephant in the room. Yes, no one is going to address what a scumbag he was at his funeral. There is no excuse.
Good riddance to one of the most vile political figures of the last half century, Ted Kennedy. To lionize his “accomplishments” is a slap in the face to the ideals upon which this country was founded.
Kennedy, as much as any politician, was responsible for the subjugation of Americans, and in particular minorities, under the iron jackboot of Progressivism. His legacy will be his utter lack of both shame and conscience when it came to the pursuit of its soft tyranny, all the while free riding on his family’s wealth and status.
He and his ilk are responsible for the welfare state and its oppressive regulatory structure that have brought us to the brink of economic and social ruin. He robbed generations of Americans of dignity and hope by purposely creating a desperate and dependent underclass for no other reason than to secure a reliable voting bloc. Unlike others, I believe that he would approve of the current exploitation of his death to forward his life’s work of destroying the most advanced health care system in the world. It is an ironic but fitting monument to his hypocrisy that he received in his last year of life the cutting edge benefits of the same system that he worked so tirelessly to deny others.
May God have mercy on his fetid soul.
The truly sad part is that a great many will flock to his funeral, even worse for our Republic, a fair number will be conservatives that worked with the “genial” Senator.
The apologists of the Left may make all the false comparisons and weak equivalencies that they wish. There is absolutely no denying that the man committed what in my state at least is a felony, not by proxy, but by his own actions. That the government institution he was sent to was the US Senate and a penal institution speaks volumes for moral wherewithal of the Left.
At least you’re comfortable with the fact you’re a weird, hateful little person.
60. Frank J. Fleming:
Again, you ignore the elephant in the room. Yes, no one is going to address what a scumbag he was at his funeral. There is no excuse.
No one addressed what a scumbag Reagan was at his funeral. Why should Kennedy’s be any different?
“Again, you ignore the elephant in the room.”
Frankie, I don’t wanna scold, but there is no elephant in this room. Lay off them “crazy pills” you been talkin’ about.
Blarty Blarckleblart:
You understand the difference between all our own silly little political beliefs and letting a woman suffocate? The latter should not be a debatable thing, yet you all excuse or try to ignore it.
bibio44:
So you agree what Ted Kennedy did was inexcusable and there was no reason he should have been Senator? You won’t try to defend it?
62. chuck:
There is absolutely no denying that the man committed what in my state at least is a felony, not by proxy, but by his own actions.
Might wanna fax that law degree back to whence you got it, chuckie. You have no idea what happened that night. Hell, you don’t even know if Mary Jo Kopechne is really dead. Have you seen the long-form death certificate? I haven’t.
Ted Kennedy was no where near as bad as the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, or the rest of that bunch. He was a standard politican that had a long run. Obviously he did something right for his constituents if they kept voting him in.
The idea that this man was bent on destroying America is just as absurd as the idea that he left behind a stellar legacy.
“Wouldn’t someone who understands civil rights not have failed so miserably on the subject of how you treat an individual human being in your own car?”
You’d think so. He may as well have been a proponent of prohibition, since every day seems to be Opposite Day with the progressives…
66. Frank J. Fleming:
You understand the difference between all our own silly little political beliefs and letting a woman suffocate?
My silly little political beliefs don’t involve the rape and slaughter of innocent civilians. Yours do, I guess. We’ll just have to agree to disagree.
#68-
You might want to log off & spend some time in the local library. There are people there who will be willing to slowly read to you, thereby allowing you to hear what’s actually been written rather than inferring wild nonsense by your li’l self.
Middleman:
He wasn’t Hitler, but you can say the same for the average convicted felon. I’m just aghast people could tolerate him in the Senate and act like that was normal. So far, I’ve never heard anyone defend what he’s done; they all just try and ignore it or deflect.
don’t feed the trolls …as you can see they are hard cases. never anything good comes from engaging them. the whole kennedy thing is negative, not just this pathetic one. …they were what the russians termed useful idiots …not useful like fixing your car or plumbing.
see this …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0cDGALhzro&NR=1
If Kennedy was such a criminal and felon, why was he never convicted of anything?
(Conspiracy theory in 3… 2… 1…)
Well Frank, I don’t see why a lot of people on either side are tolerated, but they are. The guy was a privileged brat in a dodgy auto accident and a stark raving drunk. He fit right in with Washington. Hell, he could fit right in where I live now. If I were to honestly call any Kennedy a scumbag though, it would be his father.
He was a big player in Washington, and although I won’t mourn him, I’m not going to s*it on him either. Just like I didn’t with Reagan.
Protein Wisdom nails it: http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=2342
If Lord Black is in jail I know where Teddy boy is, along with his siblings. But I guess being raised by the like of their father accounts for their lack of morals, values and ethics. Liberal icons. Disgusting.
“don’t feed the trolls …as you can see they are hard cases. never anything good comes from engaging them. ”
The trolls are actually paid to disrupt our threads. When you respond to them, you reduce the usefulness of the thread by increasing the noise to signal ratio. That is their goal.
Do a search on Amazon Mechanical Turk to see how this is done.
…you reduce the usefulness of the thread…
Not possible.
The Kennedys have used a huge family fortune to buy political power and protect themselves from the legal ramifications of their own indiscretions. Progressive, liberal populists are supposed to hate that sort of thing. Somehow, they don’t. Frank is absolutely correct in wondering why. Leftists who normally think anyone with a massive fortune is an enemy of the middle and lower classes think that the Kennedys are wonderful. That makes no sense. You don’t have to love Reagan or Bush or Palin to think that the Kennedys have had way, way, way too much influence on American politics and society.
This is your friendly, neighborhood Liberal checking in. It’s always a bit of a disappointment when the self-righteous Left chimes in with embarrassing defenses of the indefensible.
The critics of Sen. Kennedy have a point. Further, they are being kinder that the usual run of commentary from the self-styled liberal or progressive sites are toward conservatives generally, and far kinder than the recently deceased Senator deserves.
Senator Kennedy’s life, from his school days through his old age, was marred with a series of disgraceful acts of the type that have ended the political careers of many other people. He led a life of extreme privilege and escaped the consequences of his actions that were corrupt, illegal, and even deadly. It is also a fact that, although these matters were aired publicly, he retained elective office as a United States Senator for decades. The harm that he did toward the end of his life was no less than what he did earlier: it’s just that the Washington Post stopped carrying most of his rants and antics, so they no longer received world-wide publicity.
In the face of the lying hagiographies currently being published about this man, it’s not only fair but perhaps essential that the record be set straight somewhere. This man’s career squarely presents the question of whether our information, electoral, and governmental processes are sufficient to safeguard our Republic from the excesses of very bad men. The legislative successes that he enjoyed suggest that those processes have protected us from the worst aspects of his character.
Blarty:
I will not roll in the mud over Ted Kennedy but I will challenge you to show your Contra-as-rapist evidence from a reliable news source. (Mother Jones and Wikipedia don’t count.) Perhaps you missed the story of how at the time the Contras were supported by a majority of the Nicaraguan people.
“So you agree what Ted Kennedy did was inexcusable and there was no reason he should have been Senator?”
Hey, Frankie, the people have spoken. What am I gonna do? I know you think the people are … what did ya call ‘em? … “amoral, empty-headed scumbags” … but we got this thing called democracy and …. Never mind, I’ll explain it to ya when ya cool down.
Take a look at the politicians that come out of Taxachusetts. The who’s who list of elitist leftist snobs. Just a short list would include Franks, Kennedy, Kerry, and Markey. Politicians never concerned of not being re-elected by the masses of self-loathing, guilt-tripped white liberals, the sorry products of left-wing indoctrination.
I remember Chappaquiddick quite well. The thing that also sickened me about Chappaquiddick was the fact that members of the Senate stood and applauded Kennedy when he returned to the Senate after a brief absence following Chappaquiddick. I watched it on television. I wonder if that tape or whatever is still available.
By the way:
Anyone know where I can get a “Kennedy lied, Bork was denied” bumper sticker?
40+ years in the Senate and the only piece of worthy legislation he crafted was the ADA. I think it’s a laugh when they list his “accomplishments” and then start reeling off legislation he “co-sponsored”. As if co-sponsoring a bill is an act the average 4 year old couldn’t do if given a senate seat. So, while I applaud his work on the ADA, he did virtually nothing of constructive importance the rest of his career. He was too busy finding ways to tear down capitalism, personal responsibility and individual freedoms while promoting a communistic, socialist view of the United States.
Frank – Ignore the trolls. They love Teddy and are therefore moral inbreds. However, I gotta comment on Wormburner. Dude got his talking points mixed up! Played the race card on you goofing on a fat, white drunk! Priceless!!!
I agree with every word written by Mr. Fleming, but it may make him and those others who agree with him feel better if they just consider exactly how the last real Kennedy died. His mind probably started playing tricks on him long before he announced he had brain cancer. As soon as the announcement was made, no one could take anything he thought or said really seriously. Politically, which was the only part of his life that went at all well for him, he was now the walking dead. People who die of cancer usually undergo a series of treatments that are objectively indistinguishable from being tortured to death — and have to be grateful to the people doing all these things to them. Staying in a hospital months at a time with IV needles in your veins is bad enough, but consider the not-so-slow-acting poisons sent into his body through them — this is after all basically what chemotherapy is — which he knew even as his mouth filled up with painful sores and his hair fell out was doing him little good. Brain cancer is, after all, practically impossible to cure. He probably thought over and over, well, it can’t get worse than this, but then it did. He had lots of money for new and elaborate treatments — so Doctors and researchers almost certainly would not let him alone but instead kept coming to him with more “bright ideas” about how to cure him. Politician that he was he must have known that they mostly hoped to gain fame and fortune by being part of the team that gave him several more unexpected, and painful and useless, months of life. And, for entertainment, he got to watch health-care reform go down in flames again, after all the stars seemed aligned for its passage. So, fellow Kennedy despisers, take some consolation in the manner of his passing. He almost certainly ended up envying his brothers their quick and almost instantaneous deaths.
” Frank is absolutely correct in wondering why. Leftists who normally think anyone with a massive fortune is an enemy of the middle and lower classes think that the Kennedys are wonderful. That makes no sense.”
The left doesn’t have animosity towards wealth as such. Fredick Engles was wealthy and helped Marx as did other rich people at the time. The same happens today with the likes of Soros and Bill Gates.
The left hates income. If a person can form a business or get a good income from a trade or profession then such people are free and have no interest in giving up freedom for security and being a servant of the state.
All the programs of the left as described in the Communist Manifesto involve placing restrictions on business formation and taxing income. That is not an accident. It is that path toward independence that the left systematically attacks.
“The trolls are actually paid to disrupt our threads. When you respond to them, you reduce the usefulness of the thread by increasing the noise to signal ratio. That is their goal.
Do a search on Amazon Mechanical Turk to see how this is done.”
*Ding ding*..Comment of the day.
BTW, I thought a troll was someone who came onto a site just to hurl abuse at people rather than offering an opposing viewpoint?
1:”It should be unquestionable that the majority of people in Massachusetts are amoral, empty-headed scumbags for constantly voting for that man.” Hey I resemble that comment. I am from MA and I could not agree more. Another reason why I would never move back to that state.
However you, I and a lot of people the real Teddy. But the people of MA only know the myth that was created for him by his brothers and the media. Jack was fearful of loosing his reelection to Goldwater. People forget that it was a real possibility. It was the reason why he went to Texas. Bobby was having trouble winning the nomination of his own party. Although like Obama he was popular with the students that does not translate into winning elections. He might not have won anything.
Yet because each was assassinated they instantly became Camelot. A fiction that demonstrates the power of the electronic media to create an illusion and misinform the public. The people of MA wanted to believe the myth rather than the reality that the family was a bunch of dirt bags and political opportunists who could not have earned a dime outside of politics. Both men were involved in political assassinations (So Vietnam’s Prime Minister) and assassination attempts (Castro). I have the good taste not to mention Marilyn Monroe.
They conveniently forget that Bobby was an aid to Joe McCarthy and that Jack was running on a straight Republican platform. Neither championed civil right but they were quick to take credit for it. Their real legacy is in the history books but that is not the reality for most people.
Credit a poor education system run by Marxist Ideologues and a Media that was corrupt from the start and you have a population that will vote for an ax murder or pedophile if her last name is Kennedy.
Err-ah, Err-ah, (Boston Accent)I halve to say that Teddy was an out standing touch football player (he’d only play with Jack and Bobby and white girls). He also was very good at making waitress sandwiches with Chris Dodd at Hooters. And he certainly knew how to treat a female impersonator!
Like Biafra Jello, he’s just another Dead Kennedy.
83. jerryofva:
I will not roll in the mud over Ted Kennedy but I will challenge you to show your Contra-as-rapist evidence from a reliable news source.
Sure. Just as soon as you show me the evidence from a reliable news source that all these vitriolic statements about Teddy Kennedy are true.
Until then, I suppose we’re at an impasse.
Teddy was the poster boy for the modern day liberal. Generous with other peoples money.
What part of “redemption” was having sex on the floor of the Brasserie with a lobbyist? Or, as Ed Klein said, delighting in telling jokes about Chappaquiddick? I’m just not getting how those are the actions of a repentant man.
#93: “I have the good taste not to mention Marilyn Monroe,” …
… he says, mentioning Marilyn Monroe. I love it! This site is funnier than The Onion!
In his statement to the police, Kennedy said he dove down several times to try to save Kopechne. I’m curious as to how you all know this isn’t true.
Seems to me that Chappaquiddick was just a tragic accident, like when Laura Bush killed that boy with her car.
Kenndey represented Massachuttes… He did not represent ME. the people of Massachuttes are obviously bowled over by a namef, and crime.. You nor I would be elected if we had willingly left a person to die, and in an accident we caused. They don’t care. He had money and a famous name, that’s all that mattered to them… He represented one state. Now Obama is acting like God has died…
Disgusting that they would now change the law “again” in that state to accomodate an election.
..92, I think an opposing point of view is always welcome, and adds points to be considered to any discussion. However, the trolls we have here, call posters names, have outdated or twisted facts etc… They ,in essence, shovel out troll poop/. They may have some valid points at times, but their post is so convoluted by troll poop that it is difficult to get through. I have stopped reading when i see who the poster is.
You are not overreacting, and believe it or not, there are a lot liberals who agree with you, too. The worshipping of Ted Kennedy is a liberal media fabrication and the weeping crowds are their unthinking subjects. Here’s the reality–Mary Jo Kopechne was the number two google search topic in the world this week. It’s too bad that the only place one can find a reality check on Kennedy’s life is on conservative blogs, and now, finally, Vanity Fair.
#95:
Well, I do know one thing at least that demonstrates something about both Teddy and his relationship with Harvard.
To the shock of his former classmates, Teddy Boy showed up for the class reunion of the class from which he was expelled. And tried to glad hand the troops.
Needless to say, he was ignored and cut dead by the re-union class. And left early on…
And, BTW, I have seen Teddy dead drunk and staggering on the street in DC. Unmistakable…
The scene was something like a beached whale awaiting the Coast Guard to tow out to sea. And about as attractive.
While your criticisms of Ted Kennedy (and the voters of Massachusetts) are largely valid, he’s dead now.
Roll that around in your head a bit.
Dead.
Let it go.
Blarty Blarckleblart:
He didn’t try to get help. He didn’t report it until the next day. He apparently liked jokes about the incident until the day he died… according to an admirer of his!
Comparing with what he did to Laura Bush is like saying an apple is the same as a firetruck because they’re both red. Are you really this morally obtuse or do you just get off on mindlessly trying to make people outraged?
jvon:
Those who enabled him aren’t dead.
I’m just trying to understand.
Blarty:
In other words you are a full of it.
GOP: “How dare you politicize the death of Ted Kennedy in order to push through a health reform bill that was a culmination of his life’s work and which 77% of Americans are in favor of!!!
….Oh, and by the way, just so you know, under President Obama’s health care plan, Kennedy would have been told to “go home to take pain pills and die” during his last year of life.
Hypocrisy, thy name is GOP.
He may as well have been a proponent of prohibition
Given that the Kennedys made their fortune running ‘shine, I would say that he was very much a proponent of Prohibition.
Frank, the fact the Teddy enjoyed Chappaquiddick jokes only proves that the man had put it all behind him.
And isn’t that a sign of true repentance?
/sarc
99. Blarty Blarckleblart:
In his statement to the police, Kennedy said he dove down several times to try to save Kopechne.
ROFL!!!
Don’t forget Teddy’s treasonous act by trying to undermine Reagan by writing to Yuri Andropov. I am sure JFK would have been appalled.
Teddy’s ego was as big as his head.
Unfortunately for the liberals, The Lion is dead. Now they’re left with the 3 Stooges, Curly, Moe and Larry (I’ll let you decide who is who). 2012 is going to be like shooting fish in a barrel. Sorry for the “shooting” reference there liberals. You know I was only using a “cyber” gun shooting at “imaginary” fish in a “make-believe” barrel. No need to get all Code-Pink on me.
The Kennedy soap opera is winding down. Tomorrow, the Wiz cranks up his teleprompter and delivers a spiel pushing Obama-care. It would be nice if Barbra Streisand belted out ‘Bridge Over Troubled Waters’. or maybe ‘Michael
Row Your Oldsmobile (oops) Boat Ashore’. Then, Joan could reminisce on the twenty years of marriage before the annullment. A few words by the Rev. Wright, Rev. Jesse, Rev Al, and then selected spirituals from the mandatory black Baptist choir (would the Catholic church allow this?), a tastefull fireworks dispplay, and the drive the hearse off the bridge at Chappaquiddick. Now that’s a funeral.
#81 Paul from Hamburg
“Leftists who normally think anyone with a massive fortune is an enemy of the middle and lower classes think that the Kennedys are wonderful.”
Au contraire, my friend. The left’s list of upper crust membership is replete with millionaires: most of Hollywood, trial lawyers, most of the media, slumlords (ala Tony Rezko), and many other jet-setting liberals. What actually is correct:
Leftists who normally think anyone with a massive fortune and who is a conservative is an enemy of the middle and lower classes think that the Kennedys are wonderful.
Millionaires among their own ranks are just peachy. Conservative millionaires, however, somehow got lucky & won life’s lottery, wrongfully inherited, or stole their money from the mid- & lower classes; either way, they didn’t earn it.
Some believe that Joe Kennedy is Bill Clinton’s father, which would make Ted & Billy Jeff 1/2 brothers. Hot Springs, Arkansas was a favorite vacation spot for crime bosses in the 30s & 40s, and Daddy Joe had well-known connections to organized crime. Keep your eye on Clinton during the Kennedy funeral hoopla and draw your own conclusion.
wormburner:
This just reinforces to me what I already knew PJM to be: a hatefest….Anything constructive? No. Just hate and racist spew (we need to call it what it is when you all fall 100% based on racial lines). Don’t look now but conservative wing is a disorganised mess and the country is no better for it.
Hatefest, eh? Well, let me ask you a question: is it okay to hate, say, Hitler? How about Charles Manson? Tell me, pray tell, how evil does a person have to be before it’s okay to be glad they’ve quit hurting people?
And racist? Wow! That is TOTALLY out of left field! The only mention of anything remotely related to race was a statement that Kennedy didn’t do anything for civil rights, because narcissists by definition don’t care about other people. How is that a racist “spew”?
Ironically, President Obama, along with Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Reid, may well have helped to organize that “disorganised[sic]” conservative wing. America has swung 20 points toward conservatism since January 20th, and continuing to swing. It’s not about prejudice, either; on the contrary, people were willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt, but once they’ve seen what he’s doing they’re not happy. America has basically said, “A black guy? Sure, that’s fine. A socialist? uh – no.” Both good statements as far as I’m concerned!
Van Dean: Oh, and by the way, just so you know, under President Obama’s health care plan, Kennedy would have been told to “go home to take pain pills and die” during his last year of life.
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make (it sounds like you’re making the GOP point, and doing it quite convincingly, but…); but you’re incorrect. Kennedy would have been, as is all too often the case, exempted from the laws he helped pass (an indictment against both major parties, to be sure).
102. Good Ole Charlie:
“And, BTW, I have seen Teddy dead drunk and staggering on the street in DC. Unmistakable”
Have you seen the cochlear implant in Rush’s head to correct the deafness induced by his junkie addiction to hillbilly heroin? 8,000 pills in one month? Using his maid as a drug mule? Three wives so far? Viagra trips to Honduran prostitutes? What’s your point, Good Ole Charlie?
#95 Blart,
How old are you? Were you around when the Kopechne incident happened? It is possible that he did go back to the scene of the accident several times. It is also not possible to gues why he did that without going to the police or calling someone besides a political operative for help. The question that I have is, what was he doing partying with this woman, getting drunk, and driving her around at 2AM? He was married and had kids at that time.
Frank,
Your question is legitimate. The answer is because his name was Kennedy and a Kennedy could do no wrong, as far as the media was concerned, in those days. His father nor his older brothers ever demonstrated any serious connection with morality either. In fact, in those days the media behaved as if this type behavior was common to all politicians and unlike the children of Sarah Palin these days, they thought they shouldn’t report on the personal misconduct of the political class. As far as all of the trolls you have been attempting to engage here, you will never succeed in that effort. They are all useful idiots and this is how they think they are useful.
“32. mariecurie:”
Undescriptive is not a word.
I am glad to hear that you are no longer working in the field of English education. Not as glad as your former students, I am sure.
Frank,
If you want to understand more about that night, I suggest you talk to the Kopechne family. They don’t have the same memory of the event that the Kennedy clan have.
104. Frank J. Fleming:
He didn’t try to get help. He didn’t report it until the next day.
Which he owned up to and called “morally indefensible.” But you still haven’t proven he didn’t try to save her. Because you can’t.
He apparently liked jokes about the incident until the day he died… according to an admirer of his!
Really? What manner of joke? At his own expense? I’ll need to see reliable media source, etc.
Comparing with what he did to Laura Bush is like saying an apple is the same as a firetruck because they’re both red.
No, comparing one tragic accident to another is comparing one tragic accident to another. You have proof that Kennedy didn’t try to save Kopechne, go for it. But that’s the crux of your little hit piece, and of most of the hatred being vented against Kennedy here. And you have no idea if it’s true or not. That’s fine, this is a hate site, we all know that. Just don’t act like it’s anything else.
Are you really this morally obtuse or do you just get off on mindlessly trying to make people outraged?
I get off on y’all’s foolishness. This is one of the most entertaining sites on the web because the commenters are all completely nuts.
116. Jim Baker:
How old are you? Were you around when the Kopechne incident happened?
I sure as heck wasn’t around the incident itself, and neither were you or anybody else here.
It is possible that he did go back to the scene of the accident several times. It is also not possible to gues why he did that without going to the police or calling someone besides a political operative for help.
Thank you.
The question that I have is, what was he doing partying with this woman, getting drunk, and driving her around at 2AM? He was married and had kids at that time.
Maybe he was a philanderer, like John McCain and Newt Gingrich.
Fabulous article by Fleming. I have been a Massachusetts resident for 35 years, and am proud to say I NEVER voted for Ted Kennedy. The alternatives were not ax murderers, but I would have voted for them over Kennedy even if they were. Your article was EXACTLY on target. Privileged, spoiled, self-indulgent, EVERYthing you don’t look for in your senator.
“53. Blarty Blarckleblart:
I’m sure you’re equally outraged over the Nicaraguan women who were raped and murdered in front of their children by the Contras, with Reagan’s support. Shot in the head with bullets Reagan bought for them.
I’m sure you care just as much about that as you do about Mary Jo Kopechne.”
Again, liberals justify MURDERING AMERICANS by hypothetical political positions. That’s the actual legacy of the entire Kennedy clan.
Aug 28, 2009 – 9:00 am
Is Nazi Joe’s last big mistake still dead?
124. Todd:
The dead Nicaraguan civilians are hypothetical? Bet you wouldn’t say that to their families.
Blarty Blathered
“Which he owned up to and called “morally indefensible.” But you still haven’t proven he didn’t try to save her. Because you can’t.”
And we can’t prove you’re living in your Mom’s basement and eating Cheeto’s, but the evidence for all is overwhelming.
I was born in Boston and I’ve never understood the weird fascination they have for the Swimmer. Reunions in the state are interesting, to say the least. As best as I can understand it, it makes them feel relevant, because they sure get touchy when they hear about Kerry, Frank, Patrick, or especially Kennedy’s flaws. It’s like poking fingers in their ears.
Anyone familiar with the death of Mary Jo Kopechne would know that Mary Jo was discovered by the diver the day after, suffocated in an air pocket in that upside-down Oldsmobile. She died waiting for someone to rescue her. Even if Eddie did do as he claims, and dived down the seven feet below the surface to get her (unlikely), he almost certainly caused her death by delaying reporting it until he and his lawyers and advisers could come up with a cover story. His movements are well known that night. It wasn’t an act of drunken cowardice, or panic; he had plenty of time to think it out.
If he’d spent the rest of his life doing good deeds, I could almost forgive him that as the act of a weak, spoiled, rich man’s kid, but, alas, his “Profile in Disgrace” was just beginning. He lied about a good man, Robert Bork, and one can never forget his treason in 1983, when he sent his former college roommate and former California Senator John Tunney to the USSR to pass on a confidential message to Yuri Andropov. The gist is, we now know from an incredibly unreported story from a British reporter poring through the KGB files in 1991, that Kennedy made an offer to the Soviet leader to jointly plan a disinformation campaign to stop Reagan from being reelected.
Massachusetts, what a state. Although the people realized dimly that both of their senators were traitors, a majority reelected them again and again. Un. Freaking. Believable.
You have to love how the leftist cultist like to change the subject when we are discussing their favorite liberal icon.
Teddy was generous like so many other liberals in the house and senate. Generous with other peoples money. The modern day definition of the so called liberal.
No, Blarty, I (unlike you) would prosecute the person responsible for it.
Since you’re on the high horse for Teddy, care to justify his sexual assaults? How about this one? What supposed political crucifix justified this one?
http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5585&pageNum=5
Seriously, you could give a crap about Nicaraguans because, staged like a bonafide liberal, victims are only important as long as you benefit from their problems.
Too bad the supposed victims you martyr weren’t Jews. Then the standard anti-semetic viewpoints common to the Kennedy brood could be expanded too, as documented by Edward Renehan.
Seriously, walk away troll. Stop defending the worst humn slime to ever hold the office of Senator in American history.
There is no justifying what Teddy did, not what anyone else did…what HE did, period. Quit comparing what Teddy did to the contras, hearing loss, philandering..crap!! he killed an innocent American woman and walked away!!
You nor I would have gotten away with it…the Malm’s that lived 150 yds from the accident had a porch light on that night, he didn’t drop by. Just like in college Teddy had to “CHA”…
Oh well…what else can we say,..guess the family didn’t need to have him embalmed…
More testaments for the great senator:
“Bennett and Kennedy were married on November 29, 1958, in Bronxville, New York. Her brother-in-law, John F. Kennedy, dubbed her “the dish”, due to her good looks and fashionable style. They had three children: Kara Kennedy Allen (born February 27, 1960 in Bronxville, New York), Edward Moore Kennedy, Jr. (born September 26, 1961), and Patrick Joseph Kennedy (born July 14, 1967).
In July 1969, Ted Kennedy was involved in a car accident off Chappaquiddick Island that killed his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.[5] Bennett Kennedy, who at the time was pregnant and confined to bed in the wake of two previous miscarriages, attended the funeral of Kopechne and stood beside her husband in court three days later, when Ted Kennedy’s pleaded guilty to having left the scene of an accident.[6] She suffered a third miscarriage shortly thereafter.”
Ted and Mary Jo. Together at last.
Joe Kennedy used the media to build a sort of metafiction account of the Kennedy’s; most of the metafiction is hyperbole, false, or half-truths. The same MSM used the Camelot metaphor to describe the Kennedy family; however, I believe this is quite accurate, but not for the reasons which have been implied or stated by the MSM. Camelot is ultimately a piece of well written fiction to describe the Dark Ages under the leadership of King Arthur & the enchanted sword, Excalibur, Merlin & the evil Morgan Le Faye, & the fabled Knights of the Round Table. But the fact remains, Camelot is fiction. So too is the Kennedy legacy. Wipe out the hyperbole, lies, & half-truths & what do we have? Political & personal corruption for the sake of power. The Kennedy’s are a ruthless bunch best served cold. I am certain Teddy Kennedy will have many more lives to pay for his sins in this life. If not, he deserves to rot in Hell…
119. Lily: ‘“32. mariecurie:” Undescriptive is not a word. I am glad to hear that you are no longer working in the field of English education. Not as glad as your former students, I am sure.’
Sorry, Lil, but undescriptive is a word. Check your Merriam-Webster Unabridged. But even if it weren’t, is that any reason to be so rude to mariecurie? Where WERE you brought up?
Not sure if Mary Jo made it into Heaven but if so and she asked if first she could wait outside on the nearby grassy knoll until she could watch Kennedy die a slow and painful death, well I’m sure she could be forgiven for that also.
I still can not fathom that people that have supported Ted Kennedy(or any of the brothers) are actually citizens of the United States of America.
blarty: Chuck 127 just nailed you. You defend Kennedy’s actions based on his “testimony” to the police. You ask us to prove that he didn’t try to help her. Okay. Then I want you to prove to us that the did try to help her. Of course you cannot prove it-just like we cannot prove he did not. So your fifth-grade debate tactic is just void for argument’s sake.
And to bring up Ms. Bush’s accident as a counter-point was vacuous in content and one of unadulterated and unmitigated gall. It is amazing the depths of depravity the left-in this case you-will go to win an argument or defend the indefensible. Your comment about her was stultifying.
“I’m sure you’re equally outraged over the Nicaraguan women who were raped and murdered in front of their children by the Contras, with Reagan’s support.”
That’s rich coming from the party that brought you the Tokyo firebombing, Hiroshima and virtually unlimited support for Joe Stalin, the greatest mass murdering dictator of all time.
Scumbag liberal Democrats and their policies have killed more babies in a two second period (and that’s not even counting abortion) than the Republicans have in the entire history of their party.
Which is one of the reasons I vote Republican, btw.
Thanks Frank for actually telling it like it is.
Many Americans have loathed the Kennedy’s privilege and elitism, while they got off scot free of any repercussions for their immoral misdeeds and power grabs.
Through the decades the media has worshiped them, adored them and lied for them, helping them retain power and faux honor.
The media and Massachusetts should be ashamed.
Based on the trolls’ comments above, no one can ever be held accountable in the present for something they are known to have done because at some time in the past, someone else, in a place far far away, is rumored to have done something??
Ok. Now I get it.
So I’m ok now with Ted’s drunkenness, conspiracy to assist a felon avoid arrest on rape charges, philandering, annulled marriage (with half grown kids–nice trick if you can pull it off), treasonous communication with Andropov, leaving Mary Jo to die and all that. Coulda happened to anyone, I’m sure. And now that I think of it, good grief, that’s almost EXACTLY like Laura Bush’s personal history. No?
Wait a minute–I can’t remember ever hearing about Laura Bush corresponding with our enemies to undercut our government. (Sources?)
Come to think of it, I’m just SURE she was never found falling down drunk on the streets of Washington. Maybe I just missed the news that day.
Yeah, your boy Teddy was really just a misunderstood little cutie and we’re all bad, bad people for not believing his press and for taking the opportunity of the hypocritical Ted Kennedy Funeral and Worship service to comment about it.
As further evidence of the depravity of Massachusetts voters (my home state), remember they also re-elected Gerry Studds six more times AFTER he was censured for an affair with (i.e. sodomizing) a 17-yr old congressional page. Studds never even apologized.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Studds
121. Blarty Blarckleblart:
I get off on y’all’s foolishness. This is one of the most entertaining sites on the web because the commenters are all completely nuts.
Since you are one of the commenters…….?
141. Meryl:
“Come to think of it, I’m just SURE she (Laura Bush) was never found falling down drunk on the streets of Washington. Maybe I just missed the news that day.”
Actually, Laura was the go-to person for buying weed in her youth. Like it or don’t. True anyway.
Who is this Blarty person? Is he paid by the Kennedy family to defend the indefensible Ted? Fascinating comments.
Hell, you don’t even know if Mary Jo Kopechne is really dead.
Huh? She is alive? Very bizarre statement.
If Kennedy was such a criminal and felon, why was he never convicted of anything?
(Conspiracy theory in 3… 2… 1…)
Not very hard to explain. Money and power. No conspiracy. You don’t care that people can get away with this?
Sure. Just as soon as you show me the evidence from a reliable news source that all these vitriolic statements about Teddy Kennedy are true.
This is very well documented. You would have to be an idiot (or insane; or paid by someone) to believe what Frank is talking about didn’t happen.
Seems to me that Chappaquiddick was just a tragic accident, like when Laura Bush killed that boy with her car.
Then why the cover up? Did Laura need a cover up?
But you still haven’t proven he didn’t try to save her.
From what I have read she was in eight feet of water. He could have saved her. He did not. What more proof do you need?
It is obvious that facts do not matter to this Blarty person. He will defend Ted no matter what. This is precisely the type of person Frank is talking about in this article.
Thank you Mr. Flemming for a great article. I think we’ll be shaking our heads a lot in the next decade, as liberals grow ever more arrogant from a fawning media, and emboldened ACORN types. (Who won’t, by the way, be on the hook for the more entitlements extracted from already overburdened taxpayers.)
Perhaps Ted managed to hold on to public office (post Mary Jo) thanks to all the “community organizers” in his state who voted early and often…oh, and pity the poor fool who doesn’t know that “Mickey Mouse” is a Democrat.
144. Now and Then:
141. Meryl:
‘“Come to think of it, I’m just SURE she (Laura Bush) was never found falling down drunk on the streets of Washington. Maybe I just missed the news that day.”’
“Actually, Laura was the go-to person for buying weed in her youth. Like it or don’t. True anyway.”
I’m not aware of that being a fact, but have heard the rumor. Let’s assume it’s totally true. Gee….the fact that “in her youth” she did this (assuming it’s totally true)….well now!….that IS almost EXACTLY the same as Ted’s decades of public living, isn’t it? Thanks for setting me straight.
I am aware that Ted Kennedy actually left Mary Jo Kopechne to die. I was old enough when it happened to read about it as the situation unfolded.
I am factually aware that Ted Kennedy actually lied to police officers who came on the scene at the family’s Florida compound as they began investigating the rape charges against his nephew. I read the statements of fact describing how he lied to the officers to make it more difficult for them to catch up to his nephew and arrest him.
It was factually documented by the Catholic church that he obtained an annulment from his first wife–which as I understand it, means that the status of the marriage is “as though it never happened”. (with a couple of adolescent children within the extended Kennedy family headed by Joe and Rose—yeah, sure, that makes sense)
Ted Kennedy’s public drunkenness was observed and documented by many people at various times, over the many years that he stunk up our Senate.
Ted Kennedy was feared by waitresses who knew from experience that he was willing to physically assault them, with the cooperation of that other fine Senator Scum Dodd and physically restrain them as they screamed for help.
But like I said, thanks for setting me straight. It’s clear that Laura Bush has led the same kind of life….. Oh no, wait just a minute. As I think about it, I realize….you are just setting up false comparisons! and trying to blur the facts about Ted Kennedy so that we will stop saying what is so about Ted!!!! Wow. That was close!
But thanks anyway for giving me the occasion to enumerate again the factual, well documented, widely understood, real life events that a whole bunch of us remember about the life that was Ted Kennedy’s…a long life because nobody aborted him or left him to die in a car in his 20′s or gave him a pain pill and told him to go home and die with no fight against his brain cancer (he was allowed to FIGHT IT).
None of us are pretending that nobody else has ever done anything wrong. We are not pretending that others have not done stupid things. We’re just tired of the whitewashing that precedes his apparently inevitable elevation to sainthood. (Of course that might be slightly delayed since the Pope apparently isn’t that blown away by His Holiness, Ted Kennedy.)
The “people” of Massachusetts must be idiots by and large. Not only did they keep electing the scummiest of them all, Fat Pig Kennedy, they elect John Kerry(a traitor who should be in jail for treason and perjury) Barney Frank(who once let a “lover” named Steven Gobie to run a pedophile ring out of the basement of his Dc townhouse) Edward Markey(takes huge bribes from certain telecommunications companies and from Soros 527s). They also consistently elected Thomas P (tip) ONeal and a convicted pedophile screwing with house pages named Gerry Studds. This state also has elected colossal idiots named Micheal Dukakis and Duval Patrick.
(Hope this isn’t a double post…just as I hit submit the first time, I realized I hadn’t entered the required e-mail address info so copied my longer-than-usual text so I wouldn’t have to rewrite it, assuming it wouldn’t be posted without that info…..)
144. Now and Then:
141. Meryl:
‘“Come to think of it, I’m just SURE she (Laura Bush) was never found falling down drunk on the streets of Washington. Maybe I just missed the news that day.”’
“Actually, Laura was the go-to person for buying weed in her youth. Like it or don’t. True anyway.”
I’m not aware of that being a fact, but have heard the rumor. Let’s assume it’s totally true. Gee….the fact that “in her youth” she did this (assuming it’s totally true)….well now!….that IS almost EXACTLY the same as Ted’s decades of public living, isn’t it? Thanks for setting me straight.
I am aware that Ted Kennedy actually left Mary Jo Kopechne to die. I was old enough when it happened to read about it as the situation unfolded.
I am factually aware that Ted Kennedy actually lied to police officers who came on the scene at the family’s Florida compound as they began investigating the rape charges against his nephew. I read the statements of fact describing how he lied to the officers to make it more difficult for them to catch up to his nephew and arrest him.
It was factually documented by the Catholic church that he obtained an annulment from his first wife–which as I understand it, means that the status of the marriage is “as though it never happened”. (with a couple of adolescent children within the extended Kennedy family headed by Joe and Rose—yeah, sure, that makes sense)
Ted Kennedy’s public drunkenness was observed and documented by many people at various times, over the many years that he stunk up our Senate.
Ted Kennedy was feared by waitresses who knew from experience that he was willing to physically assault them, with the cooperation of that other fine Senator Scum Dodd and physically restrain them as they screamed for help.
But like I said, thanks for setting me straight. It’s clear that Laura Bush has led the same kind of life….. Oh no, wait just a minute. As I think about it, I realize….you are just setting up false comparisons! and trying to blur the facts about Ted Kennedy so that we will stop saying what is so about Ted!!!! Wow. That was close!
But thanks anyway for giving me the occasion to enumerate again the factual, well documented, widely understood, real life events that a whole bunch of us remember about the life that was Ted Kennedy’s…a long life because nobody aborted him or left him to die in a car in his 20’s or gave him a pain pill and told him to go home and die with no fight against his brain cancer (he was allowed to FIGHT IT).
None of us are pretending that nobody else has ever done anything wrong. We are not pretending that others have not done stupid things. We’re just tired of the whitewashing that precedes his apparently inevitable elevation to sainthood. (Of course that might be slightly delayed since the Pope apparently isn’t that blown away
So #122,
Does this mean you think that I support John McCain and Newt Gingrich because I didn’t like Ted Kennedy or his brothers? And on my other point, you are welcome and you are stupid.
OK The real story about Chappaquiddick as told to me by a lawyer from Chicago who was a friend of one of the lawyers representing Kennedy at his mock trial. “And we can all trust a lawyer from Chicago.” But I am convinced he was telling me the truth. It was at the Union Club during lunch. After a second martini and discussing my roots in MA he was surprised that I had no love for the Kennedy’s, being from MA and all.
It appears that Mary Jo was passed out in the back seat of the car when Ted and another women got into the front seat to head out for some private time. Prior to reaching the bridge there was an altercation and she left the car. This was just prior to his traversing the bridge. He was inebriated and unable to keep the car on the bridge. It went over and he got out. He did not know Mary Jo was in the car. Had he known he might have been able to save her. It was very shallow but the car was submerged. He did not swim but walked back to the motel. He then tells a couple of his flunkies what had happened and goes to bed. Early the next day they head out to see if they can somehow retrieve the car and keep the event a secret.When they get there they discover there is a woman in the car. Not cool.
They go back and wake up Ted who calls one of his advisers and he decides Ted should call in the police. Originally they were going to keep it a secret but could not think of an ideal story so they went with, Ted the hero, swimming to get help. There were a lot of payoffs to keep everyone quite. Hopefully one of the participants will now come forward and corroborate this story.
A real mans(slaughter), mans(slaughter)!
What really happened? My thought is Teddy was not in the car-they had spotted local police and afraid he might be stopped he left the car walked back to the house and left Mary-Jo to drive herself home.He may have swum the channel to get back to his hotel but was planning a golf game the next day spoke to others about it and found only later that the car was in the pond with Mary-Jo dead. The crock cooked up was supplied by a family fixer and he lived with it since, Surely if the above is true he should have told the true story and might have lived better as a result. Anyway just sayin!
82. Valerie wrote:
This is your friendly, neighborhood Liberal checking in.
Peter writes: I’m a little late getting back to the party, but I just wanted to give Valerie a quick “Welcome!” It will be nice to have an opposing viewpoint that doesn’t quickly submerge into the typical name-calling and obfuscation that many on the left have sunk to on this site in recent months.
154. Peter the Bubblehead:
82. Valerie wrote:
I just came up with an idea. I’m gonna write under a new screen name and act like I’m a liberal, then tacitly agree with all things conservative. If not me I’ll have a friend do it. Then I’m gonna write some more under my original screen name telling the world how good it is to “meet” a reasonable liberal. And nobody will be the wiser. It’s like planting somebody at a town hall or anti-war rally. I am SO smart.
I HOPE HE LINGERED!
A proper burial would have been to place in cash for clunkers vehicle & shove off a bridge.
I leave for a few days and you guys keep on with your bizarre wingnut conspiracy theories and crackpot Bircher innuendo. Good to know I can count on you!