Comments on: Thinking about Teddy Kennedy from Europe

By: Dred

Dred — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:50:58 +0000

Thank you #174 for pointing out that it was not L. Goldberg but E. Newberg. — I still have the transcript of “The Inquest” which sold for a buck 40 years ago…

By: Bigrich104

Bigrich104 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:12:24 +0000

Hey Roger…you should change the comments scroll to display the most recent comments first, not last.

And what’s up with protecting Esther Newberg’s identity? In the age of Google (and Imus, where she is/was a frequent guest), that is kind of pointless and fruitless don’t you think???

By: Dred Scott

Dred Scott — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:19:05 +0000

I saw how he treated people, including his family. Let the dead bury the dead and end this thread.

By: California Dreamer

California Dreamer — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 21:17:32 +0000

Poor Mike (@170)wants up to honor Sen. Kennedy for a variety of “good” deeds. Unfortunately, most of the deeds Mike finds “good” are actually liberal fallacies.

The minimum wage actually hurts people at the lower end of the wage scale since it reduces their employment opportunities as employers react totally rationally. The benefit accrues to highly paid union workers who have contracts pegged to increases in the minimum wage.

Kennedy’s efforts to bring socialized medicine to the U.S. are bad for dozens of reasons that those who study the economics of the full chain of health care from R&D to home hospice care understand quite well.

Kennedy’s blind following on the embryonic stem cell research bandwagon was a disgrace. In less than 3 years after it was a big political issue, researchers have found that they can do plenty of amazing things with adult stem cells. No need to carve up embryos. I am heartened that the Pope is choosing to remain silent on Kennedy’s passing. The letter Kennedy gave Obama to deliver to the Pope was the height of gall with the possible exception of Kennedy trying to reverse the election law he just pushed through 5 years ago.

As a Mass. native I can tell you that the poor voters of Massachusetts were left in the dark over the bulk of Kennedy’s career about real issues. The Bay State press is the poster child for being in the tank for “their” politicians. Most Mass. voters couldn’t evaluate the conservative positions on issues because they never heard or read them. Only as the Net allowed people to investigate more policies have people (slowly) awakened to what a poor senator he really was.

I choose to ignore all of his personal weaknesses–as a politician he was a disaster for this country.

By: sh

sh — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:01:25 +0000

The reason for Ted’s “cause of his life” was that his son had cancer and the Kennedy dynasty could afford to treat him.
He wanted everyone in the U.S. to have the same care he could afford, paid for with someone else’s money; the same way he wanted energy independence without wind farms to block his view and spoil his sailing trips off his coastline.
A “let them eat cake” kind of guy.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 12:26:54 +0000

You people are crazy the man did so much good in his life, most people cannot compare.
He had some bad things in his private life we all no about, but he had many many good accomplishments also.
Just a few off the top of my head is Ted Kennedy working on raising minimum wage, work on health care reform, his work on soldiers in Iraq having adequate armour.
Also work on overhauling the nation’s immigration laws with McCain and the No Child Left Behind legislation.
The people of Massachusetts elected him nine times, not just because he was a Kennedy but
Because the good he did for them and the nation, this part is from wikipedia.org
More than 300 bills that Kennedy and his staff wrote were enacted into law. He was known for working with Republicans and finding compromises among senators with disparate views. Kennedy played a major role in passing many laws, including laws addressing immigration, cancer research, health insurance, apartheid, disability discrimination, AIDS care, civil rights, mental health benefits, children’s health insurance, education and volunteering. In the 2000s, he led several unsuccessful immigration reform efforts. Over the course of decades, Kennedy’s “cause of my life” was enactment of universal health care, which he continued to work toward during the Obama administration.
There were many more.
I would personally like to remember the good and the sacrifice him and his family made for this country.
Remember they are rich and do not need to work and be in the public eye, this is done because they must truly believe in helping this country and love it.
As a poor person I’m glad to have someone thinking of my problems and doing what they could in public office to help people in my position.

By: mingo

mingo — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:58:56 +0000

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

By: mingo

mingo — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:45:19 +0000

Funny, I was thinking of
Bridge Over Troubled Waters.

By: Ralph Woods

Ralph Woods — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:57:17 +0000

I think I feel lyrics to a country song working in my head. Something about ” a lonely bar stool in DC tonight”

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:47:26 +0000

Wow, some nastiness going around about good old Teddy. Really, we don’t need to be spouting off about this guy when the facts can speak louder than anything. He did lots of stuff in his life, some of it was stuff that he shouldn’t have been proud of. He also did some stuff he could be proud of (I guess). He’s dead and that is that. History will pass its own judgement on him. It will probably not be that good, but then again he had two tough acts to follow and he never really wanted too. Let’s not make him into a hero or villian, let’s just let him fade and let history judge.

All that aside, I never did understand that whole “Camelot” ideal. Must be a boomer thing. But if JFK was Arthur, and RFK was Lancelot, that would mean that Ted was Sir Robin, right?