(Flashback to May 1983) Ted Kennedy, Democrats write to Soviet president for his help against Reagan

[Little-Acorn]

The usual liberals are howling over Donald Trump making a joke about the Russians hacking the RNC's emails.

But for some reason they aren't mentioning earlier liberals who actually reached out to Russia for help against normal American conservatives.

If Trump's joke is the "treason" some liberal hysterics are claiming it is, then what would they call what Kennedy and his ilk did, not all that long ago?

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Ted Kennedy's Soviet Gambit - Forbes

Ted Kennedy's Soviet Gambit

Peter Robinson
8/28/2009 @ 12:01AM

Picking his way through the Soviet archives that Boris Yeltsin had just thrown open, in 1991 Tim Sebastian, a reporter for the London Times, came across an arresting memorandum. Composed in 1983 by Victor Chebrikov, the top man at the KGB, the memorandum was addressed to Yuri Andropov, the top man in the entire USSR. The subject: Sen. Edward Kennedy.

“On 9-10 May of this year,” the May 14 memorandum explained, “Sen. Edward Kennedy’s close friend and trusted confidant [John] Tunney was in Moscow.” (Tunney was Kennedy’s law school roommate and a former Democratic senator from California.) “The senator charged Tunney to convey the following message, through confidential contacts, to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Y. Andropov.”

Kennedy’s message was simple. He proposed an unabashed quid pro quo. Kennedy would lend Andropov a hand in dealing with President Reagan. In return, the Soviet leader would lend the Democratic Party a hand in challenging Reagan in the 1984 presidential election. “The only real potential threats to Reagan are problems of war and peace and Soviet-American relations,” the memorandum stated. “These issues, according to the senator, will without a doubt become the most important of the election campaign.”

Kennedy made Andropov a couple of specific offers.

First he offered to visit Moscow. “The main purpose of the meeting, according to the senator, would be to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA.” Kennedy would help the Soviets deal with Reagan by telling them how to brush up their propaganda.

Then he offered to make it possible for Andropov to sit down for a few interviews on American television. “A direct appeal … to the American people will, without a doubt, attract a great deal of attention and interest in the country. … If the proposal is recognized as worthy, then Kennedy and his friends will bring about suitable steps to have representatives of the largest television companies in the USA contact Y.V. Andropov for an invitation to Moscow for the interviews. … The senator underlined the importance that this initiative should be seen as coming from the American side.”

Kennedy would make certain the networks gave Andropov air time–and that they rigged the arrangement to look like honest journalism.

“Tunney remarked that the senator wants to run for president in 1988,” the memorandum continued. “Kennedy does not discount that during the 1984 campaign, the Democratic Party may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans and elect their candidate president.”

Kennedy proved eager to deal with Andropov–the leader of the Soviet Union, a former director of the KGB and a principal mover in both the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the suppression of the 1968 Prague Spring–at least in part to advance his own political prospects.

In 1992, Tim Sebastian published a story about the memorandum in the London Times. Here in the U.S., Sebastian’s story received no attention. In his 2006 book, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, historian Paul Kengor reprinted the memorandum in full. “The media,” Kengor says, “ignored the revelation.”

Why bring all this up now? No evidence exists that Andropov ever acted on the memorandum–within eight months, the Soviet leader would be dead–and now that Kennedy himself has died even many of the former senator’s opponents find themselves grieving. Yet precisely because Kennedy represented such a commanding figure–perhaps the most compelling liberal of our day–we need to consider his record in full.

 

[Snouter]

What Ted "The Swimmer" Kennedy did was far, far worse than joking about the MSM's apparent false assumption that Russia hacked the corrupt DNC server. But indeed the double standards and assorted lying techniques of the democrats cannot be underestimated.

 

[WaitingFor2020]

But, but, but....Donald is supposed to be so much better because he's not a politician, remember?

 

[Clementine]

But, but, but....Donald is supposed to be so much better because he's not a politician, remember?

He didn't ask for any help from Putin.

It's amazing that there are such different rules here. Dems can go begging for help from dictators and it's cool. Now the left is ready to condemn Trump because Putin released emails that prove corruption in the DNC. Not that I trust Russia, but they said they didn't do anything to sway the election.

Historically, the left has been far kinder to commie countries. It was the left always standing up for communist Russia and it's leaders. It wasn't until Putin made Obama look like a weak fool and it was pointed out by the right that libs started pretending that it was Repubs who always held the commies in high esteem.

So fucked up. No one on the right agrees with any commies. And saying that Putin makes Obama look weak isn't intended to praise Putin, but to show that Obama is even more lame than an established fucking commie rat bastard.

 

[jwoodie]

But, but, but....Donald is supposed to be so much better because he's not a politician, remember?

But, but, but....You are supposed to have a brain?