The Real Ted Kennedy

[Sinatra]

The Real Ted Kennedy | Quazen

While a legislative giant, and the last substantial link to America’s political Camelot, Ted Kennedy was a deeply flawed, personally dark figure, upon whose version of privileged liberalism much of America’s current problems are rooted in...

Certainly his forty-plus years as a United States Senator are noteworthy, as are the hundreds of legislative bills he helped to gain passage of, but longevity and resulting accumulative quantity are not themselves worthy of particular note or praise. For unlike his brothers, who through the tragedy of their deaths and the seeming brilliance of their political careers, Teddy grew old before America’s eyes, with all the accompanying indignities contained therein. And not only did Teddy grow old, but he os often did it with such crass inconsideration and outright debauchery, the scope of his life was irreversibly damaged - and his death at age 77 of brain cancer will in no way fully remedy that fact...


The Real Ted Kennedy | Quazen

 

[veritas]

While a legislative giant, and the last substantial link to America’s political Camelot, Ted Kennedy was a deeply flawed, personally dark figure, upon whose version of privileged liberalism much of America’s current problems are rooted in.

Bad grammar.

"Are Rooted." would have been correct.

Fail.

Read no Further.

 

[JW Frogen]

While a legislative giant, and the last substantial link to America’s political Camelot, Ted Kennedy was a deeply flawed, personally dark figure, upon whose version of privileged liberalism much of America’s current problems are rooted in.

Bad grammar.

"Are Rooted." would have been correct.

Fail.

Read no Further.

The word "would" should be capitalized at the start of a sentence.

Anal retentive grammar is a dangerous bung hole to dive into.

Unless one is Elton John.

 

[Sidestreamer]

While a legislative giant, and the last substantial link to America’s political Camelot, Ted Kennedy was a deeply flawed, personally dark figure, upon whose version of privileged liberalism much of America’s current problems are rooted in.

Bad grammar.

"Are Rooted." would have been correct.

Fail.

Read no Further.

Well, you missed the opportunity to read the words "radical" and "liberal" thrown around a lot. Though I admit that's only until the middle of the posting, since at that point I lost interest.

I'm surprised I didn't see the phrase "out of touch" before I stopped reading.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Teddy Kennedy should be the poster child for Term Limits.

 

[Oddball]

Teddy Kennedy should be the poster child for Term Limits.

More like the poster lounge lizard for the repeal of the 17th Amendment.

 

[Sarah G]

The Real Ted Kennedy | Quazen

While a legislative giant, and the last substantial link to America’s political Camelot, Ted Kennedy was a deeply flawed, personally dark figure, upon whose version of privileged liberalism much of America’s current problems are rooted in...

Certainly his forty-plus years as a United States Senator are noteworthy, as are the hundreds of legislative bills he helped to gain passage of, but longevity and resulting accumulative quantity are not themselves worthy of particular note or praise. For unlike his brothers, who through the tragedy of their deaths and the seeming brilliance of their political careers, Teddy grew old before America’s eyes, with all the accompanying indignities contained therein. And not only did Teddy grow old, but he os often did it with such crass inconsideration and outright debauchery, the scope of his life was irreversibly damaged - and his death at age 77 of brain cancer will in no way fully remedy that fact...


The Real Ted Kennedy | Quazen

He was a great man in the senate, he really gave others the spotlight while he worked behind the scenes gathering support for each and every bill whether it was his constituency or his colleagues. He really knew how congress worked and he worked it tirelessly.

On a personal level, he was broken. I was thinking about him earlier today, it is really surprising that he lived to be 77 with all of the health issues he undoubtedly had. He was a drinker, addicted to drugs, obese, he was in the sun all the time... So many issues that could have struck him down long before this didn't.

I don't know who in the Kennedy family can take up the baton now. Camelot seems to have faded into the abyss.

 

[bodecea]

Teddy Kennedy should be the poster child for Term Limits.

That's right...nothing says Democracy in Action like taking away the right of the People to keep Representatives they like.

 

[namvet]

 

[namvet]

Teddy Kennedy should be the poster child for Term Limits.

thought i recognized that avatar. how ya doin' mad man ?????

 

[concept]

Kennedy was a big liberal. But at least he didn't try to pretend otherwise. So for that he gets some respect.

Unlike huge libs like Obama or Kerry that try to deny and/or pretend that they are moderate or at least fiscally conservative. )

They are cowards. Kennedy at least stood up for his beliefs.

He loses it all with his cowardice concerning that girl.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Great.. another Kennedy stinks up Arlington.

 

[Darkwind]

The Real Ted Kennedy | Quazen

While a legislative giant, and the last substantial link to America’s political Camelot, Ted Kennedy was a deeply flawed, personally dark figure, upon whose version of privileged liberalism much of America’s current problems are rooted in...

Certainly his forty-plus years as a United States Senator are noteworthy, as are the hundreds of legislative bills he helped to gain passage of, but longevity and resulting accumulative quantity are not themselves worthy of particular note or praise. For unlike his brothers, who through the tragedy of their deaths and the seeming brilliance of their political careers, Teddy grew old before America’s eyes, with all the accompanying indignities contained therein. And not only did Teddy grow old, but he os often did it with such crass inconsideration and outright debauchery, the scope of his life was irreversibly damaged - and his death at age 77 of brain cancer will in no way fully remedy that fact...


The Real Ted Kennedy | Quazen

He was a great man in the senate, he really gave others the spotlight while he worked behind the scenes gathering support for each and every bill whether it was his constituency or his colleagues. He really knew how congress worked and he worked it tirelessly.

On a personal level, he was broken. I was thinking about him earlier today, it is really surprising that he lived to be 77 with all of the health issues he undoubtedly had. He was a drinker, addicted to drugs, obese, he was in the sun all the time... So many issues that could have struck him down long before this didn't.

I don't know who in the Kennedy family can take up the baton now. Camelot seems to have faded into the abyss.

Why does it need to be picked up at all? America has no need for royalty. Let the Kennedy's fade back into the obscurity from which they came.

 

[Sinatra]

The Real Ted Kennedy | Quazen

Senator Ted Kennedy remained to the end, a man of consistent contradiction - a figure far removed from the more traditional American liberalism of his brothers, but rather, the newer liberalism of entitlement, so often bereft of personal character or dignity, where those in need are not given opportunity, but rather a habitual handout, thus ensuring they are always in need, and thankful of the very bonds that bind them in perpetual slavery to the security offered them by Big Government. Long gone is the Jack Kennedy mantra of “Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.”, replaced instead by the prevailing example of being given that which is neither necessary, nor needed, but increasingly expected.

The Real Ted Kennedy | Quazen

 

[Sarah G]

The Real Ted Kennedy | Quazen

While a legislative giant, and the last substantial link to America’s political Camelot, Ted Kennedy was a deeply flawed, personally dark figure, upon whose version of privileged liberalism much of America’s current problems are rooted in...

Certainly his forty-plus years as a United States Senator are noteworthy, as are the hundreds of legislative bills he helped to gain passage of, but longevity and resulting accumulative quantity are not themselves worthy of particular note or praise. For unlike his brothers, who through the tragedy of their deaths and the seeming brilliance of their political careers, Teddy grew old before America’s eyes, with all the accompanying indignities contained therein. And not only did Teddy grow old, but he os often did it with such crass inconsideration and outright debauchery, the scope of his life was irreversibly damaged - and his death at age 77 of brain cancer will in no way fully remedy that fact...


The Real Ted Kennedy | Quazen

He was a great man in the senate, he really gave others the spotlight while he worked behind the scenes gathering support for each and every bill whether it was his constituency or his colleagues. He really knew how congress worked and he worked it tirelessly.

On a personal level, he was broken. I was thinking about him earlier today, it is really surprising that he lived to be 77 with all of the health issues he undoubtedly had. He was a drinker, addicted to drugs, obese, he was in the sun all the time... So many issues that could have struck him down long before this didn't.

I don't know who in the Kennedy family can take up the baton now. Camelot seems to have faded into the abyss.

Why does it need to be picked up at all? America has no need for royalty. Let the Kennedy's fade back into the obscurity from which they came.

No, we don't need royalty but Kennedy will be missed in the Senate. The baton I was talking about represented a person like Kennedy speaking (fighting ) for those who can't fight for themselves.

Orrin Hatch on Kennedy:

His illness had sidelined him from an intense debate that would have found him at the core any other time. Conservative Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, his improbable Republican partner on children's health insurance, volunteerism, student aid and more, said the Senate probably would have had a health care deal by now if Kennedy had been healthy enough to work with him.

"Iconic, larger than life," Hatch said of his friend. "We were like fighting brothers."

The Kennedy family hasn't been obscure for many years.

 

[Sinatra]

The Real Ted Kennedy | Quazen

Senator Kennedy is gone, but his kind of politician is now legion - a condescending righteousness whose primary purpose is to convince the rest of us that only they are truly capable of knowing what it is we need. That only government is to be allowed to ask the question and provide the answer, and we are to simply be thankful for what is given us.

Whether or not America will be thankful for the complicated legacy of Senator Edward Kennedy remains to be seen…

 

[Lycurgus]

Letter Details Kennedy Offer To USSR | Sweetness & Light



A SOBER LOOK AT TED KENNEDY: GQ Features on men.style.com

 

[namvet]

now if we can just get Pelosi, Reid and Osama to grab their chests and keel over.

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him.

While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition), pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe , not Korea , where a war was raging. No preferential treatment for him! (like he charged that President Bush received).

Kennedy was assigned to Paris , never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person of his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private!

While attending law school at the University of Virginia , he was cited for reckless driving four times(i've been cited for it once myself, but found innocent) including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark.. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked.

In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash and hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed. Didn't hear about that from the unbiased media did we?

On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts. At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.

He swam to shore and walked back to the party passing several houses and a fire station. Two friends then returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew - that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car.

The Kennedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of- state to her family before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne and he didn't call police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight.

Since the accident Kennedy's "political enemies" have referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS.

Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's insurance policy and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills.... a "token of friendship"?

Kennedy had held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors, and is widely held as the "standard-bearer for liberalism".


He was known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous, and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than "great American". "A blonde in every pond" is his motto. Let's not allow the spin doctors to make this jerk a hero -- how quickly the American public forgets what his real legacy is.

He was now worried that when he died, Massachusetts law currently requires a special election to fill the vacancy, but that would mean that the senate would only have 59 Democrats and would not be filibuster-proof. He is asking the state legislature to change the law so the (Democrat) governor can appoint the replacement immediately upon the vacancy and not have to wait for a special election, which would be many months after the vacancy. He had pushed for the current MA law very hard when John Kerry looked like he may become president....hypocracy.

 

[namvet]

he's dead and im glad