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From his Senate web page:

Statement from The Kennedy Family
August 26, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Edward M. Kennedy – the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply – died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port. We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him.”

A review of Kennedy’s legacy below the fold.

As soon as cancer was found in Ted Kennedy, it was noticed the immediate attempt at canonization of old Teddy by the main stream media. They are saying what a “great American” he is. I say, let’s get a things clear and not twist the facts to change the REAL history.

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

2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two. Oops, the man can’t count to four. His father, womanizer 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 former President Bush of receiving.

3. 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.

4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was cited for reckless driving four times, 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. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959, amazing!

5. 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?

6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy (another notorious womanizer like his dad and brothers) 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.

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7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party, after passing several houses and a fire station. Then two friends 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 pled 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 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”?

8. Kennedy has 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, and funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors and is widely held as the “standard-bearer for “liberalism.” In his very first Senate role, he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries.

9. Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and author of every expansion of and increase in immigration, up to and including the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court nominees, as if he were the standard bearer for the nation in matters of right. What a pompous idiot!

10. He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than “great American”.

Let’s not allow the spin doctors make this jerk a hero by short-memory Americans lest we forget what his real legacy is.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 2:07 am and is filed under Congress, Culture of Corruption, Obituaries, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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  1. If he was 'The Liberal Lion', were we his prey?

131 comments so far

Chris
 1Reply to this comment  

So Long Teddy, Time to go.
146,000 days later than Mary Jo
The Provo Bomb planters will raise a cheer
For the man who did little except drink too much beer.

The endless expansion of the government state
Will be the legacy of a man who ruled to mate.
A patronising speaker twenty four seven
Unlikely you’re with your Nazi daddy in heaven.

http://brackenworld.blogspot.com/

Agreed, lets not make this jerk a hero.

August 26th, 2009 at 3:30 am
Philly_PA
 2Reply to this comment  

I hate to be cruel and unsympathetic but I have to say it …. its good news for ‘Team Obama’ and the Democrat Congress they have got the distraction they desperately needed.
.

August 26th, 2009 at 4:15 am
bill-tb
 3Reply to this comment  

My condolences to his family.

TV to off mode.

August 26th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Kim Galloway
 4Reply to this comment  

In the Book by Lt. Colonel Patterson, Reckless Disrequard, pages, 8,9, 10, 11, . Kennedy had a relationship with the russians during Carter, and Reagan. Wanting guidance on how to counter Reagan in military policy and create some business for him and his friends.

Why they got away with this, I’ll never know. This was discovered in the 90’s i think when the soviet archives were opened, and became public. John Kerrys name comes up. Kennedy used John Tuney as his messenger to Yuri Andropov . Some soviet defectors brought this info. to the US.

I guess the soviet union was right about defeating the U.S. from within.

Col. Patterson carried the Nuclear Football for Clinton for 2 years. He has a couple books out being that he was the proverbial fly on the wall.

August 26th, 2009 at 5:07 am
mooseburger
 5Reply to this comment  

Back in my younger days, when both my parents were still here among us and they would argue politics, my Mom, a die hard Conservative would bring up Ted Kennedy to my Dad.
She listened to Rush every day, and would recite the same sentiments listed in this post, and express exasperation about how in God’s name the man, Kennedy, Godless Heathen, could continue to be elected as a US Senator.

My Dad, a man of few words, looked at her and simply said, “He gets elected because the majority of the people he represents apparently think he represents their interests and vote for him.”

August 26th, 2009 at 5:48 am
 6Reply to this comment  

@mooseburger:

My Dad, a man of few words, looked at her and simply said, “He gets elected because the majority of the people he represents apparently think he represents their interests and vote for him.”

Yep, these are the same people who gifted the rest of us with the burden of John Kerry and Barney Frank.

Speaks volumes about the standards of the voters in Massachusetts, eh?

August 26th, 2009 at 5:51 am
 7Reply to this comment  

Admittedly, I have not researched this but can someone say why the Kopechne family would help hide all of this? Obvious things come to mind but … I don’t want to leap to conclusions without the facts.

Some could say that there was something similar in a case in Georgia:
==========================================================
5 Years for Driver in Ga. Decapitation

“The two were on their way home from a bar after a night of drinking when Brohm stuck his head out the window because he thought he was going to be sick, authorities said.

Police said Hutcherson was unaware of the decapitation and drove more than 10 miles to his parents’ home, went inside and fell asleep with the headless body still in his truck. A neighbor discovered the body the next morning.”

Brohm’s family asked for leniency for Hutcherson, who was a childhood friend of the victim.
==========================================================

Were the Kopechne and the Kennedy families THAT tight knit?

Don’t get me wrong but, had that been my child, I don’t think there would be enough influence nor money to keep me quiet and stop me from getting his head on a pike one way or another.
I would have done all in my power to discredit him and/or destroy his political career.

@mooseburger: That doesn’t saying much for the majority of the voters in Massachusetts.

August 26th, 2009 at 6:13 am
 8Reply to this comment  

hmmm – looks like my comment went into filter

August 26th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Real American Patriot
 9Reply to this comment  

Aye:

It figures you and others on this site would dig up old negative stuff rather than the good this man did for this country… It appears you can only see positive things about righties.

He worked tirelessly to improve schools, help the poor, protect civil rights, raising the minimum wage and expand the health care system.

Of course the righties don’t approve of any of this so you instead post the negative.

This speaks volumes about YOU!!!

August 26th, 2009 at 6:25 am
Old Trooper
 10Reply to this comment  

@mooseburger:

My Dad, a man of few words, looked at her and simply said, “He gets elected because the majority of the people he represents apparently think he represents their interests and vote for him.”

It was actually about Money and Influence. It was not an issue of Character or Integrity re: Teddy.
It was all about the Son of a bootlegger and a Nazi sympathizer.

In 1938, Roosevelt appointed Kennedy as the United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s (Britain). Kennedy’s Irish and Catholic status did not bother the British; indeed he hugely enjoyed his leadership position in London society, which stood in stark contrast to his outsider status in Boston. His daughter Kathleen married the heir to the Duke of Devonshire, the head of one of England’s grandest aristocratic families. Kennedy rejected the warnings of Winston Churchill that compromise with Nazi Germany was impossible; instead he supported Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement in order to stave off a second world war that would be a more horrible “armageddon” than the first. Throughout 1938, as the Nazi persecution of Jews intensified, Kennedy attempted to obtain an audience with Adolf Hitler. Shortly before the Nazi aerial bombing of British cities began in September 1940, Kennedy sought a personal meeting with Hitler, again without State Department approval, “to bring about a better understanding between the United States and Germany.”

Kennedy argued strongly against giving aid to Britain.

“Democracy is finished in England. It may be here,” stated Ambassador Kennedy in the Boston Sunday Globe of November 10, 1940. In that one simple statement, Joe Kennedy ruined any future chances of becoming US president, effectively committing political suicide. While bombs fell daily on the UK, Nazi troops occupied Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, Ambassador Kennedy unambiguously and repeatedly stated his belief that the war was not about saving democracy from National Socialism (Nazism) or Fascism. In the now-infamous, long, rambling interview with two newspaper journalists, Louis M. Lyons of the Boston Globe and Ralph Coghlan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kennedy opined:

“It’s all a question of what we do with the next six months. The whole reason for aiding England is to give us time.” … “As long as she is in there, we have time to prepare. It isn’t that [Britain is] fighting for democracy. That’s the bunk. She’s fighting for self-preservation, just as we will if it comes to us… I know more about the European situation than anybody else, and it’s up to me to see that the country gets it,”

Kennedy was (for a while) a close friend with the leading Jewish lawyer Felix Frankfurter, who helped Kennedy get his sons into the London School of Economics, where they worked with Harold Laski, a leading Jewish intellectual and prominent Socialist. While holding positive attitudes towards individual Jews, Kennedy’s views of the Jews as a people were, by his own admission, overwhelmingly negative.

According to Harvey Klemmer, who served as one of Kennedy’s embassy aides, Kennedy habitually referred to Jews as “kikes or sheenies.” Kennedy allegedly told Klemmer that “[some] individual Jews are all right, Harvey, but as a race they stink. They spoil everything they touch.” When Klemmer returned from a trip to Germany and reported the pattern of vandalism and assault on Jews by Nazis, Kennedy responded, “Well, they brought it on themselves.”

On June 13, 1938, Kennedy met with Herbert von Dirksen, the German ambassador in London, who claimed in Berlin that Kennedy had told him that “it was not so much the fact that we want to get rid of the Jews that was so harmful to us, but rather the loud clamor with which we accompanied this purpose. [Kennedy] himself fully understood our Jewish policy.”Kennedy’s main concern with such violent acts against German Jews as Kristallnacht was that they generated bad publicity in the West for the Nazi regime, a concern he communicated in a letter to Charles Lindbergh.

Teddy rode his brothers coat tails into the Senate. He was a drunkard and a womanizer. He championed liberal causes and delivered a stinging and slanderous address on the Senate floor before Robert Bork’s confirmation hearings for SCOTUS. The Teddy Kennedy legacy was believing that they were royalty of sorts. That is what I will remember as well as his Chappaquiddick adventure. Politics, Money and Influence.

August 26th, 2009 at 6:27 am
 11Reply to this comment  

May he rest in peace and his detractors be reminded that they are not free of sin.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/26/beyond_camelot_his_shining_moments_endure/

August 26th, 2009 at 6:28 am
 12Reply to this comment  

@Real American Patriot:

They couldn’t even give it a day.

August 26th, 2009 at 6:39 am
 13Reply to this comment  

@Real American Patriot:
@Cary:

Sorry ladies.

Driving someone off a bridge….then leaving them to SUFFOCATE to DEATH….then going unpunished through the the influence of his family, outweighs any supposed good that you may claim he has done.

Image Source,Photobucket Uploader Firefox Extension

For me, Mary Jo is not simply water under the bridge.

YMMV.

As for my sins, Cary, as soon as I kill someone then you can cast the same aspersions on me.

Till then, not so much.

August 26th, 2009 at 6:53 am
 14Reply to this comment  

From your side….

Nancy Reagan, wife of former President Ronald Reagan:

Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised by how close Ronnie and I have been to the Kennedy family. But Ronnie and Ted could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another. In recent years, Ted and I found our common ground in stem cell research, and I considered him an ally and a dear friend. I will miss him.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin:

I would like to extend our sympathies to the Kennedy family as we hear word about the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy. He believed in our country and fought passionately for his convictions.


House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio):

The people of Massachusetts and the United States Congress have lost a tireless public servant.

Ted Kennedy was my friend. While there were few political issues on which he and I agreed, our relationship was never disagreeable, and was always marked by good humor, hard work, and a desire to find common ground.

Ted Kennedy was also a friend to inner-city children and teachers. For the better part of the last decade, Ted and I worked together to support struggling Catholic grade schools in inner-city Washington. By helping these schools keep their doors open and helping them retain their committed teachers and faculty, this joint effort made a positive difference in the lives of thousands of inner-city children, who otherwise would have been denied the opportunity for a quality education. It wouldn’t have been possible without Senator Kennedy and his genuine desire to give something back to help inner-city students in the city in which he’d served for so many years. I’m proud to have worked with Senator Kennedy on this project, and I will dearly miss his friendship and his partnership in this cause.

Debbie and I extend our thoughts and prayers to Vicki and the entire Kennedy family at this difficult time

Former President George H.W. Bush:

Barbara and I were deeply saddened to learn Ted Kennedy lost his valiant battle with cancer. While we didn’t see eye-to-eye on many political issues through the years, I always respected his steadfast public service — so much so, in fact, that I invited him to my library in 2003 to receive the Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service. Ted Kennedy was a seminal figure in the United States Senate — a leader who answered the call to duty for some 47 years, and whose death closes a remarkable chapter in that body’s history.
Barbara and I — and all Bushes — send our heartfelt condolences to Victoria, Ted’s kids, and the entire Kennedy family.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:02 am
 15Reply to this comment  

My last comment seems to be in the filter.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:03 am
mooseburger
 16Reply to this comment  

Aye said: “Speaks volumes about the standards of the voters in Massachusetts, eh?”

It speaks volumes about the whole spectrum of who is elected to represent the citizens all across our Country, North, South, East and West. This is the principle of Elected Representative Governance that, disagree as we may about some issues, we respect this principle that many have fought and died to protect and defend.

Louisiana also gifted us with David Duke, who proudly left the Democratic party from where he could not win an election, to the party where he found acceptance from the voters and was elected US representative, the good ole Republican Party.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_David_Duke

Barny Frank and John Kerry don’t speak for every Democrat, just as I am sure that David Duke doesn’t speak for all Republicans. (Even though your post on Ted Kennedy’s passing and condemnation of his personal life today shares the same level of contempt as does David Dukes critique about the late Senator from Mass, even though I am pretty sure that your DO NOT SHARE Mr. Dukes other views expressed in this link, nor am I implying such, I know you and most Republicans are not that way, but enough apparently are/were so that Duke could have been elected :)

http://www.davidduke.com/

To have and keep a functioning stable Government and society, and in accordance with our Constitution, sometimes even the ragged and extreme fringes get a seat at the table, and again, it is the people who feel their interests are being represented that vote them into office, and thankfully the ability for the ship to be righted rests in the hands of the people, where it belongs. Hopefully, that is something we can all be in agreement with.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:03 am
Wordsmith
 17Reply to this comment  

@Cary #11:

They couldn’t even give it a day.

I’ll give it a day.

Condolence to his family and friends.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:10 am
tfhr
 18Reply to this comment  

@Real American Patriot:

1. “improve schools” – our public schools are among the worst in the world, see Washington, DC.

2. “help the poor” – the “War on Poverty” has squandered trillions, destroyed families, and condemned generations to poverty.

3. “protect civil rights” – I guess the babies in the womb don’t vote, so they don’t count.

4. “raising the minimum wage” – a business near my home put a sign out this year about the recent minimum wage increase to explain why they would not be hiring any help this season.

5. “expand the health care system” – see “improve schools”.

Yeah, he “worked tirelessly” alright and did so to the detriment of hundreds of millions of Americans since 1962.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:10 am
 19Reply to this comment  

@mooseburger:

I’ll see your David Duke and raise you a Senator Robert Byrd (D-KKK).

Wanna keep playing this game with me? I’ve still got lots more arrows in my quiver.

Moral equivalence is not a winning hand for you today.

Of course, you could attempt to address the factual analysis of the Kennedy legacy rather than simply attack the messenger.

Your call.

Exit question: Where are the elected officials in the Republican Party (past or present) who got away with manslaughter (at a minimum)?

August 26th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Patvann
 20Reply to this comment  

My condolences to his family. May he rot in hell.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Robert Kelly
 21Reply to this comment  

@Cary: I have never killed anyone, I have never cheated at school and I have never tried to destroy this country by instilling socialist values. I guess you are OK with his ’sins’, but I think they made him un-American and unfit to serve.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:19 am
PDill
 22Reply to this comment  

R.I.P. Senator Ted Kennedy.

I’m obviously no fan of later year Ted Kennedy politics, but I also don’t have any plans to condemn him. That’s between God and Ted Kennedy.

Let’s all trust, in his last opportunities of life, before meeting his Maker, he had God’s great mercy and the grace of a repentant heart, at least regarding the errs of his politics. I pray for THIS Ted, the one from 1971:

Sen. Edward Kennedy, [D-Mass.], in a letter to a constituent, August 3, 1971
“While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized — the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grown old.

“I share the confidence of those who feel that America is working to care for its unwanted as well as wanted children, protecting particularly those who cannot protect themselves. I also share the opinions of those who do not accept abortion as a response to our society’s problems — an inadequate welfare system, unsatisfactory job training programs, and insufficient financial support for all its citizens.

“When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception.”

You know in looking up this quote, I was reminded of the old Jesse Jackson quote, also from the 1970’s. Reading it again is not only chilling, it’s prophetic.

Reverend Jesse Jackson – he endorsed the Hyde Amendment in an open letter to Congress that opposed federal funds used for “killing infants.” Mr. Jackson wrote the following statements in a 1977 National Right to Life News article

“There are those who argue that the right to privacy is of [a] higher order than the right to life … that was the premise of slavery. You could not protest the existence or treatment of slaves on the plantation because that was private and therefore outside your right to be concerned.

“What happens to the mind of a person, and the moral fabric of a nation, that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience? What kind of a person and what kind of a society will we have 20 years hence if life can be taken so casually? It is that question, the question of our attitude, our value system, and our mind-set with regard to the nature and worth of life itself that is the central question confronting mankind. Failure to answer that question affirmatively may leave us with a hell right here on earth.”

As for the Mass Democrats, unless you ever dated one, have one in your family, or have spent considerable time in that area, don’t even try to understand it. It’s “cultural.”

All said, I think it’s important not to sanctify Ted Kennedy in the media. We do society no favors by only remembering “part of the man.” I would hope at least one MSM outlet would focus on how the “Old Ted” became the “New Ted”, engaging in a dialogue long overdue in this country.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:19 am
PDill
 23Reply to this comment  

caught in spam #21

August 26th, 2009 at 7:20 am
 24Reply to this comment  

@Robert Kelly:

Neither you nor Aye, nor anyone else know what really happened that day on Martha’s Vineyard. God forbid any one of us get in an accident, suffer from shock, and make bad choices in a state of confusion. The rest is political differences, which we are all entitled to have.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:27 am
 25Reply to this comment  

@Cary:

Sorry.

No matter how much spin up the historical revisionism, you’ll never be able to put a shine on that turd.

Kennedy left that young lady in the car. He went to sleep it off. He never even called for help.

Those are the facts.

It is indeed very easy to know exactly what went on during those events in Martha’s Vineyard. All you need to do is get the blinders off long enough to look it up.

If you care to attempt to refute what I have said then have at it.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:30 am
 26Reply to this comment  

@mooseburger – sadly, davidduke.com… is NOT a parody site!

@Cary: I can say that I hate when anyone loses a loved one. So, in that respect, my sympathies are with his family, those who loved him and called him friend.

Yes, I am sure he did good things and in that we should give respect there. At the same time though, should we then just forget what happened to Mary Jo Kopechne? In remembering his life, there is both the good and the bad.

Like I said earlier, had it been me, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. (And let me be a bit more exact). If he had not exhausted his resources in trying to save my daughter (beating on the first house he came to, raising every alarm possible, etc…), he would not have made another year in his political career and if I had my way, he would have began his prison sentence.
I am still not sure why the Kopechnes caved like they did.

I can see why you quoted who you did but, I find it interesting that you quoted Sarah Palin. I guess she is good when she fits the need, eh? ;-)

August 26th, 2009 at 7:35 am
Slatrat
 27Reply to this comment  

Sen Edward Kennedy, a good example of a bad example. nuff said

August 26th, 2009 at 7:37 am
Robert Kelly
 28Reply to this comment  

@Cary: The difference is, you present kennedy as a man to be admired. He should have been ashamed, and held accountable, for all the many ‘mistakes’ he made, but he was given a pass time after time.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:39 am
 29Reply to this comment  

@Aye Chihuahua:

I’m not going to refute it because neither of us know. I’ve looked it up – and neither of us know. The FBI files are open online. You have your speculation and opinion based on limited facts, but neither of us know his state, in any way, at the time. Arguing opinions is fruitless.

The rest is political.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:44 am
 30Reply to this comment  

@Hawk:

I disagree with her on political and public stances, but if you can show me when I disparaged Mrs. Palin, or any other Republican, on a personal level, I’ll concede your point.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:49 am
 31Reply to this comment  

Cary:”Neither you nor Aye, nor anyone else know what really happened that day on Martha’s Vineyard. ”

While we do not know what HAPPENED, we DO KNOW what DID NOT HAPPEN.

He DID NOT stop at any houses to try and get help:
“his route back to the cottage would have taken him past four houses from which he could have telephoned and summoned help; however, he did not do so. The first of those houses, referred to as “Dike House”, was only 150 yards away from the bridge, and was occupied by Sylvia Malm and her family at the time of the incident. Malm later stated that she had left a light on at the residence when she retired for that evening.”

He DID NOT act as if anything happened:
By 7:30 am the next morning he was talking “casually” to the winner of the previous day’s sailing race, with no indication that anything was amiss.

He DID NOT report the accident immediately:
At 8 a.m., Gargan and Markham joined Kennedy at his hotel where they had a “heated conversation.” According to Kennedy’s testimony, the two men asked why he hadn’t reported the accident.

“The three men subsequently crossed back to Chappaquiddick Island on the ferry, where Kennedy made a series of phone calls from a payphone by the crossing to his friends for advice; he again did not report the accident to authorities.”

He DID LIE:
The presiding judge, James A. Boyle, concluded that some aspects of Kennedy’s story of that night were not true.

Dude, if I had done that, I would have had everyone awake and tons of people around. I would have called everyone I could to save that woman.

He made conscious efforts for someone who was supposedly so drunk.

* Walking PAST houses he could have stopped for help to get back to those who MIGHT protect him.

* Changing clothes
* Acting as if nothing happened
* Not reporting the accident immediately or as soon as possible.

Sounds to me like he was looking for a way to try and cover it up.

Its just hard to see the good when you see that this guy was directly responsible for her death.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:58 am
 32Reply to this comment  

Cary: Not so much citing YOU as disparaging her but the left as a whole. Based on the group mentality and their view on her – she “is a clown and not to be taken seriously”

I did not mean to imply that you personally had done so. Some one here (who I would not have expected) had said something good about her and I *think* it was you. So …

*man this filters are NOT liking me today*

August 26th, 2009 at 8:01 am
 33Reply to this comment  

OY! The filters are NOT liking me today :)

August 26th, 2009 at 8:02 am
 34Reply to this comment  

@Robert Kelly:

He did express remorse for the way he handle the incident, indeed. It also destroyed his chances of a Presidential run. He even asked his constituents if he should resign entirely. You know the rest.

And I do admire him for his legacy and accomplishments before and after then.

RIP

August 26th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Brooksy
 35Reply to this comment  

Not long ago there was an interview with one of the detectives who investigated the “accident”. His report (kept secret for 40 years) concluded that Kennedy had switched to passenger and the girl was driving (this was after a local cop stopped their car on the way to the bridge). When they drove off the bridge, car landed on it’s right side in shallow water. Kennedy scrambled over Kopechne, got out the window. She survived at least an hour, fingernail scratches in the roof of the car where she suffocated. Kennedy walked past several nearby houses with their lights on, never called for help. Spent the next 10 hours trying to talk one of his cousins into taking the rap for him, and finally was convinced to call the cops . A Class A scumbag !

August 26th, 2009 at 8:07 am
mooseburger
 36Reply to this comment  

Aye said: “I’ll see your David Duke and raise you a Senator Robert Byrd (D-KKK).

Wanna keep playing this game with me? I’ve still got lots more arrows in my quiver.

Moral equivalence is not a winning hand for you today.

Of course, you could attempt to address the factual analysis of the Kennedy legacy rather than simply attack the messenger.

Your call.

Exit question: Where are the elected officials in the Republican Party (past or present) who got away with manslaughter (at a minimum)?”

Chill dude, no attack meant or implied as I stated in the post. Only a reference to how folks who are elected represent the interests in the majority of the voters who elect them. You brought up the fringe off topic Barney Frank and John Kerry, not me. I brought up in response to your off topic that the fringe who get elected happens in both parties. As for your post and Dukes post sharing the same contempt for Kennedy’s personal life, I’ll stand on the truth of that statement.

As for Robert Byrd, point taken and that doesn’t go against anything I have stated, it only reinforces the point that he apparently represents his constituents interests, hence, he gets re elected time and again.

As for your exit question:
Janklow was found guilty of manslaughter and didn’t get away with it (although it is rumored that he got away with rape earlier in his life)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,105154,00.html

The factual analysis of the Kennedy legacy, although correct as you point out, is rather incomplete. If you want to see shining beacons of Conservative values and hypocracy, in an incomplete fashion like you present about Kennedy to us today, check out this link:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Political%20Tiger/72

From my standpoint, the democratic underground link scumbagging the conservatives listed is no better than your scumbagging posting about Kennedy, and shows both sides of the same characteristics, same MO and same hate and bile. Focuses on the bad and the differences, and ignores any real good these people may have done in their lives, Conservative or Liberal, and many are not here to defend themselves since they have faced the ultimate judgement from God at this point. Like the guy in the movie The Green Mile said, ( once the prisoner was dead) “he is square with the house now”

What do you gain from beating a dead horse other than to illustrate how your values and ways are so superior to others? We already know you feel that way Bro.

August 26th, 2009 at 8:12 am
luva the scissors
 37Reply to this comment  

well i guess he can make his apologies to mary jo now, wait thats right, he killed her. she is in heaven and well we aren’t sure where his daddy bought him space. i feel badly for his family, brain cancer is a terrible way to go, but the suffering maybe made up for his killing an innocent person.

August 26th, 2009 at 8:19 am
 38Reply to this comment  

@Hawk:

Hawk and everyone,

Yes, it’s been very busy!

The SPAM filter is an ongoing pain in the rear. Unfortunately, it is an indispensable tool.

Curt is working to find a solution that is workable.

Until then, post away and someone will fish you out as needed.

Aye

You can now resume your regularly scheduled commentary.

August 26th, 2009 at 8:20 am
 39Reply to this comment  

@Hawk:

Thank you Hawk. I did indeed edit out the statements made by Dems and posted only the ones from your side – to illustrate that he was admired by both sides, even by those who disagreed with his views.

August 26th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Fit fit
 40Reply to this comment  

Yess… unleash your hatred. Only then will you know the true power of the Dark Side.

August 26th, 2009 at 8:34 am
 41Reply to this comment  

@Fit fit:

Speaking the truth is now hateful?

Thanks for that enlightenment.

August 26th, 2009 at 8:36 am
 42Reply to this comment  

This was posted by a Right Winger, hence the title and description. Still, his words speak for themselves, in explaining that night himself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0hdhLG0g6A

And why I admire him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XplR_XRdHg0

August 26th, 2009 at 8:44 am
 43Reply to this comment  

Lost in the spam filter again!

August 26th, 2009 at 8:45 am
 44Reply to this comment  

@Cary:

They couldn’t even give it a day.

You’re right!

Those darned Dims are already using Kennedy’s death for political advantage:

Kennedy’s Death Spurs Calls to Pass Health Legislation

Byrd wants health bill renamed for Kennedy

Kennedy health reform ‘dream’ will be real this year: Pelosi

Rush Limbaugh was roundly excoriated when he predicted this behavior.

Turns out he was right once again.

I wonder, will we get another “Wellstone Memorial” moment from this?

August 26th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Inspectorudy
 45Reply to this comment  

I think the most egregious thing this man did was when he collaorated with the f**king Russians to try to stop Ronald Regan! In any country in the world this would be treason. A capital offense. Mary Jo was a tragedy and I blame this drunkard turd for her death, but it doesn’t rise to the level of trying to harm your country. Think about what he did for a moment without your political glasses on. Try to imagine any other person getting away with something like that. Oh wait, Jane f**king Fonda did. But cut her some slack, she was just a sex kitten bimbo.

August 26th, 2009 at 8:47 am
OLDPUPPYMAX
 46Reply to this comment  

FOR Real American Patriot,

PLEASE change your screen name. It simply does not fit. You are undoubtedly a patriot, but not for THIS country. And neither was Teddy.

August 26th, 2009 at 9:02 am
 47Reply to this comment  

@Aye Chihuahua:

They should absolutely pass it now and name it after him. No question.

August 26th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Buffalobob
 48Reply to this comment  

Ted Kennedy………..I remember someone saying…………something………..Ah….if you can’t say something nice about someone……………I have no comment.

August 26th, 2009 at 9:15 am
 49Reply to this comment  

@Cary:

What, no criticism of your own side for jumping on the political advantage while the body is still warm?

Rather inconsistent of you, eh?

August 26th, 2009 at 9:17 am
 50Reply to this comment  

@Aye Chihuahua:

Not inconsistent at all. Part of the mourning process and celebration of his life.

It’s been a year today since my family spread my dad’s ashes. When he died, I donated to the American Lung Association in his honor, after already previously doing so and spreading the word about COPD to friends, especially the smokers. I didn’t wait. But if anyone dared disparaged him for smoking, ON THE DAY HE DIED, it would have been highly offensive.

Sorry you don’t seem to get the difference between honoring someone and disparaging them. Or are you the one actually spinning?

August 26th, 2009 at 9:35 am
 51Reply to this comment  

Lost in filter. Please post when you’ve found a solution to this problem.

August 26th, 2009 at 9:36 am
luva the scissors
 52Reply to this comment  

i have always found it interesting that when a liberal r celeb dies they always talk about allogf “the good” they have done, never the bad. the way i see it,they were formed by both, good choices and bad. in my personal life i never pretend someone was great when they really weren’t and i won’t now. so all the freakin out libs out there can just shut up. if it had been palin who died they would be dancing in the streets and she never killed anyone.

August 26th, 2009 at 9:38 am
 53Reply to this comment  

@Cary:

Boy, the irony and hypocrisy hangs heavy in the air today.

Of course, without factual weight on your side, that’s all you have left.

The truth is the truth is the truth. I will speak it boldly and without hesitation or apology.

Pirouette on if you must.

August 26th, 2009 at 9:40 am
 54Reply to this comment  

@Cary:

Curt is aware of the issue and will be doing some tweaking in a little while.

Just bear with us.

August 26th, 2009 at 9:43 am
AdrianS
 55Reply to this comment  

Name for Obamacare now Chappaquiddick-care. You need healthcare and the Obamaites turn and run away. In honor? of Ted Kennedy????

Ted Kennedy: Chappaquiddick Incident
Senator Edward Kennedy’s name will be forever blighted by the incident at Chappaquiddick Island where an aide to his brother died in his car.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6094161/Ted-Kennedy-Chappaquiddick-Incident.html.

How appropriate for the misguided Obama and his minions.

August 26th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Buffalobob
 56Reply to this comment  

You have to admire Chris Matthews. He can always find a way to top his stupidity. Today he said the torch of civil rights has been passed on from Teddy to Barack “THE LAST BROTHER”.

August 26th, 2009 at 9:47 am
KJC
 57Reply to this comment  

I predict an 8% drop in the global consumption of scotch for the coming year.

August 26th, 2009 at 9:55 am
 58Reply to this comment  

@Aye Chihuahua:

I fully support your right to speak truth as well as opinion. There’s a difference between the two, ya know, even if the latter is supported by a some of the former. Calling me a hypocrite won’t change that.

FYI – I’m better at tap than ballet, but a Pirouette is not just a random spin – the dancer must spot where they are going with each turn and move up rather than around. So, good analogy.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:03 am
 59Reply to this comment  

@KJC:

I read something awhile back about the Kennedy family and imports of scotch being one of the contributors to their fortune.

Anyone know the details?

I don’t have my access to my research materials at the moment.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Glenn Cassel AMH1(AW) USN Retired
 60Reply to this comment  

Good riddance to bad rubbish. No sympathy for anyone in the media designated “royal family”
Tango Sierra

August 26th, 2009 at 10:05 am
 61Reply to this comment  

@Aye Chihuahua:

Thanks, but I’m in there again. I’m sure you’re as frustrated as I am.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:05 am
AdrianS
 62Reply to this comment  

May the late Ted Kennedy rest peacefully in HELL.

Mary Jo Kopechne did not deserve to die. Ted Kennedy had no honor — ever.

Ted Kennedy’s death; good riddance.

Barrack Hussein Obama — much of the same.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:05 am
 63Reply to this comment  

Wow this filter doesn’t stop, does it? I’m sure you’re just as frustrated, but it’s like nearly every single comment.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:07 am
 64Reply to this comment  

okay, this is my fourth consecutive try. Trying to bear with you.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Buffalobob
 65Reply to this comment  

Cary, I’m not having any trouble. Are they trying to tell you something????

August 26th, 2009 at 10:13 am
 66Reply to this comment  

@Buffalobob:

Come on now.

Don’t go feeding Cary’s complex regarding the filter. :)

I can assure all of you there is nothing personal nor focused about the functioning of the filter. I have had to dig myself out here and there over the last couple of weeks.

Just keep posting along.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:18 am
 67Reply to this comment  

@Buffalobob:

Perhaps. Though I’m told not.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Curt
 68Reply to this comment  

I’ve reverted back to our old filter. I keep trying out new filters to see if I can reduce the number of legitimate comments from getting spammed to no avail. Maybe one of these days I’ll find it.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:20 am
 69Reply to this comment  

@Aye Chihuahua:

Thanks Aye. I’ve no reason not to believe you, but it is incredibly frustrating. I’m sure you understand.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:21 am
KJC
 70Reply to this comment  

@Aye Chihuahua: Supposedly Joe Kennedy made quite a bit of money running booze from Canada to the U.S.during prohibition. Then after prohibition was repealed he amassed a fortune with his company(Somerset Importers)as the exclusive American agent for Dewar’s Scotch and Gordon’s Dry Gin.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:36 am
 71Reply to this comment  

@Cary:

I absolutely understand the frustration.

Please trust me when I say that we are doing what we can to get this resolved on an ongoing basis.

We are all committed to the continued very close monitoring of the filter in order to prevent the good stuff from being sequestered away with the various pharmaceuticals, weight-loss remedies, insurance offers, male enhancement products, mortgage deals, porn ads that defy polite description, and others.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:37 am
 72Reply to this comment  

@KJC:

Thanks, I knew I remembered something about imports etc. but couldn’t remember the details.

August 26th, 2009 at 10:38 am
 73Reply to this comment  

@Aye Chihuahua:

Yeah Aye, I get ‘em on my blog, too. It’s why I approve comments. Of course, I’ve never gotten anywhere near the traffic you do, so I understand that’s not an option.

I’m a scotch fan – but I hate Dewars more than I hate the Red Sox! Won’t hold either against the Kennedys though, nobody’s perfect! ;)

August 26th, 2009 at 10:47 am
SoCal Chris
 74Reply to this comment  

The words that came to mind when I first heard the breaking news of this last night were, “The end of an era”. (The Kennedy era).

I probably will be avoiding watching the t.v. MSM in the next few days.

Having said that, my condolences to the family all the same.

August 26th, 2009 at 11:01 am
SoCal Chris
 75Reply to this comment  

Should clarify…I will be avoiding watching the t.v. MSM more than I usually avoid watching it.

August 26th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Edgeplay_Cgo
 76Reply to this comment  

I have this vision of a thousand people in line at the funeral, each with a mallet and a stake.

At least the country is now safe from him.

August 26th, 2009 at 11:21 am
 77Reply to this comment  

The President, the Dems, libbers and RINOs can ALL sing his praises, that is the hypocrisy we ALL expected, but I am not going to honor a murdering son of an Irish bootlegger. I am hoping that Mary Jo Kopechne was waiting for him with a Louisville Slugger!

I have NEVER been a supporter OF Teddy Kennedy, and I won’t prostitute me, or my blog and become one now. I don’t intend to denigrate, nor will I celebrate his passing.

I can’t, in good conscience, and won’t, pile any honors on a man that was far less than honorable in my opinion!

August 26th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
The Chris Rock Show
 78Reply to this comment  

Diffenently a liberal lion of the senate. Hamlet indeed. Good, bad and downright ugly at times.

Thanks for sharing his dark sides.

The only great silver lining is hopefully his Universal Health Care (or Fascist Care) will be buried with him.

August 26th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
 79Reply to this comment  

Cary #14

You are incorrect as many timelines have been put together that I have read in the past. Much has been compiled that cannot be disputed. You may even read the ever benevolent left leaning “wiki” history, which has a tough time whitewashing the incident.

You say we “do not know”. But there are undisputable facts that we do know… the least of which is that Kennedy ignored multiple homes where he could have called for immediate help, and instead hiked back to his cottage to get the help of his handlers.

The attempts to rescue they announce, citing too strong of currents, belies the facts that the surface currents…. the only ones that would affect his ability to dive to the car… were “slack” per maritime documentation that night. Nor did those currents prevent him from swimming the channel (bolting a car after hearing repeated attempts to get him to call the police) in order to swim to Edgartown and the hotel where he stayed the night… STILL never notifying the police.

Another fact remains, Kennedy never did notify the police. The car and body were discovered by fishermen the next morning.

Yet another fact remains… had the police been called, Ms. Kopechne would be alive today, as she survived for a time in the car with the aid of an air bubble.

But Kennedy was, indeed, busy with phone calls that night – just none to the police. Instead repeatedly to his powerful various handlers, thinking only of his public image and career.

When he pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident that caused bodily injury, they sentenced him to *two months* of incarceration… which the Kennedy lawyers got suspended.

You can read the FOIA FBI files on testimony and documents here.

I did hear that Kennedy is to be buried at Arlington. His two years of service in the Army which his family got knocked down from the four years that he enlisted for originally, qualifies him for that burial spot (not his Senate service, and only two Presidents are buried there). Those two years found him with a cushy “honor guard” duty in Paris, France instead of front line service in Korea… again thanks to family connections.

But frankly his presence in Arlington makes me want to apologize to the others lying in rest there who will now find a man with a mixed record of honor among genuine national servants. Here’s Arlington’s qualifications for burial.

Then there is the absurdity of Kennedy’s last moments attempt to undermine MA’s successor laws… which he, himself changed when Romney was Governor. When the shoe was on the other foot, that which he had wrought didn’t look so good. Were the man not so self-consumed, and genuinely concerned for MA Senate representation, he should have stepped down and chosen his successor before this moment arose. But no… he had to hang on to power to the bitter end. It was another case of self-interest over representation for MA (*his* opinion), or concern for the plight of others (Mary Jo Kopechne).

And about those “education” legislative accomplishments…. would that include the NCLB that the Dems cite as absolute Bush failure, while ignoring it was Kennedy’s legislative baby? If you’re planning on citing glowing accolades, consistency would be appreciated. If it is a Kennedy legacy, you must give it to Bush as well.

Other than despising the man, and detesting his perceived “service” for this country – which, IMHO, have been the antithesis of Constitutional values – I do indeed offer condolences to his family who loved him. There is the man as a national servant, and the man as a family member. I honor the latter, and give him no respect for the former.

August 26th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
 80Reply to this comment  

@Aye: “The SPAM filter is an ongoing pain in the rear. Unfortunately, it is an indispensable tool.”
Having helped on another forum somewhere else – I feel your pain! :) And yes … it really is an indispensable tool.

I was trying to see what I was doing to get it flagged. But I didn’t see a common cause. No worries though.

@Cary: Whether I liked what he did or not, the one thing I can say is this:
He was in that position for a while. Like you said, he asked his constituents if he should step down and they wanted him to stay. And they kept electing him.

So, even if *I* disagree with their views, I have to say that he must have been doing his job well enough for the majority of them to keep re-electing him.

For the record, I am a proud independent. I refuse to vote party line for ANY party. I *WAS* a mostly democrat leaning YEARS ago (20 or so). Morally, I am more conservative. Fiscally I am about as center as it gets.

August 26th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Inspectorudy
 81Reply to this comment  

Here is the actual interview with one of the Russians that broke the Ted Kennedy traitorous scheme story with the KGB.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=30980

August 26th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
 82Reply to this comment  

Cary: They should absolutely pass it [O'healthcare] now and name it after him. No question.

Really? You mean the same healthcare that, if Kennedy were on it as a normal retired citizen sans Kennedy and Senate contacts, would have been denied treatment and given pain pills instead?

Get a grip on reality please, guy. Nothing could be more oxymoronic than to name this after Kennedy… altho it does seem appropriate when you consider it’s the “one law/treatment for you, and another one for me” reality.

August 26th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
 83Reply to this comment  

@Hawk:

The filter caught your #80 comment.

I’m curious as to whether you are signed in.

Also, I’m wondering if it’s the link to your home page.

August 26th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
PDill
 84Reply to this comment  

Inspect, sadly it’s not going to stop him from being buried in Arlington.

August 26th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Madalyn
 85Reply to this comment  

MataHarley #79 – Thank you for posting a comment about the “real’ Ted Kennedy. He was only looking out for himself. To hell with Mary Jo. She was an inconvenience to him because she could not get out of the car by herself. I have no proof, but is it possible the family of Mary Jo let it drop because they were frightened by something a Kennedy aide or friend said or did? Could there have been threats? I guess we will never know being as her parents are deceased. I can tell you this: I think it is a possibility.
Just my opinion
Madalyn
I will not say I am sorry he is gone. He has shown his true colors time and again, and I don’t think we need any more of his kind breathing. (Sorry to sound so heartless, but at least I didn’t kill anyone. I just state how I feel – BIG DIFFERENCE).

August 26th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
 86Reply to this comment  

I’m not sure why the Kopechne family seems to enter the discussion here, or the idea they “let it drop”. The Kennedy family, quite powerful, was not going to be prosecuted via an investigation since the police chief didn’t even seem interested in interviewing him thoroughly after the incident, and Kennedy’s handing him a prepared statement nine hours after the accident. None of the same officials questioned the party goers, tho they had given statements to reporters in the following days. The Edgartown police said they didn’t think they could prove Kennedy was “legally responsible” for Kopechne’s death, and assistant DA Jimmy Smith was avoiding any prosecution.

So again the facts would be that the police and investigations were half-hearted, Kennedy decided to plead guilty to a lesser charge than manslaughter, and the Kopechne’s eventually received settlement of $151K approx, ($91K from Kennedy and another $50K from Kennedy’s insurance).

Closed case with the pleaded charges and settlement. Without an aggressive investigation by a dedicated police force and DA’s office, what would anyone expect the Kopechne’s to do? They did not even have the law enforcement or local judicial authorities willing to help them out.

August 26th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Madalyn
 87Reply to this comment  

MataHarley – How right you are. I was so focused on what I wanted to say, I neglected to look at other options. My goof. Of course law enforcement weren’t willing to prosecute a Kennedy. They ran the town, county, state, and half of the country. I guess if someone killed my daughter and the police was not interested in a real investigation, I really don’t know what I would do. Thank God I have never been faced with that situation. MataHarley – keep up the fantastic articles that so many of us need to get facts, and also the research you do is amazing.
Madalyn

August 26th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Inspectorudy
 88Reply to this comment  

What was this monster’s last offical act? He tried to undo the senate replacement policy he had changed in 2004 to keep Rommney from appointing a R senator to Kerry’s vacant seat. This is a man with a lot of integrity! scsm

August 26th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Theresa, MSgt (Ret), USAF
 89Reply to this comment  

I hope this ends the shitstain of the kennedy’s on American politics. None of the clan left has any real power so hopefully its the end of their foul legacy. The lionization of this murdering traitor is beyond hypocritical. He did NOTHING for America, only for himself. His being buried in Arlington spits on the graves of all those Honorable Men and Women who lie there. God Damn him to hell.

August 26th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
 90Reply to this comment  

@Real American Patriot.

I am sure you know but everytime the Dems push for minimum wage increase, it DOES benefit those who have assigned themselves to minimum wage positions…I pray they can move up from those positions.

However, the dirty little secret is that every time the minimum wage is raised — it also raises union wages – most union wages are on a job position scale with the lowest starting at a contractual % above minimum wage. When this happens, I have seen a combination of the following occur…some businesses lay-off, some close, some go overseas with a one-way ticket.

Most recent hike caused loss of jobs for some American agri workers in lieu of illegals…

August 26th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Blast
 91Reply to this comment  

I did not know Sen. Kennedy, never met him. I saw him on TV and know that he was a politician. He was a man, a human being. He is dead now. His family and friends will mourn his passing, the world will continue to turn.

Those who had the need to speak evil of him today, on the day of his passing, are pretty pathetic.

August 26th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
 92Reply to this comment  

I have mixed views on Ted Kennedy. Whilst I can appreciate his efforts on universal healthcare and his views on Iraq (which most of you won’t share) – obviously Chappaquiddick is a massive stain on his character. And @Old trooper – whilst I think his father was despicable – his ’sins’ have little to do with his sons. However I do take umbrage at Ted Kennedy’s views on Northern Ireland. Ulster never came close to becoming Britain’s Vietnam. Sympathising with terrorists mainly because his ancestors were irish is pathetic.

August 26th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Madalyn
 93Reply to this comment  

Blast Comment #91 – Why would we sit here and patronize a killer? Just because he died does not mean we should all at once idolize him. I’m sure his family is not sitting at their computers reading all these comments. If they are, it shows just how much they thought of him too.
Do I make my point?
Just asking
Madalyn

August 26th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Greg
 94Reply to this comment  

I did not know Sen. Kennedy, never met him. I saw him on TV and know that he was a politician. He was a man, a human being. He is dead now. His family and friends will mourn his passing, the world will continue to turn.

Those who had the need to speak evil of him today, on the day of his passing, are pretty pathetic.

Of course you expressed the same sentiment at those who spoke evil of Tony Snow and Bob Novak when they passed right?

August 26th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Kim Galloway
 95Reply to this comment  

To Inspectorudy

great article, pattersons book did not have that much detail – he hit on many issues but this is great , thanks for that. I have been at the frontpage site many times and missed this one. If this had been a conservative senator he’d be in jail and conservatives would be finished for generations.

Now we have all these lugnuts running the whole show. Czars and all. No body is stopping this.
what about defending the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. If ACORN does not gain the power that they plan to gain, we can vote these people out before the damage becomes permanent. Let them try to stop the voting. then all hell will break loose.

August 26th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
luva the scissors
 96Reply to this comment  

@Greg: agreed, he wan’t a saint. thank god there are some of us that actually have several brain cells not killed by booze and we see this.

August 26th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Toothfairy
 97Reply to this comment  

No one who goes behind our backs and offers to work for our enemies is a patriot. He is a traitor. That he tries to plant himself now among the real heroes in Arlington shows that even to the last he was an arrogant jerk who was only concerned about his own image. That anyone attempts to lionize this rogue, dissolute, debauched predator is naive at best and abhorrent at worst. My sympathies are with his family and his victims.

August 26th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
 98Reply to this comment  

Madalyn #87, thank you for the kind words. So sorry not to acknowledge sooner, but between work, doin’ healthcare battle with trizzlor on another thread, plus dodging this thread (for the most part…), I was derelict to your kindness.

Now, if I can get this real world schedule under control, I may even be able to get out a post or two. I’m long overdue after being out of the state for a few weeks. Just about forgot I’m an author… LOL

August 26th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
 99Reply to this comment  

@MataHarley:

I’m in no way claiming that the man was perfect, nor am I defending the way he handled the incident in question. People can take the facts we know and come to whatever speculative conclusion they want, but the fact is there is much we still don’t know. If he was in shock, panic, fear, whatever… I personally don’t believe he is guilty of “killing” anyone – perhaps a sexual indiscretion, or even alcohol abuse (which would explain her taking over the driver’s seat), but I don’t believe murder. And in the 41 years since then, his accomplishments have earned him the admiration of many Americans, and I completely understand that you’re not one of them.

There could be a number of reasons her family did not pursue the matter, including the one you speculate. Or it could be that they didn’t want to air the girl’s private affairs in public, or they recognized her hard work in his campaign and chose to believe him rather than thwart her efforts towards his success.

As I said, we don’t definitively know anything. As you later state, there was no investigation by local authorities, or the FBI, so all you have is an opinion based on how you perceive what you know. Again, there could be numerous reasons they did not pursue a case, from the sinister one you speculate, to them actually believing him. And no matter how much you believe what you do, that doesn’t make it fact. I’m sure I don’t actually have to tell you that.

It is not your opinion I take issue with – it’s the hateful rhetoric expressed on this thread by those who do God’s job of condemning him to Hell and rejoicing in his death., and on the very same day of his death no less. Not the Christian values I learned in MY church. I’m on the same page with Blast for this one.

And for those who state that those of us who admired him are naive, stupid or immoral, I refer you to my comment number 14 – where the likes of Nancy Reagan and President Bush express admiration for him as well.

As for naming the Health Care bill after him – well, here’s my reality check… He considered Health care to be a universal right for all Americans, regardless of income or status, and championed the cause way before Hillary took it up. Whether or not you agree with the cause or not, if such a law is passed which aims to accomplish those goals he set, I believe that it is indeed appropriate to name it in his honor.

August 26th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
 100Reply to this comment  

@Cary:

He considered Health care to be a universal right for all Americans, regardless of income or status, and championed the cause way before Hillary took it up.

I really do hate to intrude with the facts in the middle of your reality check fantasy but Senator Kennedy opposed universal health care when Nixon was president because it was politically expedient to do so.

In Kennedy’s mind, all of these achievements paled next to his long-deferred dream of national health insurance. When President Nixon proposed a plan for universal coverage that would have delighted Democrats in later years, Kennedy, who long backed a government plan, led the opposition, a move he later regretted. So he moved to partial reforms, but even here he was often disappointed. His hopes of a major restructuring were dashed in the early 1990s with the defeat of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s health-care initiative.

Self serving and self focused.

From Chappaquiddick to Arlington. On those character flaws he was consistent.

August 27th, 2009 at 3:49 am
nan
 101Reply to this comment  

“He considered Health care to be a universal right for all Americans, regardless of income or status”
Not true.

August 27th, 2009 at 4:05 am
 102Reply to this comment  

@Aye Chihuahua:

Nice description of Kennedy in the same post you mention Nixon. And nice spin. He opposed it because Nixon was making a deal with insurance companies, and later regretted it because it would’ve been better than nothing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGKkPEvD2OM

Here’s his healthcare timeline:

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2009/August/26/Kennedy-health-care-timeline.aspx

August 27th, 2009 at 4:16 am
 103Reply to this comment  

@Cary:

So, in other words, what I posted about Kennedy and his opposition was indeed correct.

Thanks for the affirmation.

August 27th, 2009 at 5:12 am
 104Reply to this comment  

@Aye Chihuahua:

You fact was indeed correct. Your spin as to why… as you say, “not so much”. Nor does it refute the fact that healthcare is a cause he long championed.

You’re welcome.

August 27th, 2009 at 5:19 am
Toothfairy
 105Reply to this comment  

Ace of Spades HQ at http://ace.mu.nu has posted a GQ article written by Michael Kelly in 1990 titled “A Sober Look at Ted Kennedy.” It can be found by scrolling down to the “Overnight Open Thread” section, Item #1.

August 27th, 2009 at 5:24 am
 106Reply to this comment  

@Cary:

Now, you’re arguing your partisan opinion in the face of opposing factual information; making yourself a fool in the process.

Pirouette on.

August 27th, 2009 at 5:33 am
 107Reply to this comment  

@Aye Chihuahua:

Funny, I was just thinking the same about you. Ironic.

August 27th, 2009 at 5:47 am
 108Reply to this comment  

@Cary:

Ummmm….. the difference is that the facts are on my side.

Have a great day at the ball game.

August 27th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Blast
 109Reply to this comment  

Greg: Of course you expressed the same sentiment at those who spoke evil of Tony Snow and Bob Novak when they passed right?

Sure I would. Does two wrongs make a right? I never said anything back about Tony Snow, nor Bob Novak as it relates to their deaths… that would be wrong. If I saw someone say something inappropriate about them, I would say the same thing I did about Sen Kennedy.

Madalyn: Just because he died does not mean we should all at once idolize him.

Ummm… I am not idolizing him. I said I did not know the man… I just find all the vitriol about him on the day of his death, and the day after… just low. very low. Right now it is up to God to make his judgment of Kennedy and your voice is meaningless, outside of showing how low you will go.

August 27th, 2009 at 7:43 am
Real American Patriot
 110Reply to this comment  

For OLDPUPPYMAX:

You are really a sick old puppy if you think Ted or myself are not REAL American Patriots just because of not being a righty!!!
Change my name because YOU want me to? Sorry old dog

August 27th, 2009 at 8:42 am
 111Reply to this comment  

Cary: As I said, we don’t definitively know anything. As you later state, there was no investigation by local authorities, or the FBI, so all you have is an opinion based on how you perceive what you know.

Obviously, Cary, you did not follow the links of the FBI investigation I gave you. The police did do a half hearted investigation, but showed no inclination to pursue a powerful and popular Kennedy family. My opinions happened to be based on police reports and FBI. Therefore, you could not be more wrong.

I personally don’t believe he is guilty of “killing” anyone – perhaps a sexual indiscretion, or even alcohol abuse (which would explain her taking over the driver’s seat), but I don’t believe murder.

Remind me to never be in a car accident with you, where you will abandon me, never calling for help but having the wherewithall to call your political handlers instead.

August 27th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Curt
 112Reply to this comment  

I personally don’t believe he is guilty of “killing” anyone – perhaps a sexual indiscretion, or even alcohol abuse (which would explain her taking over the driver’s seat), but I don’t believe murder.

Unbelievable! Cary excuses the behavior because ole’ Teddy was drunk or maybe in shock. The man never called for help while she was still alive! He walked by houses he could of called for help from as he wandered home. He called politicos to help him get out of the situation, but never for help.

And you excuse this as alcohol abuse or “sexual indiscretion!”

Amazing.

August 27th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Toothfairy
 113Reply to this comment  

Roger Simon noted that Ted Kennedy was 37 on the night of the accident. It’s not as if he was a teenager on prom night who panicked due to youth or inexperience.

August 27th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Madalyn
 114Reply to this comment  

Blast #109 – We would consider ourselves to be ‘low” if we were lying. Just because he dies does not mean we now need to rethink how we feel about him. That would be hypocritical. That I am not. He was not a nice person, and he killed someone and refused to take responsibility for it. In my book that makes him an a**hole. I make a lot of mistakes, and I take responsibility for my actions, and I hope I have made amends to anyne I have hurt by my actions. I try to be a good person. Unfortunately, history has shown that Ted Kennedy relied too much on the name and not enough on the character he should have had. Not my fault. His and his alone. We all need to take responsibility for our actions. Too many politicians are getting passes and not owning up. It needs to stop.
Just my opinion
Madalyn

August 27th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
 115Reply to this comment  

@MataHarley:

Obviously, Cary, you did not follow the links of the FBI investigation I gave you. The police did do a half hearted investigation, but showed no inclination to pursue a powerful and popular Kennedy family. My opinions happened to be based on police reports and FBI. Therefore, you could not be more wrong.

You are correct, Mata, I did not click on your links; because, as I clearly stated in comment #29, I am already familiar with the FBI files you refer to. As for the rest of your comment, you are by definition admitting that you have formed a strong belief based on incomplete facts, which you present as definitive truth.

If you want to pretend that you have a monopoly on truth, and that anyone who may see things differently is somehow mentally or morally defective, fine. It’s your blog.

@Curt:

I thought I was clear that I in no way excuse his choices for how he handled whatever happened that night. Simply that I do not believe he was malicious, nor that he was guilty on level many believe here, that it was a horrible accident which he reacted quite poorly to, and that I admire him for what he’s done in the 40 years since. My position is hardly unique, in spite of your incredulous reaction to it. I understand that the causes he fought for were probably not ones you agreed with. That’s fine. But it is my opinion that he was a great American whose contributions made this country better. Say whatever you want to that, it’s your blog as well.

I’m eager to find out if he mentioned the incident in his soon to be published memoirs.

August 27th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
 116Reply to this comment  

there I am, once again in the filter. This is getting to be funny.

August 27th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Robert Kelly
 117Reply to this comment  

@Cary: Some of my comments get caught in the filter, but if you give it time they will ‘fish’ them out, without you making an additional comment.

August 27th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
 118Reply to this comment  

@Robert Kelly:

Gotcha. Thanks. I was previously told to “raise my hand”, which I took to mean leaving a comment.

August 27th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Curt
 119Reply to this comment  

Simply that I do not believe he was malicious

Nothing at all malicious about walking by houses you could of called for help for and never looking back. Going home, sleeping it off, calling handlers to help him lessen the damage to his reputation.

Naw…nothing malicious about that.

In-freakin-credible.

August 27th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Curt
 120Reply to this comment  

Cary…raise your hand and let us know all you want but snide comments about “this is getting funny” isn’t doing you any favors. Plenty get caught by the filter, they are fished out pretty quickly….deal with it or don’t comment.

August 27th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
 121Reply to this comment  

@Curt:

You know what, Curt? I was doing as I was instructed. Sorry you interpreted my comment as “snide”, but I was honestly amused by it. If you chose to see the worst in me simply because you don’t agree with my views, that’s fine. I noted Roberts comment, thanked him, and intended to follow it. If you don’t want me to comment, just say so.

August 27th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Curt
 122Reply to this comment  

You know what Cary? You were instructed to let us know you were in spam….as most do without:

“Wow this filter doesn’t stop, does it?”

“I’m sure you’re just as frustrated, but it’s like nearly every single comment.”

“Trying to bear with you.”

“I grow weary of this spam filter.”

And when a reader says “Are they trying to tell you something????”

you say “perhaps.”

That’s what I’m tired of. I’ve been trying other spam filters to no avail…they all have problems of some kind or another. I could moderate ALL comments but then no comment will appear immediately, and I would rather not do that. Everyone sooner or later gets caught in spam so all these extraneous comments are not doing you any good and just getting me peeved. Now this:

If you chose to see the worst in me simply because you don’t agree with my views, that’s fine.

So let me get this straight. I’ve told you, along with many others, about the spam problem and said raise your hand when your caught. You come along and make all kinds of extraneous comments about being put in spam including one that says “perhaps” we are doing it on purpose…and the whole reason I got upset is because you and I don’t agree on anything politically?

Give me a break.

Either quit the whining or stop commenting. Your choice….but if you keep it up with all these snide and extraneous comments about the spam filter I will decide for you.

August 27th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
 123Reply to this comment  

@Curt:

Well, Curt – when I leave a comment just saying I’m in the spam filter, I get a notice saying my comment is too short. Not my fault.

As I said, I’m sure you get just as frustrated as I do with it, I also said that I understand. My expressing that frustration is not personal towards you. But when it’s every single comment I leave, and someone suggests it’s personal, how can you blame me for my response? I didn’t bring it up. Aye assured me it wasn’t, and I respectfully took his word for it, and said so. As much as we disagree on nearly everything, I do feel his respect on a personal level, and therefore believe what he tells me in this regard.

Now I’m just told told that I don’t need to leave a comment to be fished out, and agree to go along with that, and you still blast me? I’ve never shown you personal disrespect and have followed the procedure I believed I was told to in regards to the spam filter, so I’m very sorry that my expressions have so offended you.

I’m sure the whole situation must be driving you nuts, and perhaps my comments come off in a tone other than intended. But trust me when I say that I was doing as I thought was asked, and expressing myself non- maliciously.

Still, it’s your blog. If I’m pissing you off for any reason at all, intentionally or not, you’ve every right to ask me to leave. Just say the word, and I’m out.

August 27th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Curt
 124Reply to this comment  

when I leave a comment just saying I’m in the spam filter, I get a notice saying my comment is too short. Not my fault.

Nope…doesn’t happen. I have nothing set to deny short comments and I just tried a comment with “test” only, both logged in and not logged in, and that short comment went through without any warning that the comment was too short.

Now I’m just told told that I don’t need to leave a comment to be fished out, and agree to go along with that, and you still blast me?

I blasted you for your latest unneeded comment about it being funny. I did not “blast” you for agreeing to say nothing.

Last time….quit whining and either do as other do which is “my post is in spam” or don’t comment on being spammed at all….we fish them out. I don’t need anymore explanation about the reasons you put those extraneous comments out. Just quit them.

August 27th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Robert Kelly
 125Reply to this comment  

Back on topic…I still think no matter how much ‘good’ you think this man did, it still doesnt make up for the role he played in killing someone. Raising minimum wages didnt bring her back. Allowing more illegals into this country didnt raise her from the dead. He should have spent time in prison for his part in her death, as any other ‘regular’ American would have. He was not a great American, just a privileged a**hole.

August 27th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
 126Reply to this comment  

Curt, I really don’t want to keep this going, but you just accused me of lying. It happened three times. I’m not perfect, but I’m not a liar.

August 27th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Curt
 127Reply to this comment  

I’m done with you…bye

August 27th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
 128Reply to this comment  

Cary: You are correct, Mata, I did not click on your links; because, as I clearly stated in comment #29, I am already familiar with the FBI files you refer to. As for the rest of your comment, you are by definition admitting that you have formed a strong belief based on incomplete facts, which you present as definitive truth.

Cary, don’t be play acting with reality on me here. First of all, if you are “familiar” with the FBI files, then you will know the the *facts* that I base my opinion on are exactly as I laid out above:

1: He passed several homes (including one 150 yards away from the accident site with a light on) without calling for help, and headed for the party cottage instead to talk to his handlers.

2: They can say they “dove” all they want against the currents, but the maritine reports for the currents say the only currents that would affect their dive were surface currents… which were “slack” that evening

3: He wasn’t too out of it to get his handlers from the cottage, nor did any channel current bother him when he swam to Edgartown and the hotel… where he met witnesses who say he was quite calm and “with it”. In fact, even complaining about a noisy party.

4: He did not call the police until after the car and body had been found the next day. Phone calls are documented multiple times thru the night to political handlers and friends… but no police.

None of these are questionable, and all are found in the FBI report. If that’s all we know about that night… and it isn’t… then I, the jury, say manslaughter.

As I said, I will never ride in a car with you. For if you feel it’s just fine to abandon a passenger (or even the driver) and go take care your own political ass instead of calling for police and emergency aid, I’ll make sure you get charged with manslaughter. Because guess what… your name ain’t Kennedy, and you wouldn’t have a prayer.

August 27th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
 129Reply to this comment  

Hmmmm….Interesting

August 28th, 2009 at 3:54 am
Missy
 130Reply to this comment  

Aye, you finding this was amazing, Kennedy making jokes about the death of Mary Jo is Not amazing at all, downright cold, evil. Never had a high opinion of Kennedy, he discusted me. A drunk, a womanizer, traitor and a partisan hack, the Liar of the Senate.

August 28th, 2009 at 6:22 am

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