Kind of saw this coming when he himself was looking for replacements who wouldn't waffle on the healthcare vote. While some are rosy-eyed about this, feeling that Kennedy's passing will rouse some blue dogs from slumber in order to finally "win one for OUR Gipper", my negative attitude trounces optimism. Whoever takes Kennedy's place will be looking to fill that seat for a long, long time and is not likely to make waves.
Hence, do not be surprised if The Lion is replaced by the bluest blue dog yet seen.
SeagirlX
· 3 months ago
R.I.P. Teddy. You are sorely missed.
BobCashill
· 3 months ago
He was good, now he's...
Never mind. I can't shake the past. This is a worthy epitaph. RIP.
Name
· 3 months ago
Ted Kennedy made a deal with the Left and with himself:
To himself: "I can continue to think of myself as a good person, despite my behavior, as long as I keep thundering about the little guy who I care for so much"
To the Left: "You guys look the other way and protect me from any and all accountability and, in return, I'll vote for anything you want"
There was nothing brave about Ted Kennedy. Name once when he truly faced a real crisis head on. The kind of crisis that could ruin a man financially and/or his career.
That, in fact, did happen once and he left a woman to die, running off into the night, only concerned for his own skin and retaining his seat. That one event said it all. Let's not pretend he was ever truly courageous.
He never redeemed himself because he never took responsibility for that tragedy or anything else he ever did. Instead he, and his protectors, wrote them off as just 'mistakes that anyone could make'.
If you agreed with his politics, fine. But he possessed none of the qualities a real hero has. He was just a rich guy who got away with things that would've meant prison or disgrace for anyone else. Instead he was praised to the heavens. It's no wonder people are so cynical about politicians.
kshane
· 3 months ago
Brave? Here you go Mr. Anonymous:
1. Survived a plane crash in 1964, and spent six months in the hospital recovering from his severe injuries.
2. Endured the death of his brother Jack at the hands of assassins in 1963.
3. Endured the death of his brother Bobby at the hands of assassins in 1968, after which he became the patriarch of his extended family, and father to his brother's children.
Those are just three examples. I guess if you're going to write stupid things, you're better off staying anonymous. How ironic that you question someone else's bravery when you don't even have the courage to post under your own name.
JonCummings
· 3 months ago
My point was that Kennedy was tremendously brave to overcome his own career-damaging mistakes (Chappaquiddick, the terribly executed run at the presidency in '80) and become such an extraordinary legislator in his later years.
However, to name one event that required some major cojones: Just a few hours after Reagan appointed Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, Kennedy flew in the face of (then) Senate tradition and gave a major speech decrying what life would be like in "Robert Bork's America." He had the courage to call Bork out as an extremist at a moment when the "proper" thing to do was to observe decorum and stay quiet until the nomination proceeded into the Judiciary Committee. Kennedy defined the entire Bork debate with that move.
As for anonymity, courage and character...to be unable to see anything beyond Chappaquiddick in the immediate wake of Ted Kennedy's death says a hell of a lot more about "Name" than it does about Ted.
annielogue
· 3 months ago
The interesting people are the complicated ones. As a character, John Edwards is boring: poor guy gets rich, his child dies tragically, he thinks the world owes him everything. Or Jimmy Carter: upstanding religious man tries to do good, finds that he can't if he does not compromise, and he won't compromise. Neither is complicated, so neither will be legendary. Ted Kennedy, though, is such a mixture of good and bad that he will live on.
Ashton
· 3 months ago
I find it funny how liberals like the author diminish an inicident like Chappaquiddick by simply calling it a "blunder". So, it's just a blunder when the coward Ted Kennedy let's a woman die underwater? I'm also puzzled why the Reagan (greatest president of my lifetime) presidency is called a "dark time"?
JonCummings
· 3 months ago
There is no excuse for Kennedy's behavior after he drove that car off the bridge. It was stupid, pathetic and negligent to the point of criminality.
It was not, however, the only event in Ted Kennedy's 77-year life -- a fact that apparently comes as a surprise to you and other dunderheads like you (I won't put a political label on you, because all the Republicans who ever worked with Kennedy are embarrassed by you). You may use it all you want, you may focus on it exclusively as the full measure of the man...but as I said about Name(less) above, doing so says a lot more about you than it does about Ted.
The Reagan presidency surely was a "dark time" for the cause of health care availability, primarily because the issue wasn't even on the agenda. If history indeed decides to record Reagan as the "greatest" president of the last 40 years, it will only be because the bar is extraordinarily low.
Ashton
· 3 months ago
No need to resort to namecalling Jon (Dunderhead.....that's a good one). I guess being offended by being called a liberal touched a raw nerve.
JonCummings
· 3 months ago
Oh, for crying out loud. How pathetic are you? I am a liberal. I am proud as hell to be a liberal. You could do nothing that honors me more (particularly in comparison with yourself) than to call me a liberal.
You don't have a prayer of touching a nerve. It's cute that you think you do.
All Comments
Hence, do not be surprised if The Lion is replaced by the bluest blue dog yet seen.
Never mind. I can't shake the past. This is a worthy epitaph. RIP.
To himself: "I can continue to think of myself as a good person, despite my behavior, as long as I keep thundering about the little guy who I care for so much"
To the Left: "You guys look the other way and protect me from any and all accountability and, in return, I'll vote for anything you want"
There was nothing brave about Ted Kennedy. Name once when he truly faced a real crisis head on. The kind of crisis that could ruin a man financially and/or his career.
That, in fact, did happen once and he left a woman to die, running off into the night, only concerned for his own skin and retaining his seat. That one event said it all. Let's not pretend he was ever truly courageous.
He never redeemed himself because he never took responsibility for that tragedy or anything else he ever did. Instead he, and his protectors, wrote them off as just 'mistakes that anyone could make'.
If you agreed with his politics, fine. But he possessed none of the qualities a real hero has. He was just a rich guy who got away with things that would've meant prison or disgrace for anyone else. Instead he was praised to the heavens. It's no wonder people are so cynical about politicians.
1. Survived a plane crash in 1964, and spent six months in the hospital recovering from his severe injuries.
2. Endured the death of his brother Jack at the hands of assassins in 1963.
3. Endured the death of his brother Bobby at the hands of assassins in 1968, after which he became the patriarch of his extended family, and father to his brother's children.
Those are just three examples. I guess if you're going to write stupid things, you're better off staying anonymous. How ironic that you question someone else's bravery when you don't even have the courage to post under your own name.
However, to name one event that required some major cojones: Just a few hours after Reagan appointed Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, Kennedy flew in the face of (then) Senate tradition and gave a major speech decrying what life would be like in "Robert Bork's America." He had the courage to call Bork out as an extremist at a moment when the "proper" thing to do was to observe decorum and stay quiet until the nomination proceeded into the Judiciary Committee. Kennedy defined the entire Bork debate with that move.
As for anonymity, courage and character...to be unable to see anything beyond Chappaquiddick in the immediate wake of Ted Kennedy's death says a hell of a lot more about "Name" than it does about Ted.
It was not, however, the only event in Ted Kennedy's 77-year life -- a fact that apparently comes as a surprise to you and other dunderheads like you (I won't put a political label on you, because all the Republicans who ever worked with Kennedy are embarrassed by you). You may use it all you want, you may focus on it exclusively as the full measure of the man...but as I said about Name(less) above, doing so says a lot more about you than it does about Ted.
The Reagan presidency surely was a "dark time" for the cause of health care availability, primarily because the issue wasn't even on the agenda. If history indeed decides to record Reagan as the "greatest" president of the last 40 years, it will only be because the bar is extraordinarily low.
You don't have a prayer of touching a nerve. It's cute that you think you do.