Posted on 08/26/2009 9:18:28 AM PDT by AJKauf
I am deeply grateful for the contribution that Ted Kennedy, who died last night, made to my education. Until Kennedy delivered his intemperate tirade against Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court in the summer of 1987, I hadn’t known that a United States Senator could brazenly lie to his colleagues and the American people and get away with it. I’m not talking about little fibs, or broken promises, or private dissimulations: all that I took as standard operating procedure in a fallen world. No, Ted Kennedy raised — that is to say, he dramatically lowered — the standard by standing up on the floor of the Senate and emitting one lie after the next against one of the finest legal minds America has ever produced.
But of course, Ted Kennedy’s most important lesson for the world involved Mary Jo Kopechne, the secretary he let drown in 1969 when he drove his car off a bridge at Chappaquiddick Island late at night after a party. Kennedy said he endeavored to rescue the girl. Maybe. But what we know he did was contact several aides to work out a story. He waited until after the police discovered the car and Kopechne’s body the next morning before informing the police about the incident. He received a two-month suspended sentence for leaving the scene of an accident after causing an injury. Wikipedia calmly notes that “Questions remained about Kennedy’s time line of events that night, about his actions after the accident, and the quality of the investigation and whether official deference was given to a powerful politician and family.” Do you think, just possibly, that unusual deference was shown to Ted Kennedy?...
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
This is his ugly legacy.
Here’s another part of his legacy: Ted Kennedy chose to pursue all possible treatment options in order to maintain his life. No “end of life” counselling with gov’t bureaucrats, no “take a pill” alternatives.
The same choices he would deny to others.
Yahoo actually referred to him as “the most important Kennedy”... are you kidding me??? He was the most evil Kennedy... my thoughts are with the Kopechne (sp?) at this time, I’m sure they are finally finding some closure.
What Fat Teddy said regarding Mr. Bork:
Kennedy’s smear of Judge Bork on the US Senator floor:
“Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is — and is often the only — protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy....”
Neah. Teddy didn’t hold a candle to his dad. But he was worse than his brothers.
Health care for
All (including Aliens)
Regardless of
Deficits
White
House
Inspired
Senator Ted
Kennedy Memorial
Insurance
Enrollment
Scheme
Don't drink and drive?
Wonder how God feels about that one?
sw
Another lesson:
You can assuage your guilt over inheriting your wealth instead of earning it
without cramping your lifestyle in the least
by endorsing the use of the threat of deadly force through the State to take
the wealth of others to “help the poor”.
Brother Jack’s grave has the eternal flame. I don’t know about Bobby’s grave. I’m wondering what they will do for Teddy’s grave. Maybe have a fountain with Chivas Regal flowing?
A breathtaking congeries of falsehoods that, were they not protected by the prerogatives of senatorial privilege, would have taken a conspicuous place in the annals of malicious slander and character assassination. In The Tempting of America, Judge Bork recounts his incredulity at this tissue of malign fabrication. “It had simply never occurred to me that anybody could misrepresent my career and views as Kennedy did.” At the time, he notes, many people thought that Kennedy had blundered by emitting so flagrant, and flagrantly untrue, an attack. They were wrong. His “calculated personal assault, . . . more violent than any against a judicial nominee in our country’s history,” did the job (with a little help from Joe Biden and Arlen Specter). Not only was Kennedy instrumental in preventing a great jurist from taking his place on the Supreme Court, he also contributed immeasurably to the cheapening of American political discourse. The fact that “bork” has entered the language as a transitive verb is, I’ve always thought, a final unfairness. Really, the verb should involve the name “Kennedy.” Less staccato, I admit, but in that scenario, the malfeasance was practiced not by Robert Bork but Edward Kennedy and his cronies.
Bookended by killing Mary Jo and working with Soviet Union KGB thug Andropov against Reagan.
The lessons I learned from him:
1) If I had a father who was corrupt, venal, and a felon, I can inherit lots of money.
2) I can use that dough to purchase a place at Harvard, cheat my way through, and retake the bar enough times to pass.
3) I can use that dough to purchase a senate seat.
4) I can use that dough to cover up a felony.
5) But - I can use other people’s dough to pretend that I’m compassionate. Other people’s dough, not mine.
He is the most important in the sense he was able to inflict 47 years of serious damage on the american people. Damage we’re going to be living with for a very long time.
“Socialism hasn’t worked in 6000 years of recorded history because it didn’t have me to run it.” - Ted Kennedy
I've always assumed that the long delay before Ted notified the authorities was to allow his blood alcohol level to drop down so he couldn't be charged with drunk driving. Of course no one who wasn't at the party knows for sure, but that's the only hypothesis that accounts for Ted's behavior.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.