Why Boston backed Teddy (Why did Ted Kennedy win the Senate Eight times?)

MSNBC ^ | 8/27/2009 | Miake Taibbi

[SeekAndFind]

After Ted Kennedy was elected for the first time, at age 30, his home state sent him back to the Senate eight times, all but once by unassailable margins.

Here in Massachusetts, people understood him and wanted him on their side – and it wasn't just because of his the name.

It was the accent that was as much Boston as Brahmin. It was his collection of imperfections and failings trumped most of the time by his stubbornness, real passion and just plain will.

And there was something else about him that made him an untouchable here: He came from a patrician family that often, as an entity, angered people but he was the one that plain people seemed to be able – and eager – to relate to.

There are a lot of stories about his "everyman" qualities being told around Hyannis, where he was often just another guy in the produce aisle. But he carried that accessibility everywhere.

Jimmy Sullivan, the co-manager and bartender at the Union Oyster House, a landmark restaurant in the center of Boston, explained how Kennedy exuded those qualities whenever he came in over the years – often by himself.

"You sit at the Oyster Bar and you can't help but be a regular guy," said Sullivan. "You're sitting face to face and back to back with all the regular people. He used to come in all the time…For a guy who came from wealth, he had a genuine soft spot for the working guy."

It was part of his political skills. I've seen it, as has any reporter who covered him. He would look someone he was just meeting right in the eye, wordlessly repeat the person's name, and remember it later.

[SeekAndFind]

I note the following statement in the article :

It was a quality Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., a long time Kennedy friend and colleague, said made him a "master political craftsman."
Delahunt described Kennedy as being the "kind of guy with 10,000 friends," but he said that he was also the "most generous politician" he knew.

IT IS EASY TO BE CALLED GENEROUS WHEN YOU'RE SPENDING OTHER PEOPLE's MONEY ! 'NUFF SAID.

[b4its2late]

These people are blind, stupid and willing to buy snakeoil no doubt.

[svcw]

To the headline: because people in MA are idiots.

[Paladin2]

So, who did Teddy leave his wealth to???

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Will the current Mrs. K., Victoria Reggie Kennedy, get to ‘stay’ at the Compound for as long as she likes? Or is someone out there right now, changing the locks and alarm codes?

[Paladin2]

Maybe someone is putting up windmills just offshore as we speak.

[kaehurowing]

His family wealth bought him the seat and he sat there like a toad for the rest of his life.

[N. Theknow]

I asked someone in Mass why they kept sending that POS back to the Senate and his answer was, "Well, if a Senator's job is to bring recognition to his state, then he does a pretty good job."

I replied, "If that is what a Senator's job is, then Illinois should run John Wayne Gacy for office?"

[TheBattman]

Why is the song: I can bring home the bacon, and fry it up in a pan, and never, never, ever forget your a man... cause I’m a...”

Come to mind?

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Yes...as yet ANOTHER honor to the MEMORY of the LION of LIBERALISM...what better ‘green’ memorial than windmills. Dozens and dozens of TeddyTurbines off the Hyannis shore line.

[GOYAKLA]

Just maybe Bill Mauer was right, on Conan’s show, when he said people in the US are “STOOPID”. It only takes Mass. to prove it! Kennedys, Kerry, Romney, Franks and many, many others.

[angkor]

There are a lot of stories about his "everyman" qualities being told around Hyannis, where he was often just another guy in the produce aisle.

A friend once spotted him in some dive bar in Hyannis, drinking Jameson from a tumbler and dunking Chips Ahoy from the bag he'd set on the bar. Just like any other guy in the produce aisle. There was another story about the Hyannis PD driving him home in a stupor one night, I don't recall the details.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

A “favored son” can do no wrong. He can even kill a girl and suffer no consequences.

[TV Dinners]

Teddy and Massholes are THE perfect example as to why we need term limits.

[albie]

“Here in Massachusetts, people understood him and wanted him on their side”

...I guess they “understood” that murder is sometimes necessary.

[hinckley buzzard]

I knew people from Hyannis when I lived up East. They told me that no Kennedy ever paid a bill for services rendered, whether a doctor or a barber.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Mike Taibbi. The name is well known in these parts.
Former Boston Channel 5 reporter and long time Kennedy apologist.

Where's the Barf Alert?

[Ole Okie]

Dozens and dozens of TeddyTurbines off the Hyannis shore line.

Hey! And offshore structures visible from the Compound containing square mile after square mile of TeddySolarPanels.

[AmericanVictory]

As one who had to do battle with them, they are exactly like Ci-cago, corrupt, bribing, vicious and absolutely without any morals or scruples.

[CottShop]

[[(Why did Ted Kennedy win the Senate Eight times?)]]

Because people with bent over noses stood around the polling places insuring that everyone voted for him? Either that, or there’s soemthign awful in the drinking water in Mass to cause mass mentality