Posted on 08/29/2009 8:06:19 AM PDT by AJKauf
Kennedy’s fingerprints are all over the modern welfare state, and beyond that, he has made his mark on the quiet, sometimes desperate lives of the working poor who are better off today because of his advocacy. But there are many more motivations at play in Kennedy’s achievements besides pure altruism — something that would be truly commendable — and only Kennedy and his God can answer to what they were. Because of that, while it can be said that Kennedy’s legislative record is startling in its breadth and depth, you cannot separate a man’s good works from what drove him to work toward those worthy goals in the first place. The petty and the sublime walk hand in hand with the motivations of politicians, always a mix of the crass and the refined.
One might argue that it was simple human decency that drove Ted Kennedy to fight so hard for the poor, but we have ample examples from the rest of Kennedy’s life that would give the lie to that proposition. Decent human beings do not act the way Kennedy acted on the night of July 18, 1969, when Mary Jo Kopechne’s life was cut short by the senator’s cowardly actions and his subsequent lies making a mockery of justice. Decent human beings do not treat with such lewd contempt the numerous women who complained of Kennedy’s harassment over the years. Decent human beings do not literally drive their wives to drink and despair with their philandering ways.
There’s much more, of course, that belongs on the negative side of the Kennedy ledger that even some of his more honest supporters admit....
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
All of his 'accomplishments' have worked to kill the competitivness of American industry or destroy liberty, and promote communisn and socialism.
Quite a legacy.
Being an altruistic multi millionaire socialist is the easiest thing in the world. As long as you are using other people’s money to glorify yourself.
The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.
This country would’ve been a hell of a lot better off if Joseph Kennedy had been sterile
What so bothers me about Kennedy is that in his “benevolent wisdom” he subjected the vast majority of Americans to conditions from which he exempted himself.
For example, his life was little, if any, affected by the progressively higher taxes he supported; his wealth was so great that his lifestyle was left unaffected. Thanks to Teddy, thousands of kids got their first taste of hour plus commutes in elementary school, riding buses five days a week to achieve his goal of integration (a big flop IMO). His kids didnt have their time wasted like this; they went to private school.
He was a huge supporter of the welfare state and illegal immigration. Of course the ill effects never reached his tony neighborhood.
In short, he was the poster boy for liberal hypocrisy. I will remember him as someone who did an inordinate amount of harm in a single lifetime.
“Kennedy’s fingerprints are all over the modern welfare state, and beyond that, he has made his mark on the quiet, sometimes desperate lives of the working poor...”
Fingerprints? Mark? You mean like the fingerprints and mark he made in that near rape situation of that waitress—the Kennedy/Dodd sandwich? You mean like those kind of marks left on the quiet and desperate working poor people?
Wake up!! His commie handlers drove him.
He was very good at killing babies, giving away other peoples money, and lighting the load of the lazy while burdening the more productive Americans.
America will be a lot better off without him.
.. yes the working poor were often his mark.
César Chávez's grape boycott was of course supported by Senator Kennedy -- If I recall correctly Kennedy and company traveled to the west coast to speak.. but at the expense of the poorly paid farm workers.
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