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Getting Mean and Distinctly Ugly (Free Republic Dissed as 'Chappaquiddick-Type people')
The Ottawa Citizen ^ | Friday, August 28, 2009 | Janice Kennedy

Posted on 08/29/2009 2:01:07 PM PDT by kristinn

Two kinds of people reacted to news of Ted Kennedy’s death last week. The first — not all liberals, either — spoke of Kennedy’s hard work in the United States Senate, his dream of universal healthcare, his commitment to working people, civil rights and equality.

This “most imperfect man,” wrote analyst William Bradley, was also a powerful advocate for progressive principles. Barack Obama predictably (though accurately) observed that “for America, he was a defender of a dream.” In another variation on the visionary theme, Joe Biden said of his old friend, “He was never small.”

The other kind of reaction to Kennedy’s death could be summed up in one word: “Chappaquiddick.”

Not “vision” or “health-care reform,” not “peacemaking” or even “Camelot.” Just the controversial 40-year-old event, the ugliest single moment from the late senator’s 77 years on Earth, nearly 47 of them in public service. The small souls who spend their days hanging out in discussion forums at Free Republic, one of the U.S ultra-right’s more popular online homes, greeted news of Kennedy’s death characteristically, flinging around words like “traitor,” “coward,” “disgrace”— and, yes, references to the 1969 event. Chappaquiddick minds in a narrow, ungenerous world.

But the Chappaquiddick faction is not limited to either the United States or the senior senator from Massachusetts. It’s a state of mind, a summation of everything that is small and cribbed and contemptible — not unlike the sour (and embarrassing) one-line statement of perfunctory condolence on Wednesday from our own prime minister.

Chappaquiddick-type people possess a meanness of spirit that goes beyond simple politics. They’re responsible for a creeping diminution of vision and values. In Canada, which used to appreciate largeness of soul, they even have a government platform, thanks to Stephen Harper and company.

Consider the dramatic case of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr, picked up by the U.S. military in Afghanistan at 15, or child-soldier age. When Harper’s government announced last week it would appeal — again — a ruling that it demand the Canadian-born Khadr’s repatriation, lawyer Dennis Edney said he wasn’t surprised. “We are used to this mean-spirited approach.”

But this government’s disgraceful stand on Khadr — the only Western detainee still in Guantanamo — is just part of it. The limited worldview, the impulse toward whatever is most ungenerous, is how it operates.

SNIP


TOPICS: Canada; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: chappaquiddick; drunkenfeloniouslout; freerepublic; maryjosmurderer; nowaitresssandwich4u; swimmer; tedkennedy
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To: RavenATB

“He was never small.” No, he never was, ASK THE WAITRESS in the middle of the SANDWICH!


161 posted on 08/29/2009 3:11:06 PM PDT by outhousepatrol
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To: FreeReign
She has that ugly-stick liberal look.

And I'm not talking about basic physical attractiveness. I am talking about the soulless eyes and the brain-dead demeanor that comes from a lifetime of crafting moral equivalence and twisting logic into knots.

162 posted on 08/29/2009 3:11:10 PM PDT by dirtboy
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To: pieceofthepuzzle
First of all, where were these comments when the left was making their disgusting comments about Reagan and Alzheimer’s, or Charleston Heston, or when Letterman made those comments about Sarah Palin’s daughter, or when they made egregious comments about how America brought 911 on itself?

Janice Kennedy has made some comments of her own about Sarah Palin calling her regrettable, dumb, dimwitted, Machiavellian, dishonest, malicious, ruthless, a megalomaniac and explosive of her family.

Janice Kennedy says there are two types of people who like Palin:

link

Janice Kennedy objects to Freepers criticizing Ted Kennedy, but she has no problems trashing people that she disagrees with.

Janice Kennedy I think sounds like a hypocrite and a dumb-ass.

163 posted on 08/29/2009 3:11:43 PM PDT by FreeReign
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To: kristinn

The diver, John Farrar, later testified at the inquest that Kopechne’s body was pressed up in the car in the spot where an air bubble would have formed. He interpreted this to mean that Kopechne had survived for a while after the initial accident in the air bubble, and concluded that “had I received a call within five to ten minutes of the accident occurring, and was able, as I was the following morning, to be at the victim’s side within twenty-five minutes of receiving the call, in such event there is a strong possibility that she would have been alive on removal from the submerged car.”

Yeah, principles alright. Let’s not forget the floorboard that was damaged in her attempt to get out while the revered senator slept it off.


164 posted on 08/29/2009 3:12:30 PM PDT by TxAnn56
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To: All
Well, Janice?
 
We know you are lurking. Would you like to discuss the subject?
 
Perhaps you're afraid you would lose the debate?
 
Do you stand behind your words, or not?
 
 

165 posted on 08/29/2009 3:13:04 PM PDT by fanfan (Why did they bury Barry's past?)
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To: kristinn
Here's what she really thinks of us and our small souls from another column

"I should explain that, for ease of discussion, the two "sides" I'm referring to on the ultraright -- the Palin dumbness lovers and the Palin shrewdness lovers -- are actually stereotypes. Type One is the sweaty-faced, beer-swilling redneck in a pickup (complete with mounted gun rack), nostalgic for the greatness of the U.S. of A. before they let all the damned foreigners in. He's a good ol' boy, his female counterpart a Tammy Wynette variation on same.

The other ultraright stereotype -- and you can't imagine both in the same room, though they do cast the same ballots -- is his social antithesis. Type Two is the educated, scotch-drinking (single malt), well-to-do promoter of the free market and the closed mind, a man who prizes his own freedom and sneers at efforts by the drooling masses -- the unchosen -- to achieve that same freedom. Politically, he secures his spot at the table of privilege by playing to the fears and ignorance of Type One. There's a touch of Newt Gingrich about him, and his female counterpart is the woman who can reproduce Ann Coulter's trademark smirk.

166 posted on 08/29/2009 3:13:06 PM PDT by 1000 silverlings (everything that deceives, also enchants: Plato)
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To: kristinn

Hitler was for Universal Health Care too.


167 posted on 08/29/2009 3:14:57 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dragonblustar
Where was this journalist witch when Palin and her family were being smeared?

The "journalist" witch was part of the smearing of Palin.

168 posted on 08/29/2009 3:15:05 PM PDT by FreeReign
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To: kristinn

Mean Spirited? I wrote an Ode to Teddy Kennedy, last night.

Ode to Teddy Kennedy
by parsifal of Free Republic

Hail to thee, O Tedster !
Heir and wealthy scion.
If thou couldst not win a race,
Thy family wouldst buy one.

Some might deem thee pantywaist.
Things are not as they seem.
Thou went to Harvard and Thou playst
Upon the football team.

Thou hadst a little trouble
With a foreign language lexicon
Thou hadst a friend go take the test.
(Thou could never could speak Mexican.)

Harvard, it didst chunk Thee out
And tho Thou parted friends.
Harvard would not let Thee back
Until Thou made amends.

Nineteen fifty one it was,
The Army it didst need Thee.
Thou enlisted and Thou served
And got out in fifty three.

Back to Harvard, Thou didst go,
And got Thee re-admitted
Thou did not cheat like once before
Thou fought and never quitted.

It was the day of the Big Game
Harvard versus Yale class
While Yale won by two touchdowns
Thou caught a touchdown pass!

The Green Bay Packers wanted Thou.
The scout, he had a feeling.
Thou turned them down and toldest them
Law School was more appealing.

From that point on, thy course was set
Fie Football! Up with Rhetoric!
Thus Thou ran for Senator
And never left the Politic.

The “Road Not Taken” sure applies.
We wouldst not curse thy name.
If instead of Senator, Thou wert
In the Football Hall of Fame.

parsy, who knows this is the third time he has put this in a thread, but I was proud of finding a rhyme for “lexicon”


169 posted on 08/29/2009 3:16:51 PM PDT by parsifal (Dare I mention the term common sense? Book of Vinnie - Chapter 58 Verse 1 (The Boomer Bible))
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To: kristinn
“Chappaquiddick minds in a narrow, ungenerous world. “

Maybe that has something to do with Ted never expressing remorse.

Or, get this; (a very conservative idea) not taking accountability for a terrible wrong that he committed.

Yes we are very narrow minded. Character should matter in a United States Senator.

Leaving a a young woman to die ( and not even making a freaking phone call to save her????!!!!???) seems to us a very bad thing.

Had Ted apologized for Mary Jo's death, and tried to help her at the accident; I would guess most of us would have a very different opinion of him.

But Chappaquiddick can't just be “forgotten” because he is a Kennedy.

170 posted on 08/29/2009 3:17:12 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (Just say no to Soylent Green health care)
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To: kristinn
Bio: Mary Jo Kopechne
171 posted on 08/29/2009 3:17:58 PM PDT by fanfan (Why did they bury Barry's past?)
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To: parsifal

Bravo!


172 posted on 08/29/2009 3:18:23 PM PDT by 1000 silverlings (everything that deceives, also enchants: Plato)
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To: HereInTheHeartland
Had Ted apologized for Mary Jo's death, and tried to help her at the accident; I would guess most of us would have a very different opinion of him.

Not I.

173 posted on 08/29/2009 3:18:30 PM PDT by ColdWater
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To: kristinn; NicknamedBob
The mean and distinctly ugly North Carolina State Forum has produced this limerick in a cooperative effort:

There once was a Senator from Nantucket
If he had liposuction, they’d need a big bucket
Chappaquidick, Waitress Sandwich, and a dog named Splash
Corrupt to the core, his gills stuffed with cash
When he croaked, most of the nation said “_ _ _ _ it”

(I composed the second line)

174 posted on 08/29/2009 3:20:37 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("Much of political rhetoric serves as a substitute for reasoning." ~Thomas Sowell)
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To: central_va
"...Nearly half of all vehicular homicides in MA are alcohol related ..."

Far be it for me to defend anything about Massachusetts in this environment, but is that really any different ANYWHERE else? We are only a little higher than Virgina in these 2006 statistics...

Drinking and driving fatalities by state in 2006 (ranked by highest number of alcohol related deaths):

State
Total Fatalities

Alcohol-Related Fatalities

Number
Percent
3,466
1,544
45%
4,229
1,509
36%
3,363
1,111
33%
1,517
556
37%
1,254
540
43%
1,688
539
32%
1,280
502
39%
1,558
490
31%
1,454
483
33%
1,286
478
37%
1,037
477
46%
1,087
469
43%
1,235
451
37%
1,206
445
37%
982
425
43%
1,081
390
36%
911
358
39%
722
352
49%
961
347
36%
896
290
32%
771
285
37%
630
269
43%
913
257
28%
665
245
37%
765
243
32%
651
235
36%
533
207
39%
477
177
37%
493
175
36%
432
168
39%
466
162
35%
422
159
38%
484
155
32%
408
155
38%
439
142
32%
301
121
40%
255
114
45%
267
102
38%
266
86
32%
191
78
41%
195
78
40%
160
77
48%
188
70
37%
284
63
22%
127
51
40%
148
50
34%
111
47
42%
81
37
46%
86
28
33%
73
23
31%
37
14
36%
National
42,532
15,829
37%
507
176
35%

175 posted on 08/29/2009 3:20:50 PM PDT by rlmorel (Mary Jo Kopechne is now available for comment.-August 26, 2009)
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To: RavenATB

According to the website...
Ms. Kennedy’s Email

4janicekennedy@gmail.com


176 posted on 08/29/2009 3:23:12 PM PDT by Eddie01
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To: saganite

“Your post reminded me of the album by Toby Keith. White Trash With Money. That perfectly summed up Teddy.”

You are right that fits him well.


177 posted on 08/29/2009 3:24:00 PM PDT by Cheetahcat (Zero the Wright kind of Racist! We are in a state of War with Democrats)
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To: Minus_The_Bear
Lol. I guess it is worse to mention that the man was a murderer than to be an actual murderer.

Yes, to mention that Ted was a murderer makes one a murderer-type, using the Janice Kennedy characterization.

178 posted on 08/29/2009 3:26:10 PM PDT by FreeReign
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To: nonliberal
“Kennedy has never had a job. He was a parasite who lived off the taxpayers and daddy’s money.”

The worst of the worst he destroyed this country's immigration system and lowered the entire quality of life here for real Americans who have shed Blood sweat and tears for this place

179 posted on 08/29/2009 3:27:33 PM PDT by Cheetahcat (Zero the Wright kind of Racist! We are in a state of War with Democrats)
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To: Fudd Fan
To any rational mind, “Chappaquiddick-types” should mean people who run other people into a pond and leave them to die because they matter little when self-preservation is at stake. If this idiot thinks we who would hold those types accountable are “mean,” well then I’ll wear it proudly. “What a maroon.”

Yup, we are the “Chappaquiddick-types” to this twisted idiot.

180 posted on 08/29/2009 3:28:22 PM PDT by FreeReign
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