In 1968 I was living in West Berlin as an Air Force wife, pregnant with my son. The Viet Nam War was in full swing, there were troops in the streets of DC, riots on almost all campuses, and the cities of Europe were in turmoil. The democrats were about to nominate Hubert Humprhrey, who had supported Lyndon Johnson's conduct of the war.
Robert F. Kennedy, only 5 years removed from his brother's assassination, stepped forward to make a run for the presidency. Was he a less than perfect person? Certainly. However, in those times, no one knew about any of this...they only knew that the brother of the slain president was running. It was electrifying, and I firmly believe he would have won the nomination if he hadn't been slain, and would no doubt have won the presidency as well. When the news of his assassination reached Berlin, the street in fron of my apartment, Martin Luther Strasse, filled with a hundred thousand people marching to John F. Kennedy Platz, tears streaming down their faces.
Now, years later, we know that he wasn't the golden boy the press portrayed. But the general public, particularly those my age, do not remember anything about him except a promise that was never fulfilled. Bill O'Reilly lists him as his most admired politician.
Now, given this background, and understanding that President Bush is my age, NOT yours, I can full well understand why he would grant this favor to pathetic Ted Kennedy, who has never fulfilled the promise of the Kennedy dream. It is a kindness to an old man, it does no one any harm, and if some people choose to admire the mythical version of Robert Kennedy, well, there are worse things.
Perhaps you will now understand why President Bush is doing this, and why Larry's rant is without merit and in fact is ludicrous.
Oh, yeah, and I guess that I forgot that you were the type to parrot the "I'm older and wiser than you, therefore in the world according to myself, my opinion supercedes yours." Glad to see that you understand the psyche behind George W. Bush's political moves and his mode of compassionate capitulation. Well, I guess we can all say that the world is now a better place because in the world of FreeRepublic, everyone is older and wiser than the stupid college student.