Posted on 08/29/2009 8:09:32 PM PDT by kingattax
America will pay for Ted Kennedy's legacy.---
By now almost everyone has weighed in on the legacy of Sen. Ted Kennedy, who passed away this week after a year-long struggle with a cancerous brain tumor. Liberals eulogized that Kennedy's legislative legacy is unquestioned and has now transcended partisan bickering. In their postmortem acclamations, Kennedy was recognized as a larger-than-life senator who charmed his Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle for nearly a half-century, while astutely pushing through legislation aimed at protecting the weaker, the poorer, minorities and the most vulnerable through constant expansion of federal entitlements and civil rights. In his honor, several senators have vowed to enact health care reform in his spirit and his name.
Conservatives acknowledged, even envied, Kennedy's political skills--especially his astounding 47-year Senatorial tenure--and good ol' Irish schmoozing in Senatorial corridors. But they pointed out that Ted Kennedy was wrong on many of the key issues of the last five decades--school busing, the nuclear freeze, welfare reform and the surge. He was left behind not only by the Reagan revolution with its emphasis on smaller government and lower taxes, but also by Clinton's balanced budgets and acknowledgment that the "era of big government is over."
But there was another, less remarked upon legacy of Ted Kennedy that has had effects on the country in general, and the Democratic Party in particular. There had always been a tradition of noblesse oblige among America's blue-blood liberals. But Ted Kennedy redefined the notion of the aristocracy simply helping the poor, and took it to cynical ends in the manner of a Roman tribune. He assumed that almost none of his own humanitarian rhetoric applied to himself, almost as if godly intentions gave him a sort of exemption from moral behavior.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
The “Swimmer’s” only concern was for the morbidly obese, arrogant, cheater, pagan “Swimmer”!!
Thank you, VDH.
bump for later reading.
Hanson once again puts things into proper perspective. Ted’s legacy will live on. Even if Chappaquiddick had never happened, his words about Bork should have been enough to send him to the place of fire. A good and just man, Bork did not deserve to have his name and reputation impugned by that monstrous criminal.
I never liked Teddy. He was always very much the least of the three Kennedy bros. And his sense of political timing was poor (he could have run in ‘68, should not have run in ‘80). Not to mention Chappaquiddick.
Obama’s friend - Bill Ayers - dedicated one of his books to Robert Kennedy’s assassin- Sirhan Sirhan...
47 years of tenure! Doesn’t that say wonders about our voter system! How about broken! That is what comes to my mind...
Actually,
Teddy Kennedy:
Same Olds, same Olds.
*ouch*
[wasn’t he a submariner at some point...besides the Olds, I mean?]....:)
It’s not just Ted Kennedy but the whole family that I find to be quite evil. I am a Catholic of Irish descent and I abhor how they have debased both my religion and my ancestry. It appears that the Pope hasn’t yet made any comment on the death of the Massquatch.
Technically the Kennedys aren’t “Irish”.
They were part of “The Planters” scheme.
Origins;
The Kennedys had their home territory in Carrick in Ayrshire, in southwestern Scotland. Originally they were of Pictish/Norse stock from the Western Isles. In the fifteenth century, one Ulric Kennedy fled Ayrshire to Lochaber in the Highlands for refuge, where he was granted protection under the Chief of Clan Cameron. From this Highland branch, Kennedys settled on the Isle of Skye. A branch also was established in northeast Scotland, at Aberdeen. The clan was one branch of the Celtic Lords of Galloway.
To add to the confusion, there are the Kennedys of nine-county Ulster in the north of Ireland. The Kennedys who settled in Ulster are mostly of Scottish origin from the territories of Galloway and Ayr just across the Irish Sea 20 miles away. Many Scottish Kennedys were planters in Ulster, and many Scots went south to Dublin and mingled with the Irish clan. Because of this confusion, the Scottish Chief of Kennedy is willing to recognize all Kennedys as part of the clan/family.”
Thanks for the info’ Remember the name “Fitzgerald is of Norman-French origin.
*Years* ago I ate, drank and breathed Celtic history and clan genealogy.
I’ve forgotten more than most people know but I still have my collection of old out of print books that would cause riots if they were republished today...:))
I was reading just last week about the Irish slaves in Barbados. However some folks just refuse to believe it.
Folks won’t believe the inhuman treatment they received *here* so why would they care about Barbados?
*My* Irish ancestors came over via the “Cromwell Cruise Lines” as “criminals and political dissidents”.
Valuable slaves were at least fed and tended to, if only marginally and begrudgingly because no one wants to buy diseased/weak/dying workers.
The Irish were tossed into the holds to live or die by the luck of the draw and nobody above board cared.
Years ago, every St Patrick’s Day, PBS used to run the heart wrenching saga of the Irish immigrants’ plight and the abominable abuse they suffered after [if] they got here but that “disappeared” one year to be replaced with lovely images of Ireland.
“No Irish” signs were common and the “hated blacks” were hired over them because the Irish were hated *more* but did they whine?
No.
Some took whatever crappy job they could get, worked hard and eventually came to run Boston.
Others went down the spine of the mighty Appalachians until they found places that looked like “home” and “hillbillies” were born.
If I ever have nothing else to be proud of, I will always be wildly proud of my Celtic hillbilly heritage.
The “politically correct” will always seek to hide inconvenient truths.
Now HERE is something we can all agree on. The guy was huge, no doubt about it.
“Technically, the Kennedys aren’t ‘Irish’”.
Very interesting, Sal. You have great knowlege of Scottish/ Scots-Irish history and background.-
Once in a while I go on “insatiable knowledge binges”....:))
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