Posted on 04/01/2015 9:27:09 AM PDT by Kaslin
Editor's note: This column was co-authored by Tim Graham.
Imagine an eighth grader, presented with a portrayal of Sen. Edward Kennedy, the late patriarch of the "royal family" of American politics. The student would learn nothing but legends about "the greatest senator of all time," as Sen. Ed Markey proclaimed.
On the occasion of the opening of an "Edward M. Kennedy Institute" in Boston, "CBS Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley oozed, "Another New England superstar was honored today. Politics was his game, and we'll have his story next." There was not one discouraging word -- not even the word "liberal" -- applied to arguably the single most leftwing senator of all time.
This is not a bipartisan practice. When President George W. Bush dedicated his library on April 25, 2013, CBS reporter Jim Axelrod insisted that "this library is an intellectual fortress defending one of the most controversial modern presidents, whose time in office saw the (9/11) attack on the U.S., two wars and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression."
The whitewash was so complete that even "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace barked up the carnival: "Up next, our Power Player of the Week: Vicki Kennedy, on her husband's vision to inspire new generations about the U.S. Senate." Wallace noted that Teddy was fiercely partisan, and the second Mrs. Kennedy replied, "He was the proudest Democrat that there was, but the great thing about Teddy was that he always listened to the other side and worked so well with the other side."
Except he didn't. Let us recall his vicious "Robert Bork's America" speech in 1987, when he stated, "Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists would be censored at the whim of government."
But NBC brought on his son Patrick Kennedy to proclaim, "My dad was always an optimist. I mean, having overcome so many of his own personal challenges and political challenges -- I mean, this was a guy that everyone loved. Why? Because he persevered."
One might expect Teddy's politician son to spin things this way, but it doesn't mean the hyperbole should go unchallenged by a discerning press. "A guy that everyone loved?" The 1970s, 1980s and 1990s would beg to differ.
In these "superstar" tributes, there was no talk of womanizing, before and after the senator got divorced from Joan Kennedy in 1982. Gearing up for Kennedy's presidential run in 1979, Time magazine ran a piece titled "Sex and the Senior Senator." They wrote, "The mere mention of Edward Kennedy's social life is enough to make an editor's head throb." They lamented out loud about how to handle the topic, concluding with a D.C. dinner party where "14 talented and interesting men and women talked of nothing but (Kennedy's) sexual activities."
But now? Sen. John McCain announced on "Face the Nation" on CBS that Kennedy was a man of his word (and his vows?): "Ted always kept his word. The only times I saw him angry was when somebody didn't keep their word to him." At the opening ceremonies, President Barack Obama shamelessly asked, "What if we carried ourselves more like Ted Kennedy? What if we worked to follow his example a little bit harder?"
Does this involve his driving habits? Oh, that.
The double standard also happened in newspapers. With Bush in 2013, New York Times reporter Peter Baker gave Bush-bashers their due, writing, "While critics have fumed about what they called the whitewashing of his record in the media blitz leading up to the library dedication, many Americans have been reminded about aspects of Bush they once liked."
But the Times published two gush-filled articles on Teddy, without a single mention of a Kennedy critic. Reporter Carl Hulse wrote, "Members of the (Kennedy) institute's staff said it was not too late for younger Americans to learn how to tolerate an opposing point of view."
But is it too late for journalists to learn journalism?
I was only 2 when he was murdered. But somehow, I seem to remember it. Or maybe the “feeling” of it - the heavy emotion that surrounded it, perhaps.
I don’t think you can really remember anything at two years old... only the echoes of events.
I was 15, and only a few blocks away. Seems like yesterday.
Wow, you were there?
Must have been extremely disturbing. He was a popular President.
Completely self-centered and bought by the Kennedy family to rehabilitate and change the true history about the fat-slob, disgraceful, drunken-driver killer.
Man, I need to read more carefully, or get more coffee. I was on Cape Cod when Ted killed Mary Jo.
The Ted Kennedy memorial should be a gas station urinal.
He was popular post mortem. One of the reasons he was in Dallas was to try to shore up his sinking poll numbers. You have to read the papers and editorials before his demise.
He was never anything but rich white trash
Ha! I was talking about JFK... thought you meant you were in Dallas, and a few blocks away when he was assasinated...
Interesting...
It always “seemed” like he was well-liked.
Sinking poll numbers due to Bay of Pigs? Cuban Missile Crisis???
Time to release the censored details of Chappaquiddick.
The media loved him, so of course.
If he had lived, Barry Goldwater might have made him a one-termer. LBJ won in a blowout because of the JFK halo effect. You will note that when Johnson had to run on his own record, he forfeited and left Hubert holding the bag.
Perhaps his greatest accomplishment was getting away with manslaughter.
Teddy Kennedy: Lion of the Senate (Childhood of Famous Americans)
Ed Markey just dissed Hillary and Barack, both of whom think of themselves as the greatest senator of all time.
“...he forfeited and left Hubert holding the bag. ...”
Which allowed Nixon to sweep it...
Johnson was a real piece of work too. Nasty fellow, by a lot of accounts.
I was taking Amtrak from northern Ohio to South Carolina. There was about a 6 hour layover in DC. I took a long walk to the mall, then came back by Congress. The Senate was in session. All I had to do to get in was to provide ID and state who my representative was. I entered the balcony, which was maybe 10 per cent occupied, and Kennedy was reading a speech, assisted by a preppy looking acolyte page turner. I am not at all sure CSPAN was televising at that time, nor can I be exactly sure that he was reading this exact passage, but it was during the Bork hearings, where Ted Kennedy, and others, turned Bork into a verb. At that time, prior to many more years of alcohol abuse, waitress sandwiches and too many carbohydrate laden sandwiches, he was much trimmer.
My vantage point was directly over his right shoulder. Could have beaned him with a wad of paper, though I probably would have been expelled from the chamber.
Moby-Dickhead or The Hunt For The Great White Whale
"Thar she blows, Captain!"
That is an interesting story.
The kennedy’s are a curse of America. This fat drunk teddy was responsible for admitting illegals. They can all roast in...
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