05.21.08
Ted Kennedy
I’ve been depressed about the announcement of Ted Kennedy’s illness—and malignant brain tumor is about as bad a diagnosis as one could get. It was a brain tumor that took the life of George Gershwin, though at a much younger age (38). Ted Kennedy is one of those who draw the hatred of the hardline Right. ThinkProgress reports today:
Yesterday, after news broke that Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, right-wing radio host Michael Savage mocked him on air by playing audio from Kindergarten Cop in which Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character says, “It’s not a tumor.” Savage also played a song by the punk band the Dead Kennedys “in some respect” for Sen. Kennedy.
Partly they hate him because he has worked so hard for progressive principles and accomplished much. Via TalkingPointsMemo, here is Ted Kennedy speaking in the Senate:
UPDATE: Mike Lillis in the Washington Independent collects heartfelt reactions from Ted Kennedy’s colleagues in the Senate, both Republican and Democrat.
jweaver said,
21 May 2008 at 12:34 pm
Yeah, they hate him because he is a stalwart leftist, or could it be he is an unrepentant killer of a young woman who the used the power and prestige of his family to get off without punishment? Gee, I wonder.
LeisureGuy said,
21 May 2008 at 12:41 pm
I believe that Ted Kennedy did indeed feel genuine remorse over the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, just as Laura Bush felt over the death of the person that died in her car accident. I understand that this will always be held against him by some, no matter what he has accomplished otherwise. Still, Michael Savage’s attacks are contemptible. When a man is facing his death, it’s time to reflect upon his entire life, not just the low points. It is true that Kennedy is a liberal, but you will note in the article (link in the update) how greatly Republicans respected him and felt that he was a man with whom they could work. Indeed, it was Kennedy who enabled the passage of Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act. It’s important to give credit when it’s due.
Sorghum Crow said,
21 May 2008 at 1:02 pm
Teddy Kennedy was nice to me when I was a little kid visiting the Capitol during what was I guess his first term.
http://sorcrow.blogspot.com/2008/05/youve-seen-news.html
jweaver said,
21 May 2008 at 2:00 pm
The same No Child bill that you lefties use to vilify GWB…
Yes, Laura Bush as a teenager hit someone in her car. Teddie the US SENATOR drove (while drunk most likely) into a body of water and then allowed his companion to drown while he then went home and did not notify the police or rescue until AFTER he sought legal help. There is little to compare between these two situations.
LeisureGuy said,
21 May 2008 at 2:53 pm
Yes, I don’t care for the NCLB act, but I was making the point (which you perhaps missed) that Ted Kennedy was willing to work with Republicans—though God knows why, given your reaction to his support when you needed it. One constant about the Right: a total lack of gratitude or reciprocity.
I’m not sure that it makes much difference to the person killed whether it was done by a teenager or by a US Senator. But at any rate, my point is not to judge a man’s entire life by one mistake. But of course you are free to do that, and if so, perhaps your life will be judged similarly.
Zach said,
21 May 2008 at 3:27 pm
“Ted Kennedy was willing to work with Republicans—though God knows why”
Are you sure you meant to say that? It implies things you may not mean to imply.
I agree that Michael Savage was way out of line.
I can’t agree that a 17 year old girl who ran a stop sign is the same thing as a married 37 year old senator who drove a car off a bridge while trying to avoid being discovered by local police in his mother’s car with a young female campaign worker who he later left to die and didn’t call the authorities about until the next day and then got off with a suspended sentence. The fact that this same girl married George Bush is not a reason to compare her with Ted Kennedy.
LeisureGuy said,
21 May 2008 at 3:32 pm
Ted Kennedy working with Republicans: My point was that it seems churlish in the extreme to feel no gratitude or reciprocity when someone has helped you in a time of need.
I’ll accept that the two traffic situations are different, though a person was killed in each. But I do think it wrong to view Ted Kennedy’s entire life and career was defined by that one incident. And I would similarly think it wrong if Laura Bush were forever judged by her carelessness in causing a traffic death as a teenager.
Zach said,
21 May 2008 at 3:52 pm
From what I have seen and read, the Republicans are about to canonize Kennedy; they’re gushing over him on TV; I don’t think Michael Savage represents the right wing masses. Although I’m glad you did not mean that “working with the Republicans” was pointless or an exercise in futility.
I think as a young man, when his brother was still alive, Kennedy was one kind of person. Later, he was another kind of person. I have seen Ted Kennedy with my own two eyes, shitfaced on the upper east side of Manhattan in the 90s (around the time of William Kennedy Smith), staggering from bar to bar. Not a saint.
LeisureGuy said,
21 May 2008 at 6:00 pm
I think it’s pretty well known that Ted Kennedy suffers from alcoholism. He’s not alone in that.
I think working with Republicans is important—for one thing, they are right about some issues that come up, and the wiser Republicans have learned much through experience. In general, though, it’s good to recognize beforehand that Republicans often view “bipartisanship” as doing what they want done, and your cooperation will not be reciprocated once they have the upper hand. The way the GOP majority in Congress “worked with” the Democratic majority was shameful and did not reflect at all how the GOP had been treated when they were in the minority.
jweaver said,
22 May 2008 at 2:52 am
Excuse me, Bush showed gratitude. Constantly, it was thrown back in his face by the left and the Kennedy clan. He named the Justice Building for RFK only to have RFK’s daughter act like an ass at the ceremony. The family has no class, but is adored by the left.
LeisureGuy said,
22 May 2008 at 7:39 am
I wasn’t referring to Bush, but to the Republicans in general and you in particular. And the topic is Ted Kennedy, not his niece.
mel said,
8 June 2009 at 7:20 am
Come on! if a Republican were to do what Teddy did he would be crusified; and he should be. Ted is a minipulater and a lier as a Senater. He should never have been aloud to become a Senater. But in Ma. You can be dum as a club and be elected and smart as a wip as a Republican and be voted out. Take a look at Barney Frank. I heard that Ma. was one of the first to cry out for a bale out go figure. Teddy took the lead role in the no child left behind act . Then turned it around political. Just like the Irac war Dem’s turned thier backs on us and America for political Values and left us stuck over there, and made the whole world hate us. Abama needs to apoligize not for Bush but for thier own Demize.
LeisureGuy said,
8 June 2009 at 7:26 am
Mel, your comment is amazing. No reply needed, I think.