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Ted Kennedy, Political Abstraction
I have two strong memories of Teddy
Kennedy, neither of them (appropriately enough) involving Teddy
Kennedy. The first came in the summer of 2007, when I was in
Capitol Hill covering the immigration reform bill that Kennedy had
long championed with John McCain. The Senate press gallery, a place
I hope to never set foot in again (did you know you can't bring a
computer or any recording equipment onto the press balcony above
the Senate floor, and that the people who enforce this ridiculous
rule are journalists?), was a noisy hive of over-caffeinated daily
reporters, chasing down threads, cornering various Senate staffers,
cussing out their editors. It was that rare journalistic scene that
actually somewhat resembled the hurly-burly of reporting portrayed
in movies (the reality of newspapers is a good deal more like
Office Space).
But then all went totally silent. I looked up, to see whether Jesus had finally returned. Instead, it was a senior staffer for Sen. Kennedy, breaking down in impressive and exhaustive detail each and every political and policy in-and-out of the immigration debate as it then stood. The reporters weren't listening or deferring to the woman because she worked for the liberal icon Teddy Kennedy, they were soaking up her words because she clearly knew more about the issue than any other living human being. This is a common theme in the beyond-superficial portrayals of Kennedy, stretching back at least to Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72–his Senate office, regardless of what you thought of its policy aims, was staffed by some of the most talented and effective people on Capitol Hill. We don't usually think of politicians as managers, but they most definitely are, and whether Kennedy just attracted top talent because of the aura of his name, or whether he organized and directed their work with particular success, he seemed to be damned good at managing his staff. Unfortunately, as Nick Gillespie pointed out in his great obit this morning (and as underlined by the immigration-reform sausage that thankfully never passed), such success often came at the expense of good policy.
Memory number two couldn't be more different. It was at
that overdog hate-bath known as the 2004 Republican National
Convention in Madison Square Garden, an event that I hope some day
to collect in its entirety on DVD, to show future generations just
how debased post-9/11 politics became in this country. It was prime
time after a daylong festival of snarling, and I forget who was
barking from the stage, maybe
Zell Miller, but at some point my eyes wandered, as they always
do at the political conventions of any party, to the insane people
on the delegate floor. I was in the middle of regarding an
overweight, middle aged woman in a red-white-and-blue tracksuit and
a thousand Ronald Reagan buttons, when I heard from the podium,
"... and Teddy KENNEDY!!!" The speaker didn't need to
finish the sentence. The woman, like the other 15,000 people
assembled, lit up from sneaker to cowboy hat in a full-bodied
war-whoop of disapproval. In a convention full of
call-and-responses, it was the loudest.
It's always interesting to observe when politicians morph from humans into abstractions, particularly (though not only) in the hands of their political opponents. You see this with Ronald Reagan, who remains to this day the focus of both uncritical worship and fact-averse loathing. Well into this decade you saw this (among liberal activist groups) with Pat Buchanan and Jerry Falwell; it remains to be seen who among the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld triumvurate will endure as the totemic hate-figures, though my money's on the Dick. Ted Kennedy was like no other Democrat in this regard. Who's gonna replace him, Barney Frank? Bill Clinton has long since wriggled off the hook.
Having spent most of my adult life around liberals, not
conservatives, and on the West Coast, not the East, I always had a
difficult time recognizing the Ted Kennedy of Republican Convention
speechcraft. (And, in fact, it's difficult to reconcile the way
Republicans talked about Kennedy at their gatherings with the way
they talked about him on the Senate floor, or when joining with him
to pass bipartisan legislation.) Not that he wasn't a bloated
caricature, and one with blood on his
hands, but rather that he just didn't mean all that much to my
liberal friends. (My liberal friends'
dads, though are another story.) He was arguably more
an icon of the opposing team than the political tendency he
represented, more interesting to nostalgia-addicted Baby Boomers
than to the majority of people who now participate in politics.
I know that the opposite will seem true for the next several days of 24/7 NPR love-ins, but that's the world I've lived in, anyway.
The Wine Commonsewer (TWC)|8.26.09 @ 1:06PM|#
Every time I ride on Pirates of the Caribbean that skull and crossbones up above the tunnel seems to be saying dead girls tell no tales. I can't help it, it's what I hear. Been like that for decades.
|8.26.09 @ 1:07PM|#
I have my own Teddy story:
I worked at The Heritage Foundation for a short time in the 90's
(doing IT) and the first "celebrity" I saw there was...Ted
Kennedy.
I was walking past the elevators near the lobby when the doors
opened to one of them and in my peripheral vision, I saw someone
that *looked* like Ted Kennedy. Naaaaaaahhhh, I thought, it
couldn't be him, not *here.* But it was.
As he got the exit doors in the lobby, he looked back and said in
his baritone voice, "Well, the place didn't fall down around me! Ho
ho ho ho hooooo..." and off he went.
robc|8.26.09 @ 1:07PM|#
rather that the 1st image, I always preferred:
Chappaquiddick 1
Three Mile Island 0
|8.26.09 @ 1:09PM|#
Are we allowed to say Good Piece, Matt?
Well said.
I'll second that, even though the guy was cloaked in evil,
eeeeeevil, I tell you!
|8.26.09 @ 1:10PM|#
What bugs me is that these major populist-type politicians always get labeled as "helping the little guy" rather than the more accurate "using the little guy."
Ska|8.26.09 @ 1:11PM|#
rather that the 1st image
However, that Laurel and Hardy image is the stuff of
nightmares.
Paul|8.26.09 @ 1:17PM|#
24/7 NPR love-ins,
*head in hands*
Oh my god, I listened to music instead of NPR on the way to work
this A.M. I completely forgot about this. Dare I listen on the way
home?
JB|8.26.09 @ 1:18PM|#
It will be hilarious to see the Dems celebrating a drunk driver
who killed someone, a guy who was constantly blitzed, and a guy who
often cheated on his wife.
Ted Kennedy is more redneck than nearly all rednecks.
Further, he was a total cunt and hypocrite. He wanted to take
others' money to help the
'less fortunate' while still retaining a lavish lifestyle for
himself.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
|8.26.09 @ 1:21PM|#
though my money's on the Dick
Mine too, Matt. Mine too.
Who's gonna replace him, Barney Frank?
Pelosi has gone full caricature too.
ChrisO|8.26.09 @ 1:33PM|#
Pelosi has gone full caricature too.
She's got a long way to go to reach the Kennedy leagues. Obama,
too.
The older I get, the more I see politics as nothing more than
theater intended to cover up a good old-fashioned smash-and-grab.
But the Kennedys were probably the perfect manifestation of the
liberal mindset over the last 50 years, as well as the way that
mindset changed. Hell, JFK would be a Republican nowadays, and
probably a fairly conservative one. Teddy went so far to the left,
that he couldn't help but become a caricature.
|8.26.09 @ 1:38PM|#
A long time ago, I lived in the extreme northwest corner of
Connecticut; one of Teddy's kids was going to a prep school in the
neighborhood.
I stopped in to my favorite bar one evening, and the female
bartender told me Teddy and the kid had been in for lunch. She
said. "Jesus Christ, you should have seen him. He looks like the
goddam Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man!"
|8.26.09 @ 1:43PM|#
Thanks for the input Matt. Your observation on both his
managerial ability and selecting talent is one thing that I see
recurring with all the Kennedy brothers.
Robert Kennedy was a RUTHLESS and very effective campaign manager
for his brother. The Kennedy crew always had their shit together
from an organizational perspective, no matter what they were
doing.
Richard Reeves wrote a very good and objective bio of JFK (only one
I've ever read, actually). He looked at La Familia Kennedy as an
extension of old Joe Sr. Joe Sr. measured success not by principle
but victory alone, and all his kids bought into it. Who makes the
most money, screws the most of the hottest chicks, racks up the
best war story, out-hustles the next guy etc. Joe Sr. was a
ruthless nasty sunbitch about that, and had a chip on his shoulder
against the old WASPy Brahmins of Boston. Politically, the guy was
a union busting McCarthy-ite slumlord.
Edward's most famous moments (Chappaquidick, DNC-1980 speech) came
as a loser, the beaten man. In that context he utterly failed as a
Kennedy. Funny thing that him seemingly giving up that kind of
ruthless ambition and capacity for vice is the only redeeming thing
about him that occurs to me: he consciously ceased being a
"Kennedy."
Meta4|8.26.09 @ 1:45PM|#
"Robert Kennedy was a RUTHLESS and very effective campaign
manager for his brother. The Kennedy crew always had their shit
together from an organizational perspective, no matter what they
were doing. "
Got it from Joe, who learned it as a bootlegger.
|8.26.09 @ 1:49PM|#
Despite the fact that the pain and suffering caused by the late Ted Kennedy can not be overestimated, it's flat out wrong to claim more people died in his Oldsmobile than Abu Ghraib Prison.
Syd|8.26.09 @ 1:50PM|#
Ted Kennedy was like no other Democrat in this regard. Who's
gonna replace him, Barney Frank? Bill Clinton has long since
wriggled off the hook.
Possibly Pelosi?
Amber Waves|8.26.09 @ 1:59PM|#
"it's flat out wrong to claim more people died in his Oldsmobile
than Abu Ghraib Prison."
Got a link?
|8.26.09 @ 2:06PM|#
Yes, Amber. I do. Even the military called it a homicide due to torture. The ACLU also reports 28 other deaths. (FWIW, of course.)
|8.26.09 @ 2:12PM|#
DOD document numbers of just the deaths at the prison being investigated as homicides. That means the DOD is confirming a minimum of 29 deaths.
Jim Treacher|8.26.09 @ 2:17PM|#
You didn't like Zell's speech, Matt? Ya don't say...
As for the topic of the day: If they get to bring up Camelot, we
get to bring up the lady in the lake.
|8.26.09 @ 2:23PM|#
If they get to bring up Camelot, we get to bring up the lady in the lake.
Whoa. Did you come up with that?
Zeb|8.26.09 @ 2:32PM|#
"Yes, Amber. I do. Even the military called it a homicide due to
torture. The ACLU also reports 28 other deaths. (FWIW, of
course.)"
And if you want to be strictly accurate, I bet there were lots more
from when Saddam was in charge of Abu Ghraib.
Jim Treacher|8.26.09 @ 2:39PM|#
Whoa. Did you come up with that?
As far as I know, unless somebody else wants to take the blame.
|8.26.09 @ 2:40PM|#
"And if you want to be strictly accurate, I bet there were lots
more from when Saddam was in charge of Abu Ghraib."
Inside Abu Ghraib maybe, but for us to take control of Abu Ghraib
(and Iraq) it took a bit more killin' than Saddam ever did.
alan|8.26.09 @ 2:44PM|#
Richard Reeves wrote a very good and objective bio of JFK
(only one I've ever read, actually). He looked at La Familia
Kennedy as an extension of old Joe Sr. Joe Sr. measured success not
by principle but victory alone, and all his kids bought into
it.
Profile of Power, excellent book, and I have to say pretty much
shaped what I feel about JFK in both his positive and negative
aspects to a great extent.
A long time ago, probably when P J O'Rourke was still the head
editor, National Lampoon had a scathingly brutal article on the
Kennedy's titled, 'The Sins of The Father Visited on The Sons.'
|8.26.09 @ 2:50PM|#
Zeb,
I was giving the poster maker the benefit of the doubt and assuming
he meant during the US administration of the facility. But yes, not
even the roomy interior of the 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 could
have held the thousand murdered during the entire history of the
site.
|8.26.09 @ 3:00PM|#
Jim,
Excellent work, then. Bravo. Evil, but clever.
I'd capitalize "Lady in the Lake"; otherwise, you should start
printing t-shirts. You could do it as a motivational poster,
too.
|8.26.09 @ 3:12PM|#
First thing on the news this morning was the death of
Kennedy.
I thought, now there is a breath of fresh air.
Then they started talking about Republicans who had nice things to
say about the man.
I couldn't keep watching. Granted they were probably Rino's, still,
unacceptable.
|8.26.09 @ 3:31PM|#
Profile of Power, excellent book, and I have to say pretty
much shaped what I feel about JFK in both his positive and negative
aspects to a great extent.
@alan:
If you liked that book, you'll definitely dig on his tome about
Nixon: Alone in the White House. Its a much more chronological deal
and doesn't delve into any of Nixon's bio previous to being Prez.
But it tells it like it is, and Nixon was truly an epic scumbag.
Many of the bureaucratic "innovations" that allowed modern
Presidents to circumvent their cabinet, concentrate power in a tiny
crew of cronies not vetted by the Senate, endless councils and
panels and such...ugh. Its all there.
There hasn't been a President as bad as Nixon since his tenure I
think. Given that LBJ was his immediate predecessor, that's a
double-dose of horseshit to be sure. No wonder everyone lost faith
in government in the sixties and seventies.
|8.26.09 @ 3:34PM|#
@Jim
Lady in the Lake!? Dude, I'm jealous you thought of that and I
didn't. +10
Check this out: http://www.tshirthell.com/forms/ideasregular Tell
them your idea. You'll get $200 and ten free raunchy shirts fo'sho.
You earned it man, that shit is funny!
|8.26.09 @ 3:52PM|#
Amber Waves | August 26, 2009, 1:59pm | #
"it's flat out wrong to claim more people died in his Oldsmobile
than Abu Ghraib Prison."
Got a link?
Here you go
|8.26.09 @ 3:53PM|#
Warren,
I saw that site for the first time yesterday. Possibly the most
obnoxious tool even introduced to the blogging world.
|8.26.09 @ 4:00PM|#
Pro,
Like all powerful things, it can be abused. However, sometimes you
need facepalm capabilities.
Gunboat Diplomacy|8.26.09 @ 4:12PM|#
So what do you get when you rearrange the letters in Edward Kennedy? The word "dead" is clearly in there. What's his middle name?
|8.26.09 @ 4:41PM|#
Gunboat Diplomacy,
It's Moore. Here are a few:
* A Reddened More Wonky
* A Nodded Enemy Worker
* A Deemed Dorky Renown
* A Redder Moneyed Wonk
* Deadened Krone Wormy
* Demeaned Rowdy Krone
* Endeared Donkey Worm
* Deader Wonder Monkey
* Dread Monkeyed Owner
* Weekday Redden Moron
* Dead Drown Reek Money
Plow through the whole list by searching at Wordsmith.org.
highnumber|8.26.09 @ 4:58PM|#
I think this guy has a better claim on that "Lady in the Lake"
crack:
Hier
|8.26.09 @ 5:28PM|#
highnumber,
Yes, but Jim's prose was crisp and clean, with no caffeine. Never
had it, never will. [laughs a deep, Trinidadian laugh, à la
Geoffrey Holder]
|8.26.09 @ 5:30PM|#
The hatred in this thread is really remarkable. Ted Kennedy was flawed, as all the Kennedy men seem to have been. Yet he did have a belief system, different as it must be from all of your's. When Everett Dirksen died, I mourned, liberal though I am, for a great man. When Reagan fell into disrepair I knew that was a loss for america. But you stupid twits don't recognize that the greatness of america requires at least two sides to every question. It is a sad thing what has happened to the Republican party. When I was a kid in Wichita we were pretty clear that the Birchers were nuts. Now they run the factory, don't they? Hatred and fear are your main emotions, and arguments too, by the look of things. Well, Ted has to face his own lies in the hereafter. I doubt if anybody on this thread is any better off.
Federal Dog|8.26.09 @ 5:32PM|#
"It is a sad thing what has happened to the Republican
party."
Uh, Tim, you're on a libertarian site.
|8.26.09 @ 5:42PM|#
Hey, I'm sad for his family. I just don't think he was a great man or statesman, and I don't care for the hagiographic overdrive. Same crap happened when Michael Jackson died. Kennedy was treated by plenty of people--including any number of liberals--as kind of a joke for much of the last, I dunno, four decades (don't believe me? Look at how he did in his presidential campaigns). He had great clout in the Senate due to his name, experience, and tenure, but that's not the same as being a great man or statesman. He was neither. Sorry.
|8.26.09 @ 5:56PM|#
Pro,
That same crap happened when Reagan died too and it was as much
bullshit then as it is about Kennedy now.
Our media are poisoning us.
|8.26.09 @ 6:18PM|#
Hatred and fear are your main emotions, and arguments too,
by the look of things.
Must...maintain...narrative...at all...costs...
Partisans are rarely sillier when their own ox is being gored.
|8.26.09 @ 6:23PM|#
Hatred and fear? Come on, we libertarians are clearly the Jedi in American politics.
|8.26.09 @ 6:54PM|#
Yet another reason I dropped Reason (and your foundation) from
my giving list.
Look, I may not have agreed with Sen. Kennedy on everything, but I
do recognize that he did do a lot of positive things over his
lifespan. The Civil Rights Act, COBRA, ADA, etc., all may have
irritated me at first but looking back I think he was in the right.
That's what Libertarian's and Conservative's should be able to do
-- admit when we were wrong. This article and the comments show
that we can't. It's upsetting.
Yes, for me it is personal. The Civil Rights Act set up the gay
rights movement of which I belong. COBRA gave me health benefits
when I was laid off. The ADA helped a friend who moved in to a
wheel-chair accessible apt when he was injured. So, perhaps I'm too
caught up in this. Or, perhaps there is a teaching moment
here.
I still won't be renewing my subscription nor giving my yearly
donations to the foundation. There needs to be a pause and a
reflection prior to me doing that again.
Look at what the man has done not what the man has been. It's hard
to do, but when you really try you can.
I'm sad to lose my subscription, but not sad to lose funding this
type of punditry.
highnumber|8.26.09 @ 7:12PM|#
Shawn,
I suspect that you are canceling your subscription and dropping
your support due to factors other than this post. Welch's post is
completely devoid of punditry. It's a pair of personal
reminiscences tied to a commentary about the nature of political
iconography. Hardly the stuff of Real Time with Bill Maher or the
O'Reilly Factor.
|8.26.09 @ 7:41PM|#
highnumber,
Sadly, no. Rather, Matt's article showed an annotated picture which
I cannot support and which his article ended, with this note;
"I know that the opposite will seem true for the next several days
of 24/7 NPR love-ins, but that's the world I've lived in,
anyway."
This was to say, "So, everyone will praise him, but not look at who
he really was."
Of, which, I somewhat agree. People will judge him on those merits
that they read, but not really understand the merits for which he
is worthy.
Matt's article is cynical in the way it's phrased. It is something
I'd read on National Review, but don't expect - nor want - to read
here. I come here, and I subscribe, because I want, something more
substantive. If I wanted right/left wing talking points I'd go to
Drudge or TMP.
Sorry, it's not that easy. If you expect me to pay then give me
some serious, thought provoking commentary. Give me something that
evaluates the person rather than some simple points I can read for
free at the Washington Times.
Otherwise, there are a lot of other orgs. that I can fund.
highnumber|8.26.09 @ 8:06PM|#
For the record, I have never paid for Reason magazine, nor have I donated to the foundation. I am a total free-rider. I don't support any political organization and I no longer vote. All that to say that I don't feel like I have a horse in this race, but I walked away from this particular post with quite a different take than you. The annotated pic (assuming you meant the Abu Ghraib one) appeared to be there to support Welch's point. That point was what he was referring to when he said that the opposite will appear to be true:
He was arguably more an icon of the opposing team than the political tendency he represented, more interesting to nostalgia-addicted Baby Boomers than to the majority of people who now participate in politics.
Regardless, fare you well anyway anyhow anywhere you go, Shawn.
|8.26.09 @ 9:25PM|#
more interesting to nostalgia-addicted Baby Boomers than to
the majority of people who now participate in politics.
And who is that majority who now participates in politics? Young
urban hipsters? "Real" gun-totin' Americans? Who?
Last I looked, the Baby Boomers haven't gone anywhere. In fact,
I'll bet they show up at the voting booths next time there is an
election. Lots of them.
alan|8.26.09 @ 9:31PM|#
I was slightly saddened by Reagan's passing because he tried to
do a few things right, but still got a lot more things wrong. He
also had an interesting life before politics, whereas, Ted Kennedy
was born to be a pig in that slop.
A few deregulation oriented bills, and according to Hendrick
Hertzberg, Kennedy even championed a capital gains cut, but that
doesn't make up for the enormous damage to the Republic he is
responsible for over the years.
Fuck the useless Democratic twats who come here to complain about
what we have to say in regard to the twilight of their idols.
There are retired prostitutes who gave back far more to humanity
than Kennedy ever did. Do you mourn their passing? Same goes for
the junkie who cleaned my car window one day in DC many, many years
ago. I didn't ask him to, but I liked the work he did, and I gave
him a ten. I have no doubt that his life style has long rotted his
guts out, but Kennedy still would not come close to measuring up to
that man.
Liberals are delusional to think, otherwise. It is a mindset
problem. No perspective beyond what you have been told to believe.
You are like primitive peasants who believed in the Mandate of
Heaven. Instead you have the Mandate of Tom Brokaw.
If anything, you should be angry with yourselves and not at us who
refuse to change our usual frank demeanor after the passing of a
fraud because of some perceived tone in the zeitgeist. So, instead
of writing angry screeds at us, lift up your shirt, gaze at your
wonderful little navel and ponder what the hell is wrong with
yourself for a change of pace.
John Markley|8.26.09 @ 10:35PM|#
Shawn,
"Look at what the man has done not what the man has been. It's hard
to do, but when you really try you can."
I'm pretty sure everyone here IS looking at what the man has done .
It's not as if people are condemning him for some immutable, inborn
characteristic like his Irish ancestry or colossal skull.
Tim O.,
"Ted Kennedy was flawed, as all the Kennedy men seem to have
been."
My grandmother's short temper is a flaw. My tendency to overeat is
a flaw. Killing an innocent woman with your reckless driving and
then fleeing the scene is a notch above "flaw."
"Yet he did have a belief system, different as it must be from all
of your's."
Everyone has a belief system. That doesn't do anything to make him
special or admirable.
|8.26.09 @ 10:58PM|#
Looks like Mary Jo's parents are going to have to wait a little
while longer for that apology.
btw...the "lady in the lake" line is off the charts
outstanding!
Jim Treacher|8.27.09 @ 2:34AM|#
Well, Ted has to face his own lies in the hereafter. I doubt if anybody on this thread is any better off.
I can't speak for anybody else here, but I've never even killed
anybody, let alone gotten away with it.
|8.27.09 @ 8:54AM|#
Thanks Highnumber. May your road be safe and long in this
world.
The picture I was referring to was the one of the former Senator
saying, "I DON'T CARE about the Constitution! Give me your keys,
wallet and map to the liquor store!"
Does this really display the type of politics that we've come to?
Sadly, I believe it does. But, I think Reason should do
better.
Again, I have not always agreed with the former Senator. However,
when I board a plane I am reminded that he shepherded through the
airline de-regulation in the '70's. Like I said in another post,
when I got COBRA I silently thanked him and those who supported
allowing me to continue to get health care in the interim.
The Wall Street Journal had an excellent opinion piece today which
lamented how both parties are moving to the extreme. That's how I
feel about this piece. Rather than being a neutral, high-brow piece
that examines the numerous faults and successes of the former
Senator, it falls back on old party shtick lines and talking
points. Again, if Reason was trying to win me back they did
themselves no service in this piece.
flyingcow|8.27.09 @ 9:40AM|#
Ted Kennedy did more to destroy the USA than any other politician in history--in 1965, he wrote a bill limiting the number of immigrants from Europe(whites) and increasing immigration by blacks and browns--Kennedy said then, that this change in immigration policy "would have no effect" on the white majority that made up the US population (92% in 1965)--today, whites are 70% of US population--whites will be a minority in the US by 2050-Kennedy changed the US forever--soon to be a 3rd world nation....
|8.27.09 @ 10:07AM|#
Flyingcow,
Thanks for proving my point. If you would review the actual data (a
hard thing to do, I know) you would see that almost 50% of the
immigration in to this country since 1970 has been 'white.'
http://www.migrationinformation.org/DataHub/charts/10.70.shtml
Leaving aside my thoughts on whether we should target only white
immigration, perhaps you'd be more effective here if you actually
read something rather than just blogged your opinions on it.
|8.27.09 @ 11:34AM|#
Don,
What is wrong with the New York Times? May I have an example? This
is a publication that editorially supported the Second Iraq War,
supported torture, i.e. "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, and
supported the Patriot Act while former Sen. Kennedy was against all
of those things.
Again, if you're going to blog about something please think through
your arguments. This post, in context, makes no sense and is yet
another irrational talking point. You do more to prove my point
than to advance your own.
If you are going to post, please think rationally about what you
are saying and remember that in the age of the Internet I can
easily link to many items that prove my point while you can't link
to your opinion.
|8.27.09 @ 8:20PM|#
All people, Kennedys included, have personal failings. JFK, RFK, and Teddy devoted themselves to public service with a stunning level of compassion and intelligence. These three and many other members of their family have proven to be genuinely committed to helping for those less fortunate then themselves. RFK's platform as a senator and a presidential candidate was easily as progressive as his younger brother's has been as a senator. The "conservative" politics of JFK as President and RFK as Attorney General were then called liberal and very much a product of the cold war. Both were vilified by the radical right just as Teddy has been for so many years. Shame on those Americans who do not honor the sacrifice this family has made to the country.
Jim Treacher|8.29.09 @ 7:39AM|#
All people, Kennedys included, have personal failings. JFK, RFK, and Teddy devoted themselves to public service with a stunning level of compassion and intelligence.
Besides, what would Mary Jo Kopechne have done with her life
anyway?
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