Teddy Would Have Wanted This

I'm no Emily Post, but doesn't good taste dictate that ObamaCare advocates wait at least one business day before using Ted Kennedy's death to agitate for health care reform? The Wall Street Journal has a roundup of reactions; The Hill collates statements from House members.

The insomniacs at Rep. Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) office tapped out an email within an hour of the public announcement: 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office sent an email to reporters at around 2:30 a.m. today, just hours after his death, calling for the passage of health care overhaul. "Ted Kennedy's dream of quality health care for all Americans will be made real this year because of his leadership and his inspiration," the statement read.

Andy Stern, the "colossal scam artist" that leads the SEIU, issued a similar call:

Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, also issued a statement this morning calling for the passage of health care overhaul. "Let us continue his cause," Stern said. "Let us take action this year to pass health care reform. And let us continue to build Kennedy's vision of America."

Comments

[tired dog]

Amusing watching these poltroons hitch their command and control med services bills to the extinct coattails of Ted 'whew, they didn't get me for intoxicated vehicular manslaughter' Kennedy...

I hope some special arrangement has Mary Jo holding the remote control for the furnace roaring under his lard ass.

[creech]

Rush Limbaugh finally said something that made me chuckle. He just referred to Kennedy as the "Lion of the Senate....And we were his prey."

[Elemenope]

It may be brazen and uncouth but it's hardly a stretch. Towards the very end of his life T. Kennedy reportedly was quite pissed off that he couldn't play an active role in passing ObamaCare or something quite like it. For them to say so and take political advantage actually would be something he'd probably, in this case, approve of.

Nothing to see here, please move moral indignation along.

[Tomcat1066]

I don't give a shit if Kennedy is alive of dead. A fucked up bill is still a fucked up bill.

So here's hoping that Teddy's dream dies with him.

[Elemenope]

He just referred to Kennedy as the "Lion of the Senate....And we were his prey."

OK, despite the general toolishness of Limbaugh, I gotta say that's pretty clever.

[DADIODADDY]

Kennedy must have known something about quality health care, the man was the lognest lived case of brain cancer on record..77 years.

Didn't the Dem's use much the same tactic at Paul Weldstone's funeral?

[Timon19]

Christ, 9 of the top 20 or so "Latest News" links at cnn.com are about Kennedy, in addition to one of those fancy banners and 7 other stories at the top.

[FrBunny]

I'm with LMNOP. Tasteless in some vacuum perhaps, but they are probably right. This (including the exploitation) is probably exactly what Ted would have wanted.

[tired dog]

battle of the dead media darlings; Jack-O vs Killer Kennedy, call me when it's all buried.

[Ted Kennedy\'s Brain Tumor]

Never let a good death go to waste.

[PapayaSF]

That is a good line by Rush, and he also predicted that Kennedy's cancer would be used to push the health care takeover. He took a lot of flak for it, but he was right.

[Nick]

And let us continue to build Kennedy's vision of America.

Or let us make love to a flaming porcupine. It would be less painful.

[Phil A. Busterproof]

Hey? Where'd I go?

[On the Plus Side]

This obscure's Holder's move to take thee focus off of Obamacare.

[Mike M.]

Rush Limbaugh finally said something that made me chuckle. He just referred to Kennedy as the "Lion of the Senate....And we were his prey."

That's an awesome line, but it still isn't the funniest thing I've heard today.

That would be Chris Matthews, Obama's #1 media bitch boy, calling Obama the "last Kennedy brother".

[sage]

Well, I was asking about that earlier this morning.

[On the Plus Side]

""

The American people don't.

Latest poll on how the public feels about health care, from Public Opinion Strategies, finds... well, more skepticism: 15 percent strongly favor Obama's proposed health care plan, 10 percent somewhat favor, 5 percent somewhat oppose, 32 percent strongly oppose, 37 percent no opinion yet. (That comes out to 25 total favor, 37 percent total oppose.)

The pollsters found that 38 percent said the more they hear about the plan, the more they like it; 49 percent said the more they hear, the less they like it. Ten percent said they didn't know.

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZWYwZGJkOTZlMWE3MjU5NmQ4YTI0MWQ1NTg5MTM0ODQ=

[TallDave]

But what would Mary Jo Kopechne have wanted?

[On the Plus Side]

Forgot to fill the quotes with this:

Teddy Would Have Wanted This

[Pro Libertate]

Obama: A Kennedy and the second black president. Is there nothing he can't do?

[The Old Lyin\' of the Senate]

I wonder if they will nam the Heathcare bill after him.

[hotsauce]

I have no problem with people using his name to promote health care reform so soon after his death. After all, I have no problem calling him murderous scum so soon.

[Ben]

Sounds like something he would have done himself.

[Kevin]

A surefire way to get the bill passed is to name it the "Ted Kennedy Memorial Prevention of Death in Children and Senior Citizens Health Care Plan." Who could vote against THAT?

[Nick]

I wonder if they will nam the Heathcare bill after him.

The Liberal, Bloated, Involuntary Death Bill? Nah, doesn't have a catchy enough acronym.

[Tomcat1066]

Who would vote against that? Well, I would for one.

It's just to damn bad I don't get a vote in Congress, ain't it? 😉

[Joe M]

You stole my joke!

Joe M | August 26, 2009, 11:27am | #

The Democrats are, of course, using Kennedy's death to score political points. I see nothing wrong with this. I think it's what he would've wanted, after all.

[DADIODADDY]

An old quote..."More people in the US have died in Ted kennedy's car than from nuclear power plants"

[Hazel Meade]

"Ted Kennedy's dream of quality health care for all Americans will be made real this year because of his leadership and his inspiration,"

It's called the power of belief. Kennedy's death leaves the Democrats one vote shy of a filibuster proof majority. It'll likely make the passage of the "public option" more difficult. Though, they may get some sort of "co-op" thing through. Anyone hoping that the Democrats would annihilate eachother like matter and anti-matter on this issue may see their chances diminish.

[Gilbert Martin]

"That is a good line by Rush, and he also predicted that Kennedy's cancer would be used to push the health care takeover. He took a lot of flak for it, but he was right."

Yeah Limbaugh was talking about that on his show today. He made the prediction back when Kennedy's cancer was first announced that the libs would be trying to push the legislation as a memorial to Kennedy. The MSM squawkers squealed about it at the time but Limbaugh was exactly right about it.

[Gilbert Martin]

"It's called the power of belief. Kennedy's death leaves the Democrats one vote shy of a filibuster proof majority."

No worries for the Dems. The Mass legislature will obediently change the law to allow the Dem gov to appoint a Dem to take his place (as he requested) - just as they had originally changed it a few years back (as he requested) to prevent a Republican gov from doing it.

[JB]

Hopefully Pelosi and Stern will soon join Kennedy in hell.

[Federal Dog]

As long as they name the administrative units "Kopechne Death Panels," I'm all for it.

[ChrisO]

No worries for the Dems. The Mass legislature will obediently change the law to allow the Dem gov to appoint a Dem to take his place (as he requested) - just as they had originally changed it a few years back (as he requested) to prevent a Republican gov from doing it.

The Mass. legislature is out of session until after Labor Day, so even if they rushed a bill through, it will be awhile before the next leftist asshat arrives in the Senate to represent the Bay State. Given that the good ship Obamacare is already listing badly, such a delay might be fatal.

I expect that a smaller attempt at "reform" will ultimately be passed. The Democrats might have been able to get this shit sandwich enacted if they had done it in stages, but that wouldn't have given Obama and Pelosi the political stuff to crow about, I guess.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Ted just saved us from having to pay Mary Jo's medicare expenses. See, he's willing to reduce government spending.

Given that not only are liberal Democrats always right, but deep down inside we all know it, of course they should expect us to drop our pretend resistance to Obama-care as a tribute to Ted. The thought that people actually disagree, and those disagreements aren't based on whether Ted was still breathing and would survive him, never occurs to them.

Liberalism is all about the liberals, so we should pass this for Ted.

[*]

The Old Lyin' of the Senate | August 26, 2009, 12:40pm | #
I wonder if they will name the Heathcare bill after him.

Both are dead, so it would be wholly appropriate.

[Gilbert Martin]

"The Mass. legislature is out of session until after Labor Day,"

Which is less than one week from today.

[Syd Henderson]

Kennedy was a high-profile supporter of national health care, so it seems pretty appropriate to use his name under the circumstances.

[Mike M.]

Ted just saved us from having to pay Mary Jo's medicare expenses. See, he's willing to reduce government spending.

You could say he was a self-appointed one man death panel!

[anonymous]

They were prehumously linking him to healthcare reform efforts anyway, this is exactly the opposite of surprising.

[Johnny Longtorso]

So if I honestly think Obamacare will result in people waiting a year, in agonizing pain, for a hip replacement or knee replacement, I'm supposed to consider that a small price to pay to honor the wonderfulness of a liberal?

If I honestly think it will cost much more than advertised when we have a huge budget deficit and other entitlements in trouble, I'm supposed to consider that a small price to pay to honor the wonderfulness of a liberal?

I don't get it (except, as above, that it shows they don't consider the possibility that people actually disagree with them on the merits of Obamacare, and we're all lying to cover up our racism).

[Mike Laursen]

It's not an faux pas, and it's the move to make politically, but I don't think it's going to turn the fortunes of Obamacare around. The only folks that are going to get all sentimental about Kennedy are folks who already support Obama.

[mark l.]

never let a good crisis, (or corpse,) go to waste.

[jacob williams]

Its so sad that he had to die..

[Ted\'s Ultimate Adventure HELL]

It owuld only be appropriate to name any bloated, unreadable healthcare bill after this drunken whore of a man. I applauded in my car this morning when I heard the news, finally the cancer on the country is being removed one Senator at a time.

What I still think is so disgusting is that the people of MA. continued to re-elect this drunk so many times. Now granted I am from La. so I know it happens but come on what does it take to get thrown out of office in MA. if all of his efforts did not succeed in getting him tossed?

I sat toss his ass in a Olds and flip it upside down in the same exact spot he left Mary Jo to die and let him spend the rest of eternity there as he rots in hell.

All these people that say to get over it etc and how wonderful he was are fucking morons with no sense of justice and are the reason we have so many elitist in office now. If you honestly think this peckerhead deserves even a crumb of respect you need major medication in high dosages. I thought MA. already had government run healthcare for all, but still they can't medicate them enough to make a rational decision at the polls for whom they should vote for. or it is a master plan to keep them all doped up and voting for the likes of Kennedy and Kerry and FWANKS...

[Fletch]

Which is less than one week from today.

Labor Day is not until the 7th.

[James Anderson Merritt]

At 10:33 AM PT this morning, my email account received a message from democrat.com, with the following subject line: "Honor Ted Kennedy by Passing Real Health Reform," and for some reason, was reminded of "Animal Farm."

[James Anderson Merritt]

xxx for some reason _I_ was reminded of "Animal Farm." My email account, although reminding me of many things, is never itself reminded about anything. So far, anyway.

[el polacko]

'funny'... i don't recall the dems extolling kennedy's leadership in the past several months.. not until the moment he died, then he suddenly became the godfather of health.
what a cheap, and frankly ghoulish, tactic on the part of the dems.

[bblack]

?like we've all been saying, it's not a good proposition. Look at Canada and all other countries that have this type of health reform?it's not beneficial to folks who truly need good and quick health attention.

[mdeals]

Was Ted Kennedy a strong wall of the health care reform???????
i don't think so.. it means end of the health care reform.