Death of Ted Kennedy
by CmdrFenix on Aug.26, 2009, under Political Discussion
Let me start by saying, my sympathies go out to Kennedy family. While I disagree with his policies, I cannot ignore the fact he was a father, brother, and a US Senator.
Ted Kennedy believed in universal health care. It was something he fought for. The same universal health care that is putting a serious strain on the Commonwealth right now, has been debated across the country.
Back in 2004, when Senator Kerry looked like he might make it to the White House, Senator Kennedy and many other pushed along legislation that stripped then Republican Governor Romney from naming a successor in the even Kerry’s seat was vacated. His measure was seen as a means of maintaining Democratic control over the senate and preventing a Republican from taking that seat. Just before his death, Senator Kennedy sent a letter to the MA legislature and urged them to change the law, but this time, back to allowing the current Democratic Governor to again to name a successor!
“It is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election,” Kennedy said in a letter to Patrick.
It is clear this action is a means of guaranteeing a liberal Democratic vote when the issue of health care comes back up after the August recess, but it’s the clear hypocrisy of the MA legislature that amazes me
- While honorably written, why didn’t he resign when the terminal brain cancer struck of which he has missed the last 15 months of work in the senate? With all due respect, the Commonwealth has been without a second voice for over a year now. He just won’t step down.
- If the legislature and other elected officials really cared about the “people they represent” (TM), then where were the calls for him to resign from other members of the legislature and the Governor?
“… vital for the Commonwealth …”
I can’t help but see that statement with disgust, especially concerning all of the things we see going on in MA. Why do I bring up MA a lot? I’m from MA. It was my home for some time. There is a lot of history there for ALL of us, and I hate seeing it go down the cesspool.
I’m also very sorry, but today is the day Mary Jo Kopechne’s family finally can rest.
August 27th, 2009 on 11:45 am
Ted Kennedy was more than a drunken womanizer, he was a traitor.
http://randomactsofpatriotism.blogspot.com/2009/08/ted-kennedy-american-traitor.html
I mean an open, meet with the Soviet Union, try to undermine the President and the country, should have gone to jail, traitor.
And they’re going to bury him in Arlington.
August 28th, 2009 on 12:39 pm
I can’t even begin to contemplate the “moral outrage” that would have taken place if people pointed out how much of a douchebag reagan was so soon after his death.
August 28th, 2009 on 7:51 pm
Unfortunatly, Kennedy was a Douchebag where Reagan was not. Reagan didn’t drive off a bridge and allow a woman to drown and not tell anyone for half a day. Reagan wasn’t drunk a large portion of the time. Kennedy had a big name behind him with a family of political connections that allowed him to get away with these things.
August 28th, 2009 on 9:28 pm
No, Reagan just funded random wars (if he didnt know his staff was doing it, he’s twice as much to blame) in the third-world, expanded the ‘wealth gap’ to unprecedented extremes, rickrolled the middle-class, escalated the pointless “war on drugs”, and let’s not forget that he basically invented modern deficit spending.
So yeah, I can totally see a DWI accident as being more douchebaggy then Reagan. I can also see some nice beachfront property for sale really cheap in Arizona, you interested?
August 28th, 2009 on 11:16 pm
Tim,
Just so we’re clear, one of Kennedy’s favorite things, according to his longtime friend Ed Klein, was Chappaquiddick jokes. But if you want me to say something bad about Pr. Reagan, I will.
Every President has weaknesses and blind spots. When the Beirut bombing occurred in the fall of 1983, Pr. Reagan pulled the Marines out and essentially surrendered the battlefield to the Jihadists. It was the worst mistake of his Presidency.
We should have taken the country. Send everything we had. We should have taught them a lesson that they would still remember. The Germans remember. Night time bombing raids destroyed the heart of industrial Germany, and they bled and died until the survivors surrendered unconditionally. Don’t pretend it can’t be done. The Japanese remember, and it looked damn near impossible in 1942 that we would ever win in the Pacific.
Pr. Reagan could have prevented the Gulf wars, the September 11 attacks, the attack on the USS Cole, the attacks on our embassies in Africa, and on and on. For a shortsighted retreat in 1983, he, and every President after him, cost us in blood. I wish he had done better on Beirut.
BAck to ol’ Teddy Kennedy, you’re defending a traitor. A man who would sell out his country to the worst regime on the planet to get political advantage. Leaving a woman to die in the dark in an air pocket in a submerged car is shitty, but is probably only manslaughter. Trying to sell out your country to the Soviet Union is potentially a death penalty offense. Ted Kennedy should have died in federal prison. He should not be buried in a National Cemetery.
August 29th, 2009 on 6:18 am
I’m sorry ASM, but you’re grasping at straws trying to define Sen. Kennedy as a ‘traitor’. I suppose you feel Pres. Nixon was a traitor as well? No offense intended, but you sound like you’re giving credit to ideas/interpretations with conspiracy-theory levels of credibility. If you’re a kitchen table, let me know so I can save us some time. I find it telling of your own “loyalty” that you would trust sources from the KGB before those of your own gub’mint.
And by the way, I think Kim Jong Il and Than Shwe are trying real hard to challenge your statement about the Soviets being the “worst regime on the planet”
hehe.
August 29th, 2009 on 11:49 am
Few points to make.
Nixon *was* a crook and was rightfully “rick-rolled” out of office. He would have gone to prison had Pr Ford not actually pardoned him. Jesus, half of congress should be probably thrown in prison at this point, but I’ll settle for exile on a tropical island. It might make a good seasons of Survivor…
As for Teddy… He never had to work in his life. Yes, he served in the military, but his daddy’s connections ensured he got a plum, “safe” assignment in Paris. ALL of the Kennedys had a chronic problem with womanizing, alchohol abuse, and abuse of power in general. I hold very little respect for him, Nixon, or just about anyone in “gub’int” right now.
… as for Beirut. I think that plus many other retreats on our part have given the Islamic Fascists momentum they never should have had. Clinton’s pull out in Somalia showed them that a body count will cause America’s back bone to buckle. Reagan’s retreat from Beirut is just another example. I am not saying I have the answers, but like children, “give them an inch, they will want a mile.”
August 29th, 2009 on 1:18 pm
/facepalm