NBC Reporting.
Sen. Ted Kennedy died shortly before midnight Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 77.
The man known as the “liberal lion of the Senate” had fought a more than year-long battle with brain cancer, and according to his son had lived longer with the disease than his doctors expected him to.
“We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever,” the Kennedy family said in a statement. “He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it.”
Video: Ted Kennedy: The Dream Shall Never Die Speech – 1980 Democratic Convention
Video: Ted Kennedy Endorses Barack Obama – 2008
I had the pleasure of seeing this speech in person. I’ll never forget it.
Video: Ted Kennedy At the 2008 Democratic Convention
I saw this one in person too.
Sad news.
And please wing-nuts, try to keep it classy and eschew your natural tendencies towards goulishness.
Don’t mourn him yet — he wouldn’t want that.
Not until his work is done.
And we know what that work is …
Pass a solid health care reform bill. Sign it in his name. That’s the best honor anyone can pay him.
Do that and then mourn.
Senator Kennedy was my favorite public speaker. RIP
The whole world mourns when a Kennedy dies.
O-dub is ususally pretty lenient in terms of his moderation, but it was obvious that the wing-nut bed-wetters wouldn’t be able to control themselves on this one.
I can only imagine your are this classy in real life, Amused Observer. Please never breed (although there’s probably not much of a chance of it).
FYI, haters can go post at Free Republic.
Karma’s a bitch. The coward of the Senate finally frees up the oxygen that’s been wasted on him.
Wow–five whole posts. Gotta be close to a freeper record (nah, who am I kidding…)
Yeah, stay classy, shitheads.
Sen. Kennedy is now in a place that no modern conservative or Republican will ever see from the inside: HEAVEN.
And the haters can all go fornicate with their mothers.
America’s Falstaff has finally shuffled off this mortal coil. Raise the Chivas, boys.
At what point can we start making Zombie Ted Kennedy jokes, in the spirit of your Reagan jibes?
J.
You’re a sick little fuck Jay. The sooner your condition kills you the better for humanity.
I was literally stopped in my tracks today when I came down the office stairs and saw the news on CNN.
I work in South Korea, which is intimately acquainted with real Stalinists next door, and one thing I’ve noticed, especially during the recent mourning for Kim Dae Jung, is that many of my older contacts here, retirees who could comfortably be described as paleoconservatives, who struggle for a kind word to say about KDJ and still harbor admiration for the military rulers, are stunned, absolutely stunned, when I tell them that President Obama is being called a socialist and a communist for advocating health care reform. Everyone is covered here, and covered very cheaply, and… it’s just what developed, modern countries do!
Here’s to Ted, and the Kennedy Bill.
Jay, see the last line of my post just above yours – and GO DO IT.
Hey, Randy, I was a lot classier than you were last week…
http://www.oliverwillis.com/2009/08/18/remembering-robert-novak/
Randy Brown
August 18, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Fuck Novak.
End of discussion.
J.
I stand by both my statements.
And I stand by mine, Randy.
Ted Kennedy’s life was a uniquely American tragedy, and he is probably the most Falstaffian figure in American history.
J.
You shouldn’t use words beyond your limited intelligence, Jay. A US senator who was widely respected, even by Republicans before the whole party became a joke, does not a “Falstaff” make.
The ancient Greeks realized that the most tragic figures are also the most heroic, and vice versa.
Even though their job just became a lot easier, many of his Republican senate colleagues will shed genuine tears at his funeral.
Pie Jesu Domine, dona ei requiem.
Let Jay and his ilk wallow in their own excrement
A truly great American who lived his life to serve others. He will be missed.
Among Ted Kennedy’s legislative legacy:
The Immigration Reform Act of 1965
The HMO Act of 1973
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
Long-time supporter of the IRA
Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974
“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 could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens…”
The No Child Left Behind Act
The man certainly left his mark…
J.
America’s Falstaff has finally shuffled off this mortal coil. Raise the Chivas, boys.
Oh please, sir, justify this comment with some kind of supporting statement. Surely you can.
One day I was visiting my aunt when she said, ‘Did I ever show you the card the Kennedys gave us?’. My uncle was a pipeline inspector and had apparently overseen a project on some family property. She still had the card they had given him in appreciation of his work. Actually, most of the signatures were from Fitzgeralds, but still. Her dream ticket was John Connally and Edward Kennedy, not sure in which order. Connally because she liked him, Kennedy because he ‘takes care of the old people.’
The saddest thing of all is that John Kerry is now Massachusetts’ Senior Senator. If you thought he was smug and insufferable before…
What if we didn’t?
“Aim at the great and you cannot miss… Spite creeps in the path of the great ones.”
-Sophocles
“Even though their job just became a lot easier, many of his Republican senate colleagues will shed genuine tears at his funeral.”
-Wilbur
I should have added “… which puts them several cuts above the sort of nematodes that leave their slime trails around here.” I was trying to ignore it, but when the stench gets too great you just have to sweep out the stable. Please, you assholes, go piss in your own pool for the day. Did somebody say something mean about Reagan on your website on the day he died? Well pat yourself on the back, you’re no better than them.
If the Republicans don’t take this opportunity to shoot for a Wellstone Memorial Redux, I’ll virtually eat my virtual hat.
In his final days Ted Kennedy epitomized his entire opportunistic and hypocritical career.,/i>
Keepin’ it klassy, I see.
I will give him credit for one thing. He was really ill, and he stepped up to the plate, and gave a rousing endorsement of his choice. Kudos
The saddest thing of all is that John Kerry is now Massachusetts’ Senior Senator. If you thought he was smug and insufferable before.
And yet you continue to demonstrate why dumb and smug are a bad mix.
This is sad. It’s horrible to see people’s lives cut short by a terrible thing like cancer regardless of what anybody thinks of the man.
The main thing I did respect about Senator Kennedy is that unlike so many other cowardly politicians, he never ran from the “liberal” label. He was proud of it.
RIP Senator.
Hmmm, my post seems to have disappeared. Perhaps we shouldn’t look too deeply into a man’s life here.
Jaim is correct, Falstaff had certain warm good natured elements to his charactor.
Hmmm, my post seems to have disappeared.
Remember that old expression “If you don’t have anything nice to say…” ?
Then again, you on the right would never post here again if you took that advice…
durablend,
see Robt. Novak.
Ted Kennedy was an important and influential figure over a remarkable five decades of service. Although sharply partisan, he often worked with GOP colleagues on a variety of issues. Kennedy took great pride in maintaining a Senate staff well-known for its professionalism. Irregardless of ideology, he stood as one of the towering political figures of our time. He would certainly belong in any Senate at any time in our republic’s history.
The last glowing ember of Camelot is now dark and cold. Cheers.
Falstaff was a recurring character in Shakespeare’s plays, most importantly the Henry IV and Henry V cycle. He was the first significant “anti-hero” in English literature, who was kind of dastardly but also the “true” father of Henry V, who taught him about life.
Jay is a fucking moron who had his life saved by government provided health-care, and now wants to deny this to anyone else.
Pretty clear that Republicans don’t read books.
And we’re going to get decent health-care reform. And you GOP asshole will shit yourselves while we do it, but fuck bi-partisanship. You want our president to fail, but he will succeed as you cry yourselves to sleep.
You don’t have a place in America any longer. G’night.
Remember that old expression “If you don’t have anything nice to say…” ?
Oliver never did.
Perhaps I think that the flawed Ted Kennedy was far more vital and a force for good in American life than idiots like Bob Novak, Henry Hyde and Jesse flipping racist asshole Helms.
So it’s okay, yeah encouraged, to point out the flaws of a dead Republican, but it’s BEYOND THE PALE OF HUMAN DECENCY to point out the flaws of an expired Democratic?
Got it.
Oliver is the very definition of hypocrisy. Hope you’re pround…
Jay is a fucking moron who had his life saved by government provided health-care, and now wants to deny this to anyone else.
Is Jay his brother’s keeper?
Fuck!
No!
Yes but Oliver, it still stands. So you didn’t like those guys but for whatever reason, you felt it was necessary to piss on the grave of men that died. Why? And regardless of what YOU thought about them, there are people who did love and respect them.
You can’t engage in that kind of behavior and then get all bent out of shape when it happens to somebody that you respect.
You don’t have a place in America any longer.
So says the guy in Korea.
You’re not gonna get more Falstaffian in American politics than Ted Kennedy. Big, boisterous, drunken, filled with false courage, flees at signs of real danger, charismatic, a winking rogue, wielding tremendous influence far out of proportion with his character, womanizer…
No, it’s not a perfect fit. But as I said, it’s probably as close as we’re gonna get.
I sometimes wonder if old Joe Kennedy made a deal with the devil. He personally accumulated wealth, power, and fame, and his son became president. But he had to watch three of his sons and one of his daughters die violent deaths, spent his last years trapped in a crippled husk of a body, living just long enough to see his last son destroy any chances he might have to reach the presidency.
J.
You can’t engage in that kind of behavior and then get all bent out of shape when it happens to somebody that you respect.
Perhaps O-Dub should keep comments on the subject closed, like Fox News did on their website, for some bizarre reason.
“America’s Falstaff has finally shuffled off this mortal coil. Raise the Chivas, boys.
Oh please, sir, justify this comment with some kind of supporting statement. Surely you can.
Well, what Chappaquiddick did for Kennedy’s legacy could never be redeemed like that of what Bush’s legacy..wait, what? Oh yeah, more people died. Nevermind.
I sometimes wonder if old Joe Kennedy made a deal with the devil.
Pffft. If anything, the Devil may have made a deal with Joe Kennedy.
Shorter Oliver: “I can piss on fresh graves, but you can’t.”
(shrug)Well, this is his place, so it’s his rules…
J.
Oh you can point them out all you want. Just not here.
So you didn’t like those guys but for whatever reason, you felt it was necessary to piss on the grave of men that died. Why?
They were evil people who tried to fuck up the country.
“Oliver is the very definition of hypocrisy. Hope you’re pround…”
As the former drug using dad says in the anti-drug use ad about how he can lecture his son to not use drugs, “Yea, I’m a hypocrite.” This is liberal site. Personally, I agree with what President Clinton said at President Nixon’s funeral – you have to judge somebody by their whole record.
They were evil people who tried to fuck up the country.
And Ted Kennedy, whatever his “good” or “evil” status might have been, actually did fuck up the country. Repeatedly. Unrepentantly. Proudly.
I see now just how much a simpleton Bush was. He called people who wanted to destroy America evil. He didn’t realize that they were just misunderstood; “evil” should only be reserved for your fellow Americans who oppose you politically.
J.
I see now just how much a simpleton Bush was.
Say no more.
First of all, I’m pround of being able to spelll goode.
Second, who are you to discern what these people were “trying to do”. You honestly think Republicans sit in smoke-filled rooms and chortle to themselves “How can we f**k them over today?”? Just because you disagree with someone doesn’t automatically make them evil.
I don’t think Kennedy was intentionally trying to make America a worse place. I wholeheartedly believe that he thought his wrong-headed ideas would work. Would that you could say the same.
The lamented legacy of Ted Kennedy was that he couldn’t see the consequences of his actions, both politically and personally.
They were evil people who tried to fuck up the country.
Henry Hyde was evil? Robert Novak was evil?
Good grief. “You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the sign post up ahead, your next stop…The Willis Zone!”
Henry Hyde was evil?
He helped to push a constitutional crisis because he didn’t like a president.
Robert Novak was evil?
He helped to attack a CIA agent, he spent his entire career pushing lies into the mainstream of American consciousness.
Yes, evil. And Jerry Falwell and Strom Thurmond too. To Hades with them all.
LOL,
Falstaff was a fat drunken lout known for his cowardice. An open opportunist to such a degree that the term hypocrite did not apply. Moderately self aware, he played the buffoon and as such was both an object of ridicule and affection.
In times of stress a man’s charactor is tested and soul revealed. Robt. Novak was a better man than Ted. His treatment here is more than illuminating. Jaim doubts that Republicans read books, I doubt that liberals understand the books they do read.
If a Senator does a tenth of the good that Sen. Kennedy did, I’d say they can call their career a roaring success.
I adhere to a policy of “De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum”, at least in the immediate aftermath. Oliver, on the other hand, adjusts for personal feelings about the deceased from the outset. Both perfectly valid approaches, I suppose.
Pure comedy gold coming from Jaim Galt in South Korea. Something that funny doesn’t belong on a thread honoring someone’s death, but there it is.
If a Senator does a tenth of the good that Sen. Kennedy did, I’d say they can call their career a roaring success.
And if a Senator does a tenth of the harm that Sen. Kennedy did, I’d say they ought to be run out on a rail — and their constituents deprived of a Senator for at least two years as penance.
Kennedy did both tremendous good and tremendous harm. It’s all a matter of how you balance the scales.
And if you believe that there is a balancing, that one can trade virtuous acts for sins, then you can forgive a lot more.
J.
Oh yeah, that National Cancer Act? Pure evil. Bringing campaign contributions into the open? Speaking out against funding the Contras? COBRA? Fighting Jesse Helms for AIDS research? He truly was history’s second greatest monster.
“Both perfectly valid approaches, I suppose.”
Perhaps Nimrod is a student of culteral relativism. One is bound by custom and traditiion, the other by hypocrisy and a certain small midgin of modest power. Both valid, I think not.
Nimrod, no sense arguing with these cretins. They are garbage who only exist to disrupt. The only one that had any modicum of grace was Jay (not JT of course).
“Jaim Galt”
LOL, putting the moron back into oxymoron.
No, it’s not a perfect fit.
No it isn’t. Not by a long shot. I would ask you again to back the comparison up with actual facts about Kennedy’s life but I’m going to guess all you’d say is “Chappaquiddick — and he was fat and he drank!”
Sorry you didn’t care for my comments, EL. I was just trying to fit in, to follow the tone established here with Ronald Reagan, Robert Novak, Jesse Helms, Henry Hyde…
J.
I am of the mind that it doesn’t serve any purpose slamming a dead man(someone who just died). I believe that there is plenty in the afterlife where judgment may or may not befall said person. I could go on endlessly about how I disagree with figures like Helms, Novack etc… but when they die, it doesn’t do anything for me to name call these folks. Its kinda of dickish, but that is just an opinion. I also wouldn’t get too wrapped up in Oliver’s statements because he is merely expressing his feelings on HIS blog. Yelling hypocracy doesn’t really fly.
The next question is, where will Kennedy’s estate be probated?
When his mother died, he had her declared a resident of Florida to avoid taxes — never mind that she hadn’t left the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod in a dozen years.
Ted owned that place in Florida.
Also, a couple of years ago he got in a bit of hot water when he declared his DC-area home his “primary residence” for tax purposes, and had to choose between paying the back taxes and a fine or forfeiting his Senate seat based on the rules of residency.
I’m not concerned, though. The Kennedys have always been good at avoiding things like the “Paris Hilton tax,” so the heirs should be just fine.
J.
Among Ted Kennedy’s legislative legacy:
The Immigration Reform Act of 1965
The HMO Act of 1973
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
Long-time supporter of the IRA
Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974
“Robert Bork’s America…”
Other than the supposed IRA support (for which you cite no proof) and the NCLB Act (which might have worked better had they actually FUNDED it), I don’t see anything wrong here. Jay, why do you have a problem with fairer immigration rules, oversight of elections, and keeping nutcases off the SCOTUS?
Oh right… you’re Jay. Res Ipsa Loquitor.
Teflon, here’s Ted Kennedy arguing for the 1965 bill:
“Our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same. Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset. Contrary to the charges in some quarters, the bill will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and deprived nations of Africa and Asia — and in the final analysis, the ethnic pattern of immigration under the proposed measure is not expected to change as sharply as the critics seem to think.”
“…“The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.”
“… “No immigrant visa will be issued to a person who is likely to become a public charge.”
Also, Teflon, you might have missed it, but HMOs are now big, evil corporations who ruthlessly deny medical care to their members.
Kennedy’s “reform” of the election laws were marginally better than the system they replaced — until enough people figured out how to game the new rules.
The way Kennedy treated Bork and Thomas set the tone for the current politicized treatment of Supreme Court nominees, and was filled with such hyperpartisan hyperbole and vitriol that it was a disgrace.
Don’t play ignorant on Ted’s status as an IRA sympathizer for decades.
Yes, he did some good things. Maybe even some great things.
But he hardly deserves the beatification going on.
J.
He wasn’t an IRA supporter. He advocated a united Ireland, and he also advocated amnesty for Protestants. Was it a good idea for him to mouth off about it? No, of course it wasn’t, they and we had enough trouble as it was. But you’re going to have to point out the bit where he actively applauded a campaign of terrorist bombings across Ulster and Great Britain.
When he came here, he met with John Hume of the SDLP, not Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein. You’re saying everyone who supports a united Ireland automatically also supports killing and destruction toward that end. And you’re saying that purely to poison the well against a dead man who could have been excused anything at all in your eyes had he an (R) against his name.
English Lit,
It’s a pretty good fit, not perfect but pretty good. Certainly good enough for government work. I would say that the pro Falstaffians have presented a much better case than you have. Intellectual honesty is in rather short supply here.
He helped to push a constitutional crisis because he didn’t like a president.
There was no constitutional crisis. Impeachment proceedings are SPELLED OUT in our constitution in case you’ve forgotten and they were followed in that manner. Everything was fine. No crisis. So you’re just being idiotic in that regard. Also, I don’t see how the Chairman of the Judiciary committee carrying out his constitutionally required duties during that process makes Hyde “evil.”
No crisis.
The GOP chose to invoke crimes and misdemeanors in order to remove a president when there was none. That’s the very meaning of a constitutional crisis.
William Jefferson pushed a Constitutional crisis by trying to assert Congressional immunity to shield his felonies.
William Jefferson Clinton pushed a Constitutional crisis by lying under oath in a civil deposition.
Oh, and Oliver, currently the ACLU is sending out photographers to get pictures of CIA agents to show to accused terrorists to help identify their “torturers.” Will you heap the same venom on them as you do Novak?
J.
William Jefferson pushed a Constitutional crisis by trying to assert Congressional immunity to shield his felonies.
The Republican congress tried to remove Bill Clinton from office because he made the mistake of having an extramarital affair.
And with all due respect, what is “evil” is a bunch of slide in slime on their belly politicians using the death of Senator Kennedy and the weight of his name to push through an unpopular health care reform bill.
THAT’S offensive.
THAT’S offensive.
Yeah, because Sen. Kennedy didn’t advocate for universal health care reform for almost 40 years or anything.
No, it isn’t. It’s a convenient excuse.
Jay Tea, why do you have such a problem with Americans living and working abroad? Have you never left the country?
Not in the least, Michael. But I do find it tremendously amusing when one of them tells me I “don’t have a place in America any more.”
Don’t you find that ironic?
Since I don’t have a place any more, and Jaim’s not using his, perhaps he’ll loan it to me?
J.
The Republican congress tried to remove Bill Clinton from office because he made the mistake of
having an extramarital affairnot being a Republican.All set, now.
If you feel censored on this blog, there are numerous other blogs to post on…or you can start your own.
George Walker Bush pushed a Constitutional crisis by invading a foreign country based on false pretenses.
Or it would have been a Constitutional crisis, except a) the Congress at the time was run by his cronies and b) the moral authority of Congress to investigate Presidential wrongdoing had been frittered away because a previous Congress had impeached a President for lying about a personal matter. And worse, a personal matter that a good many of his accusers and their buddies also engaged in. So enough of the self-righteous crap about the Clenis, OK?
This topic isn’t about Clinton, this is about Ted Kennedy. He was not perfect, none of us are, but he tried to do right for the country and uphold the values that this country is supposed to stand for. That’s more than you can say about any modern Republican Senator you care to name.
He was not perfect, none of us are, but he tried to do right for the country and uphold the values that this country is supposed to stand for. That’s more than you can say about any modern Republican Senator you care to name.
Amen.
And he did it without the vitriol and name calling that has become the standard of today’s political dialogue.
“The Republican congress tried to remove Bill Clinton from office because he made the mistake of having an extramarital affair.”
I believe the charges were perjury and obstruction of justice.
Amanda say:
Just a reminder of what we’re in for.
http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/please_politicize_my_death/
I believe the charges were
perjury and obstruction of justicereceiving a consensual blowjob outside of marriage, lying about it, and worst of all, enjoying it.LOL Southern Quaker,
“And he did it without the vitriol and name calling that has become the standard of today’s political dialogue”
How quickly the memory fades, see Robt. Bork.
For some of the rest of the Constitutional scholars here, refresh my memory, have any other lawyers been disbarred for oral sex? Oh that’s right, perjury and obstruction of justice, that’s different from a blowjob isn’t it? What about taking campaign money from foreign nationals? Must be pure coincidence that export papers were signed off for previously restricted computer equiptment.
Yeah, because Sen. Kennedy didn’t advocate for universal health care reform for almost 40 years or anything.
Who wrote HMOs into existence in 1973? Who wrote COBRAs into existence in 1985? If anyone was to blame for the health care “crisis” in America, it’s Ted Kennedy! How about we let someone who DIDN’T f*$k up the system in the first place write the bill?
This thread is a testament to who Republicans really are.
Thanks for reminding us of what’s at stake, wing-nuts.
TPM’s coverage on Kennedy’s death and the potential to unite Dems on pushing through health care reform without the GOP:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/this_morning_sen_robert_c.php?ref=fpa
Interesting possibilities.
The GOP chose to invoke crimes and misdemeanors
Oh that’s right I forgot. It was “invoked.” It had nothing to do with the President of the United States, the highest law enforcement officer in the country you know….lying under oath before a federal judge and lying under oath in front of a federal grand jury.
The GOP just “invoked” it.
And he did it without the vitriol and name calling that has become the standard of today’s political dialogue.
Sorry, but let’s not allow the death of Senator Kennedy to gloss over his history that much. Kennedy engaged in as much vitriol and name calling as any other politician. In fact, more than your average politician. It was Kennedy’s disgraceful behavior during the Bork hearings (and how he treated Judge Bork was a disgrace. He didn’t just oppose Bork. He smeared and maligned a good man with an impeccable record) that set the tone for future judicial appointments and how they were handled. It was Kennedy alone that turned the entire process into a political circus.
The GOP just “invoked” it.
Yes. They turned a private, stupid failing into a constitutional mess. Its what they did, sorry.
He smeared and maligned a good man with an impeccable record
Robert Bork was a kook of the highest order. A malcontent with no regard for the position he was nominated for. It is to his eternal legacy that Sen. Kennedy stopped that idiot from getting on the court. We’re all better off for it.
“This thread is a testament to who Republicans really are”
Truer words were never spoken. Republicans are the antithesis of Ted Kennedy. Dean Wormer put it best in the classic movie Animal House. Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life.
Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life.
Then how does Rush Limbaugh make a living?
Remember when the ultra-cons were saying that speaking ill of the dead was bad back when Jesse Helms died? Or when God killed Jerry Falwell?
Sorry, I missed the bit where Kennedy compared Bork to Hitler, or attacked his ethnicity, intelligence, religion, or personal integrity.
All of which is factually true, if a bit bluntly stated. Bork’s view of the due-process clause of the Constitution is so narrow as to make it practically obsolete in a modern society. He believes anti-trust laws are irrational. He opposed most civil rights legislation, and has written that the equal protection clause does not apply to women – all men being created equal, you see.
Yeah, he’s a real mensch.
His role in the Saturday Night Massacre alone should have precluded him from sitting on the highest court in the land.
Yes. They turned a private, stupid failing into a constitutional mess. Its what they did, sorry.
Nope. Sorry dude. Democrats brought that one on themselves. It was Democrats (and Bill Clinton in particular) who pushed for legal provisions within the ‘Violence Against Women Act’ that allowed the defendant in a sexual harassment lawsuit to be questioned about his sexual history to be used to show a “pattern of behavior.” The Democrats made it it was. When it happened, it became incumbent upon the President to tell the truth. He chose instead to lie. It’s on him, not the GOP and certainly not Henry Hyde.
Robert Bork was a kook of the highest order.
Ad hominem Oliver. It’s pointless.
A malcontent with no regard for the position he was nominated for.
And in exactly what way did he have “no regard” for the position he as nominated for? Go ahead and dig around in your liberal poop-pile and let me know what talking points you dig up.
Try and gloss it over all you want, but what Kennedy did was disgraceful. It’s a fact. Deal with it.
All of which is factually true
Well, that’s more stupidity than I can take for one evening.
Oliver, that “private, stupid failing” stopped being private when he was asked about it under oath (and it was admissible under a law he himself had signed) and he lied.
If he had simply told the truth, there would have been no impeachable offense.
But then he would have been embarrassed and shamed (if that was even possible for Bill Clinton) and would have to go out and bite his lip in public for months on end. Instead, he played the “lying under oath isn’t bad if it’s about something I want to keep private” card and got his ass impeached.
But back to Edward Moore Kennedy (named after Eddie Moore, Joe Kennedy’s chauffeur and chief procurer): he, too, tried desperately to weasel out of responsibility for his own misdeeds and failings. And he, too, was not only eagerly forgiven, but embraced and his misdeeds and failings swept under the rug.
No wonder the Kennedys and the Clintons got along so famously during the Clinton administration.
J.
Amused Observer, you’re content to go through life saying things like “Karma’s a bitch. The coward of the Senate finally frees up the oxygen that’s been wasted on him.”
And you don’t even feel any remorse for shitting in an obit thread like that.
I won’t even bother asking you what you’d feel like if someone said this about one of your children, because you lack any sense of empathy.
So we agree — this thread says a hell of a lot about Republicans, the “party of life” (LOL).
You guys are cretinous losers. And America gave up on you in 2006 and is never going to look back (thank God).
Jaim, STFU! You guys have vilified every deceased Republican / Conservative of any renown, since I have joined this thread. The excrement heaped on the late Pres Reagan here was unbelievable.
So save the righteous indignation for when the next Republican politician dies . The way you guys talk out of both sides of your mouths would make Satan blush!
The excrement heaped on the late Pres Reagan here was unbelievable.
Well then he shouldn’t have been such a bad guy.
The jackdaws continue to screech at the eagles….
But back to Edward Moore Kennedy (named after Eddie Moore, Joe Kennedy’s chauffeur and chief procurer)….
Oh yes, Teddy Kennedy was a horrible horrible man:
“On the morning of the day before the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin, Senator Ted Kennedy called the White House to inquire if it was appropriate to bring to the burial some earth from Arlington National Cemetery. The answer was essentially a shrug: Who knows? Unadvised, the senator carried a shopping bag onto the plane, filled with earth he had himself dug the afternoon before from the graves of his two murdered brothers. And at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, after waiting for the crowd and the cameras to disperse, he dropped to his hands and knees, and gently placed that earth on the grave of the murdered prime minister.
No spin, no photo op; a man unreasonably familiar with bidding farewell to slain heroes, a man in mourning, quietly making tangible a miserable connection.”
A cowardly scumbag if there ever was one:
Katz arrived at the meeting and, much to his shock, in walked Kennedy.
“A bunch of KGB men came with him into the room and he just turned around and told the KGB men, ‘Go away,’” Katz recalled. “This was clearly the first [time] ever I witnessed something like this. Here the all-powerful KGB men wanted to be at the meeting and the senator just told them to go away, and they looked at each other and just left. And that was, again, a powerful scene….. Jessica certainly would not have made it if not for his contribution…It was lucky for us. It saved the baby’s life and created new life for Natalya and me and our children.”
Kennedy’s help for the family didn’t end there. He helped Boris Katz, who had worked with computers, find a job at a computer software company. Today, Katz works at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology…
“He did it because he wanted to help,” Katz told CNN. “I think that is what he does — did — for many other people….I learned many more cases [where] he helped people because he likes to help people. It is his job to help people.”
The odious “amused observer”, a stinking Caliban snorting and croaking from his fetid pit:
The coward of the Senate finally frees up the oxygen that’s been wasted on him.
Ladies and gentlemen, your American right wing: clueless and classless.
Jaim, your outrage is a bit late… you missed out on the class parade on the passing of Robert Novak.
But if you hurry, you might get a few scolding words in before the comments are closed:
http://www.oliverwillis.com/2009/08/18/remembering-robert-novak/
J.
Wilbur, if you scrolled up to 1:36, I said “Kennedy did both tremendous good and tremendous harm. It’s all a matter of how you balance the scales.”
You choose to highlight the good and bury the bad. I trust you folks to bring up the good, and make certain the bad isn’t swept under the rug.
The man was never a saint, no matter how hard you try to make him into one.
J.
So save the righteous indignation for when the next Republican politician dies . The way you guys talk out of both sides of your mouths would make Satan blush!
Frank, if you were mourning your hero Jesse Helms on the day he died by posting a tribute to him on your blog, and Oliver, or Jaim, or I came over and crapped all over your comment thread with anti-Helms vitriol, then you’d have a point. The fact that you can’t tell the difference proves beyond anything I’ve yet seen out of you that you’re nothing but a whining, petulant little brat in an old fart’s body.
Oh, and Jaim: I personally made a point of avoiding the other thread, about Obama’s statement. So did the others who have a considerably more honest and realistic view of Kennedy’s history.
There’s your respect, Jaim.
Now find a new whining point.
J.
Truer words were never spoken. Republicans are the antithesis of Ted Kennedy. Dean Wormer put it best in the classic movie Animal House. Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life.
So Republicans are like Dean Wormer. Indeed. I wonder if Amused Observer knows who the model for Dean Wormer was. No Googling!
I personally made a point of avoiding the other thread…
IOW: “instead of poking you in both eyes I only poked you in one. I’m nice.”
You “respect”, Jay, like your soul, is hollow.
Indeed, I know who BOTH the models were for Wormer. Of course, living one town away from the real model for the college is a bit of a help…
J.
Like I said, these are Republicans. This thread is a perfect example of who they are.
They simply can’t help themselves. The hate, the anger, the fear — no wonder America has rejected them.
LOL,
Falstaff was a fat drunken lout known for his cowardice. An open opportunist to such a degree that the term hypocrite did not apply.
Then, in 2000, irony choked on it’s own vomit.
Yes Jaim,
Let us think of our own children, let us think of our daughters. Shall I continue or do you get the picture?
The excrement heaped on the late Pres Reagan here was unbelievable.
Well then he shouldn’t have been such a bad guy.
…and the same could be (and ought be) said about Ted Kennedy.
He was a strong proponent of alternate energy… unless it encroached upon his view off Cape Cod.
He was a strong proponent of higher taxes… who cheated on his property taxes and had his mother’s estate probated in a state with lower taxes.
He was a champion of the poor and downtrodden… who left a young woman to drown in the vain hopes of saving his political career.
He was an ardent feminist… whose womanizing abuses of women are the stuff of legend.
He was a devoted family man… who watched as so many of the children of his family followed in his sordid footsteps and made so many of the mistakes that he did into addictions and other misconducts.
He was a staunch Catholic… who stood proudly for so many things the Church condemned.
In short, he was a hypocrite on the grandest scale… and now he is being canonized by those to whom “hypocrite” is one of the greatest insults.
As I said before, Ted Kennedy did great good and great evil over the course of his life. I’ve always felt him more to be pitied than despised. But if you’re going to defend your double standard on dealing with the recently-departed, Oliver, then I feel obligated to point out where you’re obscuring facts to suit your bias.
Which, of course, is entirely your right. All you have to say is “Ted Kennedy is exempt from my rule” and declare that your blog is a Kennedy-bashing-free zone. (It’s not unprecedented. Meryl Yourish declares her blog to be an Israel-bashing-free zone, and enforces that rule mercilessly.)
But don’t hide behind some great moral principle for enforcing your preferences, Oliver, because they simply don’t hold water.
(Unlike a certain 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88, which was all too good at holding water.)
J.
And this whole thread is another affirmation Charles Krauthammer’s observation: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.
J.
Liberals think conservatives are evil.
We know.
[...] Ted Kennedy Dead At 77 Of Brain Cancer (oliverwillis.com) [...]
No, we think you’re evil and stupid.
Wilbur, stop looking for rational foundations for the fact that you despise me. I know in your Platonic world you inhabit, you don’t want hatred to exist, but give in to it – you know you want to.
You, sir, are a fraud. You pretend to rise above it all, and be detached, approaching everything coolly and empirically. You’re just another partisan liberal who thinks that you are better than the average person, and therefore, are surprised and astonished that they won’t do your bidding.
I have debated your kind for years, and read your bilge in print for decades. It’s always the same: It might seem like we were doing _______, but we were doing _______. You, on the other hand, were doing _______ (because I say so), and must cease and desist.
If I may coin a phrase from Woody Guthrie, “These rules were made for you, not me.”
God bless you, Wilbur – with your expansive education, you know exactly what circle you will be in, in L’Inferno
“Liberals think conservatives are evil.
We know.”
What passes for intellectual honesty on the left and provides an ample example of how a truly despicable coward was elected Senator for Life from the pathetic state of Massachussets.
Wherever you live, MA kicks its ass. Guaranteed.
Funny that Ted Kennedy was a “truly despicable coward” based entirely on one horrible incident but a certain mass-mudering draft dodger was apparently an innocent victim of Liberal rage and hatred even while young men were dying in the dust based on a transparent lie.
Fail, Frank. I may be an asshole in many ways, but one thing I have never done is go to some wingnut’s blog on the day some prominent reactionary dies and take nasty pot shots at the person he or she is mourning. You have.
I find that behavior objectionable, so I object. Does that make me an insufferable elitist? Apparently it does in your eyes, but I can live with that.
LOL Nimrod,
Pretty bold statement backing up the once fair state of Massachussets, just how does a state kick ass anyway? I presume your mumbled statement refers to the war in Iraq. Your reasoning on those lines is faulty but what of it, what bearing does a war 30 some years after Kennedy’s modest indescretion have? After he revealed himself for the man that he is.
You use the term horrible to describe an incident where a man abandons a girl to die in a car he drove, walks past several houses, doesn’t get any help, and swims off the island to set up an alibi. I use the term despicable cowardice. Is this all just a case of semantics?
A man’s charactor and soul are revealed in challenging circumstances.
Wing-nut trolls who spend inordinate amounts of times on a lib blog lecturing us about being “frauds.”
Frank getting his monthly checks from the Fed and shitting his diaper over “Socialism.”
Doesn’t get much better than that.
As an aside, speaking ill of the recently dead is never a good idea. I might be an agnostic, but I do believe in karma.
Republicans are the antithesis of Ted Kennedy. Dean Wormer put it best in the classic movie Animal House. Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life.
Hey! Kennedy was NOT stupid!
Well done, Amused, you can parse simple statements. No, I wasn’t defending Chappaquiddick – although since no-one alive knows precisely what happened, someone like me least of all, I choose to discreetly divest myself of the discussion. What I was saying was, said proven draft-dodging mass murderer – who has much, much more blood on his hands than Ted ever did – was for eight years forgiven anything, to the point where the mildest criticism of him was labelled “derangement”. And all you can say in reply is “your reasoning is faulty merely because I say so and anyway it’s not directly connected to Ted Kennedy so I don’t have to deal with it”.
As for Massachussets…
Nimrod,
The war in Iraq is another subject unrelated to the one at hand. I dismiss it because it is not germane. More blood on somebody else’s hands has no bearing nor will it remove any blood from Kennedy’s hands.
Jaim,
Glad you believe in karma.
Quaker,
So you’ll concede 2 out of 3? Stupid is as stupid does, to paraphrase another movie.
So you’ll concede 2 out of 3?
Fat? Use your eyes.
Drunk? We Irish do enjoy our drink. Mr. Kennedy’s capacity for revelry was legendary.
Stupid? Not by any measure.
although since no-one alive knows precisely what happened,
Yes, we do. He saved his own ass and allowed a woman to die, failing to call anybody until after Mary Jo Kopechne’s body was found.
It’s not that difficult Ringo. And I’m sorry, trying to equivocate with President Bush’s tenure is really freaking weak and lame.
The old fact/inference problem again. We don’t know that for a fact, only a weasel would act as though we did.
And I’m not trying to equivocate, I’m just saying, Amused Observer calls Ted Kennedy a “despicable coward” based on Chappaquiddick – which is very probably fair in this case – but a certain mass-murdering draft-dodger – both objectively true – comes to mind to whom the epithet fits even better. Be nice to see you admit it.
And I’m sorry, trying to equivocate with President Bush’s tenure is really freaking weak and lame.
That’s true. Even assuming the worst about Chappaquidick, George W. Bush was complicit in the deaths of thousands more innocent people.
As far as Bork, Bork didn’t believe in past supreme court decisions, like Scalia and Thomas and Alito and Roberts they believe decisions like Brown, etc. were “activist” and not proper interpretations of US law. Again, Ted Kennedy, if he had done nothing else, did this nation a service by Borking Bork.
Be nice to see you admit it.
They can’t. I’ve seen too many conservatives project their ideal values onto the Mayberry Machiavelli’s, as though their own politicians are magically incapable of serious mistakes, let alone ruthless self-serving gamesmanship.
Quaker,
Only willing to stipulate 2 out of 3 it seems. Well lines from movies are an imperfect way of making a point I suppose. Do you think movies have taken the place culturely that books once occupied?
Interesting to see you remark on the Irish and drink. Do you suppose vikings in the woodpile might have any bearing?
On another note entirely I observe that Nimrod concludes that despicable coward is probably a fair way to describe Teddy and that Oliver can use the worst assumptions about Chappaquidick to bolster an arguement.
That the latter arguement that Nimrod and Oliver bolster with their tacit admissions regarding Kennedy about a war more than 30 years after the fact is rather weak does not take away from the former admissions. We don’t seem that far apart on the central issue.
Only willing to stipulate 2 out of 3 it seems.
Also willing to stipulate that it rains in Seattle.
Actually, what I said was I don’t know, and it’s not my place to speculate. I just can’t think of a possible permutation that could reflect at all well on Kennedy. What I should have said was that “despicable coward” was probably fair in a technical sense with regards to that incident, but the act of saying it, especially in the immediate wake of his death, probably isn’t. And yeah, it happened 40 years ago, as opposed to still constantly happening now.
All I meant in the first place was, if Ted Kennedy was a despicable coward, what on Earth is mass-murdering draft dodger Bush?
Nimrod,
I get what you are saying. What kennedy did was bad but what Bush did was worse.
“Actually, what I said was I don’t know, and it’s not my place to speculate. I just can’t think of a possible permutation that could reflect at all well on Kennedy.”
With regard to Chappaquidick, neither can I (and I do have speculations). I watched the CBS special last night. Jeff Greenfield said he remembered watching Kennedy’s TV address and essentially thinking, “I’m not buying any of this.” As I’ve said, you have to judge someone by their whole record. But this will always be a large part of his.
You have to leave your hyperbole somewhere to go.
You bring up Jaim’s choosing to live abroad in nearly every single thread. Don’t act like this is a one time thing, you’ve definitely got an issue with it.
It just blows their minds that a person can be happy and fulfilled while living among “TEH BROWN PEOPLEZ.”
Fucking bigots to the core.
Jaim, you dickwad, I loved the Vietnamese people, and tried for years to return after my discharge.
It’s not always about ideology – it’s about the fact that you’re a liar, a phony, and a hypocrite. You raise issues about the United States and its tax burden, but you don’t pay any. You talk about people being selfish, but you take home a paycheck for teaching.
If everyone around here would stop calling other people racist, the amount of comments would be reduced by at least 50%, I’ll wager.
If everyone around here would stop calling other people racist, the amount of comments would be reduced by at least 50%, I’ll wager.
Right. Best to ignore the racism. Maybe it’ll go away on its own.
You talk about people being selfish, but you take home a paycheck for teaching.
Wait, so you can’t call other people “selfish” if you don’t live under a bridge and eat garbage off the street? Huh?
I take a paycheck, not a welfare check like you do Frank.
Jaim, would you ever even consider making a payment to the US federal government, even though you don’t have to pay federal taxes?
And not just for the sake of not being the biggest hypocrite ever to post on a liberal blog. I mean, you know, you could do it for the sake of other Americans.
That way, when you chastise someone for receiving federal assistance in some form, you wouldn’t be lying through your teeth when you say you paid for it.
That’s true. Even assuming the worst about Chappaquidick, George W. Bush was complicit in the deaths of thousands more innocent people.
Yeah and how many thousands upon thousands of deaths are JFK and LBJ responsible for? After all, they got us into Vietnam. I guarantee we won’t hear any talk from you about them being “complicit in the deaths of thousands more innocent people.” If you want to start talking war policies, innocent deaths and the Presidents involved, go right ahead.
Yeah and how many thousands upon thousands of deaths are JFK and LBJ responsible for?
Tons. What’s your point? That Democrats can also get us into wars we have no business being in? This is news?
“you don’t have to pay federal taxes”
Wrong.
Um, little Dennis needs a lesson on what hypocrisy is:
It’s when you advocate something for others that you don’t act on for yourself. For example, there are a number of Republican politicians who want to deny gays the right to marry since they say homosexuality is “evil.” However, in their own lives, they like like to suck hard throbbing cocks or text male teenagers about what they look like with their shirt off.
That’s hypocrisy, and it’s only one example among many that define your dying party.
Guys like Frank bitch and moan about “socialism” when in fact they are beneficiaries of “socialist” things like government provided health care and veterans’ benefits. (Not to mention roads, hospitals, a power grid, the internet, universities, and countless other things that we all benefit from.)
Me? I’m very much for government health care and veterans’ benefits. I don’t go around screaming about other people getting something I get since that would be really hypocritical of me. More to the point, I don’t receive government benefits and never have, at least not directly. (The benefits of hospitals, roads, and universities are of course hard to quantify.)
This issue actually has nothing to do with me paying taxes into the Fed or not (another hint: I do). It has to do with the bizarre number of wing-nuts who bitch about things like Social Security, Medicare, or the VA, and who happen to be unemployed losers and/or recipients of Social Security, Medicare, or VA benefits.
There’s nothing hypocritical about continuing to point out that some of the more prominent trolls here who bitch about “Socialism” are, as far as I can tell, Socialists (by their own definition). Me? I work for a living. I’ve never heard you congratulate me for that Dennis, and that makes me oh-so-sad.
Sad and funny at the same time. Like your whole life, Dennis.
Tons. What’s your point?
Follow the thread. People are saying that Ted Kennedy basically killing a woman by leaving her to die while he saves his own privileged ass and doesn’t report it until the following day after she’s found is no big deal when compared to the horror of the Bush administration.
I’m a little sick and tired of people merely writing off Kennedy’s moral, legal and political failures as nothing but “flaws.” It was nothing more than Kennedy’s name, privilege and political clout of his family that allowed him to skate on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident rather than a charge of at least manslaughter. Then to make it worse, you have nimrods like Nimrod trying to say, “Well nobody really knows what happened” when everybody knows exactly what frigging happened.
The left also seems to forget, or tacitly approved of, Kennedy’s eagerness to deal with Andropov, the leader of the Soviet Union, a former director of the KGB and a principal mover in both the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the suppression of the 1968 Prague Spring, at least in part to advance his own political prospects.
“When President Reagan chose to confront the Soviet Union, calling it the evil empire that it was, Sen. Edward Kennedy chose to offer aid and comfort to General Secretary Andropov. On the Cold War, the greatest issue of his lifetime, Kennedy got it wrong.”
http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/27/ted-kennedy-soviet-union-ronald-reagan-opinions-columnists-peter-robinson.html
T-Ken was a Soviet Stooge. Right. That’s the ticket.
Teddy Kennedy for Dummies (e.g., william):
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2003/01/05/kennedy_unbound/
More here from the same awesome source:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/altercation/467618
Indeed,
Dude, use your google button. Selfserving lapses in Teddy’s moral character don’t begin and end in a pond on an island. From his college days to his dying wish to subvert the succession process of Mass. Kennedy was a piece of work. Trying to sell out our country for his own political gain is by no means his lowest low.
“google button”?
It’ funny when grandpa tries to speak like the kids.
Well done, Daddy-O!
At the end of the day, Ted Kennedy was a flawed man who did a lot of good. He did a lot more good for America, and a lot less bad, than another child of privilege George W. Bush, that’s for damn sure.
As usual Jaim is in over his head. Dude/google button is a reference to another post by indeed. You are so clueless.
Kennedy was a coward with low morals who was willing to secretly undercut his country with the Russians for political gain. He deserved jail several times over.