Comments on: Memories of Teddy Kennedy

By: Sarah Powers

Sarah Powers — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:01:58 +0000

http://sz0163.ev.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/mail#2

Carl M. Cannon for Politics Daily

Mary Jo Kopechne and Chappaquiddick: America’s Selective Memory

By: Sarah Powers

Sarah Powers — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:11:12 +0000

As noted Ted spent much of his life riding on the coattails of JFK and RFK – even the words in this moving eulogy were RFK’s – not his. What exactly is there to idolize and romanticize about a man who was kicked out of Harvard for cheating, killed a woman because he was driving drunk, left the scene of the accident without seeking help, one who abused his political “clout” for the advancement of himself at the cost of others personal and professional lives…these are not lofty qualities worthy of idolization. He was at any given time a career politician, no different and no more remarkable than the next.

By: A Lurker

A Lurker — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:39:09 +0000

Here’s why so many people idolized Ted- maybe it was hopes of greatness (or perhaps former glory)- maybe it was romanticizing his family & failures, and maybe it was belief in the things mentioned here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9JTYnMpRyg

By: Sarah Powers

Sarah Powers — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:20:35 +0000

I’m sure Kennedy accomplished much in his tenure which was indeed purposeful and beneficial to many, though it is difficult for me to summon respect for his character based on what remarkable proceedings I witnessed during those hearings and the first hand knowledge of people he targeted with less than ethical and at times almost criminal tactics. It is a shame that his sister Eunice Shriver who passed a few weeks ago garnered no more than a mere murmur in the press. SHE was the impressive one – an ardent supporter of the Susan B. Anthony Fund, putting her Catholic money where her beliefs were, developing a cirricula for disabled children, instrumental in the development of the Special Olympics. You can obviously see her impact on many including her daughter Maria who is also impressive regardless of what you might think about her actor husband. The post mortem demagoguery of one who clearly and perpetually rode on the coattais of his more impressive brothers, is tedious.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:34:02 +0000

Thanks for the education Sarah

By: Sarah Powers

Sarah Powers — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:35:23 +0000

Most of you here are probably too young to recall Kennedy’s role in the Legal Services Corporation debates of the early 80’s. LSO is a federally funded legal assistance system for those who can not otherwise attain or afford legal representation. In the late 70’s and early 80’s, the LSO was under scrutany for spending substantial resources advocating liberal law reform, supporting activist litigation and legislative lobbying to promote nostrums and propagate opinion rather than serving the purposes for which it was originally created to serve. It still does at taxpayer expense. Bi-partsian efforts to restructure its function in allowing the organized bar at the state level to provide free legal services without taxpayer support was ferociously argued against by Kennedy in hearings I attended. No conservative Republican or liberal Democrat opposed to reform went unscathed from his vicious personal and public defense. What he and other like minded politicians wanted was the right to choose their causes, their clients and their cases. They still do and who suffers? Those that most need their help and those that are bound to pay for it. Thomas Jefferson said “to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves…is tyrannical.” To suggest he was a champion for equal access to justice as the LSC notes today with his passing is daft.

By: Brian Pierce

Brian Pierce — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:07:17 +0000

I just want to put on the record that should I die, I give permission to use my death in any way possible to advance the causes I believe in.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:02:23 +0000

That’s really impressive. Did you get to meet him? I met him once in Chicago and got to shake his hand while we were both holding a scotch. Well, I was drinking scotch and assume he was too. It was a brief moment, but one I’ll never forget. A few years earlier when I did an internship for the Senate, I remember doing what all new Senate interns did, sitting in the gallery and watching for the legends.

As an institution the Senate is a body with fewer giants than possibly at any point in its history. As Reid said, they lost their patriarch.

The Dems need to walk a fine line between doing what Teddy would have wanted and appearing to look like they are using his death to pass the unpassable. This could backfire, and that’s the last thing Kennedy would want. They need to approach this with grace, humility, reverence and class. This is precisely the kind of thing Hoyer would get right that Pelosi will screw up.