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The Charmer
My print column on the man who was Ted Kennedy is up.
posted by Spencerblog at
8:57 AM
Sunday, August 30, 2009
- Let The Truth Prevail on Global Warming
- Ted Kennedy: Stooge or Traitor?
- What's a Cancer-Ridden Bomber Worth?
- Khalid's Information Dump
- Ted Kennedy; No Prince
- E-mail of the Day
- The Kid and Michael Vick
- Penn Delco Follies Continue
- Hope, Change and Thugs
- Not Your Typical Protestors
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16 Comments:
Gil, once again you have driven off the bridge of good taste and drowned any semblance of compassion or humanity.
When your time comes, any kind words written about you will be an undeserved courtesy.
Ted Kennedy accomplished something with his life and helped the lives of millions of others. You remain a scurvy spider trapped in his own web of ineptitude and jealous of the accomplishments of others.
Many mourn the passing of this legend and will visit his grave site. You will get the same treatment as Scrooge in the dark future he is shown.
At least when I drove off the bridge, nobody died.
And as Ted Kennedy told Robert Bork after slandering him as someone who would prefer a country where blacks ate a segregated lunch counters, rogue cops ruled, and women were forced into back alley abortions, "Nothing personal."
... and the column has the added advantage of being based on fact, not fiction.
Gil - A wise man once said "let he who is without sin cast the first stone". How many of us have gotten behind the wheel after having too much to drink? This could happen to any one of us in a moment of self indulgence. And when under the influence, can any of us honestly predict how we would react? I have a problem when people try to portray The Kennedys as Gods. It's simply not so. They were mortal. They were human. In Teddys case, very human. And in my opinion, it isn't fair to define Ted Kennedy by one event. A tragic event that was poorly handled. That's how your column reads. Kennedy was a tough politician. He did some unsavory things, but I have no doubt that the good greatly outweighed the bad.
Scurvy spider? LOL
Bob,
I'm afraid, the more you find out about Ted Kennedy the more unsavory he becomes.
But point taken.
I hope you are as generous with your assessment of the man when George W. kicks the bucket.
Gil - Anyone who follows politics knows about Chapaquitic. Now that Ted Kennedy is gone, certain people in the media, you being one of them, have found it necessary to remind people, and define Kennedy by this one event. What do you have to gain from doing this? It's obvious that this is an attempt to divert attention away from his positive accomplishments. Should W's youthful indiscretions be the focus of his obit? I don't think so. I wouldn't focus on it. That would be pretty ugly. People should be remembered by their intentions and accomplishments, not by their misfortunes. That being the case, Bush will probably be remembered by his handling of 9/11, Katrina, the economic downturn, and Iraq. I can't imagine it will be very flattering.
The real question we have to ask is what does it say about us as a nation when we indulge in over-the-top ceremonies for these criminally flawed personalities like Michael Jackson and Ted Kennedy.
The mainstream media needs to get back to factually and ethically reporting the news. These 24/7 celebrations of the cult of celebrity completely distort real accomplishment and positive moral values.
You only have to ask yourself one simple question to confirm what a travesty these public mourning exercises were -- would you have let either of these men around your children?
I appreciate the good taste to refrain from criticizing the recently deceased. But some level of reality and discretion has to be demonstrated by the public funeral services or the result is a genuine disservice to our nation and our values.
Jake - I agree. The Jackson eulogy given by Sharpton was very disturbing, and the adoration was cult like. And if I had little kids, I wouldn't let them near Jackson. On the other hand, I don't put Kennedy in the same category, but I agree that painting Teddy Kennedy as a saint is just as disturbing as Sharptons description of Jackson. What does it say about us as a society? Good question.
If she had lived and Kennedy had died, there would be plenty of people that would have somehow blamed her.
What if that girl in the car with Kennedy had been "servicing" him, and that's what led to the accident?
When Bush kicks the bucket his legacy will be all the soldiers he sent to the deaths, the civilians killed and tortured, destroying the economy and failing to save the people that died in Katrina.
What happened on that bridge was a tragic accident. What Bush did was deliberate and unforgivable. When Bus goes, people will be lined up to spit at him.
President Bush will be honored with the lasting legacy of keeping all of America safe after 9/11, standing tall against a despicable enemy and the shrill barbs of a spineless minority.
Ted Kennedy, on the other hand, will be forever remembered for killing an innocent young woman while driving drunk across a resort bridge, and then using the full weight of his office and family prestige to cover it up.
Anon-diano, only a fool would choose to be memorialized as Ted Kennedy over President Bush.
Jake - LOL. Get real. Bush will largely be remembered as an incompetant president who took marching orders from Dick Cheney, and Kennedy will be largely remembered as a competent senator. Except by you. And Gil. And Scott.
Oh, and btw, I know you have to be reminded now and then, so here it is. 9/11 happened on Bush's watch.
Bob,
Good people can disagree whether President Bush's policies were "incompetant" (sic). We all can agree that he was an honorable man from an honorable family who did what he thought was in the best interests of the country.
Ted Kennedy, on the other hand, let his groin do all his decision-making, generally under the influence. He was a narcissistic sociopath, enabled by a dogmatic media intent upon prolonging the Camelot myth.
History will remember them accordingly.
Bob,
Good people can disagree whether President Bush's policies were "incompetant" (sic). We all can agree that he was an honorable man from an honorable family who did what he thought was in the best interests of the country.
Ted Kennedy, on the other hand, let his groin do all his decision-making, generally under the influence. He was a narcissistic sociopath, enabled by a dogmatic media intent upon prolonging the Camelot myth.
History will remember them accordingly.
Bush made the country less safe:
- He ignored warnings from Clinton administration about bin Laden and lowered the priority of terrorism prior to 9/11.
- He sent thousands of troops to a needless death.
- He weakened and overstretched our military.
- He diverted attention away from Iran and North Korean, allowing their danger to grow.
- His economic policies directly lead to the recession, and increased the depth of it.
- He set back stem cell and other forms of medical research.
- His policies led to more people losing their jobs, homes and medical insurance.
- He blocked important environment protections that would have protected people from various types of pollution and toxic waste.
- He damaged our relationship with our allies, which deprived our military and intelligence services of full support.
- His torture policies aided the recruitment effort of terrorists.
- Terrorism rose world wide, and our allies were attacked.
- Bush entered office in a recession and left in one, just like his predecessor. Of course, Bush didn't get to enjoy the days of a tech bubble with schmucks buying yahoo.com stock at $600-$800/share.
- He reorganized all intelligence/security departments into the Office of Homeland Security and created a cabinet position that will rise up the ranks in the long-term. This should have been done decades ago.
- His economic policies took us out of what was supposed to be the worst recession in 2001 - coupled with a fallout from 09/11
- He lowered our taxes, sending us rebates on two occasions. The left masks this by complaining about the rich - I assume we're not supposed to be equal after all?
- the rise of terrorism made possible by the inability of the FBI/CIA to communicate in the 90s was contained/quelled with extremists constantly on the run
- Terrorism rose world wide, and our allies were attacked. I guess we should forget the USS Cole and the two embassies in the 90s...
- I would argue that he focused more attention on Iran and North Korea than the last administration, setting a clear signal in his state of the union speech as opposed to the Clinton regime giving north korea $$$ that turned into nuclear reactors
- In terms of Iraq, he did what a future president would have eventually had to do, take out a threat in Hussein and his regime. The long term effects of the Middle East are yet to be seen, but his administration has done more in two terms than hundreds of years of infighting.
- His policies have brought Libya to their senses.
- He took a stand on education by attempting to make educators accountable. Too bad the left backs union's political donation checks first...
Syeve - Talks with Libya began during the Clinton administration in 1999 ( although Bush and Cheney took all the credit).
As for the Bush economy, this is what David Walker, Bush's own comptroller general had to say to the Washington Post "There's no question in my view that Bush was the most fiscally irresponsible president in the history of the republic."
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