Further, I found it annoying that many of the same people who bitched about the "Bush Dynasty" and how they got where they were through money and political connections loved and worshiped the Kennedy's. Uh, yeah, well, when you say "Kennedy" you are talking about the most powerful long running political dynasty this country has ever seen. Oh, so sorry, it's not "Dynasty" it's "Camelot" isn't it? 'Scuse me whilst I hurl.
Though I disagreed with him in just about everything and did not like him (and considered him a murderer to boot), I did feel that he was a hard working guy and that he was not at all like The One who mostly decided not to vote at all, just show up and get paid. Or not show up and get paid. Whichever.
And, for all his partying, crashes and cancer, the bastard made it to 77, so he was obviously a tough ol' bird.
I grudgingly gave him some credit.
Ah, but this list of his past transgressions and idiocy was emailed to me recently, and I'm going to post the whole list along with the comments in the message right here.
I never researched the list. The list describes a man exactly like the Ted Kennedy that I saw and remember, so I am inclined to believe every word.
Now, there might be some inaccuracies in this list, it's even likely. So if any one out there can point them out, I'll look it up and print a retraction if you are correct.
I am also going to add a couple of links about the infamous Palm Springs Rape and the Dodd/Kennedy Waitress Sandwich affair as the author of the list missed these.
It isn't wrapped well due to copying from a text message. I aint fixing it.
Lest we forget the truth about this SOB...
The Last of The Kennedy Dynasty
As soon as his cancer was detected, I noticed the immediate attempt at the
"canonization" of old Teddy Kennedy by the mainstream media. They are
saying
what a "great American" he is. I say, let's get a couple things clear &
not
twist the facts to change the real history.
1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was
expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a
classmate
to cheat for him.
2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up
for four years instead of two. Oops! The man can't count to four! His
father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up
from
bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition), pulled the
necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to
ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea , where a war was raging. No
preferential treatment for him! (like he charged that President Bush
received).
3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris, never advanced beyond the rank of
Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person
of
his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private!
4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was
cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked
driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights
off after dark. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked.
Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959. Amazing!
5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash, and hospitalized
for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was
admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests
remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed.
Didn't hear about that from the unbiased media, did we?
6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in
Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his
Oldsmobile limousine, and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne,
a
campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard
rail,
Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.
7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party, passing several houses
and a fire station. Two friends then returned with him to the scene of the
accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he
already
knew - that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to
the
authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer,
and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then
the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying, Kopechne had
scratched
at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car.
The Kennedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring that any inquiry
would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of-state to her family,
before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but
after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying
to
rescue Kopechne and he didn't call police because he
was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he
held
off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem
overnight.
Since the accident, Kennedy's "political enemies" have referred to him as
the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pled guilty to leaving
the scene of an accident, and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS.
Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's insurance
policy, and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body
exhumed
and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court,
and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills... a "token of
friendship"?
8. Kennedy has held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but
considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or
argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased
the
minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent,
and funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors and is widely held as
the "standard-bearer for liberalism". In his very first Senate roll, he was
the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside
down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries.
9. Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and author of every
expansion of an increase in immigration, up to and including the latest
attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the pious
grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court nominees, as if he was the
standard bearer for the nation in matters of "what's right". What a
pompous
ass!
10. He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous and
very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than "great
American". "A blonde in every pond" is his motto.
Let's not allow the spin doctors make this jerk a hero -- how quickly the
American public forgets what his real legacy is. Let's keep this going for
truth, justice and the American way!
So, if you're a Ted Kennedy lover, prove at least one of the points wrong.
Then, there's the Dodd/Kennedy Waitress Sandwich (BTW, I don't like Dodd either, freakin' crook).
Go straight to Paragraph 9 in this one, but do read the rest, there are others on both sides of the aisle:
Sexual Awakening
Here's a quote that's all over the place:
Article clip, from the Hartford Courant:
"Dodd and Kennedy were also reported to have made a 'human sandwich' with a waitress at La Brasserie, another Capitol Hill restaurant. The report had it that Kennedy threw the woman on Dodd, who was slumped in a chair, and then jumped on top of her. She was said to have run screaming from the room."
Summary of 1989 Penthouse magazine article, summarized by the Washington Times:
"When she put in an appearance in their private retreat - 'The Teddy Kennedy Fun Room' - the Massachusetts senator picked her up and heaved her onto a table. The crystal candlesticks and champagne glasses shattered as he grabbed her again and flung her on top of Dodd.
"Then Kennedy threw himself on top of the woman. The waitress implored Mr. Kennedy to 'Get off me!'
"Another waitress entered to find 'things all tipped over and Kennedy was on top, [the waitress] was in the middle and Dodd was on the bottom.' At that point the sandwich was disassembled."
Well, I guess Penthouse, The Washington Times and the Hartford Courant got some 'splainin' to do if this is not true. Or should make it clear they never printed it.
In Dodd's defense ('Scuse me whilst I hurl), he was reported to have been passed out drunk and it was Kennedy who did it without his knowledge.
And the Palm Beach Rape.
Now, Teddy Bear didn't do it, it was his cute lil' nephew Will. But it seems that the Kennedy's did do a bit of stonewalling against the investigators. And lil' Willy did seem to have a taste for rape.
Ah well, 6 degrees and all that. I'm being a bit of an ass putting it in here, since it's not directly Ted.
But it was an event!
The linked article, being Time magazine, is mostly sympathetic. You can find unsympathetic articles all over the blogosphere, but I don't feel like it. I'll end on a milder note:
Then There Were Three
2 comments:
I am here to defend the man.
Well put, Kerry! I'm gonna miss Uncle Ted like nobody's business!
So many "red state Americans" who regarded him with suspicion if not outright hatred, will probably never even realize how much they owe Senator Kennedy. It's kind of sad that a lot of the people Kennedy worked the hardest for despised him with a passion born of decades of anti-Kennedy propaganda. Nothing was handier for a Republican running in a conservative district than the image of Bogeyman Ted in a campaign ad. It usually worked.
TEDDY KENNEDY'S GONNA GET'CHA IF YA DON'T WATCH OUT!
I wonder how these people would react if tomorrow - just for a day, mind you - every law Teddy Kennedy is responsible for were made null and void. Call it a hunch but I have a strong feeling that more people than you might suspect are going to miss him now that he's gone.
Teddy, they hardly knew ye!
I'll miss Teddy. His impact on the country he loved so much will be felt for generations. The loss his passing means to progressive politics in the United States is incalculable. We need him at this moment in history more than we ever needed him before. It's so unspeakably sad. He's gone and he's not coming back. Now he belongs to the ages.
In the good old Irish Catholic tradition, tonight I'll be drinking a toast or two (or twelve) to you, Ted. Sleep well and thanks.
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
Opinion.
I opened with opinion, then gave a list of what purports to be fact.
Are they correct or wrong?
You defended against my opinion with yours.
You did not defend against the purported facts, and I bet you could if there were an error in there.
Thank you for replying BTW, and for being more civil than I tend to be myself. I was wondering if someone was going to tear into me like a rabid hyena for writing ill of Ted.
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