273 Comments

1. julesk:

Thank you for stating what I’ve been thinking ever since I heard of his death. Unbelievable to me that the man is being held up as such a hero when in reality he should be an ex-con. I’m not celebrating his death – but I am thrilled that he is no longer in the Senate.

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:13 pm 2. FarBar:

And Mary Jo Kopechne should be 65 now, with grandchildren, looking forward to retirement all the while living a full life. But that didn’t happen, did it?

Kennedy’s was not a life well served and I’m sure he’s paying for it now.

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:14 pm 3. chrisa798:

Castro served longer, but yes, thanks. I managed to convert a liberal Sunday by explaining how damaging the war on poverty was to the poor (among a bunch of related themes) — I wish to donate the conversion for the funereal purse.

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:17 pm 4. enigma3535:

I spent most of July each summer in DC growing up in the 70s and 80s with my bio-Father [a bar-fly, lawyer and contemporary of Mr Kennedy] and saw Mr Kennedy at his worst [i.e., often sloshed].

What happened to Mary Jo Kopechne is a travesty and Mr Kennedy should have both served time and lost his seat in the legislature for what he did.

But, he was not held accountable and went on to represent his constituents and others in a way that few others in Congress can owing to the need to generate enormous amounts of money for each re-election. He cared about the common man and fought for the common man [not special interests that could be counted on - wink, wink - come the next election if their interests were represented, 1st].

Granted, I would love to debate the specifics behind this statement “… also spent a lifetime promoting policies that have endangered our freedoms, harmed our economy and damaged the lives of the poor people they were presumably intended to help.” But, I understand that one should keeps facts to a minimum when trying to drive public opinion through propaganda.

In the end, what made me pro-Ted Kennedy as a public servant was how relentlessly he fought for armoring personnel and vehicles in Iraq once he was informed that such armoring was inadequate or non-existent … while other Senators were fighting for the F-22 [and the funding for other exotic, un-used weapon systems] and against armor for soldiers in Iraq, Kennedy was fighting to save soldier’s lives and limbs by securing funding for said armor. How many lives were saved? certainly more than one.

Whatever Mr Klavan; I can understand how both ideology and self-interest can trump pragmatism [this one does not like it when it comes to politics].

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:19 pm 5. oldfeziwig:

Is Al Sharpton demanding a Kennedy stamp yet?

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:20 pm 6. Des:

I can’t conjure the bile necessary to be offended at the way the media is honoring him today (including Fox), I’m just changing the channel until they have something else to talk about. The bigger story (as you pointed out) is that a sleazebag like Kennedy could squat in the Senate and make (and hide) millions for decades while proclaiming his love for the little guy. Power will always attract the lowest element in our society and no amount of reform or legal crusading will eliminate them. Term limits are the only solution.

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:22 pm 7. Renee:

I was listening to a gentleman on Rush’s show today and he brought up an interesting point about Kennedy. In 1965 Kennedy’s immigration reforms ushered in the current immigration crisis we have now. As the Dems are doing now he did then and lied, lied, lied. He told us that these immigration reforms wouldn’t do exactly what they’ve done namely to cause a huge influx into this country illegal Mexicans by the millions. For that alone he’s roasting marshmallows in h—! He got what he wanted though…namely millions and millions of folks who will vote Democrat. We need term limits on ALL politicians NOW! Buh Bye Teddy and thanks for nothing.

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:23 pm 8. Bill:

Yes, of course, Ted Kennedy did a lot of good and his constituents repeatedly sent him back to the Senate. His good deeds should be acknowledged. Yes, I agree. Nevertheless, Ted Kennedy was a man who got where he was by family money and power. He cheated on college exams, left a woman to die a terrible death while he scurried to cover his political butt. He perverted the judicial confirmation process and accused a sitting president of manufacturing evidence to start a war. If anything, Ted Kennedy spoke like Harry Reid on steroids – stupid, partisan, innacurate and damaging to the country. Ted Kennedy never had a real job producing anything. He was a Senator who was a playboy heir to a family fortune who tried to redeem himself by corrupting the system, buying friends, silencing enemies and promoting givaways to voters in order to extend his obscene 47 plus year tenure in the most seclusive club in the world. Yes, Ted did good, but he was a product of corruption and he left a trail of misery as well.

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:27 pm 9. Mo:

Amen to this.

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:31 pm 10. Pajamas Media » For a Killer, Five Decades in Office:

[...] Read the entire article here. [...]

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:35 pm 11. Moho:

Bald men can support good ideas.

I also believe so, but in your case, its not evident.

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:38 pm 12. Tom H:

And as if his actions in life weren’t offensive enough, apparently he is to buried at Arlington.

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:39 pm 13. Moho:

Mary Jo Kopechne, rest in peace.

Your sudden love for Kopechne when she helps you make a political point is heart-warming.

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:40 pm 14. wancow:

Mary Jo, in death, did accomplish one thing: she saved the world from POTUS Ted Kennedy.

Did the Queen actually knight this jackass, btw? I heard it was planned…

Oh, anyone who died as a result of an HMO denial of care: their blood is on Ted Kennedy’s hands. He wrote the HMO act of 1973. HMOs are his monster.

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:43 pm 15. MikeHu:

Your sudden love for Kopechne when she helps you make a political point is heart-warming.

Idiot. A lot of us have not had a “sudden” interest in Mary Jo Kopechne but have had her on our minds since July 1969. My thoughts, and I bet Mr. Klavan’s and lots of others, on this have not changed one bit since then. Go slink around somewhere else with your “irony.”

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:51 pm 16. Moho:

Idiot. A lot of us have not had a “sudden” interest in Mary Jo Kopechne but have had her on our minds since July 1969.

Well, you should have gotten over it long enough to prevent 4,000 young American men and women from being sent to their deaths over a fraudulent argument for war. God, you people are slimeballs.

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:56 pm 17. Timothy B.:

This is the third column on PJM to frame a story about Ted Kennedy around the tragic death of Mary Jo Kopechne. Clearly, one or two are just not enough.

Unable to devote a single line to celebrating the memory of a human being who dedicated his life to public service, the right wing in general and PJM specifically once again exposes that it has literally no class, no shame, and no respect for the dead.

At what point did the conservative movement become a club for callous and inhuman sociopaths?

50 years later, the proper response to the conservative/GOP movement and it’s heartless, brainless adherents remains “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

Aug 26, 2009 - 12:59 pm 18. elvis:

Kennedy escaped to a life of hedonism, debauchery, selfish destructive policy. He loved to demonize and ruin good peoples lives. He did this by projecting his rabid guilt on this country! There is little good to say about this fat man.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:10 pm 19. Bille:

I am 51 and I was very young when Mary Jo Kopechne died but I do remember it, and I have never forgotten or forgiven Ted Kennedy for basically killing her and getting away with it. There is a whole generation who are not even aware of what he did…it just gets glossed over. I just cannot feel any sorrow for his death. He died surrounded by his wealthy family in a nice warm bed, and he lived 40 years longer than he gave her. She died in 7 feet of dirty water because of him. Anyone else would have served prison time for what he did, but he got away with it.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:10 pm 20. The Wizard:

Ted Kennedy was totally devoid of character and ethics, and undeserving of this slobbering adoration. He continued to be elected because of his family name – he was neither hero nor leader. His liberalism and socialist stance was based on his elitist attitude and the fact he never worked a day in his life. He certainly was not an advocate for the common man. I find his miscreant lifestyle reprehensible and indefensible. He was a drunk, philander, and totally corrupt. The man got away with MURDER. And you salute him? He never repented; he never expressed remorse or sorrow. Disgusting.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:13 pm 21. The Wizard:

Please, Ted Kennedy was totally devoid of character and ethics. He continued to be elected because of his family name – he was neither hero nor leader. His liberalism and socialist stance was based on his elitist attitude and the fact he never worked a day in his life. He certainly was not an advocate for the common man. I find his miscreant lifestyle reprehensible and indefensible. He was a drunk, philander, and totally corrupt. The man got away with MURDER. And you salute him? He never repented; he never expressed remorse or sorrow. Disgusting.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:15 pm 22. Megalass:

Amen, Andrew. I’ll be wearing a white neck-brace for the next few days in honor of Mary Jo Kopechne. And if the Cardinal allows this man, who until his last days was making efforts to screw the voters of my former state, to have a Catholic state funeral, I will scream.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:16 pm 23. Hawk:

Dear Timmy Bee,

Most of Teddy’s “service” to the public was the kind of “service” that a bull gives a cow. Its unusually long duration does not ennoble it. And yes we are going to remember Mary Jo.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:16 pm 24. Chris Mallory:

“Unable to devote a single line to celebrating the memory of a human being who dedicated his life to public service”

What a puke inducing sentence. Ted Kennedy did more to harm this nation than anyone since FDR, may they both burn in hell. Why didn’t he use some of his great wealth and start a company, give people jobs? He spent All of his life doing nothing but gathering power for himself and taking more money from taxpayers at the point of a gun. And yes, he did kill more people with his car than any of my guns ever has. ROT IN HELL TEDDY.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:16 pm 25. RE:

The media is attempting to cannonize Kennedy as some sort of saint. That is the source of our outrage.

Our sense of decency kicks in when we see the media attempt to elevate a man who clearly acted above the law (and got away with it) to ‘hero’ status.

Kennedy is no hero. It is a lie that must be countered by anyone with a sense of decency.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:17 pm 26. wancow:

17. Timothy B. said: Unable to devote a single line to celebrating the memory of a human being who dedicated his life to public service

Ted Kennedy DID NOT dedicate his life to public service! He was the Consumate Politician who dedicated his life to self agrandizement!

Yes, I spit on his grave. The man was a perverse drunk who murdered an innocent girl and committed the United States to suffering with his various sick agendas!

Thank god he’s dead and can do no more damage!

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:21 pm 27. Billie:

On the same subject…if you feel like reading a hearbreaking book, read Joyce Carol Oates’ “Black Water”…her fictionalized account of what it would feel like to be a young woman left to drown in a car in shallow water, by a thoughtless, selfish, spoiled political figure…it is Oates’ idea of what it might have felt like to be that woman. It is obviously based on the case. It will break your heart but also make you think…that is what Mary Jo probably went through, in the last hours of her life. Waiting in that car while the last bit of air drains out, hoping the man who got you there will bring help.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:22 pm 28. carla:

Oh joy. MOHO us back on line. Different finger, but still up his nose. And he left the bathroom a mess. Did he flush???? Naw. MoHo’s above that. Apparently potty training was left out of his curriculum.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:23 pm 29. Douglas:

Almost every rule admits of an exception, and the nearly inviolable rule against speaking ill of the dead is, well, no exception. Well said, Andrew. And I’m glad Robert Bork has outlived this man after the slanders he endured from him in 1987.

Another topic: Next time anyone reading this sees an old episode of the Twilight Zone, imagine an updated version of that show (or a similar anthology show) with Anderw Klavan as narrator, host, and chief writer. Others have tried and failed in the past, but they weren’t Andrew Klavan with complete artistic control. What fantastic show that would be. Spread the word.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:25 pm 30. James:

Yes, in fact, I understand that Mary Jo Kopechne remains dead.

The grim reality of Teddy’s death is that he is going to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, a site that is supposed to be reserved for those who died honorably in service to the United States.

Teddy deserves to be cremated and his ashes distributed into the nearest toilet. Teddy became what he was only on the cache of his surname. He has too many personal crimes, Mary Jo Kopechne leading the list, for him to be buried in national hallowed ground.

His being buried in Arlington Nation Cemetery desecrates those buried who performed honorably, and in many cases died horribly, in service the the United States. Our nation should weep at the dishonor to the nation of his burial in Arlington.

Jim

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:27 pm 31. Adam V.:

21. wancow: “Yes, I spit on his grave….
Thank god he’s dead and can do no more damage!”

Gotta love those kompassionate konservative khristians.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:30 pm 32. Sebastian Shaw:

The MSM has not even mentioned Mary Jo Kopechne’s death even when they were going over his history; this is conveniently left out. You see, when rewriting history, leave out those peculiar haunting facts. In lionizing Teddy, the MSM has forgotten he is or was a powerful alcoholic, irresponsible in many other ways such as being cheating on a final exam at Harvard, but Daddy Kennedy got him back in the door. The media needs to revisit the night of Mary Jo Kopechne’s death in an hour special (Fox News perhaps?) & how being a Kennedy, one got away with murder.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:30 pm 33. coolnick:

The guy never had a real job. His family, like the Bush family (I was a big Bush supporter), the Clinton’s and others are nothing more than tics sucking on the taxpayer. He was just another rich kid that made their way in to “public service” (ha ha!) and never really had any idea what it was like to struggle. He had no idea what it is like to not have a dime, balance a check book or worry about where his next meal or Scotch was coming from.

Kennedy is more responsible than just about anyone in Congress for pissing off taxpayers money. He was instrumental in bankrupting this country. I did not want him in a position where he could waste taxpayers money. Today, he no longer is in that position and that is fine with me.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:31 pm 34. AtheistConservative:

“Unable to devote a single line to celebrating the memory of a human being who dedicated his life to public service”

Oh get over yourself. Stalin dedicated his life to public service – and I’m only using him to dodge Godwin’s Law.

Spending your life in a position to which you feel entitled, suckling at the government teat, living the life of royalty, while adhering to populist ideas and passing legislation that only harms the ‘common man’ whom you have never met, don’t care about, and most certainly do not support, does not qualify you for deification on your deathbed.

His behavior in the Kopechne case only helps point up what utter scum this man was. And Ted Kennedy is only the tip of the iceberg: his over-valued brother John Kennedy got us into Vietnam, and he and Johnson so poorly managed that war (thinking their ’social engineers’ like Robert McNamara could win using new liberal policies) that they ensured defeat. Yet they shoulder none of the blame for this. His general family is full of other worthless people, including rapists and murderers. Yet they are revered, pointlessly, because they are ‘liberals’.

There would be no need to respond with the facts if the biased mainstream media didn’t feel the need to whitewash this man’s many, many sins and flaws.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:37 pm 35. Dave:

Mr. K,

I”ve been hunting all day for the perfect tone on Kennedy.. you hit it.

I didn’t want low-grade disrespect, but I didn’t want fawning either.

Nice job.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:40 pm 36. enigma3535:

Wow wancow; that is rather harsh … I was not a fan of the man most of my life … but he redeemed himself in my view during the Iraq war for how he relentlessly fought in the Senate for funding the items our troops needed to stay alive AND the effort he made regarding the care of the families that lost sons and daughters in the conflict [personally going out of his way to visit grave sites with the families of the fallen].

Granted, he had his flaws and if there is a hell he will probably burn there owing to the whole Kopechne affair … but at least try to be fair when it comes to how he tried to end his life as a politician; with dignity, as a public servant, laboring for both his constituents and soldiers in general.

Vilifying him for the bad things he did is fine, but not recognizing or acknowledging anything that he did that was commendable, is blind partisanship writ large.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:44 pm 37. bibio44:

A scummy blog even for this site — and that’s goin’ some.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:51 pm 38. CARLA:

Enough of this Kennedy bashing. The car, by no fault of him, crashed thru an inadequate railing and ended up in the river. Understandable. It was dark, and he could not remember whether or if some innocent chippie was in the back seat. Happens to all of us. What to do? Well, first and foremost, check in with is consigliore, Larry wshatshisname, and think. Now thinking is not high on the list of Ted’s attributes. Menwhile, MJ has figured out that she is toast. She does know how to think. And then, our hero, swims, swims, swims.How heroic. How manly. And several hours later, our hero issues a public statement. MJ drowns. And now he is the lion of the Senate. Well, so be it. That being the case, contemp of Congress is an accolade.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:51 pm 39. Wes:

A succinct and honest assessment of this bloated bore’s life and times.

Kennedy’s savaging of two honorable men: Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas, remains a lasting testament to this man’s unbridled hubris and sickening lack of decency. In the end he betrayed his wife, his children, his country, his church and his own perverted sense of honor.

Some “Lion”

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:53 pm 40. The Anchoress — A First Things Blog:

[...] UPDATES: Banned in Boston: No conservative perspectives in Beantown, today Michael Kelly: An old piece on Kennedy, I’d put off reading it for a few days, myself Roger L. Simon: Thinking of Kennedy via Europe Baseball Crank: Kennedy the Warhorse Catholic News Agency: A mixed Catholic Legacy Klavan: Bye, Ted [...]

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:54 pm 41. AtheistConservative:

“But at least try to be fair when it comes to how he tried to end his life as a politician; with dignity, as a public servant, laboring for both his constituents and soldiers in general.”

Lies, lies, and damned lies.

He ended his life trying to use his illness to help push through a wildly unpopular and disastrous bill. His colleagues compounded the lack of dignity in this scenario by immediately doing what had been prophesied: naming that bill after him and attempting to use the emotionalism of his death to breathe new life into it.

He was no public servant. Disregarding his many other policy issues (his role in creating illegal immigration problems, his role in the debacle that is Medicare, et cetera) he lived like a king on money earned by trading on his name. He continued to push a corrupt and disastrous health care ‘reform’ bill when the ‘public’ he supposedly ’served’ told him outrightly and loudly they wanted no such thing.

And Kennedy either did not vote or voted against several war funding bills. Add that to his involvement in the Winter Soldier event (placing blame on soldiers for wartime events rather than the Democrats that put them in the situation), and he does not come off as a ‘friend of the soldier’.

The one positive thing you can say about Ted Kennedy was that he was correct in his resistance about going to war in Iraq (which is more a statement against ten years of Clinton administration / UN calls to war with the country than our government decision to actually do so). But after we went, rather than support the troops he bullheadedly kept insisting on stubborn opposition to the administration and the war. This is not support, it is gainsaying and defiance for political points. It is the essence of being a political ‘operator’ and putting your own interest above the country.

And it’s exactly what you can expect from a person who sees being a government official as an entitlement, and themselves as royalty.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:54 pm 42. Teacher in Tejas:

Perhaps the ultimate irony. Maybe Mary Jo Kopechne would have discovered the cure for cancer?

Guess we will never know.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:55 pm 43. kdell:

help me out here…what GOOD did he EVER do (putting today aside). he will only be eclipsed by one person in the harm and damage he did to this country. that will be bojangles, our current marxist-in-chief.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:55 pm 44. Moho:

He ended his life trying to use his illness to help push through a wildly unpopular and disastrous bill.

How devious.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:56 pm 45. Teacher in Tejas:

Also I find it funny how one of the “biggest champions of women’s rights” in the Senate was also one of the biggest skin hounds in Washington for most of his political career.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:58 pm 46. G. Graham:

Well said, Mr. Klavan. The slobbering eulogies in the media are nauseating. As if this were a great man who just passed. Please.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:58 pm 47. Sebastian Shaw:

Coolnick, George W. Bush did have a real job such as several failed attempts at running several oil companies, but he became successful running the Texas Rangers. All of these are real jobs. Aside from politics when he helped run his father’s campaigns, he did not get into politics until much later & was governor for 2 terms before he became President of the United States. I don’t see any parallel with Teddy Kennedy at all.

Aug 26, 2009 - 1:59 pm 48. elvis:

“He ended his life trying to use his illness to help push through a wildly unpopular and disastrous bill.”

…and the cold statists will over play this to their disaster. Kennedy is not loved. They will over do their adulation of this arrogant bastard!

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:00 pm 49. photoman:

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:03 pm 50. Sharpshiny:

Thanks, Andrew. I have always hated it when the wealthy, famous and politically connected have been able to get away with murder (albeit third-degree in this case). The mainstream media coverage rubs salt in the wound by ignoring the greatest scandal of Kennedy’s career. When O.J. dies, you think they’ll conveniently leave out what happened to Nicole and Ron Goldman?

I don’t know who’s more disgusting: sick, corrupt, evil politicians like Ted Kennedy or the shameless, mendacious professional liars of the mainstream media.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:07 pm 51. Moho:

Bibio…its okay, I’ll happily piss on Klavan’s grave for the murder of this young man, Brandon Stout, a National Guardsman who lost his life in Iraq in 2007. At the time, Klavan’s hero [who sent 4,000 men and women to their deaths in Iraq on manufactured evidence] praised Stout for his bravery. But Stout never planned to go to Iraq:

According to an Associated Press article at the time of Stout’s death, Stout enlisted in the Guard in June 2003, a scant month after Bush had dramatically and unequivocally declared victory in the war in Iraq. Officially, there were no combat operations in Iraq.

Had he been seeking foreign military service, Stout could have joined one of the four military branches. But Stout had practical matters on his mind. Wood 8, a local Michigan television station, reported that Stout had joined “while attending college in Lansing. It was an opportunity to earn money and train for a career in security services.” Stout chose to get married and build a life while working at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport; he was still working there when he was called to active duty in July, 2006. Even then, according to an Associated Press report, Stout had sought to be a chaplain’s assistant during his deployment, not a combatant.

Stout was quite simply drafted and then killed in a needless war. According to Icasualties.org, over four hundred other National Guardsmen—whose terms of enlistment span eight years—have been drafted and killed in similar fashion. Nearly two hundred more Army Reservists have been killed in Iraq through Bush’s cynical back-door draft.

Compare this haunting reality to Klavan’s mendacity:

Every single one of our soldiers signed up or re-signed up after 9 – 11. The term, the longest one was 6 years, so every single one signed up after 9 – 11, every single one knew where he was going, what was going to happen to him,

There’s a special place reserved in hell for the likes of Klavan, and if Kennedy really is going there for his involvement in the death of that woman, then Klavan will be quite a few circles below him.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:10 pm 52. carla:

You know, MOHO, with two finger up your nose you are looking pretty silly.
What is it with you? If you would put you fingers someplace else, I’m sure,we could be friends. Well, not absolutely sure. And you have got to flush.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:12 pm 53. Saltherring:

Bill @ 8 says, “Yes, of course, Ted Kennedy did a lot of good and his constituents repeatedly sent him back to the Senate. His good deeds should be acknowledged. Yes, I agree.”

Perhaps you could provide some examples, Bill, of the “good deeds” performed by Senator Kennedy. I can’t for the life of me think of any.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:12 pm 54. Mike2:

16. Moho: Well, you should have gotten over it long enough to prevent 4,000 young American men and women from being sent to their deaths over a fraudulent argument for war. God, you people are slimeballs.

92 American young soldiers have died in Afghanistan so far this year. Obama is to blame. He wants more troops in so more can die. Your anti war president has turned into Bush 3. Happy now slimeball?

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:17 pm 55. elvis:

A few very hysterical people here. It’s getting funny.

I wonder what’s going to happen when the poll is taken to find that most people don’t give a rats ass about how “great” Ted Kennedy was.

There is nothing more flattering to conservatism, than the wild illogical attacks by the spiritual brothers and sisters of Ted Kennedy on this site.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:17 pm 56. Bohemond:

Moho redivivus seems to think every thing boils down to war: he’s agin it. Another hippie peacenik moral bankrupt. I love his crocodile tears for *US* sevicemen he loathes and despises, while in fact he was cheering on the enemy. “Resistance,” was it, or “freedom fighters?” Give it up, troll.

Saddam is dead and Iraq is (more or less) a democracy. Sorry, hippie- you lost.

Oh, Kennedy. Where are your tears for the millions of victims of the NVA and Khmer Rouge, troll? Because Teddy has their blood on his hands.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:17 pm 57. Moho:

American young soldiers have died in Afghanistan so far this year. Obama is to blame.

Yes, he is. And I blame him. What have you done to stop him? All I hear you people whining about is your grandmas.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:18 pm 58. Moho:

Another hippie peacenik moral bankrupt. I love his crocodile tears for *US* sevicemen he loathes and despises, while in fact he was cheering on the enemy.

Really, Bohemond? I don’t remember writing anything like that. Links please you little lying coward.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:19 pm 59. Klavan On The Culture » Bye – PajamasMedia « Snow Report Blog:

[...] via Klavan On The Culture » Bye. [...]

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:19 pm 60. Moho:

By the way, I don’t give a crap about Kennedy, nor have I said I did. You people are idiots. Like I said, Pajamas Media = Pwnage Media

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:20 pm 61. enigma3535:

AtheistConservative: Are you honesty stating, without actually stating it, that Mr Kennedy did not relentlessly fight in the Senate for funding personal body armor, hummer armor and truck armor [amongst other items that would secure the livelihood of our troops] once he was informed that they were insufficient in Iraq? If you are, please don’t let the facts get in the way of your rant. Especially since he appears to have been fighting with both his fellow Dems and members of the GOP to secure said funding.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:20 pm 62. Elvis the Original Terminator’s Blog:

[...] Posted in Uncategorized Great post by Andrew Klavan on Ted Kennedy [...]

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:21 pm 63. Peter Stawicki:

Excellent. To the point. Loved it and will share it!

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:23 pm 64. elvis:

#58

And we certainly don’t and never have given a crap about you!

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:24 pm 65. Pinandpuller:

“Who will rid me of this corpulent beast?”-Mary Jo Kopechne

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:28 pm 66. College Know-It-All Hippy:

He faked his death. He and Michael Jackson are laughing their butts off right now.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:29 pm 67. Delia:

The horned one is already on Ted’s carcass:

“In her tribute to Ted Kennedy, who has died at the age of 77, Nancy Pelosi promised that she will make the reform of the health service system, a ”dream” of the senator, a reality by the end of this year.”

Vom!

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:32 pm 68. Moho:

And we certainly don’t and never have given a crap about you!

I can only thank you for reading my posts, and taking the time to let me know how you feel about them. Given the fact that you don’t give a crap about me, that must have been an extraordinary effort of forced-giving-a-crapedness.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:33 pm 69. Bohemond:

“who sent 4,000 men and women to their deaths in Iraq on manufactured evidence”

Manufactured, hm? Perhaps you need to read the Iraq Survey Group’s report a little more closely.

Lessee, troll:

Was or was not there a state of war in existence between Iraq and the United States as of 16 Jan 1991?

Were or were not hostilites suspended (merely) under the terms of the al-Safwan ceasefire agreement?

Did or did nor Saddam repeatedly, flagrantly vioate the terms of that ceasefire, with especial but not sole reference to expelling UNSCOM inspectors in 1998?

And did or not the Iraq Survey Group find a) an illegal ballistic-missile production facility, b) a bioweapons reasearch lab, c) gas centrifuges, dispersed and concealed, and d)550 tons of partially-processed uranium yellowwcake?

That’s not even getting into the link-dump I won’t trouble myself with regarding the belief in early 2003 on the part of EVERYBODY (including Saddam’s own generals) that he still retained a weaponized chem-bio capability.

So, troll, if you have some smoking-gun memo that proves the Bush Administration’s crystal ball told them, and them alone, that Saddam had got rid of his stockpiled WMD’s, bring it on. Otherwise you can just STFU about your “manufactured evidence” bilge.

Spare me your nauseating sanctimony- your moral high horse is a broken-down nag.

And DON’T EVEN give us wet-hanky crap about NG recruits being “drafted.” They knew damn well what the contract said when they signed it.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:37 pm 70. RCT930:

Sen. Kennedy was an extremely generous person…with other people’s money. He opted to keep most of his in off shore accounts to evade taxes that could have been used to help pay for all of his wonderful programs.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:38 pm 71. Mike Wilson:

Mr. Klavan I have to disagree with you on an important point:

“It’s only a coincidence that the man who left Miss Kopechne (…) also spent a lifetime promoting policies that have endangered our freedoms, harmed our economy and damaged the lives of the poor people they were presumably intended to help.”

It is certainly not. Both actions are borne of precisely the same stripe of character.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:42 pm 72. elvis:

#67
“Given the fact that you don’t give a crap about me, that must have been an extraordinary effort of forced-giving-a-crapedness ”

Cuz you are hysterical and more ways than one. But no it was no effort at all.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:43 pm 73. Commuter:

I believe that Pajamas Media postings are actually pots from separate blogs that are part of Pajamas Media that appear on this consolidated site. As a result, each blog owner separately moderates the comment threads in his or her posts. Roger Simon has already banned this wee weed up jerk moho today. It looks like moho is going for the trifecta based on his antics in Andrew Klaven’s and Roger Kimball’s comment threads. It’s to be hoped anyway.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:43 pm 74. Moho:

Well, Simon did it cause I said that the combination of his stupidity and cravenness coupled with his ugly baldness–it was on topic, since someone asked why Simon hid his bald head under a Winchel like fedora–made him rather useless. I didn’t make the same observation about those others, since neither is quite as ugly or stupid as Simon.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:46 pm 75. Bohemond:

“Are you honesty stating, without actually stating it, that Mr Kennedy did not relentlessly fight in the Senate for funding personal body armor, hummer armor and truck armor [amongst other items that would secure the livelihood of our troops] once he was informed that they were insufficient in Iraq?”

I’m not- but would ask you who led the charge to slash defense spending in the 90’s so outr troops were underequipped in the first place?

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:47 pm 76. Hmm...:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3qXeZpM__4

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:48 pm 77. wolfie:

#50—Sharpshiny— “I have always hated it when the wealthy, famous and politically connected have been able to get away with murder…”

How ironic that the writer Dominick Dunne also died today, a man who spent much of his life exposing the rich for exactly that. His (barely disguised) fiction and essays, outside of being highly entertaining, illuminate the privileged world of those whose crimes are exempt from ordinary penalties. His articles about the Michael Smith rape and the Kennedys perversion of the justice system and media still make good reading. His novel, A Season in Purgatory, was partly credited for the re-opening of the case against Michael Skakel, Ethel Kennedy’s nephew, in the murder of Martha Moxley.(Skakel was finally convicted, decades after the crime.)

Rest in peace, Dominick Dunne.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:48 pm 78. NObama 2012:

Now Prancy Pelosi, Bryd and Obama are all begging health reform/health insurance reform/’whatever’, in memory of ‘TED.’

Ted that didn’t even have the decency to call an ambulance after he thought Mary jo was dead.

Maybe call a Coroner?-
Wrecker?

Yeah-
We can call it Teds dead reform policy.

Climate Change 2010-
Fire a Democrat!

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:48 pm 79. jamman:

I always recall when William Kennedy Smith was accused of raping a woman at the Kennedy compound in Palm Beach, Fl.
The police came to the door in the morning seeking Smith to question him about the allegations. Ted Kennedy had his butler answer the door and lie to the police, telling them that the Kennedys had left for the airport and were gone.

I think back to his cheating at Harvard.

Ultimatlely this man will be judged for the character he displayed throughout his life.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,
Awaits alike the inevitable hour:
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:55 pm 80. Bella:

You know who else has gotten away with murder? George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleeza Rice… Can’t wait to rant about them when they’re dead!

If letting people die and lying to cover your own interst are your criteria for deserving to go to hell…we’ll all be seeing Ted Kennedy soon enough…Enjoy!

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:56 pm 81. wolfie:

#50- Sharpshiny—”I have always hated it when the wealthy, famous and politically connected have been able to get away with murder…”

How ironic that Dominick Dunne also died today. He spent much of his life exposing the evasion of justice by VIPs like the Kennedys. His articles defending the victim in the Michael Smith rape case against a Kennedy-smitten media and court system are still worth reading. His novel, A Season in Purgatory, has been partly credited with the re-opening of the case against Michael Skakel, Ethel Kennedy’s nephew, in the murder of Martha Moxley. (He was eventually convicted, decades after the murder.)

Rest in peace, Dominick, and may perpetual light shine upon you.

Aug 26, 2009 - 2:58 pm 82. simon:

MOHO..have you been watching me in the mens room again???

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:00 pm 83. wolfie:

Sorry for the double post there! (I wasn’t sure my first post on Dunne got through and I thought it was important to tip a hat to him today.)

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:00 pm 84. Tricky Dick:

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

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:02 pm 85. Moho:

Well, Rog, I suppose you had to answer the insult somehow in order to salvage whatever fig leaf of dignity you have left, after banning me from your site for referring to your silly attempts to hide your glaring pate from your audience. Still, as a former writer, I thought you’d get off a better shot.

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:06 pm 86. Redstar:

Now that Teddy has assumed room temperature, we should all have a moment of silence. Nahhh Teddy was a drunken Murder. He deserves no good words just hatred and scorn.

B.I.H Teddy

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:08 pm 87. Chris:

Section 4, 1998 Grand Jury indictment of Usama bin Laden:

“In addition, al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al
Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq.”

Just one of dozens of documented connections between Saddam Hussein and the terrorists that attacked the US homeland 18 months prior to the invasion of Iraq.

Take your “Bush lied!” tripe and piss off.

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:11 pm 88. Des:

“It will break your heart but also make you think…that is what Mary Jo probably went through, in the last hours of her life. Waiting in that car while the last bit of air drains out, hoping the man who got you there will bring help.”

Liberals don’t want to think about what Mary Jo (or her family) went through. It’s so much easier to not think of her as a person so they can give all their sympathy to the guy who killed her. That’s what they mean when they say they care more than everyone else.

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:15 pm 89. Jim Rockford:

Well said, Mr. Klavan, well said.

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:17 pm 90. Moho:

Chris:

While the original indictment did refer to an Iraq-Al Qaeda connection, several months after it was handed down, then-assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Patrick J. Fitzgerald specifically removed from a subsequent indictment of bin Laden — which superseded the original indictment — the reference to an Iraq-Al Qaeda link after failing to substantiate that such a relationship existed. This indictment charged bin Laden and numerous other Al Qaeda operatives with planning and carrying out the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/binladen/usbinladen-1a.pdf#page=8

This was the final indictment, which superceded that one. I’m trying to imagine what your reaction will be when presented with this incontrovertible evidence that your initial belief was wrong.

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:21 pm 91. Des:

“I’m not- but would ask you who led the charge to slash defense spending in the 90’s so outr troops were underequipped in the first place?”

Please don’t confuse Liberal trolls with facts. These are the same morons who attacked the surge as sure to fail. When it didn’t, they just pretended to never have argued against it and went back to the old faithful “Bush lied” mantra. You’ll see it pop up every fifth post or so.

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:26 pm 92. Max:

Amen, brother. In a democracy, bad leaders are a reflection of the national character. As Plato observed, the state is man writ large. That means we have only ourselves to blame. But whereas we used to keep crackpots and scum like Kennedy squirreled away in utopian loony-bins like Massachusetts, now we have one “leading” the country down the primrose path. A very disturbing change for the worse.

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:27 pm 93. AtheistConservative:

“This was the final indictment, which superceded that one.”

Great. So I imagine you have that time machine ready?

What is of import is not what we know after we take action; it is what we know as we are preparing to take action.

When we decided to go to war, our intelligence communities believed the Iraq/Al-Qaeda connection to be true (and note that it has never been DISPROVED, only ‘not proven’). We also had heard almost ten years of Clinton and Gore telling us that Saddam was ‘the next Hitler’ and that Bush Sr. didn’t go far enough. We had heard the UN railing against Saddam for the same length of time.

Furthermore, the war resolution received bipartisan support with a plurality of Democrats voting for it, and popular support of 79% of Americans.

This wasn’t a shadow-in-the-night operation unilaterally commanded by Bush, as the left have tried to paint it (strictly for political gain). If you really find the Iraq war offensive or unjustifiable, the proper course is to examine how we got to the point of declaring war – not pointing fingers at everyone else or trying to judge history with information we did not have at the time.

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:32 pm 94. MsUnderestimated:

Amen, Andrew. You said what I’ve been saying all day, and looking forward to coming home tonight to watch “America’s Got Talent” so I can avoid all of the slobbering false praise upon this philandering sociopath.

The entire Kennedy family has been paying one huge debt to Karma, and I can tell you with honesty – I did not shed a tear for him today.

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:34 pm 95. Moho:

What is of import is not what we know after we take action; it is what we know as we are preparing to take action.

No. That final indictment was issued in 1998 as well. In fact, the President lied to the American people. Most of them aren’t as stupid as you, but they are inclined to believe the President.

Its not a race, but you’d certainly win a gold medal for stupidity. Chris, the ball is in your court, I’m sure you can show AthiestConservative a thing or two about being an obtuse dumbass.

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:36 pm 96. Des:

“This was the final indictment, which superceded that one. I’m trying to imagine what your reaction will be when presented with this incontrovertible evidence that your initial belief was wrong.”

I’m really hoping you aren’t planning to go to law school when you get out of your mom’s basement. Including or excluding someone from an indictment has nothing to do with guilt or innocence…it’s merely what the prosecutor thinks he can prove. What you quoted doesn’t prove anything more than if someone claimed there is a connection. Even convictions (or acquittals) don’t “prove” anything other than to a reasonable doubt.

Hussein was sponsoring terrorism by the truckloads, and had violated many terms of our ceasefire agreement. That was enough for Bush to have ordered the war, even though I didn’t think it was the right thing to do. Bottom line is that I disagreed with him, then supported our troops until they came home safely. Liberals like Kennedy, Reid, and Murtha spit on them at every opportunity, using them as fodder for political gain. Your “murderer” charge could be made about virtually every president since Washington (especially with regards to JFK), so is obviously a weak attempt by someone who is unable to grasp larger, more complex issues to debate. Sad….

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:37 pm 97. SLM1031:

I say we rename the health bill The Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill. And while we are at it let’s rename the Death Panels as well. I’d suggest the Mary Jo Kopechne Memorial Panel. A great public servant certainly chose how much care she would receive when she needed it most.

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:37 pm 98. Klavan On The Culture » Bye – PajamasMedia | FrontPage Magazine:

[...] via Klavan On The Culture » Bye. [...]

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:37 pm 99. Des:

“If you really find the Iraq war offensive or unjustifiable, the proper course is to examine how we got to the point of declaring war – not pointing fingers at everyone else or trying to judge history with information we did not have at the time.”

Sorry, but Liberal trolls can’t face the fact that their heroes (for the most part) supported Bush’s decisions while they were still popular. It’s been detailed as to the exact point and time that their opinions changed from support to “Bush tricked us” (all suspiciously happening around the same time) in books including the definitive one by Horowitz. Much like the way the remarkable actions of the Obama administration are ignored by the Left (continuing the eavesdropping program, asking citizens to report “fishy” emails, no change in the Iraq policy, verbal attacks on private citizens who protest, etc…) which would be decried with hysteria if done by the Bush administration, Liberal politicians are for the most part given a pass no matter what they say or do while Conservative (and even Moderate) ones are attacked with conspiracy theories or cries of bigotry.

It’s the Liberal way.

Aug 26, 2009 - 3:51 pm 100. raba raba raba is a monster song:

bohemond
a little off topic but i have to call b.s. on one of your comments. that article that talked about yellow cake uranium that was found also said that it could not be developed into a weapons grade product. the article said it could not even ge use i a dirty bomb let alone a real a-bomb. the u.s. kept it quiet because they didnt want people to panic. it was in the article that i you were the one to link this cite. you know that it was a threat at all. shame on you for fibbing.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:07 pm 101. Peter the Bubblehead:

80. Bella wrote:
You know who else has gotten away with murder? George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleeza Rice…

Peter writes: There is no point in even attempting to debate a person who equivocates a country defending itself and the freedom of oppressed people in other countries with a murderer who lets a young woman die in pain and fear while he tries to come up with a false alibi to get away with it.

You are despicable.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:13 pm 102. misanthopicus:

For Mojo and other Ted Kennedy fans:

“Mary Kopechne, Mary Kopechne” a movie (based on Alice Sebald’s novel “The Lovely Bones” about a murdered girl…), will be out this November (I think the trailer is already available).

Moho and Cie., you’ll sure have much fun watching in this film Mary Kopechne as she contemplates from the sky Ted Kennedy, lord of Massachussetts getting his “jus primae noctis”, bloviating, boozing, doing coke and philandering around his realm.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:19 pm 103. BC:

To Des: Taking cynical advantage of still high post-9/11 anxiety, Bush deliberately grossly misrepresented the supposed threat by Iraq to both the American public and Congress. All those civilian deaths are at his feet, and much is the same with Reagan and Bush Sr. in regards to Latin America.

You people who so vilely, maliciously and not to mention moronically condemn Kennedy for an frigin’ *accident* back in 1969 while turning a blind eye to the *deliberately* murderous policies by Reagan and the Bush’s are the worst sort of hypocrites.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:20 pm 104. Alice Wigglebotton:

Haven’t you heard, rules are for the little people.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:24 pm 105. Bilgeman:

As I did on another thread, let me take the opportunity here to extol the example of Senator Kennedy.

Just as his failure to gain the Democratic nomination in 1980 proved to be America’s good fortune in the Reagn Administration, so may his futile efforts to save his own life spell the end of the nightmare of de facto socialized medicine he soent decades wishing upon us.

Senator Kennedy, through his own government funded Health Plan, had the luxury of choosing to receive surgery for his brain tumor last year at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, rather than any of the fine hospitals in the Baltimore/DC or Boston metropolitan areas.

I think it is safe to say that the “Health care” legislation that might bear his name in memorial will allow no such options for average Americans.

Welfare to the wealthy and the well-connected in the name of empathy.

May your utter failure as a statesman and a human being once again serve our nation, Mr. Kennedy.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:25 pm 106. Des:

“There is no point in even attempting to debate a person who equivocates a country defending itself and the freedom of oppressed people in other countries with a murderer who lets a young woman die in pain and fear while he tries to come up with a false alibi to get away with it.”

You’re talking about the kind of person who agreed with Bill Maher when he said, “They’re going to kill each other anyway, so just let them do it.” The same people who rail on constantly about the 4000 American troops being lost (without ever once giving you the impression that they actually care), but don’t blink an eye at the tens of thousands of Kurds Sadaam butchered.

As always, it’s because they “care” more than we do.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:32 pm 107. Moho:

Des:
Including or excluding someone from an indictment has nothing to do with guilt or innocence

Thankfully, a moron could dispatch your argument.

This is what Chris said:

Just one of dozens of documented connections between Saddam Hussein and the terrorists that attacked the US homeland 18 months prior to the invasion of Iraq.

Take your “Bush lied!” tripe and piss off.

I demonstrated that what Chris was supplying as evidence was nothing of the kind. In fact, Bush did lie, as do those that still propigate this particular part of that lie. There’s no way to escape this–> he demonstated evidence to back up his assertion, I demonstrated that it was baseless. End of story.

As for you.

Hussein was sponsoring terrorism by the truckloads, and had violated many terms of our ceasefire agreement.

You provide no evidence for that assertion.

That was enough for Bush to have ordered the war, even though I didn’t think it was the right thing to do. Bottom line is that I disagreed with him, then supported our troops until they came home safely.

Had you really thought it was the wrong thing to do you would have fought tooth and nail to stop it. The troops that went didn’t have the benefit of whatever information you had to know that it was “wrong”. They thought it was right, and they thought it was right because of a cynical and well-documented strategy of false assertions and evidence. If you thought it was the wrong thing to do and yet you supported it anyway, then you doomed the troops who enlisted because Bush convinced them it was a war worth fighting. In that case, you’re a spineless jellyfish, not even at the level of most of the mendacious pigs here, who supported the war even though they knew it was based on lies. They, at least, followed their hearts desire for warfare. You sat on your ass and didn’t follow your convictions.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:35 pm 108. Des:

“You people who so vilely, maliciously and not to mention moronically condemn Kennedy for an frigin’ *accident* back in 1969….”

How many people have you left in a car to die (and did you tell people that doing so was an “accident”?)? He went home and left her (still alive) to drown. The next day he called the police (after he spoke to friends, colleagues and his lawyer). The fact that you spit on her to honor him shows exactly what you think about women.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:36 pm 109. Steve DeMarcus:

I will not say what I think about Mr. Kennedy as it would not be pleasant. However I can say that with him no longer in the Senate (or Robert Byrd) possibly soon to follow they do not have the votes to stop a filibuster now and that is a good thing. I also hope that 2010 there is not only a turnaround in the house but that there are democrat losses (looks like Reid is gonna lose) in the senate as well.

Now there is supposed to be a special election in January of next year to replace Ted and I hope a republican like Mitt Romney takes that.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:36 pm 110. Jack Marino:

Andrew, as always you hit nail it big time. I was born in raise in the Boston area as an Irish Catholic Democratic. The Kennedy’s were like our cousins and our Irish pride went through the roof when JFK was the first Irish Catholic President. He was like having our first cousin in the Oval Office. So when he was killed it was as if the Chief of the Clan had died. Over the years the truth about this Irish family began to leak into the pop culture and we all learned just how self-centered, how power hungry they were and how ruthless they were to protect their interest and reputation after living like people who felt there was no law for them. I remember when Ted Kennedy took that ride off that bridge and got away with involuntary manslaughter and negligence. The real proof of this spoiled arrogant SOB was that he didn’t even go back to rescue Mary Jo. He was concern to get his cousin Gargan to take the blame for this act of negligence. This man had no character, what he did to his wife Joan is inexcusable. She was the prettiest of all the kennedy women and he turned her into a drunk. In the end he threw her away as he did with a lot of things in his life. I believe that this man hated the United States of America, I believe that he set out to destroy this country as a working US Senator to make America pay for the death if his three brothers. In 1965 he changed the entire immigration act to allow everyone to come into this country but Western Europeans. I believe he did this to bring in as many of the third world as they could in order to create new democratic voters in future elections. THis healthcare, welfare, SSI and any other perk these democratic malcontents they could ‘bribe’ these third world potential democratic voters would take generations before these people would begin to educate their young and they in turn become home owning republicans. Ted Kennedy was the worst person to be in the Senate and the damage he has cause by promoting this moocher class upon all of us will have a ripple effect for generations.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:40 pm 111. Des:

“As for you.

Hussein was sponsoring terrorism by the truckloads, and had violated many terms of our ceasefire agreement.

You provide no evidence for that assertion.”

Look, if you’re going to be a complete moron then there is no hope for discussion (even at a basic level). Sadaam’s government sponsored a number of terrorist organizations and openly paid money to the families of “martyrs” (suicide bombers). His government exterminated Kurds by the tens of thousands (with WMDs, BTW). If you are ignorant to these facts, it’s not my responsibility to educate you.

As for your disagreement with Chris, you did nothing to prove him wrong, only established that his argument wasn’t as rock-solid as he claimed. You have to learn to think for yourself if you’re going to debate facts. You might want to stick to insults. You’re much better at those.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:44 pm 112. jsallison:

His burial at Arlington is a slap in the face.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:44 pm 113. AtheistConservative:

“No. That final indictment was issued in 1998 as well.”

You are speaking of a specific indictment, not the general belief of our (and other) intelligence agencies that there was an Al-Qaeda/Iraq link – something that has still not been definitively proven false.

Your following descent into childish namecalling, while ignoring the numerous other points I made and you evidently cannot refute, not only proves that you have no factual basis from which to argue but that you’re only arguing to be disruptive.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:45 pm 114. AtheistConservative:

“Bush convinced them it was a war worth fighting”

… and now we clearly see that you do not understand the Constitution, the law of the land, or the use of military power.

The President does not convince anyone as to whether or not we should go to war – our intelligence agencies and the intelligence agencies of our allies handle this. Any justification for war they unearth is then presented to our entire government. Whether or not we go to war is then decided by Congress. Both parties voted for this war (including a plurality of Democrats, many of whom would later seek to erase this fact by loudly proclaiming the war a mistake). The public overwhelmingly supported the war.

Furthermore, the evidence that was presented to justify the war was only believable because it was in tone with the message we’d been receiving about Iraq since the Kuwait invasion.

Bush was one link in this entire process. The only difference between Bush and the rest of the government that sent us to this war is Bush never shrank from his role or responsibility, and defiantly stood his ground while everyone else was wavering. That’s why so many leftists hate him – that and the fact that he turned out to be right. It was his resolve that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, while Democrats and people like you were saying until last year that it was impossible.

Your position has been destroyed. Please respond with your traditional juvenile insults.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:51 pm 115. Dick Sears:

Teddy’s long Senate career exemplifies perfectly the flaw in our system. He was elected in 1962, while his brother was in the White House, on the slogan “He can do more for Massachusetts.” And he was reelected ad nauseam on the same reasoning. Washington is where the tax money is, and like it or not, if you want your share, you want a greedy heavyweight representing you.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:54 pm 116. Ted Kennedy Has Died « Blog de KingShamus:

[...] [...]

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:59 pm 117. raba:

right on BC comment 103. a person would have to be living on another planet or dumb as a dinng room table, or a liar, not know that what said is the goddamed truth.

Aug 26, 2009 - 4:59 pm 118. Everyman:

No need to guess; there are ample facts to support both conclusions, from which inferences can properly be drawn and, indeed, should have been. Massachusetts has the oldest judicial system in the country. It was not shy about disgracing itself in this instance.

Aug 26, 2009 - 5:02 pm 119. AThinkingPerson:

“The Lion” has left the building. It’s the end of an era. The Kennedy dynasty has come to an end. (yawn) Okay, time to move on to more important issues.

Will Obama use Teddy’s death for his own political gain? Will we see Pelosi graveside weeping crocodile tears and wailing about his healthcare dreams going unfulfilled? So many questions with answers I already know.

Aug 26, 2009 - 5:16 pm 120. Moho:

Look, if you’re going to be a complete moron then there is no hope for discussion (even at a basic level). Sadaam’s government sponsored a number of terrorist organizations and openly paid money to the families of “martyrs” (suicide bombers).

I always laugh at that first sentence. Its a favored fig leaf for the idiots here, who apparently don’t know how to use google, have no actual evidence for any of their beliefs and have no basic command of reason or logic.

Now then. The names of those terrorist organizations, and who considered them terrorist organizations. Secondly, if you’re saying that we sent four thousand kids to die in Iraq because Iraq was involved in the same interminable war that our nation is involved in between Palestine and Israel…well, then you should have argued it that way to begin with. “Young men and ladies, we’re sending you to get yoru limbs torn from your bodies because Saddam Hussein supports the families of suicide bombers after they’re dead.” Yeah, you’d have had people lined up around the corner.

That was never one of the prime arguments made to go to war with Iraq. Those were:

1. Weapons of Mass Destruction
2. Wants to invade his neighbors
3. Yellow Cake
4. Mushroom cloud
5. Nine Eleven
6. Ricin, et. al.

Cash for the families of dead suicide bombers? Didn’t make the cut. I suppose now its handy, because its the only thing you have left that he was actually involved in. Sniveling coward.

Aug 26, 2009 - 5:20 pm 121. Moho:

That’s why so many leftists hate him – that and the fact that he turned out to be right. It was his resolve that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, while Democrats and people like you were saying until last year that it was impossible.

Your position has been destroyed. Please respond with your traditional juvenile insults.

We’re still stuck in Iraq, you idiot. Pick up a paper some time. My god, how do you people get the food into your mouths.

Aug 26, 2009 - 5:21 pm 122. Kipling:

Bad leaders like Ted Kennedy are also a punishment on the people for electing them. For almost half a century Kennedy and his ilk have destroyed the foundations of our nation, slaughtered the unborn, and enslaved a whole segment of our population to poverty.

Aug 26, 2009 - 5:28 pm 123. MVH:

The judgement is not on Kennedy but on ourselves. On us for hanging on to Camelot way too long after it was dead.

Your commentary is an island of clarity in an ocean of orgiastic praise for Edward Moore Kennedy. Thanks, Mr. Klavan. Your commentary, along with the comments made by Bill Bennett on his radio show this morning are among the most thoughtful commentaries I’ve read or heard on this man so far.

Aug 26, 2009 - 6:04 pm 124. Brittancus:

n ominous pattern is slowly emerging towards an inevitable power play on pushing another amnesty through Congress. We need to take the many consequences into consideration:
1 We already had an enforceable 1986 law to stop the illegal immigrant invasion of our country, but it has been intentionally ignored? So–WHY–are they adamant in passing another immigration law?
2. Most enforcement legislation has been crushed or weakened by many of the politicians we voted into office.
3. That many of our own government members have pandered to the special interest lobbyists and not voters.
4 For decades American taxpayers have been supporting, business welfare, who have never contributed to foreign national workers. That emergency hospitals, must attend any foreign person who enters its doors, illegal or legal? ICE should be on standby and demand who that individual is working for and subsequently make the employer pay instead of the taxpayers.
5. That Democrats are downplaying that the 20 plus illegal immigrant families living here, will not have access to the health care reform package? But are not saying that if a new path to citizenship is enacted, they can automatically get health care?
6. Should a new immigration reform package is passed, what’s stopping millions more poor, uneducated people storming the border.
7. Why did Sen. Harry Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of the party try to dismantle E-Verify and under fund the border fence, so it was only a single layer instead of two tiers?
8 That E-Verification is working and working well, so no wonder the US Chamber of Commerce, ACLU, Cato Institute and a large majority of anti-sovereignty groups have been involved in lawsuits, and questionable appeasement by politicians to kill the any enforcement laws.

9. Why are we still inviting around a million new immigrants a year, when their are about 15 million jobless Americans? My health care experience was mainly in England, Germany and 15 months in Australia and prior to the mass European immigration invasion was positively first class. FIRST CLASS AND EXEMPLARY! THERE WAS NO SUCH THING AS RATIONING?

Of all the states that–SHOULD–be using E-Verify, is the illegal immigrant sanctuary state of California. Illegal immigration attributed to the near bankruptcy of California and is a prime example of intentionally ignoring immigration laws. The U.S. Census Bureau projections issued in the year 2000, that the United States is precisely on track to have a population of 1.182–BILLION–in the year 2100. So much for future American population is OVERPOPULATION.

GET RAW ANSWERS AT NUMBERSUSA Contact those in WASHINGTON! NO MORE AMNESTIES. USE ATTRITION TO DEPORT ILLEGAL WORKERS THROUGH E-VERIFY, 287 G, NO MATCH SOCIAL SECURITY LETTERS AND LIGHTENING ICE RAIDS. CONTACT YOUR POLITICIAN 202-224-3121 AND DEMAND NO WEAKENING OF CURRENT 1986 (IRCA) OTHER SITES FOR INFORMATION IS HERITAGE FOUNDATION, JUDICIAL WATCH.

PS: Least we forget that Ted Kennedy RIP–NEVER TOLD THE TRUTH–when he promised their would be no more AMNESTIES, after the 1986 immigration reform act?

Aug 26, 2009 - 6:06 pm 125. Mike:

Mr. Klavan,

I applaud your clear thinking when you say “Blame Massachusetts alone if you want to, but we, all of us, have failed to demand the term limits and the end to gerrymandering that would keep our representatives from devolving into entrenched toadies of special interests and unscrupulous slaves of their own ideologies.” You are the few essayists to bring up this important point. Lack of term limits and gerrymandering are killing our Democracy. I once thought of a simplistic alternative to Congressional apportionment of districts. I live in New Jersey and we have 13 Congressional districts. Instead of the contorted districts we now have, why not divide the state north to south into 13 equal divisions that cover the state east to west? That would make districts about 11.5 miles in width north to south and of varying width. As a state gained or lost representation, these boundaries can be moved. There would be no politics involved. Using my example, would it be not be better for a representative in my notional Third Congressional District in New Jersey to have to represent the concerns of both Newark and more affluent towns to the west such as Bernardsville? This would certainly lead to more evenhanded and less partisan representation which I think most of us want. Certainly with such a constituency (at least in this instance), the serving representative could not so easily count on reelection and would have to take a centrist approach which I would think would make them less beholden to special interests. I’m sure this is too simple to actually work but if anyone has another idea… As for term limits, didn’t Congress shoot this down some time ago claiming that this was unconstitutional and also asserting (disingenuously since districts are gerrymandered to their advantage) that elections were their term limits. I’d be interested in any ideas that anyone may have about how to get Congress to go along with term limits or gerrymandering reform or elimination. We need to clean house and allow third parties a more viable chance at public office instead of the entrenched interests already there.

Aug 26, 2009 - 6:42 pm 126. Hot Air » Blog Archive » Quotes of the day:

[...] *** “Fifty years in office – or 47 plus, I think it was – but in any case, longer than the longest-serving tyrant-for-life in the worst third world dirt puddle you can think of. Whose fault is that? Ours, of course. We the people allowed the courts to give his homicide a pass – he got a two month suspended sentence for leaving the scene of an accident. We voted him back into office again and again, knowing what he was. Blame Massachusetts alone if you want to, but we, all of us, have failed to demand the term limits and the end to gerrymandering that would keep our representatives from devolving into entrenched toadies of special interests and unscrupulous slaves of their own ideologies. We have failed to demand the reforms that would keep our republic vital and true to its ideals. We get the leaders we deserve and God help us.” [...]

Aug 26, 2009 - 6:55 pm 127. elvis:

MOHO is so afraid of how stupid he is … he can not refrain from the libtard game of calling everyone a moron…..

he is gay and hates everything about himself…
he projects his rabid problems like the psycho kennedys have for years.

go moho

Aug 26, 2009 - 6:56 pm 128. Travis:

OK, so Edward Kennedy was a cowardly, lecherous, philandering murderer who abused the poor while increasing his power. Mary Jo decided to use her sexuality to get close to a powerful, married man. Men who take what is not theirs from a woman’s sexuality will do very little for them when the woman is in need. She made a bad decision, and paid for it with her life. He had a lifetime of bad decisions, and he’ll pay for it in Hell.

Aug 26, 2009 - 7:05 pm 129. Moho:

You’re more than welcome to think of me as gay, Elvis. No problem with that. My sexual preference is my own business.

Aug 26, 2009 - 7:06 pm 130. redball6:

Hey Enigma3535, THAT DOG AIN’T GONMNA HUNT
saw Mr Kennedy at his worst [i.e., often sloshed]. What happened to Mary Jo Kopechne is a travesty –no it was murder!

He cared about the common man and fought for the common man [not special interests that could be counted on.
Hmmm Unions? Hmmm, Mass State and federal worker unions, do not those qualify as special interest?

Granted, I would love to debate the specifics behind this statement “… (well bring in on 3535!) also spent a lifetime promoting policies that have endangered our freedoms, Ok TRY THIS:
(source free republic)

In 1978, American Sen. Edward Kennedy requested the assistance of the KGB to establish a relationship" between the Soviet apparatus and a firm owned by former Sen. John Tunney (D.-Calif.). KGB recommended that they be permitted to do this because Tunney's firm was already connected with a KGB agent in France named David Karr.

Or this:

Another KGB report to their bosses revealed that on March 5, 1980, John Tunney met with the KGB in Moscow on behalf of Sen. Kennedy. Tunney expressed Kennedy's opinion that "nonsense about 'the Soviet military threat' and Soviet ambitions for military expansion in the Persian Gulf . . . was being fueled by [President Jimmy] Carter, [National Security Advisor Zbigniew] Brzezinski, the Pentagon and the military industrial complex.”
Or This:

on May 1983, the KGB again reported to their bosses on a discussion in Moscow with former Sen. John Tunney. Kennedy had instructed Tunney, according to the KGB, to carry a message to Yuri Andropov, the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, expressing Kennedy’s concern about the anti-Soviet activities of President Ronald Reagan.

AND:
In the end, what made me pro-Ted Kennedy as a public servant was how relentlessly he fought for armoring personnel and vehicles in Iraq once he was informed that such armoring was inadequate or non-existent …

Sorry 3535 that entire process was started and moved forward by Missouri Representative “Ike Skelton” ranking Democrat of the House Armed Services Committee and vociferous critic of the pentagon for years. Kennedy like so many others jumped on the bandwagon.

Now this is the pista de resistance
The new AF strike fighter F35, lighting #2 is where the now deceased senator makes his final statement on who he really was. GE and Pratt & Whitney are making the engines for the plane. Only the pentagon does not want the G.E. engine. The Air Force and two independent panels have concluded it’s “not necessary and not affordable,”
So naturally a few of us who read tea leaves asked… why did Sen. Ted Kennedy personally earmark $100 million tax dollars for the project this year alone? The answer, G.E. builds the engine at the G.E. Massachusetts plant.
There is no Enigma3535, just plain ole liberal politics, buy ’em off.

The Lying Lion is gone. Some of we citizens may have a beer tonight to remember the passing of such a figure and hope we never see another one and or live in a state where so many can forgive or rationalize a horrendous act.
REDBALL 6, CHECK 6

Aug 26, 2009 - 7:12 pm 131. Hope:

Mr. Klavan, Thank you for saying what I have been thinking for years about Teddy. Heaping honor on dishonorable men seems to have become a national pastime. I have reconciled myself to the fact that there are crooked and corrupt people in this world. What I have not been able to reconcile is how people like this get re-elected over and over again. Or how they are hailed as great men in the media.

Aug 26, 2009 - 7:18 pm 132. redball6:

Jack Marino, you are my new best friend.
regards redball6

Aug 26, 2009 - 7:19 pm 133. elvis:

#129
“You’re more than welcome to think of me as gay, Elvis. No problem with that. My sexual preference is my own business.”

thank u moho… gee you believe in free speech these 5 minutes.

and actually your perverted preference is on every post you make!

Aug 26, 2009 - 7:22 pm 134. elvis:

# 130 redball6…
you are sooooooooooooooo right on!

Aug 26, 2009 - 7:30 pm 135. Delia:

Is the negative response seeking attention whore done for the day?

Someone needs a chillaxative and a Sandra Lee tablescape cocktail.

Aug 26, 2009 - 7:33 pm 136. frank:

Wowsers. Alot of classy conservatives up in hear. Teddy lived with what he did at Chappaquiddick for 40 years, I’d imagine the guilt was heavy. However with the rest of his time, Teddy did more than any of you morons have or will ever do. “Burn in hell, Teddy”??? And you think you’re all righteous, patriotic, Christians??? I’m sure JC would approve of this behavior. Stay classy Republicans.

Aug 26, 2009 - 7:35 pm 137. Jerome:

Hey, there was an NCIS marathon tonight! Not a single word about this appalling man was mentioned, to my great joy.

Aug 26, 2009 - 7:37 pm 138. DAROGR:

Well, what we do know about Kennedy.

He did a couple of good things, like armor for the troops.

He did leave a girl to die while he covered his butt. I have always figured he was just too sh**faced to really know what happened that night. I always got the impression neither he nor his family really cared too much because she was a “nobody”. It seems that the current liberals don’t care too much about that for the same reason. He was great and she was just a secretary. How sad, and it says just about all you need to know about liberals.

His harm done in the Senate and in life in general far outweighs whatever good he did (with the cameras rolling the entire time, you can bet on that).

I know we should say “Rest In Peace”, I know we should be forgiving and hope there is a forgiving God who understands why he did the things he did.

I just can’t do that right now. I can’t help thinking how much better off we are as a country without his influence. He could have easily lived and legislated for 10 more years or longer, the Kennedys can be as long lived as they are long winded. So in a way, he did another good thing by dying 10 years sooner. Another point on his side.

Aug 26, 2009 - 7:43 pm 139. Moho:

What’s funny to me elvis is how easy it to out you people as homophobes and all the etcetera that go part and parcel with your movement. You try to play the game, whining about being misunderstood, and victimize, blah, blah. But your feelings are so virulent, you’re practically asking for permission to let them loose.

Aug 26, 2009 - 8:04 pm 140. Chuck:

I learned two things today. Ted’s dead and my dog has fleas. Shame about the fleas.

Aug 26, 2009 - 8:20 pm 141. Kipling:

To Frank @ 136:

Jesus had a lot of harsh words for leaders of the people who abused the people in order to amass their own power and wealth. Instead of being a public servant and a true shepherd of the people, Ted Kennedy preyed upon them like a parasite. In the words of Jesus, Kennedy was a whitewashed tomb. Outwardly he presented himself as righteous to men but inside was full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23:27-28)

Aug 26, 2009 - 8:26 pm 142. chuckie:

If anyone in the public would have done what ted did we would still be in prison. It is strange that the leader of the health reform movement was taken out of the way. Sort of a LATE TERM ABORTION maybe? He will have to explain before the Lord as we all will our decisions.

Aug 26, 2009 - 8:41 pm 143. Delia:

EEK! MOHOPHOBES!

Aug 26, 2009 - 8:46 pm 144. Des:

“Alot of classy conservatives up in hear. Teddy lived with what he did at Chappaquiddick for 40 years, I’d imagine the guilt was heavy. However with the rest of his time, Teddy did more than any of you morons have or will ever do.”

Well, Frank, first of all it’s spelled “here.” Second, your imagination is sweet and all, but Ted didn’t look or act very broken up about leaving that woman to die alone in the dark, then trying to hide his involvement. Third, when you say he’s done more than we have, if you mean take his family’s millions he inherited (he’s never actually held a job) and spend like a drunken sailor (literally), then hide as much as he could in tax shelters to avoid paying on it, then I guess you’re right.

You know, I’ve never killed a woman, been involved in covering up a rape allegation, or been routinely seen being drunk and disorderly in public. That guy is definitely a role model for the Left.

Aug 26, 2009 - 8:48 pm 145. Delia:

You can’t buy your health no matter how many doctors you pay.

Keep smokin’, Barry.

Aug 26, 2009 - 9:00 pm 146. elvis:

#139
what???
hahaha
whatever sweetheart

Aug 26, 2009 - 9:11 pm 147. Delia:

146. elvis,

I think it’s Chris Crocker’s beddy time. Nobody to tuck him in with his witto Teddy. *sniff*

Never fear. Chrissy will be back tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel. “Leave Barack ALONEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Aug 26, 2009 - 9:25 pm 148. BC:

To Des: it’s late at night, a guy is driving from a party with a female passenger he’s giving a ride to. He makes a wrong turn, goes down the wrong road and onto an unmarked and unlit wooden bridge with no side rails. He loses control and the car plunges into the pitch black water. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, it’s a traumatic life & death moment of extreme panic. The driver manages to escape from the car and swims for shore. He then calls out and looks around for his passenger — he doesn’t see here and she doesn’t reply. He dives back in to try to reach the car, but it is fully submerged in that pitch black water and there is a strong tidal current as well. And he fails.

So bright eyes, how would *you* be in that situation: A) numb, exhausted and in shock? B) bawling like a little girl? or C) Mr. Cool Heroic And Always Knows What to Do?

You might believe you would be “C” but for this type of traumatic event, the odds are much, much more likely for you and most people to be “A”. So all these charges of Kennedy somehow willfully murdering Kopechne by his actions were/are/will always be never more that vile, stupid, and clueless BS.

Aug 26, 2009 - 9:58 pm 149. JFM:

To BC

For what we know he let her die and after that went to sleep and slept like a baby.

Now let’s imagine that George W Bush or Ronald Reagan had done the same thing, no, let’s imagine they had done something one hundreth less vile. You would be calling for people riding two thousand miles in order to spit on his grave.

Aug 26, 2009 - 10:09 pm 150. Delia:

“What was undeniable was that he waited ten hours to report the incident – all the long night. Even the next morning, he was seen chatting casually with an acquaintance at his hotel.”

HELLO?

HELLO?

Earth to BC.

Aug 26, 2009 - 10:13 pm 151. Marc Malone:

Please cease calling for term limits. This is a bad idea. I want these guys fearing for their jobs. If a guy is term-limited, he is free to provide that crucial vote which sells us down the river.

We already have term-limits of a sort, anyway. It’s called voting. It’s the best kind.

Aug 26, 2009 - 10:44 pm 152. Peleion:

I’ve come to pay my respects to Dear Uncle Ted.

(how does this comments thingy work …)

Aug 26, 2009 - 11:09 pm 153. JFM:

To BC:

Even if we accepted your whitewashing of Ted Kennedy it takes a very special kind of voter to vote time and again for someone who like Mr Kennedy passed several houses and a fire station wikthout reporting the accident. Morally corrupt? Alike a pop-star fa, for the Kennedys? (ie a moron) One who is bought and paid by the Kennedys? I report, you decide.

Aug 26, 2009 - 11:11 pm 154. expat:

17. Timothy B: At what point did the conservative movement become a club for callous and inhuman sociopaths?

Absolutely classic case of projection there, Timmy.

Aug 26, 2009 - 11:23 pm 155. Betty:

What is it about liberals lionizing murderers, cop killers, terrorists, child molesters, late term abortionists, serial adulterers and liars? And we’re supposed to take them seriously when they call Bush, Palin and Limbaugh, monsters? It’s one thing to rationalize and forgive – but they praise and deify these people! Or at the very least they give them a professorship with instant tenor at prestigious universities; [cough * Ayers* cough]. But they want us to put them in charge of our healthcare? These people – who say with a strait face that late term abortionists ’save lives’. When will people in power be required to be screened for mental illness and criminal tendencies? Rest in Peace, Mary Jo.

Aug 27, 2009 - 12:31 am 156. knuckles:

May that piece of S**T ROT in hell where he belongs. Today is a JOYOUS day. A murderer is dead. A low life has left our world. the only downside of this, is that we will have to hear the state run media spew there love and adoration of this “Lion of the Senate”…. I want to PUKE!! God rest your soul Mary Jo! Oh…to BC…get off the crack, it WILL! kill you. Your scenario REALLY wants to make me puke. (jumps back in to try and save her…HAAAA! Why would he try to save a woman that is carrying his love child?? Rush puts it best… “The Swimmer”..

Aug 27, 2009 - 12:38 am 157. Des:

“You might believe you would be “C” but for this type of traumatic event, the odds are much, much more likely for you and most people to be “A”. So all these charges of Kennedy somehow willfully murdering Kopechne by his actions were/are/will always be never more that vile, stupid, and clueless BS.”

Wow, you bring willfully ignorant to an entirely new and unexplored level. So you’re telling me that your reaction to having your pregnant secretary (of course Teddy couldn’t have ANYTHING to do with that) stuck in a car…injured and possibly dead is to walk home, sleep it off, then make a number of phone calls the next morning before finally getting around to reporting it? Yeah, I can safely say that even the most cowardly person probably wouldn’t be choosing that option.

By the way, I just adore the loving way you heroically portray Kennedy as diving back into the pitch black water to look for her. I’m sorry, were you there (in which case I can completely understand your steadfast defense of ole Teddy), or are you just assuming someone so obviously flush with compassion and honesty must be telling the truth? There’s a reason that both Conservatives and Moderates laugh at how naive Liberals are. Congratulations for once again proving us right.

BTW pt#2, I’ve been in several situations where someone’s life was in danger, and never had a reaction like you’re assuming we would all have. The funny thing is, I’m not even a truly heroic person like a policeman, fireman, or someone in the military. I guess I understand why your world is so dark and full of fear.

Aug 27, 2009 - 1:03 am 158. Ken Besig:

With any luck, Ted Kennedy will meet up with Mary Jo Kopechne in the World to Come, and she will help make the long overdue judgement as to the eternal damnation of his decayed and rotting soul.

Aug 27, 2009 - 1:45 am 159. SAF:

People sober up quickly after a traumatic event, driving your car into the water would count. and the first thing someone would do is try and save their passenger unless ones intentions where different from the start.

Any reaction but Kennedy’s reaction would have been proper.

But MA is what it is and the name means everything. Once again we see why term limits need to be the law of the land.

Aug 27, 2009 - 2:45 am 160. Dot:

It must be so frustrating to be politically impotent and unable to bend the long arc of history to your will. Ultimately truth and justice win out, and conservatives are left to fleck the walls with their spittle and look at history as it is and then make up an alternate history, one in which they are always right and always the victim, which is a neat trick. So go ahead, say how awful Ted Kennedy was and slap each other on the back. It doesn’t change anything. Ted Kennedy will still be dead and you’ll still be an ever shrinking minority.

Aug 27, 2009 - 2:49 am 161. sodacrackers:

I think it is rather fitting that one of his last acts was to try to change the rules so that a democrat could be appointed to take his place immediately. No remorse for a life wasted on debauchery.

Aug 27, 2009 - 3:00 am 162. L. Brown:

Amen. And again I say, Amen!

The people in a democracy get the kind of government they deserve. A nation of people who have forsaken the hard work of being engaged in the public life, and of thinking clearly about difficult issues have sown to the wind.

In BHO and his cadre they have reaped the whirlwind.

God save us all.

Aug 27, 2009 - 3:10 am 163. Harley2002:

Hey MOHO there is a cure for your BDS. It is Russian roulette with all 6 chambers loaded. You first.

Aug 27, 2009 - 3:37 am 164. Peter the Bubblehead:

136. frank wrote:
However with the rest of his time, Teddy did more than any of you morons have or will ever do.

Peter writes: Oh, you mean like work with the Soviet KGB in an effort to undermine the President of the United States?

(See redball6’s post at #130.)

You’re right, I would never do that. After all, I uphold the oath I took when I pledged to serve this nation and its Constitution.

Aug 27, 2009 - 3:41 am 165. Peter the Bubblehead:

137. Jerome wrote:
Hey, there was an NCIS marathon tonight! Not a single word about this appalling man was mentioned, to my great joy.

Peter writes: I actually spent my evening watching Mythbusters and Dog the Bounty Hunter, so I actually learned something AND got to see criminals being put in jail instead of being elected Senator.

Aug 27, 2009 - 3:43 am 166. Peter the Bubblehead:

148. BC asked:
So bright eyes, how would *you* be in that situation: A) numb, exhausted and in shock? B) bawling like a little girl? or C) Mr. Cool Heroic And Always Knows What to Do?

Peter writes: How about D)Walk 600 feet to the nearest house with a light on (and which was later proven that people were home in) and ask to use their phone, or ask them to make the call, that a rescue team is needed right away instead of first returning to said party where you tell your cousin and lawyer what happened, then literally SWIM (yeah, really numb and exhuasted there!) back to your hotel in Edgartown so you could go about crating an alibi for yourself.

Yeah, I think the answer is D, idiot!

Aug 27, 2009 - 3:50 am 167. Peter the Bubblehead:

157. Des wrote:
By the way, I just adore the loving way you heroically portray Kennedy as diving back into the pitch black water to look for her.

Peter writes: Actually, from my understanding reading the whole story on a website that has mysteriously been taken down in the last couple of day, that included all the facts, police reports, pictures and evidence, it was Teddy’s lawyer who jumped in (about an hour after the accident) in an attempt to find and rescue Mary Jo while Teddy just sat on the shore crying about how this was going to ruin his career in politics. Unfortunately, the lawyer was unable to even locate the car underwater in the dar, and both he and the third friend with them advised Teddy to immediately call and report the accident. He assured them he would, then immediately jumped into the water and swam back to Edgartown (thus disproving BC’s infamous tired and numb defense) where he returned to his hotel and made sure he was seen by the desk clerk (coming down the stairs from his room as if he had been there all night) to provide an alibi should he need it.

Under similar circumstances, ordinary people get 20 to life. Kennedys get 47 years in the Senate.

Aug 27, 2009 - 3:58 am 168. Walt:

I can only label it as comic that House / Senate democrats want to name Obamacare after Ted Kennedy.

Were that to happen, it would only emphasize the fact that ALL members of congress will have their special health care program(s) protected and are exempt from the current Obamacare proposals.

Of course, no one ever accused democrats (i.e. MOHO, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Dodds, Waters, Jackson-Lee, Boxer, Murtha, Rangle, et al) of having an excess of common sense, so we’ll just have to see how they spin it.

Aug 27, 2009 - 4:15 am 169. BC:

To Des and the others idiots: there is zero, nada evidence that Kennedy “abandoned” anybody to die — that’s no more than spiteful wishing for the worst conspiracy BS on Kennedy because you don’t like him or his policies. Read what I wrote (ignoring the typo or 2) and put yourself in that *exact* same position he was that night, and then try to be honest (Ha!) about what your actions would be. There is no whitewashing here — as I linked to, under those conditions, Kennedy was very likely fully traumatized and in shock as he walked home, which would *completely* explain his behavior shortly afterwards without any need for conspiracy theories.

Yeah, he should knocked on the door of the first house along the way, but he was very likely not in “thinking clearly” mode, and he assumed for good reason that Kopechne had drowned. All that BS speculation about her somehow being kept alive in some air pocket was, is, and will always be no more than BS and utterly stupid speculation: a car with closed windows that weren’t broken would have some sort of an air pocket for a little while, but in Kennedy’s case, three of the windows were either open or smashed and the car ended up upside down underwater. And since this was a big old 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 and very much *not* like a Volkswagon Beetle, which Volkswagon use to advertised as being able to float (something the old National Lampoon magazine had some fun with in 1973 at Kennedy’s expense.)

As I mentioned elsewhere, I was never a big Ted Kennedy fan, but compared to other politicians, he was overall a pretty decent guy. Which is a lot more than can said for all these right ringers so vilely and ignorantly trashing him so quickly after his death.

Aug 27, 2009 - 4:27 am 170. JFM:

To Des and the others idiots: there is zero, nada evidence that Kennedy “abandoned” anybody to die

What he told to police perhaps?

Aug 27, 2009 - 4:31 am 171. Meryl:

Murderer. Philanderer. Liar. Alcoholic. Co-cospirator (on nephew’s rape crime).

All in all, just a really neat dude, no?

We gave up all network news casts months ago and are grateful to have not only missed the Michael Jackson Worship services 6 weeks ago, but now we are spared the Ted Kennedy Worship services.

Another marvelous illustration of the public’s willingness to be deceived. The Worship services will be explained with the idea of, “Well, the man is dead, for crying out loud. Can’t you be nice?” If it requires a willing suspension of honest thinking? No. I won’t be nice.

I will extend generic sympathy to his children and blood relatives for their personal loss. Beyond that–his death is no different than the deaths of a thousand other criminals who died two days ago, either having served time, gotten away with their crimes like he did or dying in prison.

Status has got to stop being accepted as a substitute for respectability and integrity.

Aug 27, 2009 - 5:14 am 172. Pelaut:

Remember in November: Orrin Hatch was his best friend, he says so himself

Aug 27, 2009 - 5:41 am 173. Charlrd Kirtley:

Kennedy was a dilettante, a murderer, a liar, a letch, a drunk, and a demagogue of the worst kind. He never worked a day in his life. I would be quite surprised if his IQ was much over 100. It will be the everlasting shame of the people of Massachusetts that they kept re-electing such a low-life. That said, it is always sad when someone dies.

Aug 27, 2009 - 5:48 am 174. cowalker:

17. Timothy B said: “This is the third column on PJM to frame a story about Ted Kennedy around the tragic death of Mary Jo Kopechne. Clearly, one or two are just not enough.”

You see, Timothy, the columnists are hoping that when people have heard the story of Mary Jo Kopechne they will not re-elect Ted Kennedy as senator of Massachusetts. Clearly the voters have not heard the story yet. Just as their election of Obama proves they have not yet heard about Reverend Wright or Bill Ayres. When somebody makes the information public, well, scales will fall from eyes until the sidewalks are impassable. Once somebody has put footage of Reverend Wright on the TV, Obama can’t possibly be re-elected in 2012.

I think for once they’re right, in that Ted Kennedy won’t be re-elected as the senator from Massachusetts.

Aug 27, 2009 - 5:50 am 175. Peter the Bubblehead:

169. BC wrote:
To Des and the others idiots: there is zero, nada evidence that Kennedy “abandoned” anybody to die

Peter writes: Hey idiot, try reading history before you make idiotic blanket statements!

After the accident, Teddy boy ran PAST at least 3, count ‘em THREE occupied houses to return to the rental house where the party he had just left was taking place, several miles down the road. Once there, he spoke ONLY to his lawyer and one other friend, telling them what happened and taking them back to the scene of the CRIME, where the LAWYER (Not Teddy, who sat on the shore bemoaning what he thought was the end of his political career!) entered the water to see if he could find Mary Jo, but in the dark he was unable to even locate the car! Did Teddy call for real help then (after at least an hour had already passed?) NO! he then SWAM… that’s right, your exhausted, numb Teddy SWAM back to Edgartown where he proceeded to try and set up an ALIBI for himself!

“When Kennedy arrived at the cottage, a mile and a half from the bridge, he met Ray LaRosa outside and asked him to call for Gargan and Markham. He did not wish to alarm Mary Jo’s friends. Gargan and Markham drove Kennedy back to the bridge in a rented Valiant. Both men made repeated attempts to rescue Mary Jo. Gargan stated he “nearly drowned” in the attempt. According to Gargan, Kennedy kept repeating: “I just can’t believe this happened…What am I going to do”? Gargan said Markham had replied: “There’s nothing you can do.”"

http://crimemagazine.com/05/tedkennedy,1017-5.htm

See in particular the section Dyke Bridge.

If that isn’t abandonment and pre-meditated murder, nothing is!

Everyday people get 20 to life. Kennedys get 47 years in the Senate!

Aug 27, 2009 - 5:52 am 176. RobertS:

I’m all for term limits. Our country has no need for lifetime professional “public servants” of any ilk. There is serious and heartfelt opposition to the idea, though. Perhaps, if we could just see Term Limits in action – some of those who oppose the idea might begin to see the wisdom of sending our revered representatives home to a real job after twelve years or so in Washington. To that end, I propose we do a Term Limits Trial Run -just one state – and see how it works. And I heartily recommend we start with Massachusetts!

Aug 27, 2009 - 5:52 am 177. Moho:

Elvis: “What?”

I called you a little cowardly homophobe, who doesn’t have the stones to admit it. You’re also marginally illiterate, apparently.

Aug 27, 2009 - 6:31 am 178. Blarty Blarckleblart:

I’d like for Klavin to explain how putting an end to gerrymandering would have made it harder for Kennedy to stay in office all those years.

Michael Douglas (Laura Bush’s ex) RIP

Aug 27, 2009 - 6:32 am 179. Bitter Scribe:

Edward Kennedy was worth more than Andrew Klavan and every commenter on this board put together.

Aug 27, 2009 - 6:32 am 180. Grover:

I have been a life-long resident of Massachusetts. My recollection of events surrounding ‘Chappaquiddick Ted’ are that then-DA Ronald Pena and the Democrat Party of our state had to charge him with something, so they chose a misdemeanor (Leaving the scene) as opposed to involuntary manslaughter, which is a felony. Pena was quoted in the Boston Herald: “We can’t do that. We need him in the senate”. There were other allegations which were not proven, but I ask, “Why did the Kennedy family pay so much to Mary Jo’s parents to avoid a civil suit?” Rest in peace, Mary Jo!

Aug 27, 2009 - 6:39 am 181. twolaneflash:

Name the health care reform bill after Ted Kennedy, put it in the back seat of a 1988 Oldsmobile, drive it off Arlington Memorial Bridge into deep water, and watch it die. Wait ten hours before reporting the incident.

R.I.P. Mary Jo

Aug 27, 2009 - 6:42 am 182. misanthopicus:

RE #177/Moho: “[...] Elvis [...] I called you [... You’re also marginally illiterate, apparently. [...]

Moho, you embodiment of knowledge, you probably wanted to mean “marginally literate” buddy. Keep a tighter control over your literary efforts, mojo – remember the old adage “le style c’est l’homme”.

Ooops, I blew, and good ol’ La Bruyere is staring at me from the skies (think of Ben Stein: “Bueller… Bueeler…”
… so… “Pardon, monsier La Bruyere! C’est ‘le style c’est l’homo!’”

Aug 27, 2009 - 6:45 am 183. Athenawise:

The Rude Pundit says it all. Have a nice day.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

Aug 27, 2009 - 6:50 am 184. Victor:

If fleeing the scene of an accident in which someone dies is enough to get one into hell, then surely authorizing the torture of civilians and lying to the American people in order to rush the nation into war against a country that posed no threat to us, resulting in the needless death of hundreds of thousands, is enough to earn a place right at Satan’s side.

So too damned are the bloodthirsty idiots who mindlessly, unquestioningly cheered on the bogus war. There’s room enough in hell for each and every one of you.

Aug 27, 2009 - 7:00 am 185. IMAO » Blog Archive » More Ted Kennedy Rememberance:

[...] Andrew Klavan [...]

Aug 27, 2009 - 7:04 am 186. kindness:

Yet Ted Kennedy was able to be more a man, more productive and important a man than any one blogger at Pajamas Media, including this one. What does that say about you?

That must stick in your craws something awful.

Aug 27, 2009 - 7:10 am 187. Delia:

@184. Victor,

-And, while you’re ‘here’, what’s your stand on abortion?

Aug 27, 2009 - 7:13 am 188. Peter the Bubblehead:

184. Victor wrote:
If fleeing the scene of an accident in which someone dies is enough to get one into hell, then surely authorizing the torture of civilians and lying to the American people in order to rush the nation into war against a country that posed no threat to us

Peter writes: I know this is probably pointless, as like mnost libtards, Victor will ignore all the facts once again, but I’ll post it here anyway…

The Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 is a United States Congressional statement of policy calling for regime change in Iraq. It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

The Act found that between 1980 and 1998 Iraq had:
1.committed various and significant violations of International Law,
2.had failed to comply with the obligations to which it had agreed following the Gulf War and
3.further had ignored Resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

The Act declared that it was the Policy of the United States to support “regime change.” The Act was passed 360-38 in the U.S. House of Representatives and by unanimous consent in the Senate. US President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law on October 31, 1998.

President George W. Bush often referred to the Act and its findings to argue that the Clinton Administration supported regime change in Iraq and further that it believed that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. The Act was cited as a basis of support in the Congressional Authorization for use of Military Force Against Iraq in October 2002 (Public Law 107–243—OCT. 16, 2002)

So once again, so even the libtards can understand… Bush Didn’t Lie! Iraq didn’t COMPLY! The DEMS SUPPORTED THE WAR!

Now, back to the topic at hand…
Defending a nation and the citizens of another country who only want to live in freedom instead of under the thumb of a homicidal dictator is in no way equivalant to leaving a woman to asphixiate in a submerged car when all you had to do was walk 600 feet to the nearest house and CALL THE POLICE!

Everyday people commit murder and get 10 to life. Kennedys get 47 years in the Senate.

Aug 27, 2009 - 7:19 am 189. Peter the Bubblehead:

That last sentence should have read …20 to life…

Aug 27, 2009 - 7:21 am 190. Moho:

Moho, you embodiment of knowledge, you probably wanted to mean “marginally literate” buddy.

No. I wrote what I meant. Here are some examples of the usage of that phrase.

“60 million Americans are marginally illiterate, reading below a ninth-grade level.”
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3065/is_n4_v18/ai_7488491/

However, people must pay money to take courses like this. In addition to Americans that are completely illiterate, 45 million more are considered functionally or marginally illiterate
http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/29751.html

Minority populations, and especially those for whom English is a second language, are more likely to be functionally or marginally illiterate. (Source: 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey)
http://www.iha4health.org/default.aspx?MenuItemID=232&&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

The saddest thing, misanthropicus, is that unquestioned and unverified “mistake” was all you had. Like most of the things you believe in, you’ve never taken the time to find out if its true. And the funniest part is that you so perfectly proved yourself to be in that grouping of “marginally illiterate” people.

Aug 27, 2009 - 7:22 am 191. Doyce:

What crooked Daddy and his money bought!! THE COURTS FOR HIS BOY!!

Aug 27, 2009 - 7:24 am 192. Tina Trent:

THANK YOU, Wolfie 81.

You are so right about the irony of Dominick Dunne passing on the same day as an un-prosecuted killer. Dunne was forced to live out the last 27 years of his life knowing that the man who killed his 22-year old daughter walked away with a slap on the wrist. He spent those years trying to make sure other parents would not experience this doubled horror, enduring the scorn of Hollywood and literary types who were aghast that he would align himself with such a low-rent subject as victims’ rights. Better to hob-nob with the Panthers and cop slaughterers and poetry-writing serial killers and Mansonites. And senators who kill other people’s daughters.

Aug 27, 2009 - 7:29 am 193. Moho:

Tina Trent, and related idiots:

I’m having a bit of trouble seeing the irony, or any justification in the sleazy act of bending the life another deceased person into a license for your own joy at Kennedy’s death. Dunne, to my knowledge, never mentioned Ted Kennedy, he never wrote about him, or the victim at Chapaquiddick. I’ve seen about ten references trying to link the two, here. But there’s no connection and no irony. You people are delusional.

Aug 27, 2009 - 7:43 am 194. Sgt Relic:

47+ years of trying, and succeeding at times, in destroying the republic is his legacy.

Add to Ms. Kopeckne, the death of over 5 million souls in SE Asia as a direct result of his legislation to withdraw aid to South Vietnam and there isn’t a level hell low enough for this cretin.

This stain on the American soul should have been gone 40 years ago. His life represented the worst of human qualities. He will not be missed by me!

Aug 27, 2009 - 7:48 am 195. frank:

Whenever I glance over message boards, one thing never ceases to amaze me: how many conservatives feel the need to comment. Do any of you of have jobs and or lives? Don’t answer, it’s a rhetorical question. Does it make you feel better at night, when you say terrible things about a man who just died? Don’t answer it’s a rhetorical question, the conservatives here don’t have souls. It really speaks to the character of the more vile posters here when Hannity, O’Reilly, and Beck show restraint about a man you know they didn’t care for yet still find complimentary things to say about him.

Aug 27, 2009 - 8:08 am 196. Jonesy:

Moho, could you please tell me the name of the school that teaches you how to pull “George Bush lied” into every conversation you are discussing.

Aug 27, 2009 - 8:09 am 197. Blarty Blarckleblart:

How many dead Iraqi civilians does it take to equal one dead American civilian? Just curious, so I know how to calibrate my outrage meter. tnx

Aug 27, 2009 - 8:10 am 198. ike:

You people have no class.You know Laura Bush also killed an ex with a car and her daddy the judge took care of everything. Bet she took no toxicolgy exams. She could have been higher than a kite.Bet you don’t show him any sympathy .

Aug 27, 2009 - 8:13 am 199. Peter the Bubblehead:

191. frank wrote:
Whenever I glance over message boards, one thing never ceases to amaze me: how many conservatives feel the need to comment. Do any of you of have jobs and or lives?

Peter points out: Frank had a typo in his post, as he obviously meant ..how many libtards feel the need to comment…
Obviously aimed at posters like BC, vivo, jharp, moho, blarty and the like.

Aug 27, 2009 - 8:17 am 200. Peter the Bubblehead:

Bucklebottom asked:
How many dead Iraqi civilians does it take to equal one dead American civilian?

Peter replies: Good question? Why don’t you go ask the terrorists that commit these terible acts or the monsters that pay them to do it and supply them with the bomb equipment.

“On the evening of August 8, a suicide bomber wearing a belt full of explosives approached the exterior walls of the French embassy in Mauritania’s capital city of Nouakchott. He shouted “Allahu akbar” and blew himself up. Two embassy security guards, or gendarmes, and another person were injured.

Ten days later, al-Qaeda’s North African arm — al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) — claimed responsibility. Reuters identified the bomber as a local jihadist named Abu Obeida Musa al-Basri.”

Aug 27, 2009 - 8:19 am 201. Delia:

@191. frank,

Methinks you do more than merely ‘glance’.

Aug 27, 2009 - 8:36 am 202. JFM:

However chapaquidick is far from Kennedy’s most repugnanat act. Let’s consider what was found in KGB archives after the fall OF Soviet Union.

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/kgb-letter-details-ted-kennedys-offer-to-help-ussr

What is the name for offering to help a hostile country against your own?

Aug 27, 2009 - 9:34 am 203. JFM:

We could also take a look at this.

http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5585&pageNum=5

Attempted rape. This one failed but not because of Kennedy’s good heart. I have no doubt there were other attempts.

Abandoning a woman to her death, treason, rape. The fact that some people are not appalled tells lots about them.

Aug 27, 2009 - 9:52 am 204. bobster:

Well said.

Aug 27, 2009 - 10:06 am 205. Gracie:

So… does this mean the people of Massachusetts are idoits? UnAmerican? “Cowed” by a famous name and easily led? Asleep?

47 years is a long time time to send a person to the senate..a person like Uncle Teddy. Wonder if the people of Massachusetts even thought about Mary Jo and her family…disgusting..

47 years they allowed a person that intentionally took an innocent life to represent them..because he had a famous name?, or what the heck were they thinking?

Aug 27, 2009 - 10:13 am 206. BC:

To Peter the Bubblehead: Oh, I see — this is the new right wing spin on the Iraq invasion: it had nothing to do with 9/11, but was actually just enforcement of a policy created by Clinton. Okay, let’s first ignore the fact that Clinton blew off the PNAC’s request to remove Hussein; let’s also ignore the fact that Bush and his people tied 9/11 to Hussein, as well as grossly misled and lied about how much Iraq was a threat; and I guess we should also ignore how Hussein only supported the Palestinians as far as terrorists go, a little detail left unspoken; that Iraq Liberation Act was based on there being no UN Inspectors — which were actually back in Iraq when Bush decided to invade — and it pretty much all about supporting “Iraqi democratic opposition” groups. There doesn’t seem to be anything in there about making up excuses for a preemptive invasion.

As far as Kennedy goes, perhaps I should have included a real “D” option: “I’m too friggin stupid and dishonest to read this through, click on the links, and actually deal with the point raised. I just wanna Kennedy bash!”

Aug 27, 2009 - 10:33 am 207. JL:

He he was a big sponsor for NORAID, IRA’s front group in the US. IRA killed almost 2000 people. I you give money to a terrorist organisation, what does that make you?

Aug 27, 2009 - 11:04 am 208. BC:

Addendum: I got to wondering about the claim that there was a house only 150 yds/600 ft away (depending on who’s saying it) from the Dike Bridge where Kennedy had the accident. A key part of this claim was that the house was on the road and that its lights were on, therefore making Ted Kennedy a liar for saying that he didn’t see it while walking back to his family home. But Chappaquiddick has long had the reputation as a rustic retreat for the wealthy, and the wealthy are not fond of having their homes right on the street, especially if it’s any sort of a main thoroughfare.

So I thought to see if Google Maps might give a clue, and looky-see what came up as the nearest house on the road — not exactly *right* on the road is it? And what with it being around midnight, and there being no signs or street lamps, I’m sure that dirt driveway really stood out.

Yep, nothing like a several grinding minutes of Googling to fact check yet another food-for-fools urban myth.

Aug 27, 2009 - 11:16 am 209. myth buster:

It’s an exaggeration to say that Kennedy never did an honest day’s work. He did, after all, serve in the Korean War.

As for the Iraq War, the fact that Saddam shot down even a single US fighter jet patrolling the no-fly zone was sufficient grounds for resuming the war, and it sure happened a lot more than once. Maintaining the no-fly zone, necessary to prevent genocide of the Kurds, was expensive in both money and blood. Finally getting rid of the monster was well worth the additional cost of simply fighting a war, rather than maintaining the no-fly zone indefinitely.

Aug 27, 2009 - 11:18 am 210. JFM:

So I thought to see if Google Maps might give a clue, and looky-see what came up as the nearest house on the road — not exactly *right* on the road is it? And what with it being around midnight, and there being no signs or street lamps, I’m sure that dirt driveway really stood out.

Nice try. Google Maps shows the present situation not the one fourty years ago. Also, even if Kennedy failed to see the houses the fact is he returned to the party, said nothing, didn’t report the accident and went to sleep.

Aug 27, 2009 - 11:30 am 211. JFM:

It’s an exaggeration to say that Kennedy never did an honest day’s work. He did, after all, serve in the Korean War.

That has already been answered: he didn’t serve, hus father had sent to Paris that is close to lots of bars and brothels of and as far as possible from Soviet guns

Aug 27, 2009 - 11:37 am 212. josil:

Blaming all of society for specific ills was satirized nicely by Sondheim in West Side Story. If you want to blame a more specific target for Ted Kennedy’s unlikely persistence, try the voters of Massachusetts and the MSM. They have a lot to answer for.

Aug 27, 2009 - 11:44 am 213. JL:

#184 victor

Do you know other arguments than variants over “look who’s talking”?
Liberals use it 9 out of 10 times.

Aug 27, 2009 - 12:27 pm 214. misanthopicus:

TO: Mojo, Bibbio, Vivo & other Soeterotrolls:

While you were busily distracting everyone with the Kennedy story, the real thing kep going on: Obama’s job approval rating has fallen falls to 50% in poll (per LA Times, 12:27 PST)

So, keep bloviating about Ted Kennedys superb Odsmobile driving & swimming & diving style – but don’t pretend to ignore this, since this is actually your reason for being here:

—–*——–

* The figure is a new low for the president in the Gallup Poll. He reached that point more quickly than most of his predecessors did * By Mark Silva * LA Times
* President Obama, who won the White House with an electoral college landslide and enjoyed soaring public approval for the job he was doing in the weeks following his inauguration, has fallen to a 50% job approval rating in the newest daily tracking of the Gallup Poll released just now.
* The new low for Obama in the Gallup Poll, which measured the president’s public job approval at a peak of 69% after his inauguration in January, tracks other national polls, which recently have gauged his approval ratings at 51%.
* It also coincides with apparent growing public concern about a protracted debate over healthcare in Washington, Gallup and other pollsters have found.
[...]
* But Obama has reached his new low more quickly than most of his predecessors did, according to Gallup. The percentage of people voicing disapproval for the job the president is performing also stands at a near-high of 43%.
[...]
* It took Republican President Eisenhower five years to fall below 50% in the public’s eye, Gallup notes. It took both Republican George Bushes about three years. It took Democrat Lyndon Johnson and Republican Richard Nixon more than two years.
[...]
———————*——

Now, let’s skip this Obama irrelevant situation, and
Mojo & Cie, let’s return to the real issue – was Ted Kennedy really into having three sugar cubes or only two at tea, as some say?

Aug 27, 2009 - 12:34 pm 215. sule:

Thank you for your article regarding this jerk.
Ted Kennedy’s throwing taxpayer’s money into the air for any and all to snatch, while shielding his own $$$ in offshore accounts was atrocious.
If a republican had done to a woman what he did, his political career would have been over.
After hearing a story about Mary Jo being pregnant at the time of her death, could it be that the drive off the bridge wasn’t just maybe could’a…you know.

Aug 27, 2009 - 12:59 pm 216. Blarty Blarckleblart:

Still waiting for word on how gerrymandering affects Senate elections.

Aug 27, 2009 - 1:03 pm 217. Peter the Bubblehead:

198. BC wrote:
Oh, I see — this is the new right wing spin on the Iraq invasion: it had nothing to do with 9/11, but was actually just enforcement of a policy created by Clinton. Okay, let’s first ignore the fact that Clinton blew off the PNAC’s request to remove Hussein; let’s also ignore the fact that Bush and his people tied 9/11 to Hussein

Peter writes: Makes as much sense as YOU ignoring the fact that ALL intelligence, not just Bush, but CIA, MI6, other foreign ally intel, ALL pointed to the fact that Saddam and Iraq were a threat! Just because some of that intel turned out to be planted by Saddam himself in an attempt to bully Iran doen NOT negate the fact that BUSH DID NOT LIE!

The ENTIRE CONGRESS looked at the intell our own and foreign agencies had assembled and ALL OF THEM, DUMBOCRAT and Republican alike AGREED, Saddam and Iraq were DANGEROUS.

Let me try and put this in a plain Emglish analogy even your retarded liberal brain might understand.

You live on a street somewhere. Your wife tells you a neighbor down the block has a rifle in his house and you know the police have told this neighbor he cannot own firearms. So you ask your next door neighbor…

Your next door neighbor says, Yeah, I think I heard he has a rifle in his house!

So you ask another neighbor…

The third neighbor says, Yeah, he told me himself he has a 20 guage shotgun, a 30-30, and even a .45 cal semi-automatic.

So you call the cops!

The cops arrive, search warrent in hand, and as you and your neighbors all watch, pleased with yourself that you protected your neighborhood from this felonious, possibly violent neighbor, the cops bust in his door, arrest the neighbor down the block, and search his house.

After several hours, the police lieutenant comes to you and says, “Sorry to tell you this, but we searched his entire house, and all we found was a half-empty box of 20-20 rounds.”

You later find out, your neighbor down the block has been having a feud with someone around the corner and wanted to look like a big man, so he told everyone he knew that he owned all these guns, when in fact he did not, though it was known in the past he had.

Now answer this question; Did you LIE to the police when you called them?

Accordint to your own arguement, you did, and should therefore be arrested for filing a false report.

Has it gotten through your thick skull YET?

Aug 27, 2009 - 1:08 pm 218. Peter the Bubblehead:

208. BC wrote:
Addendum:

Peter writes: Again, actually try reading the facts before you make unfounded acdcusations.

http://crimemagazine.com/05/tedkennedy,1017-5.htm

The whole story appears to be right on this site, including a map of the crime scene.

Teddy boy claims the accident occurred before midnight. Kennedy’s timing of events has created a number of discrepancies. Critics also pointed to his failure to seek assistance from the residents of Dyke House which was situated a short distance from the bridge. Dyke House always had lights on before midnight. In his inquest statement, Kennedy said he did not observe any lights at all when he stumbled, walked, and jogged up Dyke Road.

Again, BC, try doing some reading before showing your ignorance.

Aug 27, 2009 - 1:15 pm 219. Blarty Blarckleblart:

218. Peter the Bubblehead:

You sound just like Oliver Stone.

Aug 27, 2009 - 1:18 pm 220. Peter the Bubblehead:

209. myth buster wrote:
It’s an exaggeration to say that Kennedy never did an honest day’s work. He did, after all, serve in the Korean War.

Peter writes: No he didn;t. He served DURING the Korean War. He did not serve IN the war. His daddy pulled strings and got his enlistment reduced from 4 to 2 years and consisted of honor guard duty in Paris where he spent his weekends traveling around Europe and getting drunk.

Kennedy entered Harvard College, and in his spring semester was assigned to the athlete-oriented Winthrop House, where his brothers had also lived. He played as a large, fearless offensive and defensive end on the freshman football team. In May 1951, anxious about maintaining his eligibility for athletics for the next year, he had a friend who was knowledgeable on the subject take his Spanish language examination for him. The two were quickly caught and expelled, but in a standard Harvard treatment for cases of this kind, they were told they could apply for readmission in a year or two after demonstrating good behavior.

Kennedy enlisted in the United States Army in June 1951. Following basic training at Fort Dix, he requested assignment to Fort Holabird for Army Intelligence training, but was dropped after a few weeks without explanation. He went to Camp Gordon for training in the Military Police Corps. In June 1952, he was assigned to the honor guard at SHAPE headquarters in Paris. His father’s political connections ensured he was not deployed to the ongoing Korean War. While stationed in Europe he travelled extensively on weekends and climbed the Matterhorn.He was discharged in March 1953 as a private first class.

Aug 27, 2009 - 1:19 pm 221. Daily Right 8/27/09 « The Quantum Conservative:

[...] [...]

Aug 27, 2009 - 1:25 pm 222. Peter the Bubblehead:

219. Blarty Blarckleblart wrote:
You sound just like Oliver Stone.

Peter writes: Big difference. Stone makes fictional movies. I debate using real facts. And you bloviate to get people off the real topic when they present FACTS you cannot refute.

And yes, that is a real word. I’ll even make it easy for you to look up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloviate

Aug 27, 2009 - 1:25 pm 223. Blarty Blarckleblart:

221. Peter the Bubblehead:

I debate using real facts. And you bloviate to get people off the real topic when they present FACTS you cannot refute.

Your facts are just as real as those in JFK. I’m surprised you’re not demanding to see Teddy’s birth certificate.

Aug 27, 2009 - 1:28 pm 224. Blarty Blarckleblart:

So, how many Iraqis does it take to equal one Kopechne? For that matter, how many U.S.S. Forrestal crewmen does it take?

*cough*wetstart*cough*

Aug 27, 2009 - 1:31 pm 225. lee:

Moho

Next time I run my car into a pond, I’m going to leave my wife and children trapped inside, and spend the next ten hours doing nothing to save them. In response to the public’s scathing criticism and utter disbelief, I’ll charge that George Bush has killed thousands, and I killed just a few.

Really, most of us saw the “Bush was worse” ready made narrative a mile way. The minute anyone explored Ted Kennedy’s (and his clan) troubled past, this was to be raised. The war in Iraq and the death of this young lady are apples and oranges.

It’s truly disturbing that lefties like Moho believe we’re just conveniently manipulating the memory of Mary Jo only to discredit Ted Kennedy. Of course, he’ll apply the very logic he attempts to critize by waving around the names of the dead soldiers to render Ted Kennedy’s crime a lesser one than ones Bush committed.

Reasonable people will dislike both Bush and Kennedy. But Moho is an ideologue.

Aug 27, 2009 - 1:46 pm 226. GregB:

Ah yes, listen to the Christian charity spilling forth from the rightwingers.

I have listened to conservative bile for 30 years and it only gets more and more hateful.

They have been reduced to dancing and spitting on graves and telling us how torture is an important American value.

Oh and telling us how that government is evil after spending 7 years a trillion dollars and 4,000 American military lives to give Iraqis a new government with universal healthcare.

Oh yeah, and turning Iraq into Iran’s stongest regional ally to boot.

Stay classy conservatives.

Aug 27, 2009 - 2:12 pm 227. Kipling:

Blarty, Moho, and Assorted Liberals,

It is interesting to watch you try and defend the indefensible. Ted Kennedy preyed on innocent victims his entire life. He offered to betray his country to the Soviets and he assualted women. If he is truly the Liberal Lion then the Liberals have a lot to answer for to the American people and to the ultimate judge of all.

With that being said, I encourage you to keep at it. The more the readers see the true nature of liberalism and how moral relativism has made a sociopath a leader in their party, the more people will turn from it to the truth.

Go ahead with your comparisons to the Iraq War. It doesn’t take away from the fact that the war had Congressional approval and that there were weapons of mass destruction. Don’t believe, check the UN records. They counted them and there are no records that they were destroyed. We also have proof of the attempted yellow cake purchase and direct connections between Saddam and terrorists. Once again, check the records.

I can not wait to hear the names hurled my way. It seems when you do not have an argument, that is your only recourse.

Aug 27, 2009 - 2:41 pm 228. Moho:

I can not wait to hear the names hurled my way. It seems when you do not have an argument, that is your only recourse.

It may seem that way, Kipling, to you because you have poor reading comprehension. I’ve made my arguments, I’m not going to make them again for you simply because you’re cognitively challenged. Just press control f then type Moho. Get your mommy to help you if you can’t figure it out.

Aug 27, 2009 - 2:51 pm 229. Marie Claude:

“hus father had sent to Paris that is close to lots of bars and brothels”

you “know” sumthin about the bisness, LMAO

as if bars and brothels would be the only specificity of Paris, (but rather of Belgium, Holland, Germany. I recall you that the brothels were closed by Marthe Richard in 1945, so no brothels in Paris for uncle Teddy, but “Bois de Boulogne”, I guess he was too lazy for that !

hey, don’t rely on your pre-1945 culture of movies !

Aug 27, 2009 - 2:51 pm 230. Peter the Bubblehead:

226. GregB wrote:
I have listened to conservative bile for 30 years and it only gets more and more hateful.

Peter writes: It’s a free country (at least, right now it is…), you’re perfectly free to go somewhere else and just listen to the libtard bile the leftists constantly spew.

Aug 27, 2009 - 3:25 pm 231. Sallie:

The only people to “blame” for the travesty of keeping Ted Kennedy in office so long, for keeping a cheater, liar, killer in office, was the express FAULT OF THE VOTERS OF MASS!!!! No one else. what type of a person votes for this type of a person??

He got stopped by the general American public, against of all people, Jimmy Carter!!!

Did Oldsmobile stock go down after the accident??

They line the streets for him even now..oohhhh poooor Teeddddy…HOW about Poor Mary Jo????

he was a do nothing in WWII using Dad’s money..so many other men died and he played. Kennedy disgraced himself in many ways, got away with manslaughter and never paid the price that you or I would. Mary Jo overshadows all.

Obama will use this as a time to get some more crap past us. Next it will be the “uncle teddy” bill. B.S.!!

Aug 27, 2009 - 3:32 pm 232. Banned by Huffpo:

I never did like the Kennedy clan. Old Joe’s sins seem to have been reaped by his off spring, too.

Anyway, as far as Teddy goes, he was a walking vomitorium. The world is a much better place now that he’s finally dead.

Thank Mary Jo for keeping him out of the Oval Office!

Aug 27, 2009 - 4:01 pm 233. Kipling:

To Moho @ 228: Thanks for making my point.

Aug 27, 2009 - 4:08 pm 234. sbourg:

That really IS the moral of the story with Teddy Kennedy! That the voters decided to NOT draw the line anywhere with regards to malfeasance, criminality, cheating in college, drunken car wrecks (in law school no less), and decided he was their man! No wonder his votes were contemptible, in favor of government growth, wealth-transfer (he loved the death tax, even though his family avoided it forever with trusts), and he was awful with protecting our borders. A despicable history in his personal life, and a despicable record for ruining our liberties !
Thanks Teddy! Thanks Mass voters!!

Aug 27, 2009 - 5:17 pm 235. BC:

To Peter the Bubblehead: Sorry, but A) you keep blanking out completely on my points only recycle your dopey talking points as though repeating them over and over again will make them smarter. No. And if you are not going to address the trauma stuff and the context of the situation, then you are admitting you have nothing to bring to the debate. I also don’t foresee a future for you in CSI investigations; and B) did you even bother to read the link you gave? Gawd, here’s a quote from it:

“Kennedy’s behavior was not unusual for a person who has been the victim of a car crash or a similar type of accident. Shock causes people to temporarily disassociate themselves from threatening circumstances. Kennedy may have been subconsciously seeking the protective company of those he knew. According to Dr. Max Sadove of the University of Illinois Medical School, an expert on the effects of shock, “No one knows what his own breaking point is. It is different at different times for different people.”

“Most writers maintain that Kennedy did not report the accident immediately because he was attempting to relieve himself of the onerous duty of taking responsibility, and he was hoping his underlings would clear things up. Yet they fail to understand that Kennedy was in no position to take responsibility of any kind. In the periods when his actions reflected some kind of rational thought, it is likely he was responding to his own political instincts — never take impulsive decisions, wait for advice, and weigh the options. Kennedy put great faith in Burke Marshall, the Kennedy aide who had taken the role RFK played for Ted. And it was Joe Gargan who told Kennedy to telephone his administrative aide, David Burke, before he reported the accident.”

Basically you provided evidence that totally supports my trauma point. What a maroon….

Aug 27, 2009 - 5:31 pm 236. Katie:

Bye. Exactly. Thank you, Klavan, for saying it.

Aug 27, 2009 - 6:42 pm 237. sargeantshooter:

Sorry, Andrew. We the people didn’t return Teddy to the Senate. It was the semi-Americans from Taxechuessetts that kept electing Ted. The real Americans have known for 40 years what kind of low life Ted was, to leave that girl to drown so he wouldn’t have to admit drunken driving. Don’t blame Americans, blame those whatever-they-ares in Taxechussetts.

Aug 27, 2009 - 7:30 pm 238. 1drunkmonk:

Moho:
You have a gift for words, sort of a liberal Brendon Behan. None of you however, are really familiar with the circumstances of the Mary Jo affair.
It seems a shame that all this praise was not also heaped upon Bill Buckley.
The “Lion”(or Walrus) is dead. Bury him!! God save the United States.

Aug 27, 2009 - 8:53 pm 239. JFM:

Marie Claude

I wasn’t trying to bash France, sorry about that. What I was trying to say is that there were many places in Europe where American troops were deployed: the Fulda gap in Germany aka first line in case of war, Berlin or sleepy and boring little cities like Orleans. But no EK is sent (more exactly his daddy has him sent) to Paris. Now I could have told about the Louvre or Notre Dame but knowing EK there iks little doubt he spent more time in the red light district than contemplating the Gioconda.

Aug 27, 2009 - 9:56 pm 240. JFM:

I have already told about how Kennedy betrayed his country under Reagan but in fact KGB arhives reveal that Kennedy initiated contacts with KGB in 1978 that is with a Democrat at the White House.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33301

Aug 27, 2009 - 10:09 pm 241. richard:

This column is the way I have felt my whole life about Ted Kennedy. For the life of me I can not begin to comprehend the vapidness of his admirers, even those Republicans now heaping praise on him. The man was an evil, drunken toad. I suppose Nihilism has its benefits.

Aug 27, 2009 - 10:48 pm 242. Leaning Straight Up » The complexity of the Ted Kennedy legacy:

[...] As this column says, we get the leaders we deserve, and God help us. [...]

Aug 28, 2009 - 12:07 am 243. Marie Claude:

tu y tiens, “red lights” are brothels enseignes (lumineuse neon sign)
before 1945 EK was TOO young to go to Paris, he might have gone there in the early fifties, in his twenties.

Usely rich Americans attended Sorbonne classes for foreigners, it’s where he learnt a bit of our language.

Now night life in Paris was well developped in St Germain caves, Jazz and the first Rock & Roll musics were the attractions

Aug 28, 2009 - 2:05 am 244. Marie Claude:

JFM, your infos about a supposed betray of EK, are not really important for the context, Reagan time ; someone in URSS,”Farewell” had already given all the impossible informations about the soviet regime

see the different videos (in french)

http://www.drzz.info/article-34251488-6.html

so URSS was on the verge to collapse, France and the US knew that, (DGSE transmitted the documents to Reagan), and they were pressing on the regime to push it to inverst in the race of arms, that destroyed what was left of the soviet economy.

The attempt of EK to get somepolitical advantage with the KGB was therefore nul

Aug 28, 2009 - 2:22 am 245. JFM:

tu y tiens, “red lights” are brothels enseignes (lumineuse neon sign)

The words I used were “red light district” and everyone but you understood that I was referring to the prostitution district even in case there were no red lights (BTW: I believe it was Amsterdam’s prostitutes during the sixties who were the first to put red lights at their windows)

Usely rich Americans attended Sorbonne classes for foreigners, it’s where he learnt a bit of our language.

American privates (that was Kennedy’s rank) aren’t supposed to assist Sorbonne classes during the day, they are supposed to work for Uncle Sam be it at the firing range or behind a desktop. Remember that the discussion was about Kennedy having had a single day of honest work. For Kennedy assisting night classes at Sorbonne pleaaaaaaaaaase: even if Sorbonne had had them take a few night classes and you will understand. The Frecnh he learnt was witrh bartenders and prostitutes as professors.

Now night life in Paris was well developped in St Germain caves, Jazz and the first Rock & Roll musics were the attractions

I could think of many reasons for an American to go to Paris but listening American music is not one of them.

Aug 28, 2009 - 2:37 am 246. Marie Claude:

FAUX, red lights were known in Guy de Maupassant and Flaubert novels

“American privates (that was Kennedy’s rank) aren’t supposed to assist Sorbonne classes during the day”

“The Frecnh he learnt was witrh bartenders and prostitutes as professors.”

I heard him spoke french in a report yesterday, I can assure you it ain’t Bars and prostitutes vocabulary !

then how could it be possibly possible that he learnt uch a classical “french” ?

Jackie Kenedy/Onassis attended Sorbonne.

“I could think of many reasons for an American to go to Paris but listening American music is not one of them.”

For you ? LMAO, you forget that the parisian female and “beautiful” emancipated youth was living in the fashionable St Germain les prés

and if want to meet women, it was likely there

Aug 28, 2009 - 3:15 am 247. Peter the Bubblehead:

235. BC Wrote:

Traslation: The usual libtard “La la la la, I can’t hear you! I have my fingers in my ears, and as long as I can’t hear you it isn’t true! La la la la!”

Come back when the facts actually fit your arguement, libtard.

Aug 28, 2009 - 3:16 am 248. BC:

To Peter the Bubblehead: got a few bubbles on your behind as well, eh? If you are just going to fling random objects, maybe you should at least look at what you’re picking up.

Aug 28, 2009 - 3:45 am 249. Marie Claude:

haaretzonline : Ted Kennedy honored Rabin with “dirt” (?) from brothers’ graves http://bit.ly/10Ln3a

Aug 28, 2009 - 3:50 am 250. Peter the Bubblehead:

Hey BC, try READING further…

Kennedy’s two companions remained on the Chappaquiddick side while he impulsively dived into the water and swam the short distance across to Edgartown. His last words to his friends before diving off the ferry landing were, “I’ll take care of the accident and you see the girls are all right.”

Unaware of Kennedy’s injuries and ignoring the state of shock the senator was in, Gargan and Markham took him at face value and believed he would head for the Edgartown police station and report the accident. Instead, Kennedy returned to his room at the Shiretown Inn where he lay exhausted and confused, trying to make some sense of what had happened. It was now 2 a.m. Twenty-five minutes later he walked out on to the balcony and spoke to the manager of the inn, mumbling something about noisy guests and asking for the time. This has been interpreted by a number of authors as an attempt to establish an alibi.

For the next five hours, alone in his room, Kennedy either slept or contemplated the situation he was in. He had been in a fatal accident with a woman who was not his wife.

HE SWAM ACROSS TO EDGARTOWN: Doesn’t sound too numb or exhausted to me.

He either SLEPT or CONTEMPLATED THE SITUATION for FIVE HOURS: Doesn’t sound like someone in need of medical care. Sounds like someone trying to assuage his guilty conscionce and figure out how he was going to pull his political @$$ out of the fire, or, if he in fact DID sleep, he had NO CONSCIENCE about what he had done at all, which fits in with the narrative of the rest of his life.

I’m just going to start calling you Bugblatter Beast instead of BC. The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal is a creature so mind-bogglingly stupid that it assumes that if someone cannot see it, then it cannot see the person. (From The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) Liberals work the same way. They figure if they can’t see the true fact, it doesn’t exist.

Aug 28, 2009 - 5:46 am 251. JFM:

Peter the Bubblehead

You forget that during those five hours he made 17, seventeen, phone calls. None of them to the police. All of them to people who could help for covering his a…

Aug 28, 2009 - 5:51 am 252. JFM:

Actually it looks like Edward Kennedy’s idea of fun was joke about Chappaquidick.

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/08/28/one-of-his-favorite-topics-of-humor-was-indeed-chappaquiddick-itself/

Nice guy isn’t it?

Aug 28, 2009 - 7:14 am 253. Penny:

Felt the same way that many of you feel when the news was announced of Kennedy’s death—nothing for him but sadness for Mary Jo Kopechne and her extended family. Maybe it is a blessing her parents are not here to see the Senator idolized by the media and the Boston area. How sickening that family money, greed for power and the people of Boston kept him in office.

Rest in peace Mary Jo with your parents.

Aug 28, 2009 - 8:41 am 254. BC:

To Peter the Bubblehead: Just give it up — I made my points, and instead of dealing with them, you unthinkingly flung whatever you could parse off the Internet and got well deserved blowback. You’re just in crybaby, throw the Cheerios on the floor mode now. Shoo.

Aug 28, 2009 - 10:10 am 255. JFM:

Mr BC is the C for Chutzpah?

Actuallay it is you Mr BC who keeps repeating mantras no matter how crazy they are and how much they conflict with basic facts. For instance he Mr Kennedy didn’t abandon Mrs Kopechne to die” he just walked away, returned to the party and didn’t phone to the cops.

I

Aug 28, 2009 - 11:06 am 256. Victor:

God forgives. Why can’t kompassionate konservative khristians do the same?

Aug 28, 2009 - 1:30 pm 257. Barbie:

Mary Jo rest in peace. Justice is well served.

Aug 28, 2009 - 3:20 pm 258. Barbie:

Mr. Victor:
Yes God forgives. But when a person does not want to be forgiven, doesn’t ask to be forgiven, and puts it upon others to show very flagrantly and very arrogantly that he doesn’t need to be forgiven, there is no forgiveness.

Aug 28, 2009 - 3:22 pm 259. Kay:

“26. wancow:

17. Timothy B. said: Unable to devote a single line to celebrating the memory of a human being who dedicated his life to public service

Ted Kennedy DID NOT dedicate his life to public service! He was the Consummate Politician who dedicated his life to self aggrandizement!

Yes, I spit on his grave. The man was a perverse drunk who murdered an innocent girl and committed the United States to suffering with his various sick agendas!

Thank god he’s dead and can do no more damage!”

Thanks Wancow for saving me some typing! The Kennedy brothers were all scumbags. One killed Mary Jo Kopechne, one killed Marylin Monroe, and one started the Vietnam war for no reason. EVERYTHING else they did was to serve themselves.

Aug 28, 2009 - 4:58 pm 260. Robert:

As a Canadian, i’m grateful that TK was one of yours. We have enough conscience-deprived self-inflated noxious airbags up here as it is without having to deal with the Hindenburg of toxicity that was Ted Kennedy.

On the subject of Bush and Iraq, some here might be interested to know that approximately 500 tons of yellowcake from Iraq were quietly shipped into the Montreal harbour with no or next to no fanfare from the press. Wasn’t that whole thing with Plame about her husband’s claim that he had investigated and found no evidence of yellowcake being shipped to Iraq?

Aug 28, 2009 - 5:18 pm 261. Robert:

Victor,

Real cute with the three k’s alliteration. Did you know that the real KKK was historically aligned with the Democratic Party?

Aug 28, 2009 - 5:24 pm 262. JFM:

God forgives. Why can’t kompassionate konservative khristians do the same?

God doesn’t forgive the ujnrepentant. Also iven how unforgiving anti christioan liberals are, your argument is simply repugnant.

Aug 28, 2009 - 11:39 pm 263. Michael A. Feeman:

HERE’S MY REBUTTAL TO THE “FAR RIGHT” TED KENNEDY PRE-BURIAL “PILE ON” — Bush Administration Official Norman Mineta’s Omitted Testimony to the 911 Commission on VEEP CREEP Dick Cheney’s “Stand Down” Orders on the day 189 Americans Died at the Pentagon:

This is a gift to FAR RIGHT “frienemies,” like Andrew Breitbart and Andrew Klavan, who keep regurgitating Kennedy’s personal life and role in the drowning of Mary Joe Kepechne. Please check out this YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDfdOwt2v3Y .

This is an attached link to a YouTube video replay of a 9/11 Commission hearing in which then-Secretary of Transportation head, Norman Mineta, testified how then-Vice President Dick Cheney maintained a STAND-DOWN ORDER with NORAD not to intercept American Airlines Flight 77 about a half-hour before and up until it crashed into the Pentagon on that fateful day.

In all, 189 bodies were recovered from the Pentagon, with 55 dead military personnel, 80 civilian deceased Pentagon workers and 54 dead from Flight 77 (not counting the hijackers).

The 911 Commission Report completely OMITTED Mineta’s testimony, despite Mineta’s later assertion that he was in the Command Bunker at the same time with Cheney and military aides who kept asking if the STAND-DOWN ORDER could be lifted (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suKKhDWbnSk).– mind you that the DC Beltway has long been a RESTRICTED NO-FLY ZONE!

And why didn’t Cheney at least order IMMEDIATE EVACUATIONS of all key federal government buildings/installations along the Beltway while NORAD was tracking this incoming hijacked jet and as reaction to the plane crashes into the World Trade Center earlier that morning on 9/11?

So, while I have never condoned the way in which Ted Kennedy did not face a thorough INVESTIGATION into Mary Jo Kopechne’s drowning at Chappaquick, how is it the 911 Commission completely OMITS Mineta’s testimony and any other evidence about Dick Cheney’s role in the non-intercepted Pentagon crash?

Maybe, as you (and Andrew Breitbart) are again regurgitating the same things about a wrongful death in Chappaquidick, you should take some time out to consider calling a TRUE investigation into Dick Cheney’s role in the unnecessary deaths of 189 people at the Pentagon?

Even outside of a Pentagon inquiry, Cheney and others on the Bush Jr. team, should still be investigated for their roles in torture. Cheney, alone, in addition to potential murder charges, should be considered for outright TREASON charges as well – there appears to be enough published source accounts to allege FALL GUY Scooter Libby got his orders from above (Cheney, Karl Rove) on outing CIA agent Valerie Plame.

By the way, I would like to applaud Mineta as being the only man of “conscience” from the Bush Jr. Administration to publicly testify and speak of the events that transpired from Cheney’s command bunker that day — although it was in vain with a complete whitewashed final 911 Commission Report that was made public.

So, Andrew, maybe you could also hope the souls of 189 dead from the Pentagon crash rest-in-peace (just like Mary Jo Kopechne), but maybe also rise in spirit/en masse to seek justice!

Sincerely,

Michael A. Freeman, Executive Director
Trans-American Alliance for a National Consensus (TANC)

Aug 29, 2009 - 12:30 am 264. Marie Claude:

Pan, dans les gencives LMAO

Aug 29, 2009 - 4:33 am 265. Gina:

A perfect summation of why the person who runs for President with TERM LIMITS as their goal will get my vote.

Aug 29, 2009 - 4:46 am 266. Thomas Hazlewood:

To the author: Don’t REACH. It would have been MANSLAUGHTER, not murder, ok?

Aug 29, 2009 - 10:35 am 267. steveg:

It will be interesting watching how the media reports the passing of KKK Byrd. I’m sure that the(D) by his name will protect him from any embarrassing comments from the MSM.

The same goes for Bobby Rush (D) Illinois, the co-founder of the Illinois Black Panthers.

So you have former leaders of the KKK, and Black Panthers in the Democrat party. No wonder they are the majority party.

Aug 29, 2009 - 12:30 pm 268. Kelley:

“At what point did the conservative movement become a club for callous and inhuman sociopaths”

That’s rich. Ted Kennedy does nothing to help a young woman who’s drowning in a car, a young woman he was probably having an affair with, and you’re calling conservatives “callous and inhuman sociopaths”?

Aug 29, 2009 - 3:18 pm 269. Ted:

I hope your and most your commenters’ eulogies are so considerate.
R.I.P. all of you, the sooner the better.

Aug 29, 2009 - 4:55 pm 270. JFM:

For you ? LMAO, you forget that the parisian female and “beautiful” emancipated youth was living in the fashionable St Germain les prés

Yes, German soldiers Had had a first tatste of teh emancipated Parisian women.

Aug 29, 2009 - 11:55 pm 271. Marie Claude:

ah JFM, was your last apple rotten ?

Funny there have been more marriages betwteen american GI and french women, than with Germans, kinda some concurrent emulation there !

Besides you’re mixing eras of “occupation”

seems that France is very priced as “le repos du guerrier” in foreigners’ minds, oops in their litterature ! but it’s not new, already in your 19th century novels, you were dreaming of France “elegant ladies”, LMAO

now, there haven’t been more “bastards” in France than in the other european occupied countries, check the stats, which ones were collaborating the most ?

D’ya want numbers, since you can formulate calculs ?

you’re a twisted idiot !

go to hell!

Aug 30, 2009 - 5:00 am 272. Marie Claude:

oh, I forgot to mention the numerous rapes made by amrican soldiers, that weren’t allowed by german army standards though, since France was their “vitrine” (show-window) for the rest of Europe on how they were “well-educated” and respectful of the populations, (some of your compatriots like to use their pics as propaganda against the French nowadays too)

Aug 30, 2009 - 5:16 am 273. non-political:

I, too, lost total respect for Ted Kennedy and the legal system for the FIASCO at Chappaquadick with Mary Jo Kopechne. He escaped any punishment because of his family name, money, and power. He was corrupt and hedonistic. He was kept in politics because of his ability to raise the party coffers, again due to his family name.

Ted Kennedy was a backer of the HMO Act of 1973. As a Medical Office Manager for over 20 years, for that HMO act alone I can HATE him forever !!!

Aug 30, 2009 - 11:30 am

Write a Comment

Name:	(required, displayed)
Email:	(required, not publicized)
URL:	(optional, displayed)
Comments: