I was 5 when Jack was assassinated and by the time Bobby had met his tragic end who I was politically had been locked in stone. Their influence on me was profound and became the foundation of my political ideology. They taught me that those of us who have an advantage have an obligation to give back to our fellow man. That no one is better than another regardless of their ethnicity or financial station. But the most important thing I learned was that change for the betterment of humankind must be embraced and celebrated. These ideals have been the driving force in my political life. And for nearly 5 decades it has been Teddy at the helm of the dream Jack and Bobby envisioned. “The dream will never die.”
When Teddy entered the Senate back in 1962, it was a time when Democrats and Republicans fought it out on the floor of the Senate, but then would get together afterwards and enjoy the camaraderie of just being Americans. And despite the ice age that exists between the Parties today, Teddy never totally gave up on the idea that his fellow Senators were firstly his co-workers and friends Democrats and Republicans alike. I’ve heard dozens of anecdotal stories about how when Ted was off the floor of the Senate, he would be far more interested in talking about personal matters. How were you doing, or about your family or of course the Boston Red Socks.
Teddy led an unexpected life. The youngest of 4 brothers, tragedy fated him to bear the responsibility of patriarch of the Kennedy clan and carrying on the political legacy of Jack and Bobby. Chappaquiddick taught us all that some decisions we make in life cannot be forgiven. If it had not been for that, in his own words, “indefensible act.” Teddy would most assuredly have been elected to the presidency. But that didn’t dampen his desire to affect change and he became probably the most well known Senator in the second half of the 20th century.
A true icon of American politics is gone. But the issues and ideals that Teddy believed in and fought for are far from it. The belief that it is the working class of America that is it’s heart and soul. That health care is a right, not a privilege. And that all Americans deserve a society free of prejudice and bigotry. It’s hard for most of us to fathom why any reasonable human being would be against ideals like these, but they are. And that is why people like Teddy are so important. His ability to get people to see the humanity of an issue was the key to his success. I hope we all can all take a lesson from that.
*************
Devin Barber, Politics Correspondent
Devin’s column, “Left Of The Right” published weekly or more to Gather Essentials: Politics is a Blue Collar Democrats take on current political news.
Devin was raised by proud Roosevelt Democrats. Being the son of parents counted among the throng of Americans displaced by the Great Depression has given Devin a deep rooted passion for causes dealing with the poor and the working class.
You can find all of Devin’s columns at LEFT OF THE RIGHT
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Comments: 76
And yes, I also think that it was in poor taste for clusterFox News not to pay tribute to a person who has been so influential in the Senate for so many years.
People make mistakes - some greater in number or severity than others. It's how they proceed afterwards that defines them. Kennedy spent his career working for the poor and working class. Chris Matthews, in last night's show, cited a laundry-list of legislation Kennedy sponsored or co-sponsored during his career: Title 9, ADA, and SCHIP leap to mind, but there were countless others. TM Kennedy was a very wealthy person who felt it was his duty to uplift those who were less fortunate than he. That kind of person is far and few between in today's "me first" culture. More's the pity.
Last I knew, an intoxicated driver that has an accident--a single-vehicle accident at that--is responsible for passenger deaths, period.
Are you running a quibble--that the drowning killed her?
Please, elaborate.
EVERY SINGLE WORKING CLASS American owes a HUGE debt to this flawed, but GREAT man!
(Personally, I blame the nature of our money. See www.nopom.info )
But the issues and ideals that Teddy believed in and fought for are far from it. The belief that it is the working class of America that is it’s heart and soul. That health care is a right, not a privilege. And that all Americans deserve a society free of prejudice and bigotry.
Do you object to or oppose any of those ideals? Which would those be?
The trouble with "ideals" like these is that they are not limited to political liberalism / progressivism. Nearly every politician, of whatever bent, will say those things, and believe that he is as sincere as SCUBA Ted appeared to be.
You aren't suggesting that you believe that (for simplicity's sake) "conservatives" or "right wing Christians / gun nuts / whoever" believe we should have a society based on prejudice and bigotry?
I'll come right out and state categorically that "conservatives" or "right wing Christians / gun nuts / whoever" believe we should have a society based on prejudice and bigotry". Why else would they be so hell-bent on defeating anything that doesn't immediately benefit themselves?
If you have time to memorialize Ted Kennedy, then you should be accountable for the value system he represented. Remember, this is a man who literally got away with motor vehicle homicide (or worse).
I don't think that the objectives (ideals) of liberals and conservatives differ very much at all. I think it is the means to those ends on which there is so much disagreement. (And I think both sides of the arguments are wrong with respect to those means which places me in my usual outsider position.)
But, we digress--this topic, after all, is about eulogizing SCUBA Ted / Will Kennedy's mentor. Eulogize away.
People of low virtue pick one cause and sacrifice all else.
Did it help for him to be non-partisan or to try to work with the Republicans? Just how on Earth did this guy work with the likes of Orrin Hatch and others of the far-right? Perhaps I do not know enough detail about what he did, but No Child Left Behind was so well-praised, and then condemned as a failure. Did it help to have someone who was so easily attacked and branded evil, as we can see above, representing the left all these years?
Someone who worked for the people from a place of such privilege? Still I cannot condemn Ted Kennedy, he was a flawed person as all of us are. I don't believe he was a murderer and I resent the constant attacks by whoever makes comments like that.
But SCUBA Ted was a good joe in other respects. He was a gracious host, like his oversight of the bar-hopping by his nephew near the family FL compound back in 1991.
But what's this nonsense about "he didn't drive off the bridge." Are you nit-picking terms here, or what? Did he claim Mary Jo was driving?
And what makes you think I am a Republican?
Yes, Mr. Kennedy acted stupidly in that case. He admitted it himself. But to call him names and demean his positive contributions is immature and unacceptable.
If you want to love Ted, you've got to love him warts and all, so to speak. If it takes potshots from me to ensure you see just who you want to love, so be it.
DING DING DING! We have a winner:
"there has been something about the whole arc of his life and what he brought to the Democratic party that I have been unsure about...as a leader Teddy was flawed and I am not sure that he did the country as well as the Democrats seem to want to remember.
If we want to eulogize this person with these kind of (implied) character flaws--then I submit that is the current example of where the Democrat Party went wrong.
FWIW, I once was a Hubert Humphrey Democrat. I signed out when it began its long run with vote buying and bigotry--i.e., the Seventies.
People of low virtue pick one cause and sacrifice all else. Get over yourself!
This is the first time in a very long time that family hasnt been there to help the average American
Burial at Arlington National Cemetery with JFK and Robert on Saturday and all living Presidents will attend. I think I heard that POTUS 44 will deliver the eulogy.
I have lost one of my best friends on this planet.
From the media>>>>
The body then will be flown to Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, for burial near the graves of his brothers, John and Robert.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE57P0JQ20090827?feedType=nl&feedName=ustopnewsearly Reuters
His icon is a handgun.........his quote is"gun control means hitting your target" , he is an avowed Athiest ...................I can't seem to find any listing of good works, good deeds or selfless acts of any kind that might add to the betterment of the human condition..thusly his opinion means NOTHING to me and will be sent down to the incinerator to add fuel to the fires of HELL.
....
I ascended a bit more, relatively, in the mid-Seventies, when the Party began its descent into majority control by vote-buying, promoting victimology and set in stone its platform of racism via Affirmative Action.
My ascent out of the Democrat Party's pits of victimology was nearly complete when the Party began espousing a Politically-Correct advance against individual rights by way of the antigun nuts, of whom SCUBA Ted was one. It was completed by three episodes in sick Willy's reign--his antigun assaults, then his perjury in the Lewinsky scandal, and finally by his sales of technology secrets to the Chinese in exchange for donations.
As for finding a list of my "good works," et.al., I don't publish them. My friends know them, and some others--the recipients.
Beyond that, I will say no more biographically.
However, to the topic of this post--I will point out that your rhetorical flourishes about being 'Judge and Jury on the whole subject of Senator Kennedy's life' are not accurate. In fact, the dewy-eyed worship of Ted Kennedy in this thread is a far more uncritical acceptance.
After all, just because I think SCUBA Ted was a murderer doesn't mean you can't consider him your Messiah. Embrace him! Love him! Just be aware of the cost one pays for standing at His Feet, grateful for the crumbs.
Reciting the litany of accusations and infractions against the Democrats, which are at LEAST equalled or surpassed by the checkered history of the GOP...must leave you to be a man with lots of opinions but without a Party or a prayer!
BTW...To whom will I BE paying the cost to..........of NOT judging lest I BE judged?
And, yes, I consider myself without a Party or a prayer. That's a nice turn of phrase, BTW.
Judgement is a task for those of us here on Earth, in the quick. After that, we turn to cosmic dust, and it will not matter.
I am very proud of fellow Gatherites that have strong feelings too but to their credit...................you are standing quite alone here in that endeavor.
At issue is whether or not the eulogizing here, among his acolytes, is realistic. If my potshots cause pain and suffering because of these acolytes' idealized devotion, then I suggest that a realistic understanding of our political heroes is a better perspective.
It is quite appropriate to grieve our heroes, I think--the problem comes when grief selects a hero not worthy of the worship.
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy (November 20, 1925–June 6, 1968)
I too was born in 1958 and, what I remember is watching President Kennedy's son salute his father as he passed on. When I was 10 years old, I'm certain I must have heard the commotion surrounding the assassination of Bobby but, I can't say "who I was politically had been locked in stone."
Although I can say, had I been aware of such thinking and actions of people like Bobby, I would agree with them as I've learned to do now that I'm an adult. Would that be an example of 'Nature vs Nurture' ?
Can humans be hardwired to react to society in a specific manner?
One person who shares the fruit from the tree and another who buys the surrounding land and allows the fruit to rot on the ground.
And to think, some would cast ill-tempered names at that sentiment ;>}
‘The Cause of My Life’ By Edward M. Kennedy | NEWSWEEK Jul 18, 2009
Palin: Obama’s Plan Is “Experiment With Socialism”
Leo L. Aug 27, 2009, 6:30pm EDT
Those who are dishonoring Senator Kennedy are overlooking what he did for civil rights, the poor, the middle class, the elderly, women.
We have lost a great American--one of the finest.
If you know the facts about such accidents as Kennedy's, you know that saving another is highly unlikely. Saving oneself is difficult. He was wrong in his hesitation to report, but he is not a murderer. He paid dearly and long for his mistake
But what isn't being mentioned by the liberal lapdog media is that he really did start the politics of personal destruction we know today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNaasFvvFlE
Now there's another articulate contribution to the topic.
It's a classic example of the current state of political progressivism.
Then reality set in and half his gang resigned in 6 months.
1. First, a joke: Now that he's dead, SCUBA Ted can vote again--in Chicago and New Orleans.
2. Secondly, and a bit more sober assessment of his personality: Ed Klein--a former Editor of the New York Times Magazine and former foreign editor of Newsweek--spoke of his close friendship with Ted Kennedy on the Diane Rehm show the other day.
It seems Ted loved to joke about to joke about Chappaquiddick.
Judge for yourself: here's a link to the segment--
http://www.breitbart.tv/kennedy-friend-recalls-how-much-he-loved-to-joke-about-chappaquiddick/
TTFN--
An Arisen Democrat.
:O\
That said, Ted Kennedy presided over the emasculation of the Democratic party, ultimately no matter how great his speeches of what a nice guy he was, he screwed up, or he was putting his face on the screwups of others.
Hobnobbing with the very Republicans that led the charge no matter how nice he was or how much he complained, he did not take care of business. The cause of the left suffered while this guy partied on and supposedly led the fight for the working people while living the life of Riley.
I cannot help but sort of like Kennedy, and I really do not intend to attack him on his demise. I am sorry to see him go, but I have mixed feeling about his legacy and his family.
Why does it always take hugely rich people to say they are going to fight for the working class ... while nothing gets done, and things get worse and they wring their hands most convincingly?
Gore, Kennedy, Kerry, etc ... the whole lot can only be judged by results.
I would say those who try and fail should be given recognition and those who oppose should also be judged by the whole of their official record on the issues. To judge a person's lifestyle or faults otherwise leads to the mudslinging and dirty tricks that are the bane of politics, no matter what the stand taken politically.
Let Ted Kennedy sail on with the grace of God. He deserves my blessings and prayers, and he has them.
Dan