Ted Kennedy passes...

[venray]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TedKennedy/story?id=6692022

 

[drnkntklr]

Good ol' hard drinking, hooker killing Ted... I will miss him. =/

 

[RobAce]

Mr. Kennedy while loved by some......

Just remember Mary Jo Kopechne didn't get a chance to live as long as you.

While it is a sad day for some, I have no sympathy for him.

But I will not say anything more, as I will create my own thread in due time.

I will simply say....Farewell Ted.

Rob

 

[Capnmad]

Word is Robert Byrd's ailing and not far behind. It will be interesting to see what happens with the disappearance of the Old Lions of the Senate.

In the end, a person in their life only does what they think they should. The reasons may be many, some right and some wrong. We have lost someone of great intent and effect.

Do kinda' wish he'd gotten to see the healthcare package finished, though.

 

[Gnome Your Role]

he was an asswipe

 

[venray]

Word is Robert Byrd's ailing and not far behind. It will be interesting to see what happens with the disappearance of the Old Lions of the Senate.

In the end, a person in their life only does what they think they should. The reasons may be many, some right and some wrong. We have lost someone of great intent and effect.

Do kinda' wish he'd gotten to see the healthcare package finished, though.

Ted spent his life trying to attone for what he did to Mary Jo.....he failed....

Without his influence we might actually get a bipartisan health care reform instead of what he thought things should be....no one man should ever have the power to influence government that he has wielded over the years...It is time for real change....the change Obama promised us that has yet to see the light of day...

 

[Capnmad]

Without his influence we might actually get a bipartisan health care reform instead of what he thought things should be....no one man should ever have the power to influence government that he has wielded over the years...It is time for real change....the change Obama promised us that has yet to see the light of day...

Disagree. Not to derail, but too many Republicans have taken the Jim DeMint angle: Make this Obama's Waterloo. And they've whipped up their constituents to hold them to that standard. One such Republican protester got injured at one of these "vigorous" Town Halls, and then ironically whined that he had no health insurance. It's fascinating to see how people can be motivated to fight their best interests.

Concessions have been made to no effect. They've made clear that nothing will come of bipartisanship, and if one side is totally unwilling, the other cannot be held responsible. Republicans currently care nothing for change on this matter, but only to halt the bill entirely so they can declare him a failure and strengthen their positions for the midterms.

Ted Kennedy or no Ted Kennedy, compromise on top of compromise, there will be no bipartisan bill. Either Democrats will unify and ram it through, or there will be nothing. And actually, I'm kind of preferring that now. I don't want a compromised, watered-down stack of political give-aways to get everyone on board a bill that does effectively nothing for the people.

 

[Fangz]

Disagree. Not to derail, but too many Republicans have taken the Jim DeMint angle: Make this Obama's Waterloo. And they've whipped up their constituents to hold them to that standard. One such Republican protester got injured at one of these "vigorous" Town Halls, and then ironically whined that he had no health insurance. It's fascinating to see how people can be motivated to fight their best interests.

Concessions have been made to no effect. They've made clear that nothing will come of bipartisanship, and if one side is totally unwilling, the other cannot be held responsible. Republicans currently care nothing for change on this matter, but only to halt the bill entirely so they can declare him a failure and strengthen their positions for the midterms.

Ted Kennedy or no Ted Kennedy, compromise on top of compromise, there will be no bipartisan bill. Either Democrats will unify and ram it through, or there will be nothing. And actually, I'm kind of preferring that now. I don't want a compromised, watered-down stack of political give-aways to get everyone on board a bill that does effectively nothing for the people.

Very well said. Unfortunately no matter who is president nothing will ever significantly change. It would take global natural disasters with the US feeling a large part of it in it's main money making cities for that to happen, nothing less.

 

[poopies]

Thought I'd share some right-wing spam email making the rounds. I get them all the time from my die-hard conservative father, and I usually ignore them because I hate politics, but this was something I actually agreed with.

As soon as his cancer was detected, I noticed the immediate attempt at the
"canonization" of old Teddy Kennedy by the mainstream media. They are
saying what a "great American" he is. I say, let's get a couple things
clear & not twist the facts to change the real history.

1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled
twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat
for him.

2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up
for four years instead of two. Oops! The man can't count to four! His
father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition), pulled the
necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to
ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea , where a war was raging No
preferential treatment for him! (like he charged that President Bush
received).

3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris, never advanced beyond the rank of
Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person of
his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private!

4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was cited
for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving
90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off
after dark.. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked.
Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959. Amazing!

5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash and hospitalized for
several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed.
Didn't hear about that from the unbiased media, did we?

6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in
Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his
Oldsmobile limousine and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a
campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail,
Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.

7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party passing several houses and a fire station. Two friends then returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew - that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car.
The Kennedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring that any inquiry
would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of-state to her family
before an autopsy could be conducted.
Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he
repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne and he didn't call
police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the
problem overnight. Since the accident Kennedy's "political enemies" have
referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He
pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a
SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS.
Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's insurance
policy and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed
and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills.... a "token of friendship"?

8. Kennedy has held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors, and is widely held as the "standard-bearer for liberalism". In his very first Senate roll he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries..

9. Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and author of every
expansion of an increase in immigration up to and including the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court nominees, as if he was the standard bearer for the nation in matters of "what is right." What a pompous ass!

10. He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous, and
very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than "great
American". "A blonde in every pond" is his motto.

 

[venray]

Disagree. Not to derail, but too many Republicans have taken the Jim DeMint angle: Make this Obama's Waterloo. And they've whipped up their constituents to hold them to that standard. One such Republican protester got injured at one of these "vigorous" Town Halls, and then ironically whined that he had no health insurance. It's fascinating to see how people can be motivated to fight their best interests.

Concessions have been made to no effect. They've made clear that nothing will come of bipartisanship, and if one side is totally unwilling, the other cannot be held responsible. Republicans currently care nothing for change on this matter, but only to halt the bill entirely so they can declare him a failure and strengthen their positions for the midterms.

Ted Kennedy or no Ted Kennedy, compromise on top of compromise, there will be no bipartisan bill. Either Democrats will unify and ram it through, or there will be nothing. And actually, I'm kind of preferring that now. I don't want a compromised, watered-down stack of political give-aways to get everyone on board a bill that does effectively nothing for the people.

Then I prefer nothing....

 

[Capnmad]

Then I prefer nothing....

And you are most welcome to, my friend. "Compromise at any cost", however, has never been a good description of any philosophy behind change.

 

[JPie1]

Disagree. Not to derail, but too many Republicans have taken the Jim DeMint angle: Make this Obama's Waterloo. And they've whipped up their constituents to hold them to that standard. One such Republican protester got injured at one of these "vigorous" Town Halls, and then ironically whined that he had no health insurance. It's fascinating to see how people can be motivated to fight their best interests.

Concessions have been made to no effect. They've made clear that nothing will come of bipartisanship, and if one side is totally unwilling, the other cannot be held responsible. Republicans currently care nothing for change on this matter, but only to halt the bill entirely so they can declare him a failure and strengthen their positions for the midterms.

Ted Kennedy or no Ted Kennedy, compromise on top of compromise, there will be no bipartisan bill. Either Democrats will unify and ram it through, or there will be nothing. And actually, I'm kind of preferring that now. I don't want a compromised, watered-down stack of political give-aways to get everyone on board a bill that does effectively nothing for the people.

I agree wholeheartedly with what you said very well. I am of this opinion.

 

[kurchatovium]

Then I prefer nothing....

I would prefer nothing as well.

 

[venray]

And you are most welcome to, my friend. "Compromise at any cost", however, has never been a good description of any philosophy behind change.

LOL I am agreeing with you....I want nothing rammed through nor do I want to see watered down legislation...(we give you this you give us that) Far too long our Congress has run the country this way...It is time for REAL change where we make our elected officials work together for the betterment of the country or we vote them out of office...

Not likely to happen, but it is where we need to go to move forward..

Unfortunately we make it so only the rich can run for and hold office, and once they get in they always manage to stay....