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Ted Kennedy is Dead

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

Sen. Ted Kennedy died shortly before midnight Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 77.

The man known as the "liberal lion of the Senate" had fought a more than year-long battle with brain cancer[.]

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The democratic voting block in the senate got smaller. That bastard may have just saved America for the rest of this year. Massachusetts must have an election to replace him, there will not be a governor appointed interim officeholder.

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I know as a Canadian I don't have a dog in this fight but Ted Kennedy was elected again and again by your countrymen. He worked within the laws of your nation and within the democratic process. While you may not have agreed with his premises, with his ideals and with his politics is it really necessary to celebrate his death?

I saw many people on this board defend Michael Jackson's reputation (and rightfully so) when people called him a paedophile because that was nothing more than an unproven allegation but suddenly it seems it is acceptable to demonize Kennedy as a murderer in spite of his never being convicted.

Why?

And more importantly, what is the point?

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I know as a Canadian I don't have a dog in this fight but Ted Kennedy was elected again and again by your countrymen.

Not quite. He was elected solely by the people of the Commonwealth of Massachussets. When the country got a chance to vote for him, the people chose Carter instead (this was in the Democratic Primary elections in 79 and 80).

He worked within the laws of your nation and within the democratic process.

Sure, but that only speaks badly to the laws of the United States as they currently exist, that they let a Ted Kennedy be a power in the land through the Senate.

While you may not have agreed with his premises, with his ideals and with his politics is it really necessary to celebrate his death?

No, it's not necessary.

You know, the Romans had a custom when honoring a victorious general. A man would walk alongside the general while he received accoaldes and kept reminding him "remember thou art mortal." I think it's important when someone famous and powerful dies to remind the rest of the world he wasn't a saint, and death does not make him one.

I saw many people on this board defend Michael Jackson's reputation (and rightfully so) when people called him a paedophile because that was nothing more than an unproven allegation but suddenly it seems it is acceptable to demonize Kennedy as a murderer in spite of his never being convicted.

I concede he was no murderer because he never intended to kill the young woman. But he fled the scene of the accident and he chose not to summon or offer any help. Regardless of the casues of the acciednt, that makes him morally responsible for the woman's death.

And more importantly, what is the point?

To remind the wrold he was no saint. And for the satisfaction such futile gestures give some people. I find no satisfaction there, so I dont' celebrate his death (besides it's disrespectful to his family). But I'm not sorry Ted Kennedy is dead.

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I'm saving this one for the death of Fidel Castro, but I'll let it romp out and about a bit for Teddy's death too:

If Bush's wife can be criticized constantly for her drunken driving killing, how come Kennedy is mourned as a hero when he killed someone too? And when he didn't even call police until the next day, after the body had been discovered?

Edited by kainscalia
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Not quite. He was elected solely by the people of the Commonwealth of Massachussets. When the country got a chance to vote for him, the people chose Carter instead (this was in the Democratic Primary elections in 79 and 80).

I call this sort of rationalization picking fly shit out of pepper. The people of his constituency consistently voted to be represented by him. Until Mass is no longer part of the United Sates, the citizens that voted for Mr. Kennedy are US countrymen

Sure, but that only speaks badly to the laws of the United States as they currently exist, that they let a Ted Kennedy be a power in the land through the Senate.

Excuse me? What law was it exactly that allowed people to vote for him? What exactly do you have against political liberty and universal suffrage ?

No, it's not necessary.

You know, the Romans had a custom when honoring a victorious general. A man would walk alongside the general while he received accoaldes and kept reminding him "remember thou art mortal." I think it's important when someone famous and powerful dies to remind the rest of the world he wasn't a saint, and death does not make him one.

There is a huge difference between correcting someone who is attempting to idolize Kennedy and making comments like

I can find one nice thing to say about him.

He's dead.

or
good riddance

I concede he was no murderer because he never intended to kill the young woman. But he fled the scene of the accident and he chose not to summon or offer any help. Regardless of the casues of the acciednt, that makes him morally responsible for the woman's death.

No argument there.

To remind the wrold he was no saint. And for the satisfaction such futile gestures give some people. I find no satisfaction there, so I dont' celebrate his death (besides it's disrespectful to his family). But I'm not sorry Ted Kennedy is dead.

I have no problem with that. The celebration of this mans death by some here has nothing to do with proving to the world that he was no saint, indeed they are preaching to the choir...

The proving will have to be done in the press when the articles lauding the Senator do come out, and they will. I hope that the people who do decide to confront those idolizing articles stick to facts, that they abandon their unseemly glee at his passing and even the unconnected death of Mary Jo Kopechne and boil it down to issues... not visceral dislike of the man himself.

Edited by Zip
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His fellow power-lusters aren't wasting any time in seizing the opportunity:

Kennedy’s Death Spurs Calls to Pass Health Legislation

The death of Sen. Edward Kennedy quickly became a rallying cry for Congress to pass health care overhaul legislation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office sent an email to reporters at around 2:30 a.m. today, just hours after his death, calling for the passage of health care overhaul.

[...]

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Just as I don't feel bad when people who torture and brainwash young people like Jerry Falwell die, I have no respect or homage to offer this binge drinking, career politician who got away with man slaughter because of his last name.

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The proving will have to be done in the press when the articles lauding the Senator do come out, and they will. I hope that the people who do decide to confront those idolizing articles stick to facts, that they abandon their unseemly glee at his passing and even the unconnected death of Mary Jo Kopechne and boil it down to issues... not visceral dislike of the man himself.

Ding dong, the Witch is dead! There is joy in Munchkinland!

Someone's always a wet blanket.

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I call this sort of rationalization picking fly shit out of pepper.

Impressive, ain't it? ;)

The people of his constituency consistently voted to be represented by him. Until Mass is no longer part of the United Sates, the citizens that voted for Mr. Kennedy are US countrymen

Yes, but the word "coutntrymen" is vague. It can also mean all the toher citizens of a man's country, for example.

Excuse me? What law was it exactly that allowed people to vote for him? What exactly do you have against political liberty and universal suffrage ?

Nothing. But currently US Senators and Representatives often get elected on the strenght of how much Federal money they can cram into their constituencies. Such laws are part a sad state of affairs, and are the means by which the Kennedys and Kerrys stay in power.

There is a huge difference between correcting someone who is attempting to idolize Kennedy and making comments like

It is related. A euology is used to sanctify the recently deceased. That's as good a time to start with corrections. One is to say there is nothing nice to say.

The proving will have to be done in the press when the articles lauding the Senator do come out, and they will.

That's a part of it. More will happen in the blogs, in forums like this one, in conversation with friends and acquaintances, etc etc.

I hope that the people who do decide to confront those idolizing articles stick to facts, that they abandon their unseemly glee at his passing and even the unconnected death of Mary Jo Kopechne and boil it down to issues... not visceral dislike of the man himself.

But the issues lead inevitably to a dislike of the man.

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He worked within the laws of your nation and within the democratic process.

Only when the laws allowed him, his family, and his party to stay in power.

As Rush Limbaugh notes:

Now, let's revisit something else about this that's interesting. Remember it was either early this week or late last week that we heard that Senator Kennedy had sent an impassioned letter to the speaker of the Massachusetts legislature asking him to change the law to allow the governor to appoint a replacement immediately. What was fascinating about this was that Senator Kennedy was asking for his own law to be changed.

It was back in 2004, when everybody assumed that Senator Kerry would be elected president, and Mitt Romney was the Republican governor so Senator Kennedy changed the law. Not wanting the governor to appoint a replacement for Senator Kerry, Senator Kennedy asked the Massachusetts legislature to pass a law saying a special election would take place in five months. That is the current law. Special election in five months. So it was last week Senator Kennedy goes back and says, "Hey," in essence, "scrap that law that I asked you to pass in 2004. Go back to the way it was 'cause now we got a Democrat governor, and after I pass away, a Democrat governor can appoint a Democrat to replace me." We'll keep our 60 seats in the Senate. Now they don't have 60, and what do you bet that law is going to be changed in honor of Ted Kennedy?

I was always amused how the Left likes to praise democracy and eschew aristocracy, but the Kennedys, on the otherhand, are royalty and are entitled to be in office because of their last name.

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