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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Ted Kennedy Dies

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  August 26th, 2009 at 08:43 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Senator Edward Kennedy is dead.

I had an encounter with Senator Kennedy once. When I was in law school I wrote a paper on campaign finance laws as they relate to the media. I had to interview “two people of note.” I chose Tony Snow and Senator Kennedy — Kennedy just to see if I could get to someone like that and impress my law school professor.

I could. He was surprisingly accessible.

He was very nice, generous with his time, and disagreed with me on everything. We completely and totally disagreed. He got a laugh out of it, as did I.

I can’t say that I’ll miss him. He, to me, represented all that is wrong with Washington — a kingdom of nepotism and worship at the alter of failed liberal policies that get repeated ad infinitum. He opposed school choice for the poor while segregating his kids from the poor in school. He supported policies opposed to life except when life could be advanced through the destruction of the unborn. He opposed a strong national security against even the evidence of its necessity during his brother’s Presidential administration.

Ted Kennedy supported the expansion of the welfare state and a culture of dependency on government, made all the more tragic given how ensnared his life was to dependency. He should have known better given his own life and that of his family.

And then there’s Mary Jo Kopechne. May she rest in peace.

Senator Edward Moore Kennedy of Massachusetts is dead at 77. John Kerry is now the senior senator. God help that state.

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COMMENTS

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  • Swamp_Yankee

    Its on everyone’e mind.

    1) Mass legislature doesnt convene until after Labor Day. Support for changing the present law is tepid. Everything happens very slowly in the Massachusetts legislature. Even if they went forth nothing would happen for a while.

    2) Meanwhile, dozens of Democrats are chomping at the bit to get that seat. Even though a placement will pledge to not run, an interim appointments ability to affect the special election may also dampen any will to change the law.

    3) Sen Pres Murray and Gov. Patrick hate each other. Patrick and the Dems are about saving face. Changing the law looks dirty old politics.

    I doubt the law will be changed. Which means, the seat will be empty for five months, no more than six months according to law.

    This is huge. It negates Franken. They have 59 until the next session. C&T is almost impossible. This puts some hurt on a Senate bill.

    Its looking like reconciliation.

  • proudgop

    I suspect either Ted’s wife or Joe will get in and may be easily elected but that said you could see a lot folks runs-even Barney Frank may run for it

    The Republicans have no one: even though MA has voted GOP for Governor its shown it really won’t do it for federal

  • Swamp_Yankee

    She’s the most popular and skilled ofthe lot. Vicki won’t run in a election. If there was an appointment, maybe.

    Joe has some sentimental momentum, but I think he’sa bit of a has been and people will go fresh.

    Will card for conservatives is Democrat Steven Lynch, solid Democrat, but odd on some social issues. Old Irish Catholic. Very much like Casey. Pro-life and traditional marriage. Decent on defense. He’ll generally stink, but would be good for conservatives on judicial appointments.

  • Swamp_Yankee

  • erp

    If there’s any justice, he’ll finally get what’s coming to him.

  • leftylurker

    You time would be better spent praying for his salvation.

  • Streiff

    really, I was thinking my time would be better used enjoying a gin and tonic.

  • jackhammer

    I think Erick is right, and I would be hard pressed to think of someone who I think has worked harder to push for things I consider vile, but how God sees things, isn’t up to us…..

  • conservativemusician

    But I do hope he made the right decision on his eternal destiny before he left this world. I’m with Erick in that I will not miss him at all as he was by far one of the most destructive politicians this country has ever seen.

  • janis

    For somber occasions such as this, you could go with a Mimosa if you’ve got some champagne hanging around.

  • http://www.gopmom.com GOPMOM

    I posted this news this am on my blog with only the following –

    “Now can we have an election?”

    This is great news for MA and for the US. The line up of Republicans wanting to run for this seat is very long, as it is for the Dems. I think the first Senate election in MA in 25 years – talk about a Waterloo.

    The emails are fast and furious all morning here about who will run, who will you support, how soon will it start – there is blood in the water.

    So while the media the pols and the pundits will fall all over themselves with shallow and tear filled tributes to this supposed “servant of the people”, the real news is will they dare try to change the law still and/or who will win this election. It’s a great day to be in Massachusetts – and that says a lot, I’ve been here five years.

  • Brian Faughnan

    I agree that it would be good to spend time praying for his salvation, but who has that kind of time? They expect me at work again sometime this year, you know.

  • bk

    Now that he’s died, the law requires Patrick to set a date in January. It’s hard to see how they can now change the law and make it retroactive, though Dems have a tendency to use laws only when it suits them.

  • janis
  • leftylurker

    It just makes me feel creepy when people seem to like the idea of someone going to hell…

    I’d like to see Osama bin Laden on a pike in front of the White House, but I’d like him to confess and ask for forgiveness for his sins first.

  • cookcountyconservative

    “Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment.

  • Kowalski

    The NYTimes came out against the law change in an editorial yesterday. They’re against it less because of its naked partisanship and antidemocratic nature than because they want fewer governors to be able to appoint replacement senators in the future.

    Evidently the NYT is predicting a larger number of Republican governors across the country in the next several years…

    http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2009/08/25/ted-kennedys-succession-plan-the-nyt-comes-out-against-it/

    It’s a politically safe thing for the Times to oppose because most of the people in MA don’t like it, either…so the law is unlikely to pass. That’s despite the fact that the urge to give Ted Kennedy a parting gift is strong among a lot of MA legislators. I guess they’ll have to build an even bigger memorial instead.

  • usrbinperl

    but better late than never…

    Allow me to add my voice to the chorus wishing Ted a speedy trip to hell.

  • EagleWatcher

    I am abiding by the “if you can’t say anything good then don’t say anything” rule on Ted Kennedy. We should all do likewise.

    Our silence will speak volumes.

  • bradchisholm

    “Hello!!! I’m dead in here!”- Mary Jo Kopechne

    Seriously, that America can survive 50 years of Ted Kennedy is quite comforting to me and gives me hope that we can somehow survive Obama.
    Now we will have to witness a State Funeral that will match Princess Diana’s. At least now the nation’s whiskey supply is preserved.

  • lthurwitz

    Eagle, I agree. One can have strong opinions and still be respectful. I think it actually lends more credence to those opinions when they are.

  • bradchisholm

    as the Roman’s said “Silence implies consent” – - I refuse to passively accept the post-hummus deification of Dead Ted. Just watch — they will turn him into a combo platter of Mother Theresa and Princess Diana, tearing up with stories of how he shared his booze with the poor. I’m sorry, but it was we conservatives quietly going about our business that helped get us into this mess. No more!

  • bradchisholm

    We all saw “Weekend at Bernies” — that’s the next step.

  • Brian Johnson

    As for praying for his salvation now, it’s a bit late. Once this life is ended, there are no more chances.

    I don’t know what his heart was like before he died. I have my suspicions which are better left unsaid. Let’s leave it at “what’s in the well comes up in the bucket” and I saw nothing coming out of his bucket that showed any sense of repentence or humility or genuine concern for life, born or unborn. But, again, that’s between him and God.

    I have no desire to speak ill of the dead, but I’m not going to make up nice things to say either.

    R.I.P Senator Kennedy. My prayers and condolences to the family.

  • blooch

    You can’t hve your kebab, if you don’t eat your hummus!

  • fenriswolfkpc

    but it is not for us to distribute. I hope that Senator Kennedy repented and came to the Lord before his passing. My prayers are with his family.

    Disagree and even dislike the man if you so choose, but our hope should be for all to come to the table of the Lord.

    Respectfully,

    Fenriswolfkpc

  • Jack_Savage

    Either he will be forced to see Mary Jo again and meet some of the soldiers he undercut and slandered, or he will work alongside the terrorists he defended to the end.

    Either way, I’m OK.

  • izoneguy

    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rich-noyes/2009/07/18/40-years-chappaquiddick-ted-kennedy-would-have-brought-comfort-mary-jo-k

    July 18, 2009 was the 40th anniversary of the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, killed July 18, 1969 after leaving a party with Senator Edward Kennedy. That night, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge, and left the scene with Kopechne still in the submerged vehicle; he did not call the police until the following morning.

  • SoulEspresso

    based on how good they are anyway. We can all agree Ted Kennedy does not deserve to go to heaven–but then if we’re going to get theological, NONE of us does.

    Here’s how I’ll put it: at last maybe he’ll be made to apologize to Mary Jo.

  • Sundayjack

    I’m from Massachusetts. I was sitting on the train next to two young women whom I know from, well, riding on the train. Because I knew them, I could get away with this on a Massachusetts public transport vehicle. One of them brought up Teddy and mentioned how it was “so sad.” Then they engaged in discussion about how he was probably the greatest Senator in our nation’s history. I listened quietly and read my sports page. After a few minutes, I finally spoke up, and I offered this challenge – a challenge I would offer to ANYONE who talks about Ted Kennedy as the “Greatest Senator in the History of the Republic” ever again. Lay people and newsfolk alike –

    Without using the internets, name three landmark legislative accomplishments. 46 years. Must be SOMETHING that sticks in the front of the brainbox, no?

    I suppose if you’re rabidly liberal, you’d count the Great Borking as one of them. I suppose if you’re from Massachusetts you’d count funding the Big Dig as one. But name a bill.

    Leaving aside his very public personal mistakes, Ted’s greatest accomplishment was tenure. He sat in the same chair since 1962. Congratulations, Senator. You built tenure. Well done.

  • Read Chesterton

    …whether we like it or not. Whether we are forgiven or not for our own trespasses hangs on that command. I do not like this provision… but I personally have to accept it for my own salvation. I recall a dialogue at the end of John where some apostles were questioning the Lord about why the fate of some would be less torturous than others.. the Lord said “And what is that to you?” Kennedy’s final fate is none of our business now.

    On another note… our so-called conservative leaders could take a page out of Ted Kennedy’s book and learn something about sticking to their conservative principles. No bipartisan bridgebuilder he.

  • http://dezignworx-ae.com tsquare

    Then just remember back to when Reagan died.

    Remember what some people on the left had to say?

    So, no… my Brothers and Sisters on the right… say as you wish… each to his/her own conscious.

    That said Champaign is really not a drink to have at a death. Unless you were the one doing the killing then Champaign is fine. For Teddy, really, the only drink to have to toast his departure is a good single malt.

    As to where Teddy?s soul may end up (assuming that he in fact had one and had not in fact already sold it) this is all ?above my pay grade.?

    May God have mercy?

  • janis

    the other night when she was showing how to roast a chicken on a spit. It included a nice demo of just how to firmly spit that chicken and then tie it on as well. (Ouch.) She mentioned that it would take 3-4 hours to roast until done, if I heard her correctly.

    I know chickens. Ted Kennedy was no chicken. Satan better stock up on a few more bags of Matchlight Charcoal.

  • Sundayjack

    Today.

  • Brian Johnson

    Gets us to heaven. Totally agreed.

    Which is why I talked about his heart. Only God knows if Sen. Kennedy trusted Christ for his salvation, and if he did trust Christ, it would be reflected in his behavior in life (faith without works is dead….).

    I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader as to rather the fruit produced by this man was indicative of a tree rooted in Christ.

    But no, none of us deserve heaven on our own merits. It’s only by God’s grace and mercy through the death of Christ that any of us get to share in that reward.

  • illinoisconservative

    I will not miss Ted Kennedy. But his actions in life are now answerable to a higher power and only He can decide Kennedy’s eternal fate.

    Tony Snow wasn’t dead 5 minutes when they started trashing him over at Daily Kos.. calling him the master manipulator of a Goebels-like propaganda machine. I will not sink to that level on anyone’s death.

    So, I agree with you Eagle. Silence (or at most words of condolences) does speak volumes.

  • janis

    how much is that worth? If it were to signify anything, then I would assume that would read, “At last, perhaps he will have the grace to apologize…)

    And after that, maybe he can hang out with his buds from Communist Russia and they can have a laugh remembering the good old days when they were united in trying to subvert the gov. of the USA.

  • Swamp_Yankee

    No Republicans has a shot at that seat. The Banana Commonwealth will continue. Its somewhat positive that the seat will be empty during the health care debate. After that, its back to monkey business.

  • Swamp_Yankee

    No Republicans has a shot at that seat. The Banana Commonwealth will continue. Its somewhat positive that the seat will be empty during the health care debate. After that, its back to monkey business.

  • banzaibob

    I’ll have a cold one.

  • ltcochran

    Sorry, don’t feel a thing. POS!!! Bye! Future Mary Jo’s are safe.

    LT

  • izoneguy

    Byrd wants health bill renamed for Kennedy

    http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/08/26/byrd-wants-health-bill-renamed-for-kennedy/

    —————————————————————————————-

    I say KILL THE BILL and bury it with Ted

  • Swamp_Yankee

    Its a matter of will.

    This is a big and important fight to keep them under 60 for the session.

  • Swamp_Yankee

    Its a matter of will.

    This is a big and important fight to keep them under 60 for the session.

  • Read Chesterton

    n/t

  • blooch

    for grease fires.

  • sickofitall

    59 to go, and that’s just in the senate!

  • http://www.redstate.com/tnjim TNJim

    before he died, if I remember right, shortly after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. So naturally it’s going to gain momentum now.

    My condolences go out to the family, but as for myself feeling grief…

    Sorry, I just think of MJK…

  • IJB

    I’d certainly give the MA Dems the edge.

    But people are so teed off in MA right now, a come-out-of-nowhere GOP pickup of a MA Senate seat can’t be ruled out. Especially if the national mood darkens over the next 6 months…

  • blooch

    Different, larger chairs over time, until couch.

  • MGamo

    Scott Brown? Maybe Christie Mihos, if he isn’t busy trying to ruin the governor race? I’d run except I’m 25 so I’m ineligble.

  • EagleWatcher

    You will be glad you did.

  • Swamp_Yankee

    People are upset with the budget and taxes, which leads them to take a chance in a statewide race on a liberal Republicans.

    But a federal seat has implications for war, the Supreme Court, abortion, health care, cap and trade, … All the types of issues that are still favored up here. They will never take the risk. They still love Obama. The only way a Republican could win is if the ran as an Arlen Specter type.

  • gazill

    during this mournful time, I cannot help feeling that the United States just became stronger (even if for a short period of time). With his passing, Kerry, an ineffective drone, is now the Senior Senator of Mass. The power held by Kennedy with his years on his throne is reduced to the remaining Senators trying to attach his name to left biased bills, in essence, riding his coattails to (or through) the end. Hopefully, this will also put an end to the mystique of “Camelot” that seems to have such an inexplicable hold on the media and liberals.

  • janis

    ;-)

  • bk

    Think of the questions for the “conservative” Democrats, such as:
    “Are you trying to tell me that a health care bill named after Teddy does not include abortion funding and a public option?”

  • blooch

    without falling off.

  • Ausonius

    Will the MSM ask this question in the next days as they push their agenda and a “tragic” view of this “hero” ?

    Why did he get brain surgery?

    Why not just a pain pill? He was in his 70′s after all! Brain surgery is very expensive!

    Where was his pain pill for the headaches? And what good was his last few years anyway?

    Paging Dr. Obama!

  • IJB
  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Was he suggested to leave instructions to pull the plug instead of getting surgery?

  • Tbone

    The only character the man ever displayed was bad. It is good riddance that he is gone. However, his eternal life is based on the grace of God, not his works on earth. I hope that he accepted it.

  • blooch

    from Dr. Conrad Murray, who will now be getting a pardon in a few years.

  • The_Gadfly

    There is no surer sign that a commenter believes a vile human being has escaped appropriate temporal punishment for grievous crimes on this side of the great divide than that they will be glad his soul is damned to eternal torment. That sort of thing slowly eats away at the foundations of a functioning democracy, because when governments can’t even mete out rough approximations of justice, they lose legitimacy.

    Oh, and yeah, I think he’s pretty much deserves to go there and has a one way ticket. Mary Jo will probably be waiting to punch his ticket before returning to her home.

  • lthurwitz
  • The_Gadfly

    So true. And yet already, even on Fox News, they are offering him eulogies that praise him as such, having reached across the aisle to work with Reagan, both Bushes, and even most recently John McCain. It is for this reason that we must not be silent upon his death. Yes, his family is suffering and we should offer them such comforts and condolences as we are able. But never should that obscure the truth of what he was: a hyper-committed politician who never moved away from his core commitments. And those commitments were abortion on demand, amnesty for illegal immigrants, welfare for all, and moving America as far to the left as he possibly could.

  • The_Gadfly

    I believe of 1968, not 1964.

    But then again I had an unfair advantage. I just finished watching Fox News report on him and they listed all of those plus a couple more. And they probably used the internet to look them up. And all have cause at least as much damage as they fixed, with interest on the damage still accumulating.

  • blooch

    that building on the cover of “Animals” must be a government hospital, and the floating pig…nah, forget it.

  • cookcountyconservative

    How long do you think I’ll need to be in the cave – a week, 10 days? I have a lot of reading I can catch-up on.

  • Sundayjack

    But should he get credit for ADA, when (a) he didn’t draft the bill, and (b) Senator Harkin introduced it, and (c) it passed his committee unanimously and the Senate with only a small handful of nay votes? Should he get credit for No Child Left Behind, when he ran into the shadows as his Democratic colleagues railed against it as a GWB “mistake”? Should he get credit for either Civil Rights Act of 64 OR the Fair Housing Act of 1968? I think they were both House bills.

    The guardians of history may just sit on their hands while Teddy gets lionized and a national hero. It shouldn’t be so difficult to tell stories of a hero’s heroism.

  • Swamp_Yankee

    Class shows its face

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26469.html

  • proudgop

    How about Curt Schilling for Senate?

    MA GOP is very thing but with tight schedule we could put up good fight with a statewide known figure and one who can raise funds or self finance

  • lthurwitz

    and an AM radio. Oh – and TP.
    You might want to stay in longer to avoid the Kennedy Health Bill announcement.

  • Carol Tarasewicz

    I was born in Everett, MA in 1959 to a democrat father. He also influenced my mother. I have a brother 10 1/2 years older than me, plus a younger one. My brother told me a few years ago that my father was such a force to help elect men (mid-late 1960′s) that Gov. Volpe (R) called my house, my brother answered the phone and it was Volpe asking my father to be on his re-election campaign. I wasn’t even ten yet,and don’t know exactly when it was,but my father refused, only because he was a democrat.

    There are lots of older people here in MA that think that republican is rich, white, etc. I have a lot of cousins close to or older than 65 that do not believe me when I try to tell them that the dem party they think they are voting for is for baby killing( late term abortion) ignore me when I try to tell them HR 3200 willl kill them. I gave up.

    My father passed away on 11/2/1988, my mother then voted for Dukasis, and not because she thought he was good, she liked Reagan, she told me then she was voting for my father that year.

    Over the next 14 years or more, my mother loved George W Bush. Now she is in nursing home with Alzheimer”s and other complications, but in 2004 she was home and at her stage of that disease, we knew she was losing it, she could see through John Kerry and Edwards. She wanted to vote for GWB so we got her absentee ballot and helped her fill it out and sign. She hated Kerry & Edwards so much she wanted them off television and told me that stupid elderly people might think that GWB wants to take away SS & Medicare but she saw through those two and knew then that it was Kerry and Edwards that would do it.

    If my mother could see that five years ago, why did so many older people vote for Obama? I saw he was full of it on the first time he spoke at 2004 DNC, it felt like a set up. I still think it is.

  • Ausonius

    My relatives had the same Pavlovian reflexes for decades: “Don’t you ever vote for a Republican!” was their motto.

    This was because of the 1930′s and the drumbeat conditioning that Dems were for the “little guy” and the Republicans – illogically yet happily dreaming of suicide – only supported the 5% at the top of society.

    Eisenhower helped to crack that conditioning a little, Nixon maybe a little less. As the 60′s radicalism began to hit home, these older relatives – some born in the 1890′s – very
    s l o w l y felt abandoned by the Dems, and found themselves going to 1976 Reagan rallies, and if they were still alive, turned to Reagan in 1980.

    So people can change, but it can be difficult.

    Massachusetts with its Kennedy fixation remains a mystery, as do Christians who refuse to see the anti-life/anti-religion aspects of the Dem Party.

    Propaganda, the drumbeat conditioning from the MSM that Dems still help the “little guy” and Republicans help only “big business” and give “tax breaks for the wealthy” (Republicans are apparently still hoping for suicide!), does even today have an influence over people who do not look beyond the sound-bites on TV.

  • benrush

    Good ole Ted Kennedy. One word: Chappaquiddick. Only after his recent death was it made public the he admits acting reprehensibly ! A little late, don’t you think. Any man that would let a woman drown to save himself and his Presidential bid, is not human. He is a demon. It didn’t stop him from approaching the KGB in Moscow for money and assistance to undermine the Carter Administration and President Reagan’s reelection bid. He’s neither a loyal American nor demacrap ! Of course, cowardice and duplicity run in the Kennedy family. Father Joseph was expelled as Ambassador to Great Britain for siding publicly with Nazi Germany during WWII (while German bombs were falling all over that country). He made his millions bootlegging during prohibition and by shorting stock during the great crash of 1929. Banks closed and millions went broke and homeless. Did you know the stock market is a zero-sum game: his “gain” was everyone else’s loss? Finally, the dirty money was used to buy the Presidency for another son, John, in 1960. Excuse me for gagging when they trotted out the revisionist “tributes.” Andrea Mitchell said the rain was ” God crying” for Teddy. Crying, perhaps, but at the little impact He’d had on this womanizing, alcoholic reprobate’s life. No amount of charitable work and good intentions by the Kennedy women can offset the world-wide wreckage caused by the Kennedy men.