Posted on 10/23/2004 6:04:31 AM PDT by veronica
DETROIT - Talk about pulling out the big guns. This week Senator Ted Kennedy's Arab American wife materialized, supporting her and her husband's friend John Kerry for President. Ted Kennedy has an Arab American wife? Who knew?
Not the three dozen or so Arab American women who met with Vicki Kennedy on short notice in Scott Hall at Wayne State University this week. Senator Kennedy and U.S. Reps. John Dingell and John Conyers were holding a forum on health care in another room.
It was a pleasant surprise to meet the petite,energetic, genuine woman whose grandparents on both sides of her family immigrated from Lebanon. Introduced by the equally dynamic wife of Rep. Dingell, Debbie Dingell - a political force in her own right - Kennedy chatted with the women for 45 minutes, then was whisked off to do a television interview with TV Orient and a print interview with The Arab American News.
Kennedy said she has not been particularly active with the Arab American community. "It's just who I am," she said. "It's the food I cook, it's the culture I come from, it's my life." Although not well known in the general Arab American community, she says "anyone who knows me knows I am of Lebanese heritage and knows my family."
Kennedy said her father's family came from Zghorta, in northern Lebanon, and her mother's family from Deir al Khanar in the south . The name "Reggie" was an involuntary Americanization of the original Arabic surname of her father's parents. She said her parents, who were born in the States, have a place in Massachusetts they named Eddine, after the vacation spot in the mountains of Lebanon. They live and she was raised in Louisiana, but in the summer they go to Eddine to be cool. She hasn't had the opportunity to go to Lebanon, which she deeply regrets.
Kennedy's father was a judge and an important political figure in Louisiana politics. He was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame earlier this year. He was friends with the Kennedy family and other powerful Democrats.
Kennedy said she is deeply committed to getting John Kerry elected, that it is the most important thing in all of our lives and in the future of the country. To that end, she may be meeting with other groups of Arab Americans over the next week and a half.
Active as the founder of Common Sense About Kids and Guns, an educational group whose mission is to protect children from the careless management of guns and ammunition by those who choose to own them, Kennedy believes Arab American women - and women in general - have something very special to offer in the reshaping of America. "They are strong, strong women," she said. "We know what it is to be the peacemakers in the family, we understand what it is to solve problems." She said women do not believe violence and adversity are the steps that we take to solve these problems, that we have to have conversation.
"And we have to be open," she added. "We have to have a free and open dialogue on issues, even if we think it's not what's going to be popular." She feels very hopeful on what looks like an emerging open debate on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. "I think it's incredibly important that a solution is found in our lifetime," she said. "But we must learn the right way to talk about it, and we must all respect each other's views."
She said she knows deep in her heart what kind of man John Kerry is. "I would call him pro-peace, not pro-Israel," she insisted.
"Everything about John Kerry is about bringing people together," she said. "It's not my way or the highway....I think you can be an honest broker (in the search for peace) by finding common ground among groups of people on both sides." I think you can be a friend to one side - hopefully to both sides - and still be an honest broker."
I bet she stays off bridges though.
She must be the one that can swim.
I guess she is snubbing Arab American Ralph Nader....
Why hasn't Kerry's "not pro-Israel" stance been emphasized? You would think that the neo-cons, who control so much of the media, would highlight that until the cows come home.
I hate this hyphenated American crap.
She should be calling herself a darn American with Lebanese grandparents. To hear her talk you'd think she just came off the boat. I'll bet you a dollar to a donut she doesn't speak Arabic either.
Could teddy boy be an Islamic sympathizer?
You can also bet the ranch that she is a Christian Arab.
Depends whether she's a muslim or not I suppose
"She said she knows deep in her heart what kind of man John Kerry is. "I would call him pro-peace, not pro-Israel," she insisted. "
Peace kills.
I wonder if Kennedy will get his girl friends to stump for Kerry too.
"I guess she is snubbing Arab American Ralph Nader...."
Well, I never knew this woman was an Arab American until this very moment. I never knew about Nader until this year either, I believe he is of Lebanese descent also.
My next question, are they both Christians? I'm assuming Mrs. Kennedy is, how about Nader?
It's a curious thing, there seems to be great solidarity between Christian Arabs and Muslim arabs, which lasts right up until the Muslim Arabs start killing the Christian Arabs, and yet, and yet, I never hear Christian Arabs asked about this. I've heard some Christian Arabs bemoaning it, esp. the Copts from Egypt, but I never hear people like Mrs. Kennedy (assuming I'm right and she is a Christian) asked about it.
The more Arab Americans come out for Kerry, endorsements etc., the sooner the Jewish Voters wake up and go Republican... and the sooner we stop the unbridled immigration, legal and illegal that Kennedy unleashed!
The writer calls her the "big gun"? Hahahahahaha.
Well, how nice of her to make this clarification.
Teddy is the idiot brother, the drunk.
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