Posted on 08/29/2009 2:01:07 PM PDT by kristinn
Two kinds of people reacted to news of Ted Kennedy’s death last week. The first — not all liberals, either — spoke of Kennedy’s hard work in the United States Senate, his dream of universal healthcare, his commitment to working people, civil rights and equality.
This “most imperfect man,” wrote analyst William Bradley, was also a powerful advocate for progressive principles. Barack Obama predictably (though accurately) observed that “for America, he was a defender of a dream.” In another variation on the visionary theme, Joe Biden said of his old friend, “He was never small.”
The other kind of reaction to Kennedy’s death could be summed up in one word: “Chappaquiddick.”
Not “vision” or “health-care reform,” not “peacemaking” or even “Camelot.” Just the controversial 40-year-old event, the ugliest single moment from the late senator’s 77 years on Earth, nearly 47 of them in public service. The small souls who spend their days hanging out in discussion forums at Free Republic, one of the U.S ultra-right’s more popular online homes, greeted news of Kennedy’s death characteristically, flinging around words like “traitor,” “coward,” “disgrace”— and, yes, references to the 1969 event. Chappaquiddick minds in a narrow, ungenerous world.
But the Chappaquiddick faction is not limited to either the United States or the senior senator from Massachusetts. It’s a state of mind, a summation of everything that is small and cribbed and contemptible — not unlike the sour (and embarrassing) one-line statement of perfunctory condolence on Wednesday from our own prime minister.
Chappaquiddick-type people possess a meanness of spirit that goes beyond simple politics. They’re responsible for a creeping diminution of vision and values. In Canada, which used to appreciate largeness of soul, they even have a government platform, thanks to Stephen Harper and company.
Consider the dramatic case of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr, picked up by the U.S. military in Afghanistan at 15, or child-soldier age. When Harper’s government announced last week it would appeal — again — a ruling that it demand the Canadian-born Khadr’s repatriation, lawyer Dennis Edney said he wasn’t surprised. “We are used to this mean-spirited approach.”
But this government’s disgraceful stand on Khadr — the only Western detainee still in Guantanamo — is just part of it. The limited worldview, the impulse toward whatever is most ungenerous, is how it operates.
SNIP
Is the author a relative or a wannabe relative?
WOW...that stings and will leave a mark. I must go lie down and have a spot of tea.
Hard Work in the Senate??? Destroying this Country is all that fat Drunken woman killing scumbag ever did!
Blah, blah, blah. Let’s focus on the good John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy did while we’re at it. It’s no fair to focus on the murders. “How can they not see the wonders of universal health care and immigration reform he tried to bring the US?” How about because we *bitterly oppose both*?
Chappaquiddick types?
Is that anything like a “single issue” voter?
There are so many reasons to despise Ted Kennedy.
Chappaquiddick is just the icing on the cake.
Pointing out the truth of just one matter is ugly to these people.
Yes, a vile man being called on his vilness doesn’t go over well with liberals.
The author is absolutely right. Chappaquiddick is just so much water under the bridge. Well, water and an Oldsmobile. And a 29-year-old woman. All under the bridge.
For instance: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2326792/posts
Besides.....”Kennedy’s hard work in the United States Senate, his dream of universal healthcare, his commitment to working people, civil rights and equality” was all nothing more than vile demagoguery intended to secure the ruling status of the limousine liberals by increasing the public’s dependence on a bloating government.
If you’re a liberal, the only reason Chappaquiddick isn’t the first thing to be associated with Ted is because they are too busy figuring out why it’s actually Bush’s fault...........
Said by a representative of those shown time and time again to be "generous" ONLY with other peoples' money and from the superior vantage point, such as Kennedy's high horse.
The only time liberals give a whit about decorum is when they're accusing those who want them to be accountable for their actions of not having it.
Chappaquiddick should have put Teddy in jail for a decade. Dern tootin’ we are harping on it.
Liberalism is a mental disorder. The amazing thing is their level of surety in their delusions.
I guess the libs have no problem with leaving a person in a car underwater to die.
Our big problem with the swimmer is not only did he do this, but because of his “royal” name, he got away with it. The law never applied to him, but it sure as hell would apply to an average citizen. This above the law crap is what really makes people mad.
This “most imperfect man,” wrote analyst William Bradley, was also a powerful advocate for progressive principles.
This bit of tripe is evocative of absolutely nothing - I’m not even sure of what she’s trying to say, other than call people who disagree with her names.
This “most imperfect man,” wrote analyst William Bradley, was also a powerful advocate for progressive principles.Those 'priciples' again are ????
Near as I can figure, it involves using other people's money to impose one's own view of how life is to be lived, along with the thoughts one is to 'think' (as in 'PC' thought) while living that proscribed 'life' ...
What’s a little murder when you’ve got a good heart?
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