Posted on 08/30/2009 3:17:39 AM PDT by Scanian
If the Kennedy Era in American politics is over, instead of just taking a breather (Joseph P. Kennedy II has been mentioned as a possible candidate for his Uncle Ted's Senate seat), what did it mean?
Character failings are not irrelevant to how well one serves the public; it was because of Chappaquiddick that Ted Kennedy was defeated by Robert Byrd as Democratic party whip in the Senate in 1971. But defenders are so quick to dismiss these issues, so let's stick to policy instead, and see if the liberal argument that Kennedy's political work made up for his personal faults is true.
Consider a moment that showed us the essence of Ted Kennedy: Sept. 9, 1974. On that day, he came down from Olympus to visit Boston. A federal judge had thrown the city into chaos by imposing a draconian busing plan to integrate the city's schools. Kids were uprooted from their neighborhoods and sent to ones where they weren't welcome.
"Busing struck most ordinary people as both unfair and hypocritical," wrote The Economist's John Micklethwait and Adrian Woolridge in their book "The Right Nation." "Unfair because children were forced against their will to achieve 'racial balance,' hypocritical because the 'liberal elites' [including Kennedy] that supported the policy usually sent their own children to private or suburban schools." The liberal historian Alan Brinkley wrote that "black participants in this drama were angry too . . . their children were no more eager to attend school in South Boston or Charlestown than the South Boston kids were eager to attend school in Roxbury. Why did they have to suffer because of a policy formulated in the chambers of federal judges?"
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The story of the Kennedy brothers is indeed tragic. Perhaps instead of being born with Silver spoons in their mouths. They should have had Silver helmets.
I think they were born with silver spoons in their noses.
- Pandering to the people by slopping government handouts into the trough. This fosters increased dependency, increases governments power, and allows libs to drumbeat a simple message to the politically illiterate.
- Never let facts or logic get in the way of feel-good or sound good legislation.
- The libs' attitude: I've got mine, now let me give them yours.
- Never pass up the chance to exploit an opportune tragedy or crisis.
- Blame is easy, just be the first one to point and scream. Most of the voters are politically illiterate and cannot describe how government works anyway.
Ted seems to have gotten all his policy agendas from 'Atlas Shrugged'
Everything he did either hurt the economy, or hurt liberty.
This is a great column by Kyle Smith, thanks for the post.
“All animals are equal. Some animals are more equal than others” George Orwell
Classic description of our “anointed” leaders in Washington.
This is why it will come to blows and very soon in America: because self adoring people like Garrity and Kennedy and Obama no matter how spectacularly they fail ARE NEVER WRONG and are innately above moral reproach.
The funny thing about the Boston busing policy is that the people clearly were not that outraged by it. They continued voting for the same politicians who support that sort of thing to this very day.
I think that’s a very similar phenomenon to Jewish support for liberal politicians even when the libs seem to work against the best interests of the constituency.
In both cases, the groups in question continue to vote Democrat because they view the Republican alternative as representing the “upper class” WASPs who long ago were exclusionary toward Jews and Catholics.
Old grudges die hard.
This line made me laugh.....the Democrats chose a KKK member for a murderer!
“anointed” leaders in Washington”
We are being treated like lab rats in the Lefts grand experiment.
No more political dynasties.
Why did they have to suffer because of a policy formulated in the chambers of federal judges?”.Some place in that line the liberal word needs to be added.
BTTT.
Fact is...the Kennedy’s are not all that interesting to those of us who live West of the Hudson River.
Bump for later.
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