Free Republic

Christopher G. Kennedy, chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, led the effort to deny Bill Ayers the title of professor emeritus because Ayers had written a book dedicated in part to the killer of his father, Robert F. Kennedy. But this “book,” titled, Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism, had been written back in 1974. Let’s hope that Christopher Kennedy’s expression of disgust can not only lead to a review of what Ayers said but what he did—in the form of eyewitness testimony that Ayers had knowledge of a bombing plot that took the life of...

Former President Jimmy Carter lashed out at the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who he blamed for lack of comprehensive healthcare in the U.S. Carter lashed out at Kennedy, who passed away in August of 2009, for the 1979 clash between the two over the national healthcare plan Carter had proposed. "The fact is that we would have had comprehensive health care now, had it not been for Ted Kennedy’s deliberately blocking the legislation that I proposed,” Carter said in an interview to air Sunday on "60 Minutes" on CBS. “It was his fault. Ted Kennedy killed the bill."

CAROLINE KENNEDY is so ticked off at the OBAMAs she coldly snubbed them during the family's recent vacation to Martha's Vineyard, sources tell The ENQUIRER. After working hard to elect President Obama, Caroline was widely expected to host the first family at her sprawling Red Gate Farm on the island, as the Kennedys did the Clintons when they were in the White House. Instead, when the Obamas recently relaxed on Martha's Vineyard, they ended up renting the same place as last year, Blue Heron Farm in the town of Chilmark. Caroline's blatant cold-shoulder treatment is evidence of the bad blood...

It’s a wild political climate out there. In keeping with the blistering heat afflicting previously ultra-safe incumbents, a happily retired Queens businessman by the name of Bob Turner thinks he can unseat his Democratic congressman, six-term representative Anthony Weiner. It’s a long shot, but crazier things have happened. Just ask Sen. Scott Brown. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -...

The declassified reports also delve into rumors of a mob plot to put him in "compromising situations" with a variety of women - and detail scores of death threats against the late Massachusetts senator, who died last summer.- A July 12, 1965, FBI memo said a woman named Jacqueline Hammond "has considerable information concerning sex parties" at Manhattan's Carlyle Hotel.Hammond claimed the sexcapades involved Monroe, Sinatra, the three Kennedy brothers, Kennedy brother-in-law and actor Peter Lawford and his wife - and Sammy Davis Jr. It's unclear how Hammond, described as "very wealthy to the extent of several million dollars,"...

A top Massachusetts Democrat says one of Robert F. Kennedy’s grandsons is considering running for the U.S. House of Representatives. Joseph P. Kennedy III is one of the twin sons of former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II. The source, who demanded anonymity to speak about private conversations with the father and son, says the younger Kennedy is considering running if Rep. William Delahunt decides against seeking re-election. Delahunt has been criticized lately for his handling of a 1986 shooting in Braintree by a woman now accused of killing three colleagues at an Alabama university. Delahunt’s district includes Cape Cod, where...

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy decided to abandon public office to focus on his personal life and family after watching his father die surrounded by loved ones, the 16-year congressman said in a wide-ranging magazine interview. Kennedy, who announced his decision not to seek re-election in a two-minute video clip, told Rhode Island Monthly he decided to let go of his House seat at Christmas after spending the fall reflecting on the death of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. “It’s pretty simple in this respect: I went through something that caused me a great deal of soul searching and self-reflection,” Kennedy...

Only 13 days separated the passing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics, from the death of her brother Ted last week. But amid the wall-to-wall coverage and the stream of retrospectives for the senior senator from Massachusetts, it was easy to forget that he wasn’t the only famous Kennedy sibling to enter eternity this month. ... Liberalism’s most important legislator probably merited a more extended send-off than his sister. But there’s a sense in which his life’s work and Eunice’s deserve to be remembered together — for what their legacies had in common, and for what...

It may be months before Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat is filled, but it took only minutes Wednesday for the chatter to start over possible successors - among them his mourning widow, Victoria. The stakes are high. Kennedy's death now deprives Democrats of the 60-vote "supermajority" that the party could theoretically use to push through health care reform and other top item

A FAMILY battle is looming to succeed Edward Kennedy as senator and claim the leadership of America’s foremost political dynasty. While Kennedy, 77, the “liberal lion” of the Senate, is suffering from a brain tumour, jockeying has already begun between supporters of two possible candidates to replace him after his death. His wife Victoria, 55, a lawyer from a political family, is widely expected to run for his seat, which has a special place in family lore because it was held by JohnF Kennedy before he became president in 1961. However, former congressman Joe Kennedy, the eldest son of Robert...

Caroline Kennedy's swipe at a Senate seat in New York ended in debacle last week, and Governor David Paterson bore the brunt of the blame. With some reason: His dithering, ineptitude, and needless dissembling reminded New Yorkers of the squalid circumstances that had brought him to the governorship in the first place. But blame does not rest exclusively, or even primarily, with Paterson: The origins of this embarrassing spectacle may be traced to the influence of the late Joseph P. Kennedy--and to a lesser extent his wife, Rose. For whatever else that successful Boston speculator/whiskey impresario/philanderer/movie magnate and his wife...

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. didn't get the vacant Illinois Senate seat. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't get the Democratic presidential nomination, taking the job of secretary of state as a consolation prize. And Caroline Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo lost out to an obscure two-term upstate congresswoman for the New York Senate seat once held by Mrs. Clinton. Whatever happened to American democracy's traditional deference to political dynasties? Call it Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton fatigue syndrome, or perhaps the new Obama meritocracy, but some of the most famous names in U.S. politics have come up empty-handed in recent days. "I don't know how much...

Joe Kennedy announced yesterday he’s laying off 20 employees and temporarily halting most of his winter fuel-assistance programs due to Citgo yanking $100 million in support for the nonprofit Citizens Energy. Citgo, owned by the Venezuelan government led by leftist loudmouth president Hugo Chavez, recently informed Kennedy that it was “temporarily” suspending its oil donations for the low-income program.

Caroline Kennedy, you know, might need, you know, a speech coach, um, if she, you know, wants, um, to be a senator. Um, you know? Kennedy, who gave a flurry of media interviews on Friday and Saturday, revealed some cringing verbal tics that showed her inexperience as a speaker, experts told the Daily News. In a 30-minute session with The News on Saturday, Kennedy punctuated her answers with "you know" more than 200 times. "Um" was fairly constant, too.

With all the attention being focused on the Rod Blagojevich scandal involving the attempted selling of the U.S. senate seat vacancy by the Illinois governor, another senate vacancy seems to have been almost forgotten. That is the New York senate seat to be left vacant by Hillary Clinton who will soon become the Secretary of State. So who should New York governor David Paterson appoint to that senate seat? Washington Post writer Ruth Marcus provides excellent reasons why it shouldn't be Caroline Kennedy but then, absurdly, decides she needs to become a senator so as to fulfill the "girly" dream...

Sentimental New York Democrats were rooting for Governor Paterson to appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate seat his father once held. But Kennedy’s not interested. “It was a heart-wrenching decision, and it occupied me throughout Thanksgiving with my family, with Teddy,” he says. “It’s not a good time for me to move to Washington, because I have a large and young family. They’re all in school.” That’s expensive—though not as pricey as holding on to the seat. “Against formidable opponents, most likely Peter King and possibly Rudy Giuliani, to defend the seat, I’m...

An illicit copy of the steamy, still-FBI-classified reel - 15 minutes of 16mm film footage in which the original blond bombshell performs oral sex on an unidentified man - was just sold to a New York businessman for $1.5 million, said Keya Morgan, the well-known memorabilia collector who discovered the film and brokered its purchase. The footage appears to have been shot in the 1950s. When it came to light in the mid-'60s, then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had his agents spend two weeks futilely trying to prove that Monroe's sex partner was either John F. Kennedy or Robert F....

Make no mistake about it: If Hillary Clinton is elected president, her husband will be her rogue co-president, causing constant chaos, crises and conflicts for her new administration. And sometimes, that will be exactly what Hillary wants. Chaos is Bill Clinton’s signature style and he’s not about to suddenly change. No way. Nor does Hillary necessarily want him to be a new Bill. In many ways, his divisive role in her campaign has been carefully crafted by Hillary and her team. It might come in useful in the White House, too. Throughout Hillary’s campaign, Bill has given us an unfortunate...

Ted and niece Caroline Kennedy turned back on long history with Clintons, including a sailing jaunt that included Bill, Hil and Ted and son Patrick in 1997. Et tu, Teddy? America's liberal icon Ted Kennedy tossed old chums Bill and Hillary Clinton overboard Monday, after plunging a knife into the former First Couple as he abandoned them in favor of alluring newcomer Barack Obama. "I am proud to stand here today and offer my help, my voice, my energy and my commitment to make Barack Obama the next President of the United States," Kennedy told a crowd of 5,500 at...

OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama...