Posted on 08/16/2009 10:23:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
As soon as his cancer was detected, I noticed the immediate attempt at the "canonization" of old Teddy Kennedy by the mainstream media. They are saying what a "great American" he is. I say, let's get a couple things clear & not twist the facts to change the real history. In other words, let us not let our sympathy for his illness get in the way of truth.
1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him.
2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two. Oops! The man can't count to four! His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition), pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea , where a war was raging. No preferential treatment for him! (like he charged that President Bush received).
3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris , never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person of his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private!
4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia , he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959. Amazing!
5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash, and hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed.. Didn't hear about that from the unbiased media, did we?
6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine, and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.
7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party, passing several houses and a fire station. Two friends then returned with him to the scene of the accident.. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew - that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying, Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car.
The Kennedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of-state to her family, before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne and he didn't call police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight. Since the accident, Kennedy's "political enemies" have referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS. Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's insurance policy, and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills... a "token of friendship"?
8. Kennedy has held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, and funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors and is widely held as the "standard-bearer for liberalism". In his very first Senate roll, he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries.
9. Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and author of every expansion of an increase in immigration, up to and including the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court nominees, as if he was the standard bearer for the nation in matters of "what's right". What a pompous ass!
10. He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than "great American".
Sure, Ted Kennedy deserves our sympathy for his illness. We wish him well and desire his speedy recovery. But why are we giving him a Medal of Freedom ?
This man DOES NOT DESERVE IT AT ALL ! Giving this unworthy person the highest civilian medal of honor is a travesty and cheapens the award.
Oh, come on now. He only killed one girl and tried to sell his country out to the Soviets. Surely you can’t hold that against him.
Sadly, almost no Americans under the age of 40 know any of this.
I didn’t know about his stellar military career.
Me either. No wonder the Democrats are in the toilet if this is their “saint”. Seems as though he just might be the biggest turd in the bowl.
You are judging Teddy Kennedy by the wrong standards. According to Democrat party standards he deserves the medal.
But but but, he’s a kennedy, he automatically qualifies for the medal of honor, forget about the plane crash in ‘64, the plane that fat teddy was flying, the same plane that crashed and killed two people, forget about his immigration policy from ‘68, forget about MaryJo in ‘69 , forget about Au Bar in Palm Springs in ‘91, teddy is an great american,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,/SARC OFF
I live in Teddy’s district (yeah, lucky me), and I work around lots of teenagers. I have heard the following comments from them about Ted: that he’s just some “creepy old guy”, and a “rich drunk”, and they DO know about poor Mary Jo.
And those comments are the ones I can actually post here!
Even more sadly, the voters of Massachusetts know all this and continue to vote for him.
Ted did not vote in the Senate the last vote or two, I’ve noticed.
Maybe he is too busy talking and meeting with his constituents ?
Teddy will soon meet his maker. That’s why he’s not there.
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No, no, no. It’s all about pretending he was not responsible for a girls death, did not make an effort to save her and did not report the accident for over 8 hours. And we’ll pretend that he did not buy off the poor girl’s parents. And we’ll pretend he was not a philanderer. And we’ll pretent he is was a staggering alcoholic.
That’s the ticket, now Teddy is a perfectly upright, all-American boy.
Kennedy is despicable, but he wasn't flying the plane. The pilot and a Kennedy assistant died in the crash.
Still, Kennedy has done more harm to this country than nearly anyone and does NOT deserve such an award.
The pilot of the doomed twin- engine Aero Commander 680 was Ed Zimney. He had warned his 4 passengers that there were dangerous thunderstorms along their flight path and it was to be a rough flight. When the plane began to pitch and roll Zimney wanted to safely land the plane, wait out the storms and continue their journey when it was safe. Kennedy unfastened his seat belt, got up snapped at Zimney "damn it Ed we're late already." Moments later the plane plowed into an orchard instantly killing the pilot and legislative aid Ed Moss. Kennedy and Birch Bayh and Marvella Bayh survived.
Didn’t Teddy take his nephew to the Palm Beach bar, where he (nephew) was eventually accused of raping a girl? The man was in his 50’s or 60’s, and wanted to go out partying with his nephew.
It was after this event that the rehabilitation of Teddy’s public image began, he became the ‘lion’ of the senate, whatever. The media fawning over him, after his death, will surpass Cronkite.
News reports the other day were that Ted Kennedy did not attend sister Eunice Shriver’s funeral due to his being too ill from his own brain cancer. It won’t be long now........
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