Mass. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy dies at age 77

[jingjai]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090826/ap_ ... ed_kennedy

BOSTON – Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the last surviving brother in a political dynasty and one of the most influential senators in history, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a year-long struggle with brain cancer. He was 77.
...Kennedy's family announced his death in a brief statement released early Wednesday:
"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," the statement said. "We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all."
...Tragedy had a way of bringing out his eloquence.
Kennedy sketched a dream of a better future as he laid to rest his brother Robert in 1968: "My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it."

Thank you Teddy & RIP.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

He did outlive Mary Jo by quite a number of years.

[laphanphon]

Tragedy had a way of bringing out his eloquence

eloquence or arrogance.

[jingjai]

I had a sneaking suspicion that some forum members would neither for-fvcking-give nor for-fvcking-get:

His own legacy was blighted on the night of July 18, 1969, when Kennedy drove his car off a bridge and into a pond on Chappaquiddick Island, on Martha's Vineyard. Mary Jo Kopechne, a 28-year-old worker with RFK's campaign, was found dead in the submerged car's back seat 10 hours later.
Kennedy, then 37, pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-month suspended sentence and a year's probation. A judge eventually determined there was "probable cause to believe that Kennedy operated his motor vehicle negligently ... and that such operation appears to have contributed to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne."
At the height of the scandal, Kennedy went on national television to explain himself in an extraordinary 13-minute address in which he denied driving drunk and rejected rumors of "immoral conduct" with Ms. Kopechne. He said he was haunted by "irrational" thoughts immediately after the accident, and wondered "whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys." He said his failure to report the accident right away was "indefensible."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090826/ap_ ... ed_kennedy

"For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts," said Obama...

Sen. Orrin Hatch, the conservative Republican from Utah who was alternately a political partner and opponent of the unapologetic liberal for three decades, said "Ted Kennedy was an iconic, larger than life United States Senator whose influence cannot be overstated." He listed of nearly a dozen bipartisan bills they worked on jointly, including a federally funded program for victims of HIV/AIDS, health insurance for lower-income children and tax breaks to encourage the development of medicine for rare diseases.

Now, I'm not condoning what Teddy did FORTY-MOTHERFVCKING-YEARS AGO!
However, how many of us can say that everything we did FORTY-YEARS AGO can be classified as exemplary behavior?

[laphanphon]

i'll agree he was a good civil rights fighter. i personally can't stand the whole family, history, and the 'camelot' image, please. i'll refrain from a rant. as bad a president JFK was, he was intelligent enough to want to pull out of vietnam, asap, and change the central banking, of course that got him bumped off, but nice thoughts anyway.

but a Kennedy, can do anything, including getting away with vehicle manslaughter, at the very least, without even being charged and sentenced to 2 months suspended sentence for leaving an accident, the minimum sentence at the time, this, with a death involved. very sad. didn't even report the incident till 'after' the care was discovered.

an obama endorsement, turnng out to be the world best known liar, think i'd rather have charles mansion do my PR.

[jimboLV]

Notwithstanding his ability to use his considerable political influence to get his name attached to nearly every piece of legislation of political value, even though it wold have passed with or without his support.....the man was totally corrupt. A drunken philanderer, expelled from Harvard for cheating, crashed his car into the river and left a young girl inside to drown while he escaped and sought counsel from his political operatives and legal staff to come up with a spin. Well known for his alcoholism and womanizing (for his entire caareer, not just 40 years ago) he nevertheless was able to keep his position due to his family political connections. He epitomizes everything that is wrong with the American political system which allows a piece of trash like this to continue in office.

[jingjai]

My mother & father used to tell me: "if you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all".

"Teddy spent a lifetime working for a fair and more just America and for 36 years I had the privilege of going to work every day ... and being a witness to history," an emotional Biden added. "Every day I was with him ... He restored my sense of idealism and my faith in the possibilities of what this country could do."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement that said: "Ted Kennedy's dream was the one for which the Founding Fathers fought and for which his brothers sought to realize. The liberal lion's mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die."

Former first Lady Nancy Reagan said that her husband and Kennedy "could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another."

"Even facing illness and death he never stopped fighting for the causes which were his life's work. I am proud to have counted him as a friend and proud that the United Kingdom recognized his service earlier this year with the award of an honorary knighthood." — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090826/ap_ ... ed_kennedy

Notwithstanding his ability to use his considerable political influence to get his name attached to nearly every piece of legislation of political value, even though it wold have passed with or without his support...

Got any links to back that statement up or prove it?
"Considerable political influence". Isn't that really the name of the game? Like it or not. It's reality. Both in government and in the private sector.

[jimboLV]

I'm not knocking his "considerable political influence", that's why I used the word "notwithstanding". Unfortunately he also used his influence to cover up a multitude of misdeeds. That's all I'm saying. Read the ENTIRE Wikipedia biography, although it's very diplomatically worded..

[PAUL STAKER]

i'll agree he was a good civil rights fighter. i personally can't stand the whole family, history, and the 'camelot' image, please. i'll refrain from a rant. as bad a president JFK was, he was intelligent enough to want to pull out of vietnam, asap, and change the central banking, of course that got him bumped off, but nice thoughts anyway.

but a Kennedy, can do anything, including getting away with vehicle manslaughter, at the very least, without even being charged and sentenced to 2 months suspended sentence for leaving an accident, the minimum sentence at the time, this, with a death involved. very sad. didn't even report the incident till 'after' the care was discovered.

an obama endorsement, turnng out to be the world best known liar, think i'd rather have charles mansion do my PR.

Joke and smillies on someone that has just died? shame on you. If you did half for your country that this man did you might earn the right to show some contempt you pathetic creep.

[laphanphon]

i remember that next time i leave someone to die............................

KEEP WATCHING MURDOCK ENTERTAINMENT

i got great pleasure hearing mickal jackson died also, can't wait for the bushs and cheneys to rot in hell.

[PAUL STAKER]

i remember that next time i leave someone to die............................

KEEP WATCHING MURDOCK ENTERTAINMENT

i got great pleasure hearing mickal jackson died also, can't wait for the bushs and cheneys to rot in hell.

What a sad pathetic excuse for a human being. You do not even have the intelligence to spell Michael correctly. Please post for me the charges against Michael Jackson and where he was found guilty. Did he serve time in prison? Am I missing something?

Do not speak evil against one another... Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge... So who, then, are you to judge your neighbour? James 4:11-12.

A basic spiritual principle is: The measure we use for others, God will use for us. If we do not judge others, God will not judge us; if we do not condemn others, God will not condemn us; if we forgive, God forgives us even more; so let us give, and God will give to us a full measure, a generous helping, poured into our hands, more than we can hold.

Lord, remind me every day that we are all, equally, privileged but not unentitled beggars before the door of God's mercy. Amen.

So mister laphanphon I take it you are perfect in everything you have done in your life and that gives you the ability to judge others.

I best not forget myself here and my history for deleted topics so to get things back on track may the Lord shine upon Edward Kennedy with grace and love and may he rest in peace.

Amen.

[laphanphon]

i don't judge anyone, not my job, just call them like i see them. when someone pays 20 mill to stay out of court, and is accused of the same thing, sorry, i smell smoke, i look for a fire. i quess you thin OJ didn't kill his ex. save you christian BS for someone else. i'm not buying it. as mentioned before, more people have died in the name of jesus or god, or someone's idea than any other reason. and please explain to me why in every metro city in the usa, there is a children's cancer ward of dying children. your god, not mine. oh, that's right, god works is mysterious ways, with a very warped sense of humor i might add. i'll be the agnostic, and he has a lot a questions to answer for.

may ted rot in hell, the diver who investigated to 'accident', said her body position was at a point where she was probably alive for some time, breathing via an air pocket, yet ted couldn't save her, though had no problem getting out himself. then swimming 500 meters to the other side, to his resting place. and you believe all that. a 37 year old man doesn't make those kind of mistakes, passing lit houses, and pay phones and not reporting an accident till after the fact is known. please, the man is a taker of life, manslaughter at least. do your research before speaking, you'll sound more intelligent. google it, there's more than enough info, i just relish the idea the it haunted his life and career for 40 years, as if he even cared.

[laphanphon]

you pathetic creep

would this fall under practice what you preach..............Do not speak evil against one another ..... If we do not judge others, God will not judge us...............christian BS hypocritical 101.

with that, jesus/god, one way, though not sure if it's the correct finger i'm holding up.

if he really cared, instead of crying the blues, he could make things a bit better.


with that, good night, god bless, and this discussion is over for me.

[laphanphon]

do a google, plenty of info, wiki has quite a bit, but the one below, slanted, but show his true colors as a great american

http://kevincolby.com/2009/01/22/the-st ... -murderer/

[Fawn]

Calm down Lima Alpha, it's just Nosforatu having a rant.

[laphanphon]

i'm cool as a cucumber, well, from the frig was bored watching stocks last night, 1st day i had to in months, forgot how much fun it was. the hypocrisy of his thoughts were amusing. he's almost as good a christian as i am.

3 hail marys and few coins in the colllection plate and his sins are revoked.

[jingjai]

Jeez...I only posted the OP as a "news story". It wasn't meant to stir debate...if I had wanted that, I would have posted the "news story" under the debate section.

I'll be the first to admit...what happened after the Chappaquiddick Island incident was disgraceful. I'll also admit his family money bought him out of it. It happens...get over it.

Teddy liked to party. Most men/politicians do... Who are we to hold politicians up to some type of idealistic model...as to what we think their behavior should be?

I'll tell ya...I'd much rather sit around and have a few beers with Teddy Kennedy or Bill Clinton than either of the Bush's or Jimmy Carter.

A few more comments:

In an era of bitter political division, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's death silenced a singular voice of bipartisanship at a time when colleagues are struggling with angry constituents and each other over an elusive plan to overhaul the nation's health care system.

Some lawmakers said Tuesday the current stalemate is the result of Kennedy's absence for the past few, crucial months. Some hope to rescue the embattled legislation as his legacy.

It's not clear that the post-Kennedy Senate includes anyone with the credibility among ideological opponents, the dealmaking skills or the inside knowledge to strike a quick agreement.

"There is nobody else like him," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who alternated with Kennedy over the years as chairman and ranking minority-party member of the health committee. "If he had been physically up to it and been engaged on this, we probably would have an agreement by now."

"Teddy was the only Democrat who could move their whole base," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said. "If he finally agreed, the whole base would come along even if they didn't like it."

"Bipartisanship takes a person that has leadership and personal charm, quite frankly, and a desire to get a result," said former Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi. "He didn't try to destroy you. That's what's happening in Washington now. It's gotten so mean."

No one is irreplaceable in the Senate, or so a popular saying goes. But John McCain, R-Ariz., called Kennedy just that in a statement Wednesday. McCain, last year the GOP presidential nominee, was even clearer over the weekend.

"He had a way of sitting down with the parties at a table and making the right concessions, which really are the essence of successful negotiations," McCain said on ABC's "This Week."

"It's huge that he's absent," McCain added. If Kennedy had been engaged in the debate past June, when he handed his committee chairmanship duties to Chris Dodd, D-Conn., "I think the health care reform might be in a very different place today."

"I just hope we remember how he treated other people and how he made other people look at themselves and look at one another," Biden added. "That will be the truly fundamental, unifying legacy of Teddy Kennedy's life if that happens, and it will for a while at least in the Senate."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090826/ap_ ... edy_impact

[polehawk]

I'm with you on this one, Jingjai. The guy was well respected and liked on both sides of aisle in the Senate and will be missed. May he RIP.

[arjay]

May he rest in peace whatever his sins. I hope his good deeds outweigh any bad ones.

As this was intended to be a News item and posted as a News item, not a debate, I will lock the thread.