RSSTed (Edward) Kennedy … The Liberal Lion of the Senate has Died at the Age of 77
Ted Kennedy, the US Senator from Massachusetts has died over night after succumbing to 
brain cancer home in Hyannis Port, Mass at the age of 77. Kennedy had battled brain cancer for more than a year after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in May 2008. The nine term Massachusetts Senator has passed away.
The man known as the “liberal lion of the Senate” had fought a more than year-long battle with brain cancer, and according to his son had lived longer with the disease than his doctors expected him to.
“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 Kennedy family said in a statement. “He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it.”
I think we all knew that there was not too much time left for Ted Kennedy when he could not attend the funeral of the recently passed Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
The Kennedy family has released a statement.
Being a history buff, in retrospect it is hard to believe they are all gone
As Michelle Malkin states and I agree that this is a moment to put aside political differences, “there is a time and place for political analysis and criticism. Not now”. We all know that the MSM is going to go overboard and link Kennedy’s death to the now sudden need to pass Obamacare. They have already started as some have said, let’s rename the healthcare bill in his name. Trust me, it will not be long and it has already started that the MSM and Left is using his death to benefit Obamacare. We will not stoop to that level. Let that be a battle and a post for another day.
As stated at Town Hall, this is a moment were we use our humanity to pause and remember the life and career of Ted Kennedy. Our prayers go out to his family and may Ted rest in peace.
I have never been a fan of Ted Kennedy or of the perceived Kennedy Royal Dynasty. Having witnessed it for so many years, you either loved it or hated it. However, having family members that have battled brain cancer I can empathize with the family and put politics aside. My own person note, I can remember almost 10 years ago when John Kennedy Jr died on July 16, 1999 as I was driving on the Mass Pike when it occurred. I passed through a toll and it was closed. The green lights were on and no toll booth operators were present, just a paper sign that said “no ticket,do not pay”. I thought to myself, how am I supposed to get a ticket. The first thing that came to my mind for the State of Massachusetts to not want money from a toll road was, “What happened, a Kennedy die?” Sure enough, I would hear on the car radio that JFK, Jr died in a plane crash.
The Boston Globe probably sums up Ted Kennedy’s personal, political and life as a Kennedy the best by stating his highs and lows.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who carried aloft the torch of a Massachusetts dynasty and a liberal ideology to the citadel of Senate power, but whose personal and political failings may have prevented him from realizing the ultimate prize of the presidency, died at his home in Hyannis Port last night after a battle with brain cancer. He was 77.
Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy dies after cancer battle
President Obama learned about Kennedy’s death at 2 a.m. Wednesday, according to a senior administration official. Obama later called Kennedy’s widow to offer condolences.
In a statement, Obama says: “An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States Senator of our time.”
Posted August 26, 2009 by Scared Monkeys Deceased, Government, Obituary, Politics, Senate | 28 comments |
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28 Responses to “Ted (Edward) Kennedy … The Liberal Lion of the Senate has Died at the Age of 77”
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Whatever to the MURDERER Ted Kennedy. How can anybody look past the fact that he left a girl to die in a car submerged in a lake because he was drunk. He went home, took a shower and WENT TO SLEEP and then reported it the next day!
In the real world, not the one the Kennedy’s live in, he would have been arrested, indicted and tried for some type of homicide or manslaughter and probably done time in jail…but because his family had ties and were fithy rich, they bought off her family!
I feel sorry for those who loved him, but in the same token…whatever….
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I can remember a person story that is Kennedy related. I was on the Cape with a very important person in my life who was not from New England and ventured into an antique store. Everything in it was Kennedy memorabilia. It was all Kennedy, all the time as if I had walked into the Kennedy Compound.
The person, not from New England, said in a loud voice .. “what’s up with all this Kennedy crap!!!”
LOL.
Heads turned.
It was unheard of the libs from NE not to understand that outside of here, they were just a family, not royalty.
Had to share that funny Cape Cod Kennedy story.
Rest in Peace Senator.
R
Ted Kennedy’s greatest personal failure was headline news the same day American Astronuats first walked on the moon.
Scott–I agree, he was a coward–but a review of history reveals that he actually asked his constituents AND the Public in Mass if they wanted him to tender his resignation, and astoundingly- he was told No. There is nothing to forgive him for waiting to assist Kopeckne, and his dream of never being President reflected this.
Agree also as a lifelong resident of MASS that it was overdone here—and we all don’t feed in to the Kennedy being treated as royalty BS, either. What I will say about Kennedy- is he devoted himself to a life of public service and he was one of the few Senators that actually worked hard and did his job whether you agreed with his platform or not. Tough old bird right to the end.
Who cares if he asked his constituents and the Public if they wanted him to resign. This makes them cowards as much as Kennedy. You can never make up no matter how long you served in public service the death of a human being. NEVER.
Like I said, had it been a normal hard working regular American, there would have no asking the public for forgiveness NOR would he have been allowed to keep his job.. PERIOD!
Scott–You have a point. It was involuntary manslaughter/vehicular manslaughter. There is a chance that woman could have been saved if he didn’t flee the scene, and everyone knows that.
Kennedy is the perfect example of what ObamaCare
should be. No restrictions on age surgeries and treatments,
choosing his own doctors, choices of physicians and
services, medications galore, pick insurance companies,
and absolutely no rationing of great care. Ted can be
remembered as the Poster Boy for fantastically great
medical Insurance and medical care. No public (government)
restrictions and budget conscious decisions.
Think of Teddy as the epitome of wonderful healthcare!
Kennedy knew that Free Enterprise Healthcare beats the
fascist or totalitarian mess being proposed for the Cattle
today.
For anybody else, leaving a scene could be construed under the law as third-degree MURDER. You forget he was OBLITERATED after coming from a swank to put it bluntly SEX party; whereas he CHEATED on his wife….
Nothing he ever did, public service, whatever, will I idolize or admire.
Remember, his endorsement put the BLUNDER FOOL OBAMA in the White House. Let us not forget that. He championed Obama’s campaign. Also, let us not forget that this healthcare REVAMP was a dream of the coward Ted…
I just hope Americans don’t fall into a sense of feeling sorry for him and want this healthCRAP bill to pass.
BTW, the CIA thing, is a diversion by the Obama WH to try and gain political support from Americans. He fails to realize that Americans do not care about 9/11 interrogation techniques, they were safe for 8 years. WHAT they care about is our fledging economy and healthcare take away.
Most of us can recall that Ted K. championed
the ‘No Child Left Behind’ concept. Little known
fact was he also championed the ‘No Useless
Adult Left Behind Bill’ as well. All people, no matter
their contribution (or lack thereof) should be
taken care of by everyone else. The Government
never takes care of anyone (except itself), it
merely ‘Dictates’ which productive ‘Cattle’ should
pay to take care of which ‘Other Cattle’.
Rest in peace, Ted.
My condolences to his family.
Ted Kennedy left MaryJo to die in that car because he was dead drunk. Thus he just saved himself and waited over 8 hours to report the accident, giving him time to sober up and get his ‘story’ straight with all of the Kennedy advisors.
He was a good senator although I disagree with his politics. He was, by all accounts, a hard worker in the senate.
But that fact does not obliterate his huge character flaw that he was a very heavy drinker, partied like a frat boy up until only a decade ago, and cheated on his wife. It also told America an awful lot about the Kennnedys: their ‘image’ in America was far more important at that time than the reality and political ambitions were more important than character.
This was a fatal flaw of all the Kennedy men and it still makes my stomach turn.
I just read online a Newsweek article blasting Fox News for not covering Kennedy’s death wall to wall…although they admitted that they covered it extensively.
The liberal media and left wing of the Democratic party will use this occasion to ram through their agenda, most notably Obamacare. Senator Byrd has even suggested renaming it for Kennedy!
I hope the smart people in this country don’t fall into this trap and keep their public comments and discourse strong in opposition.
I kind of think it’s funny…MSM is saying how a government health plan has been his driving issue for over 40 years. Well, it hasn’t passed so doesn’t that give them a clue that the majority never have wanted it??
Jeez…am I missing something?
Kennedy’s champion wealth off ill gotten gain, self serving, false heroisum, sucking off the citizens and calling it public service, during lifetimes of questionable indulgence. Although, in this time of passing… keeping it respectful. Perhaps he will get a breeze off one of those wind turbines.
obama owned msm will say or do anything whether legal or not for their messiah.
next it will be how senator kennedy created the world in six days and didn’t stop to rest on the seventh.
i regret the death of senator kennedy, but they have always been entitled to do whatever they pleased whether it be taking a life or lying to save one of their own.
My condolences to his family. Love them or hate them, they have all been a big part of American History. They have done some great things, suffered an enourmous amount of tragedies, and have had some major flaws. Rose Kennedy had to be a steel magnolia. I didn’t agree with many of his ideas. I was always a John Kennedy Jr. fan..thought he would’ve went far.. As for Mary Jo Kopechne tragedy.. had it been anyone else, I believe the punishment would’ve been much worse, but with that being said.. it is between him and his maker now. Everything he did wasn’t bad. Brain cancer is a tough one to beat, lost my sister to it..Life isn’t always black or white. RIP Ted.
Oh…guess who has been chosen to do the eulogy at Kennedy’s Service this weekend?
Well, none other than…the CHOSEN ONE.
Yak! Come on now, every TV Station in Boston has had end to end coverage of Teddy tonight, will tommorrow–the rest of the week—& now we have to watch this on Saturday??….Oh, that’s right—we don’t need to tune in.
Thank God for no television service up in a remote cabin in VT is all I can say. =)
A microsec of silence for Teddy: Now some help for the chosen one, yuk. It is reported that:
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 “un” biased 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 was known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than “great American”.
Very well put, RussVet! Hate to say it, but he should have been removed from office 40 years ago! Daddy Joe went from bootlegging, straight to buying JF the White House! This family is not royalty they are just wealthy from ill gotten gain!
RussVet—most all of what you posted is absolutely true about Ted Kennedy.
In the end, he actually said that he considered himself lucky when he was diagnosed with his brain tumor over a year ago. He said that his Brothers Jack and Robert (especially Robert who I believe was bright and corageous)- he said they never had a chance to reflect upon their mortality as they were both assassinated by or before age 36. When Ted Kennedy was handed his “death sentence” he met it as a time to peacefully look back at a life filled with many great personal disappointments (Kopeckne biggest one and all the stuff you mentioned above) but also he could take some solace in some of his legislative accomplishments. Finally, he married the right woman for him for the last 17 years, quit his boozing and philandering, actually was the only last remaining “patriarch” of the old Kennedy clan for neices, nephews- his current wives stepchildren. Teddy spent as much time he could this last year around his family compoung in Hyannisport doing what he truly loved…sailing. I believe he carried with him his entire life that crucial mistake he made on a bridge in the 1960′s so many years ago.
As much as there were many things I couldn’t stand about him, and certain deeds that do not deserve forgiving—please let the man die with what dignity he did have intact for cryin’ out loud.
NG from Boston
I for one will not miss ole Teddy. Just give thanks that our great nation is FINALLY free of ANY Kennedy’s in either house. May it stay that way.
I think he will be missed. Many mistakes, yes, but an example of someone who continued with what was left in life and never gave up on it.
To Ted,
So long, Ted, good riddance! Your are a perfect example of everything that’s wrong with this country. I’ve never agreed with anything you have ever done or said.
Jerry
It just goes to show, if one is liberal enough, he can spend 40+ years of doing the wrong thing, making the wrong decisions (for the country, and himself); and someone will still cry when you die.
The only thing Ted Kennedy has ever motivated me to do is go on a diet and loose weight. That picturte a couple of years ago of Ted in swimming shorts, was something that will haunt my memory forever.
Jerry
read today that kennedy joked a lot about chappaquiddick. even going so far as to ask others if they had any new jokes about the subject.
this is unacceptable that we would allow politicians of this low quality to represent our country. of course, he is a democrat what could we expect ?
In Texas at the present time if someone is driving drunk and kills a passenger or someone else, most are receiving a 25-year prison sentence for each of their victims.
If however, you leave the scene and also fail to render aid as Kennedy did on July 18, 1969, you could receive an additional 25 years, possible much more, depending on the circumstances. What Kennedy did to and let happen to 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne at Martha’s Vineyard’s Chappaquiddick Island after a party for the “Boiler Room Girls”would carry the maximum punishment.
So, if Ted Kennedy had committed his crimes in Texas, we might be reading about some aging Texas Inmate by the last name of Kennedy who died in prison.
Would the world be any worse off?
Jerry
the problems with some americans they do not know how to forgive and forget. sin is sin your sin may not have been as sever at Ted’s yet you sinned. if maryjoe’s family forgive and maybe Ted did apologize and is sorry for what he did why can’t we learn to forgive. Heaven and Hell is not mine nor anyone else’s to give, so i will not place him in any of the 2 places, never the less, he is or will soon stand before the mighty judge and give an account for his actions. the same as us all. Vengence belongs to God and i have enough faith to believe that he will repay. Last Tuesday Ted left this life to receive his check. so let go and let God do his job. if we do not forgive our brothers or sisters their sins, God will not forgive us our sins and i am sure you as well as me have many sins which need to be forgiven. matthews 6:14-15.
___________
SM: Oh BS!!! Forgive & forget. The MSM and suck up liberals have made Ted’s indescrtions sound like he broke the neghbors window with a baseball. He friggin killed some one. Sorry if that is a bit hard to forgive or forget, especially when he was never tried for it. He should have gone to jail, not re-elected.
We have politicians today that are run out of office for DUI or cheating on their spouse. Ted’s was a twofer.
He never repented for his sins. He ran off from the scene of the crime because he was drunk. When he finally sobered up, he turned himself in.
Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall for that meeting at the Pearly Gates?
Not to mention his radically liberal views on abortion.
[...] Tip: Real Clear Politics “I’m glad I had the opportunity to know Ted Kennedy. Whether you agreed with him or not, what a life he lead with his two brothers being assassinated, [...]
[...] with dad,” Patrick Kennedy said. Their father died in 2009 at age 77 after battling a brain [...]