it will be changed on Monday so that a Democrat stays in power, sheesh another reason why I have nothing nice to say about the swimmer. Change the law because of Romney then change it back when a Democrat is Gov. I wonder how his dog splash is doing?

I have already seen it on TV, we gotta do something for Teddy!

that Alexander was Great, I mean, slashing, burning, and destroying his way through our civilization.

was unbelievably difficult, and done by very few.

I know the media will lavish praise on Ted Kennedy, and no one will dare speak ill of him, but in the back of everybody’s mind, the overwhelming majority of Americans have a VERY negative opinion of Ted Kennedy.

Everyone knows that he killed Mary Jo Kopechne, and got away with it scot-free because he was a Kennedy. They also know he was privileged, limousine-liberal that is far out of step with mainstream America.

Republicans shouldn’t let Democrats scare them from opposing universal health care. The country is not nearly in love with “Camelot” as the media likes to portray.

What I am seeing here in W/Mass is a mix of reactions to a decisive split. The reaction from the left seems to be more likening to an old tree dieing in the woods, barely seen through the forest. They are too caught up in trying to save the forest. On the right is earnest remorse for the loss of an individual tempered by some sort of relief. One comment from someone who I know is an independent was very telling “thank god I don’t have to put up with any more of those drunken Kennedy jokes when I go out of state”. At the same time most everyone out this is way are quietly resigned to the fact we are simply along for the ride as we always have been. That end of the state is going to do what ever it wants regardless of what we say. Telling of what the healthcare bill may well be.

The far left is in such denial and are such hypocrites the worst thing is for them to open their mouth because that exposes them. Unfortunately the lies and distortions may well be how Ted Kennedy will be remembered, not for what he has done but for his association. I think of Ted Kennedy more of a classic liberal and not what the far left has become and the majority of democrats. I don’t and never did agree with most of Ted Kennedy’s policies but I think it is totally sick and disingenuous for the far left to hold him up as a trophy for what he was not. May be liberals need to be more like liberals nowadays.

Heck, did I just say that, liberals need to be liberals after 30 years of telling them to be more centralist, wow how times have changed. This can’t be good.

Folks,

There is something going on in this land of ours that only happens every couple or three generations. The closest parallels I see are the abolition movement and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. I say all bets are off – for both D’s and R’s.

Roy

and I don’t like to speak ill of the dead so soon after their passing. But some realism and balance is needed here. It is way, way over the top to call Senator Kennedy a truly great American. He worked tirelessly and relentlessly, yes, but for odious and contemptible causes. His hyperbole was demagogic. He was a strident advocate of the Culture of Death, and invoked (let your jaw drop, seeing as he was a practicing Catholic) anti-Catholic bigotry to block a Bush judicial appointee. When Clinton was president, he warned about the threat Saddam posed, then he stridently condemned Bush when he went ahead and took Saddam out.

He fought valiently for his life. That is to be admired. Let’s say a prayer for him and leave it there.

OK. I will say what I may about Mary Jo. She’s been dead for 40 years. How very dismissive you are about the unwarranted and probably avoidable death of this young woman.

Posted on Fri Jul 17 08:53:56 2009 by jimthompsonworstpersoninworld

NOTE: At the time a hero was walking on the moon, a coward was walking away from a woman trapped underwater in an airpocket. It was only 6 feet of water. Because the anniversary falls on the weekend, if you want to acknowledge the anniversary with a call to the Chappaquiddick Lifeguard’s office, you need to do it today. (202) 224-4543.
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40th anniversary of Mary Jo Kopechne’s drowning at Chappaquiddick…Kennedy’s story still doubtful July 17, 6:02

Sometime around midnight, on July 18, 1969 Kennedy drove his Oldsmobile 88 off of a small bridge on Chappaquiddick island, into eight feet of chilly water. The vehicle landed upside-down. While Kennedy managed to free himself from the wreck and swim to safety, his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne was left in the car to drown.

Once he reached shore, Kennedy claims to have made seven or eight attempts to rescue Kopechne, but could not free her.

Kennedy then walked back to the cottage where he and four other men, were partying with several young women known as the “Boiler Room Girls“ who had worked on Robert Kennedy‘s campaign. Though Kennedy passed by a fire station and a private home to return to the cottage, he never stopped to ask for help for the trapped Kopechne.

He returned to the party and according to Kennedy himself, informed his cousin and a friend of the situation. The two men, Joseph Gargan and Paul Markham claim to have returned to the scene of the accident and made several unsuccessful attempts to free Kopechne.

Then Kennedy’s story takes an even stranger turn.

After the failed rescue attempts, Kennedy claims to have jumped back into the water and made the 500-foot swim across the channel back to Edgartown. He then walked back to his hotel and spent the night. He even took the time to change clothes and pay a visit to the front-desk, to complain about a noisy party–no doubt Kennedy’s sloppy attempt at securing an alibi.

The next morning, Gargan and Markham around 8:00 a.m., and were supposedly shocked to discover that Kennedy never reported the accident to police. According to Kennedy‘s own testimony, he told them: “about my own thoughts and feelings as I swam across that channel … that somehow when they arrived in the morning that they were going to say that Mary Jo was still alive”

The two men along with Kennedy went back to Chappaquiddick, where Kennedy spent some time making phone calls, seeking advice from various individuals as to how to proceed.

Meanwhile, two fisherman had discovered the submerged car and notified police. At 8:45a.m. a diver recovered the lifeless body of Mary Jo Kopechne.

It was not until 10a.m., over nine hours after driving-off of the bridge that Ted Kennedy went to the police station in Edgarton to report the accident.

Kennedy then gave the following prepared statement to police: “On July 18, 1969, at approximately 11:15 p.m. in Chappaquiddick, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, I was driving my car on Main Street on my way to get the ferry back to Edgartown. I was unfamiliar with the road and turned right onto Dike Road, instead of bearing hard left on Main Street. After proceeding for approximately one-half mile on Dike Road I descended a hill and came upon a narrow bridge.

The car went off the side of the bridge. There was one passenger with me, one Miss Mary [Kopechne], a former secretary of my brother Sen. Robert Kennedy. The car turned over and sank into the water and landed with the roof resting on the bottom. I attempted to open the door and the window of the car but have no recollection of how I got out of the car. I came to the surface and then repeatedly dove down to the car in an attempt to see if the passenger was still in the car. I was unsuccessful in the attempt. I was exhausted and in a state of shock.

I recall walking back to where my friends were eating. There was a car parked in front of the cottage and I climbed into the backseat. I then asked for someone to bring me back to Edgartown. I remember walking around for a period and then going back to my hotel room. When I fully realized what had happened this morning, I immediately contacted the police”

In a move which must have been rather tortuous for her parents, Kennedy attended Mary Jo’s funeral, wearing a neck brace (which he reportedly never wore again) and looking rather pathetic.

The diver who recovered Kopechne’s body, John Farrar testified at the official inquest that her body was found where the air pocket would have formed. He said: “Had I received a call within five to ten minutes of the accident occurring, and was able, as I was the following morning, to be at the victim’s side within twenty-five minutes of receiving the call, in such event there is a strong possibility that she would have been alive on removal from the submerged car.”

A week after the incident, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended two-month sentence. Kennedy then went on national television to repeat his rather implausible story, and to ask for the public’s “prayers.”

The ensuing scandal and questionable details given by all of those involved is now left to speculation. It was obvious to most people that Kennedy had allowed a young girl to drown, in a desperate and self-serving attempt to protect his political career.

Senator Edward Kennedy offered advice to the USSR on how to defeat U.S. efforts to build up the Western nuclear deterrent in Europe; sought the assistance of the USSR in Democratic Party efforts to defeat Ronald Reagan in the election campaign of 1984; and proposed the staging of a public Kennedy visit with Yuri Andropov in Moscow to help attain these ends. Senator Kennedy’s intermediary in his communications with the KGB and Yuri Andropov was John Tunney.
Text of memo below:

Appendix

TEXT OF MEMORANDUM FROM VICTOR CHEBRIKOV,
CHAIRMAN OF THE KGB,
TO YURI ANDROPOV,
GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE CPSU
May 14, 1983
______________________
Special Importance

Committee on State Security of the USSR
14.05. 1983 No. 1029 Ch/OV
Moscow

Regarding Senator Kennedy’s request to the General Secretary of the Communist Party Comrade Y.V. Andropov

Comrade Y.V. Andropov

On 9-10 May of this year, Senator Edward Kennedy’s close friend and trusted confidant J. Tunney was in Moscow. The senator charged Tunney to convey the following message, through confidential contacts, to the General Secretary of the Center Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Y. Andropov.

Senator Kennedy, like other rational people, is very troubled by the current state of Soviet-American relations. Events are developing such that this relationship coupled with the general state of global affairs will make the situation even more dangerous. The main reason for this is Reagan’s belligerence, and his firm commitment to deploy new American middle range nuclear weapons within Western Europe.

According to Kennedy, the current threat is due to the President’s refusal to engage any modification on his politics. He feels that his domestic standing has been strengthened because of the well publicized improvement of the economy: inflation has been greatly reduced, production levels are increasing as is overall business activity. For these reasons, interest rates will continue to decline. The White House has portrayed this in the media as the “success of Reaganomics.”

Naturally, not everything in the province of economics has gone according to Reagan’s plan. A few well known economists and members of financial circles, particularly from the north-eastern states, foresee certain hidden tendencies that many bring about a new economic crisis in the USA. This could bring about the fall of the presidential campaign of 1984, which would benefit the Democratic party. Nevertheless, there are no secure assurances this will indeed develop.

The only real threats to Reagan are problems of war and peace and Soviet-American relations. These issues, according to the senator, will without a doubt become the most important of the election campaign. The movement advocating a freeze on nuclear arsenals of both countries continues to gain strength in the United States. The movement is also willing to accept preparations, particularly from Kennedy, for its continued growth. In political and influential circles of the country, including within Congress, the resistence to growing military expenditures is gaining strength.

However, according to Kennedy, the opposition to Reagan is still very weak. Reagan’s adversaries are divided and the presentations they make are not fully effective. Meanwhile, Reagan has the capabilities to effectively counter any propaganda. In order to neutralize criticism that the talks between the USA and the USSR are non-constructive, Reagan will grandiose, but subjectively propagandistic. At the same time, Soviet officials who speak about disarmament will be quoted out of context, silenced or groundlessly and whimsically discounted. Although arguments and statements by officials of the USSR do appear in the press, it is important to note the majority of Americans do not read serious newspapers or periodicals.

Kennedy believes that, given the current state of affairs, and in the interest of peace, it would be prudent and timely to undertake the following steps to counter the militaristic politics of Reagan and his campaign to psychologically burden the American people. In this regard, he offers the following proposals to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Y.V. Andropov:

1. Kennedy asks Y.V. Andropov to consider inviting the senator to Moscow for a personal meeting in July of this year. The main purpose of the meeting, according to the senator, would be to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA. He would also like to inform you that he has planned a trip through Western Europe, where he anticipates meeting England’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French President Mitterand in which he will exchange similar ideas regarding the same issues.

If his proposals would be accepted in principle, Kennedy would send his representative to Moscow to resolve questions regarding organizing such a visit.

Kennedy thinks the benefits of a meeting with Y.V.Andropov will be enhanced if he could also invite one of the well known Republican senators, for example, Mark Hatfield. Such a meeting will have a strong impact on American and political circles in the USA (In March of 1982, Hatfield and Kennedy proposed a project to freeze the nuclear arsenals of the USA and USSR and published a book on the theme as well.)

2. Kennedy believes that in order to influence Americans it would be important to organize in August-September of this year, televised interviews with Y.V. Andropov in the USA. A direct appeal by the General Secretary to the American people will, without a doubt, attact a great deal of attention and interest in the country. The senator is convinced this would receive the maximum resonance in so far as television is the most effective method of mass media and information.

If the proposal is recognized as worthy, then Kennedy and his friends will bring about suitable steps to have representatives of the largest television companies in the USA contact Y.V. Andropov for an invitation to Moscow for the interview. Specifically, the president of the board of directors of ABC, Elton Raul and television columnists Walter Cronkite or Barbara Walters could visit Moscow. The senator underlined the importance that this initiative should be seen as coming from the American side.

Furthermore, with the same purpose in mind, a series of televised interviews in the USA with lower level Soviet officials, particularly from the military would be organized. They would also have an opportunity to appeal directly to the American people about the peaceful intentions of the USSR, with their own arguments about maintaining a true balance of power between the USSR and the USA in military term. This issue is quickly being distorted by Reagan’s administration.

Kennedy asked to convey that this appeal to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is his effort to contribute a strong proposal that would root out the threat of nuclear war, and to improve Soviet-American relations, so that they define the safety of the world. Kennedy is very impressed with the activities of Y.V. Andropov and other Soviet leaders, who expressed their commitment to heal international affairs, and improve mutal understandings between peoples.

The senator underscored that he eagerly awaits a reply to his appeal, the answer to which may be delivered through Tunney.

Having conveyed Kennedy’s appeal to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Tunney also explained that Senator Kennedy has in the last few years actively made appearances to reduce the threat of war. Because he formally refused to partake in the election campaign of 1984, his speeches would be taken without prejudice as they are not tied to any campaign promises. Tunney remarked that the senator wants to run for president in 1988. At that time, he will be 56 and his personal problems, which could hinder his standing, will be resolved (Kennedy has just completed a divorce and plans to remarry in the near future). Taken together, Kennedy does not discount that during the 1984 campaign, the Democratic Party may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans and elect their candidate president. This would explain why he is convinced that none of the candidates today have a real chance at defeating Reagan.

We await instructions.

President of the committee
V. Chebrikov

Source: http://sweetness-light.com/archive/kgb-letter-details-kennedy-offer-to-ussr

Tune in to the funeral to find out

Norm Coleman won the ensuing election, didn’t he?

Funny, I thought Senator Kennedy reached out to the best and brightest doctors in his last days. He spared no expense and made all his own decisions about treatment, hospitals and medications. If I am not mistaken, he also used private medical insurance from those dreadful, evil insurance companies.

Gee, I think we SHOULD follow his example after all- not the Obama, Pelosi, Reid concoction they are trying to pin on his corpse.