8/26/2009 UPDATED AND BUMPED. He's finally gone to his reward – whatever it may be.
ABC News has put up an impartial account of the 1969 "incident" here: Chappaquiddick's Indiscretions Forever Tarnished.
Many are now in mourning for this moral cretin. Sorry, but I am not among them.
May God have mercy on his soul.
ORIGINAL POST 5/21/2008 8:40 PM
Amidst all of the shock and sadness, shouldn't someone have mentioned that all of the copious tears of sorrow over Edward Kennedy's brain cancer diagnosis are being shed for a murderer? Nobody else has, so I'll take on the thankless task.
I guess that makes me mean, cruel, and heartless.
Maybe I am, but on the other hand, I've never killed anybody, either.
Tell you what, though – before you decide, read this thorough, impartial account of the events of July 18, 1969, "Incident on Chappaquiddick Island," on History.com.
Sen. Edward Kennedy has already lived 39 years past the day when Mary Jo Kopechne drowned inside his car. Back in 1969, he used his family's wealth, power, and influence to escape any real punishment for his crime. Since then, he has used his position as a powerful senator to do incalculable damage to this country. The only real price that this shameless hypocrite ever paid was having to abandon his plans to run for the presidency. Perhaps it's ungracious of me to state that he's finally going to get what's been coming to him all these years, but I'm doing it anyway.
Lion of the Senate, my butt! If he had a shred of decency within him, he would have resigned from public life following the "Incident on Chappaquiddick Island." The fact that he did not speaks volumes about the man's character. The Senate, as well as the entire nation, will be much better off once he is no longer a member.
For his sake and the sake of his family, I only hope that his death, when it comes, will be swift and painless. Certainly, he will not have to suffer anything like the prolonged agony and horror that Mary Jo Kopechne must have suffered as she fought for her life inside his submerged Oldsmobile.
UPDATED: Finally, someone is telling the truth about the record of this despicable excuse for a man. Michael Savage has posted "The Real Kennedy Record" on his website, along with a short opinion piece, "The Real Ted Kennedy," by his show's producer, Beowulf Rochlen.
Read through the list of Kennedy's "accomplishments," then decide whether he is really deserving of this massive national outpouring of sympathy and sorrow.
My first instinct was correct. As a fellow human being, I'm sorry that Kennedy has been struck with an incurable and fatal brain cancer. But at the same time, as a patriotic American, I'm overjoyed that the U.S. Senate will soon have to pull itself together and learn how to function without him.
I'm not sure what your definition of patriotic American is but Edward Kennedy, a man of immense wealth to be sure, shirked a private life of convenience to work and fight for every single American, but especially the ones who because of their lack of wealth have little voice or opportunity. Sounds pretty patriotic. Senator Kennedy was a flawed human being, as I'm sure you are. Mr. Kennedy took his flaws, lived with them, and busted his ass to fight for what he believed in. What have you done?
ReplyDeleteSean Carroll said:
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what your definition of patriotic American is but Edward Kennedy, a man of immense wealth to be sure, shirked a private life of convenience to work and fight for every single American, but especially the ones who because of their lack of wealth have little voice or opportunity. Sounds pretty patriotic.
Not to me. Sounds more like shameless demagoguery. There is nothing patriotic, or even remotely admirable, about misusing the immense power of the U.S government to take the property of some citizens and redistribute it to others. It is not even accurate to say that Kennedy shirked a private life of convenience. He shirked responsibility for his behavior, to be sure, but never spared any expense when it came to providing himself with the finest that life has to offer. He did not even have to sacrifice anything due to the high taxes that he worked to impose upon the earning class, because his wealth was unearned, and was therefore not subject to the confiscatory tax rates applied to earned income.
Senator Kennedy was a flawed human being, as I'm sure you are.
On that, we can agree.
Mr. Kennedy took his flaws, lived with them, and busted his ass to fight for what he believed in. What have you done?
I'm afraid I don't see the relevance. How does anything that I have done matter one way or the other when evaluating the life and career of Edward Moore Kennedy?
As I mentioned in my original post, I've never killed anybody. There is absolutely no question that Kennedy did. Nor is there any question that if he had not been a Kennedy, he would have spent many years in prison as a result.
Not only is nothing I have ever done remotely comparable, but even if there were some heinous deed in my past (sorry to disappoint you, but there's not), it would in no way excuse what Kennedy did.
In other words, as we all learned as little children, "Two wrongs don't make a right."
If you really want to know what I've done, such as it is, go check out my Facebook page.