Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Dead Ted



Ted Kennedy has passed on.
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This I know because of the relentless swooning from the media.
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I'll admit that I'm having a hard time reconciling all of the lamentations and praise with the Chappaquidick incident haunting the back of my mind. If anyone took the time to analize the facts behind this, it is clear that a young girl lost her life while in the company of Kennedy, who took great steps to cover up the accident. Disingenuous, dishonest steps. The kinds of things that you and I would do time for.
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He got kicked out of Harvard for cheating as well. Tremendous lapses of character that the average Dick would probably never recover from.
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So the issue is ..... do people who stray, who make bad mistakes, deserve a second chance? I generally think they do. Most wounds heal. But the Kopechne girl can never be brought back to life. And Kennedy left her to drown, when a quick response could have saved her life. Despite the sappy Biden comments, he didn't always think of others first.
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That said, he was a hell of a legislator. By all accounts, he was a Senator who knew the lay of the land and could get things done. And his constituent service is becoming legendary.
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I feel bad that Ted is dead. He certainly had a good side to him that probably eclipses his shortcomings and mistakes. But the the effort to canonize him has a phoney edge to it that is a bit unsettling.
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He was a practicing Catholic, and if his beliefs are true, he's now in front of a much greater judge than you or I.