I don't see Ted Kennedy being remembered for much of anything.

Once his usefulness as a martyr dies along with nationalized health care his faults, manslaughter, alcoholism, etc, will make him politically toxic.

As I said before, I wasn't much of a fan because he did bring a lot of baggage to the table, but I found this list interesting:

He got away with murder as far as I can tell. But hey, we all know people who can help cover up and get us off the hook right? Well...no we don't. :-?

I agree, he was on board for a lot of policies I support (even though the vast majority of his work I do not). That being said, it is very, VERY hard for me to get passed the Chappaquiddick incident to which I believe amounts to manslaughter at the very least.

Someone who did that being entrusted as a US senator is mind-boggling, to me.

To be honest, while I'll never say that I'm glad that he's dead, I'm really hoping this signals the end of this era of the Kennedy-name entitlement. I saw some good signs with the way Caroline Kennedy was shot down for the senate seat, but still ...

Funny enough that many lefties loved to liken the US to an empire, but they also love treating the Kennedy's as royalty.

Agreed - His name got him out of that one. Did he panic? Sure. Was it intentional malicious murder? No, it was an accident. A stupid one, but an accident nonetheless. But you're right...that would be enough to sink any politician not named Kennedy.

From what I understand he was drunk off his rocker. Just came from a party. Accident that was self imposed as I see it. In todays world he would be doing 10-20 with good behavior.

Precisely. Why do you think is panic resulted in him running home?

Sure, most normal people would panic in the same situation ... but that doesn't mean they'd just go home and try to pretend nothing happened and leave someone to die.

I don't think it was panic due to the accident ... I think it was panic due to him knowing that he was responsible and trying not to be found sauced off his ass.

Like I said, a stupid accident. Due to his own poor judgment. And yes, his name kept him out of jail.

The privileges of power.....

Let's just pay our respects to Senator Kennedy in this thread. If you want to argue about his mistakes, save it for another day. If you want to argue about the political ramifications of his death, start another thread.

Indeed.

But what really gets me is that we live in a democratically-elected society. These aren't members of some royal family that get away with murder due to their own decrees. This is a man who ultimately had to answer to the public - his constituents to be specific - and that public basically said, "no problem".

I apologize, but I can't get over the fact that the people who gave Kennedy a pass are mostly individuals from the far-left. We're not talking about a small percentage, either ... we're talking about millions of people over a few generations.

Mookie, I doubt you're one of them, but I have to ask ... would YOU have voted for Kennedy?

Can anyone state some good things about poor ole Teddy, no really a positive piece of legislation or something... anything?

I beleive Aramike started this thread.

Start your own thread and then dictate the terms. :yep:

The way I see it, life's like this: no one should have to pay more respects to someone in death than they do in life.

While I would find it to be bad form for someone to say something akin to being glad that someone died, I don't see that happening here. Also, I feel bad for the family but I doubt that they really care about that one way or the other. In any case, who can blame a familiy for loving one of their own?

The bottom line is that Kennedy used every ounce of his public image to his benefit and will continue to do so in death. As such, only he is to blame for such criticism.

Generally speaking, I've loathed the man overall. I've always found him to be lacking any sense of personal integrity. While I've agreed with some of his policy decisions, I find his character to be questionable, at best.

On the other hand, I have to respect the fact that this man was a political institution unto himself. I try to be someone who's personal feelings doesn't cloud my perspective of reality.

Besides, I would have far preferred if he'd been voted out of office versus leaving by default. It's a sad commentary on the state of affairs in this nation that he was allowed to remain in office.

agreed, and even though i dont rejoice in his death.

all i will say is... the man was a dirt bag.