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Ted is Dead (split from dead thread)

metsguyinmichigan Aug 25 2009 11:52 PM

Sen. Ted Kennedy early Wednesday at age 77. I saw him in person once, during his nephew's trial in West Palm Beach. We were outside the courtroom watching the media horde and out he came, right past the podium and microphones that had been set up for him and into a car to get the heck out of there.

dgwphotography Aug 26 2009 05:05 AM

[quote="metsguyinmichigan":sbam7b3k]Sen. Ted Kennedy early Wednesday at age 77.[/quote:sbam7b3k] A hypocrite to the very end: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 11408.html

Valadius Aug 26 2009 07:13 AM

DGW, this is really not the time.

dgwphotography Aug 26 2009 07:18 AM

This is exactly the time. The media has been preparing to do a group circle-jerk over this dirtbag for months - certain "events" of his life will certainly be glossed over, just like the fact that he should have spent the last 40 years behind bars, and not occupying a senate seat.

soupcan Aug 26 2009 07:46 AM

[quote="dgwphotography":2shg1ldl]This is exactly the time. The media has been preparing to do a group circle-jerk over this dirtbag for months - certain "events" of his life will certainly be glossed over, just like the fact that he should have spent the last 40 years behind bars, and not occupying a senate seat.[/quote:2shg1ldl] As much of a liberal, partisan Democrat as I am and have been, dgw has a very valid point.

Edgy DC Aug 26 2009 08:14 AM

Well, I don't know that you get 40 years. Maybe eight to ten. As far as I know, nobody was saying Ms. Kopechne was killed in a premeditated murder. I mean, they're the Kennedys, so I suppose somebody might be saying that, but that's not really the case against him.

MFS62 Aug 26 2009 08:21 AM

I remember two phrases from my childhood: Don't say anything ill about the dead. Wait 'till the body's cold. Either one is OK, but again, this is not the time. Later

Benjamin Grimm Aug 26 2009 08:25 AM

Well, I don't know about that. If you're at the funeral, or among his family members, I agree that it would be wrong to be bringing up Chappaquiddick. But he's a public figure, and when a public figure dies, his life is reviewed and we start the process of drawing our final conclusions. If you thought he was a scoundrel yesterday, then he was no less a scoundrel today. And there's no point in not saying it.

Valadius Aug 26 2009 08:27 AM

I follow the maxim of waiting until the body's in the ground. Before then, totally inappropriate to bash the recently-deceased.

Benjamin Grimm Aug 26 2009 08:40 AM

I don't see why it's inappropriate, unless, as I said, friends or family members are in earshot. Why is it inappropriate?

seawolf17 Aug 26 2009 08:41 AM

Just because he's dead doesn't mean we have to like him or his politics.

bmfc1 Aug 26 2009 08:52 AM

If you're going to express negative feelings about Senator Kennedy, it is inappropriate to do it directly to someone that is mourning his passing. I de-friended someone (not from this group) on my Facebook who wrote "Mary Jo Kopechne" over and over on my Wall after I posted a "RIP" status update. It's OK to have not liked him, and it's certainly OK to express such feelings, but I don't think it's polite, respectful, or appropriate to do so to someone that is upset that he has passed. There are plenty of other venues to post such feelings.

Edgy DC Aug 26 2009 08:57 AM

I'd de-friend someone who so expresses themselves under any circumstances. I have some misanthropic "friends," but no-thanks as far as expressing yourself by grafitti-ing up my wall.

dgwphotography Aug 26 2009 09:02 AM

To take a step back for a second, this is the kind of discussion that makes this place so great.

metsguyinmichigan Aug 26 2009 09:52 AM

AP reporting that Kennedy will be buried in Arlington. Was he ever in the service?

Valadius Aug 26 2009 10:01 AM

Yes, he was in the army for about three years in the early '50s.

Edgy DC Aug 26 2009 10:12 AM

Confession: I think I was named for him.

Nymr83 Aug 26 2009 11:15 AM

[quote="metsguyinmichigan":975mg8yj]AP reporting that Kennedy will be buried in Arlington. Was he ever in the service?[/quote:975mg8yj] elected Senators (not former Washington Senators) are eligible anyway.

Kong76 Aug 26 2009 11:28 AM

I have a dark sense of humor, and I apologize if I offend ... but one of the first things I thought of was that gurgling water noise they used to do on the Ted bits on Imus in the Morning years ago.

metsguyinmichigan Aug 26 2009 12:58 PM

[quote="Nymr83":3qgx7mjh][quote="metsguyinmichigan":3qgx7mjh]AP reporting that Kennedy will be buried in Arlington. Was he ever in the service?[/quote:3qgx7mjh] elected Senators (not former Washington Senators) are eligible anyway.[/quote:3qgx7mjh] That's interesting. I didn't realize that. There is sort of a Kennedy family plot up there on the hill, and it's impressive. As a journalist, I don't have a problem with folks raising a public person's troubles in addition to their successes when reviewing their legacy -- if done in good taste. Anything else would be incomplete and therefore inaccurate. That said, those are fair points about people in mourning and certainly slamming a Facebook page is pretty weak under any circumstances, unless it's about Derek Jeter.

Edgy DC Aug 26 2009 09:48 PM

Three separate invites to attend a candlelight vigil this evening.

Edgy DC Aug 27 2009 09:55 AM

[quote="Edgy DC":v1nxlng7]Confession: I think I was named for him.[/quote:v1nxlng7] Mom copped to it today. Wow.

Benjamin Grimm Aug 27 2009 09:57 AM

Should we start calling you Tedgy?

Edgy DC Aug 27 2009 09:57 AM

I'd prefer not. The Lion of the Forum is also not necessary.

metirish Aug 27 2009 09:59 AM

[quote="Edgy DC":qecs8fih]I'd prefer not. The Lion of the Forum is also not necessary.[/quote:qecs8fih] Do you have older brothers named John and Robert , or was ted just her favorite one?

Edgy DC Aug 27 2009 10:10 AM

I don't know about her favorite one, but he was the baby and I was the baby. And I also had a massive head. Technically, I was named Edward for my grandfather, in order to settle a family feud (seriously). But I was nicknamed Teddy, which is a very uncommon nickname for Edward, rather than Eddie or Ned. My father had an early tape recorder in the sixties and made tapes of us kids. I was just a gurgling infant on the tapes, but my brother and sisters all referred to me as Teddy. But around the age of two, I become Edward again, except to a lone aunt who rarely saw me growing up and so didn't get hep to the change. I came to accept her as the weird aunt who called me Teddy and didn't correct her. But it wasn't until after college that I was thinking about those tapes and started to put two and two together and realize my nickname had otherwise disappeared around the time of the Chappaquiddick incident. But Mom never confirmed my suspicions until this morning.

Frayed Knot Aug 30 2009 06:22 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Aug 30 2009 02:51 PM

[quote="Edgy DC"]As far as I know, nobody was saying Ms. Kopechne was killed in a premeditated murder. I mean, they're the Kennedys, so I suppose somebody might be saying that ...

I had a set of grandparents who thought so, or at least entertained the thought. Ironically, those trying to make that case probably don't realize how much it makes them sound like the leftist JFK conspiracy theorists they probably mock, essentially taking the same road by starting with their conclusion and then seizing on whatever "fact" happens to advance the theory; "He was never in that car!! Trained divers tried to swim out of the currents he supposedly escaped from but couldn't do so!" sounds a whole lot like "He was never in the book building!! Trained sharpshooters tried to duplicate 'X' hits in 'Y' seconds but couldn't do so!"

If you're at the funeral, or among his family members, I agree that it would be wrong to be bringing up Chappaquiddick. But he's a public figure, and when a public figure dies, his life is reviewed and we start the process of drawing our final conclusions.

While I agree that graffitti-ing someone's web-page is inappropriate, a public figure is going to get public scrutiny and I don't think there's a particular time-frame during which certain topics are off-limits. The attempted succession switcheroo thing (which started this side-discussion) in particular was done specifically because of his impending death and it represented a desire to control a Senate seat by whichever method happened to be advantageous at the moment. So if it's OK to laud the man for being a beacon of principles it also has to be legit to bring up a final act where his principles seemed to take a convenient 180.

Confession: I think I was named for him

My youngest brother was born just weeks after Robert's assassination and the name 'Robert' - having been the last-minute loser in the name the previous child contest - was certainly in the running. But mom, even though she was never a particularly political person (dad took care of the shouting at the TV screen duties in the family), had a particular dislike for RFK and didn't want people to think she was naming her child in honor of the recently-slain Senator/Prez-candidate and therefore quickly took that name right off the table.

G-Fafif Aug 30 2009 09:20 AM

Ted Jr. gave a warm and wonderful eulogy.