Joyce Carol Oates: How does one woman’s life compare to decades of awesome Senate service?
posted at 9:51 pm on August 28, 2009 by Allahpundit
Somehow, the fact that she recognizes Chappaquiddick as “unconscionable, despicable, unmanly and inexplicable” only makes it worse. It’s come to this:
Yet, ironically, following this nadir in his life/ career, Ted Kennedy seemed to have genuinely refashioned himself as a serious, idealistic, tirelessly energetic liberal Democrat in the mold of 1960s/1970s American liberalism, arguably the greatest Democratic senator of the 20th century. His tireless advocacy of civil rights, rights for disabled Americans, health care, voting reform, his courageous vote against the Iraq war (when numerous Democrats including Hillary Clinton voted for it) suggest that there are not only “second acts” in American lives, but that the Renaissance concept of the “fortunate fall” may be relevant here: one “falls” as Adam and Eve “fell”; one sins and repents and is forgiven, provided that one remakes one’s life…
Yet if one weighs the life of a single young woman against the accomplishments of the man President Obama has called the greatest Democratic senator in history, what is one to think?
The poet John Berryman once wondered: “Is wickedness soluble in art?”. One might rephrase, in a vocabulary more suitable for our politicized era: “Is wickedness soluble in good deeds?”
This paradox lies at the heart of so much of public life: individuals of dubious character and cruel deeds may redeem themselves in selfless actions. Fidelity to a personal code of morality would seem to fade in significance as the public sphere, like an enormous sun, blinds us to all else.
This reminds me of Elizabeth Wurtzel talking after 9/11 about how aesthetically beautiful the collapse of the Towers seemed to her. Anyone can have a monstrous thought, but it takes a special depravity to insist on publicizing it. And yet — Oates’s point here is the unstated reason why so many lefties look the other way at Teddy’s most obscene moment, isn’t it? When you come right down to it, they’ve made a moral calculus and decided in Kennedy’s favor. It’s really as simple as that.
Via Weasel Zippers, here’s Eric Zorn making the same point but viewed through a modern media lens:
If we’d had insatiable 24/7 cable news networks in July 1969, the accident on Chappaquiddick Island in which a passenger in a car driven by Sen. Edward Kennedy drowned would likely have dominated the national consciousness for months…
This thought experiment invites a question to which there is no nonpartisan answer: Was it just as well that we didn’t — couldn’t — have a media feeding frenzy over Chappaquiddick in 1969? Would the nation have been better off if Kennedy had been shamed into private life?
Or, as I believe, is the nation — particularly our disabled and disadvantaged residents — better off for the 40 years of service he was able to render after that terrible night?
Translation: It’s a good thing that Teddy never did time for leaving someone to die or else we would have been deprived of all sorts of sweet, sweet left-wing legislation. These cretins are actually willing to grant absolution for homicide to advance their policy agenda. And they say Glenn Beck’s crazy.
Related to Zorn’s piece, here’s CNN asserting that today’s media never would have let Teddy get away with Chappaquiddick. Isn’t that true, actually? Not only would you have Fox and talk radio driving the story, but the simple fact of having to fill airtime 24/7 on cable news would force the hands of outfits like CNN and MSNBC. And another point: For all the grief we give the media for their Kennedy love, Chappaquiddick was covered at the time. I’d bet well in excess of 90 percent of Massachusetts voters heard about it. And yet, a mere year after it happened, he still won reelection with over 60 percent of the vote. There was no media cover-up; Democrats simply don’t care, and never really have.
Update: A friend’s giving me a hard time on Twitter, insisting I was too tough on Oates. Probably true. The very last line is clearly critical of the importance placed on public virtue at the expense of personal morality. I do think she’s ultimately ambivalent on the key question, though, of whether Teddy’s Senate career “redeemed” him from his crime at Chappaquiddick. The fact that she’s even willing to consider it as a calculus — the public good balanced against the private evil, even in a case of homicide — is the moral error I was driving at in the post.
Blowback
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Are all liberals on mind-altering drugs?
Dave R. on August 29, 2009 at 12:27 AM
Not for anyone without a “warped” sense of humor
MB4 on August 29, 2009 at 12:35 AM
NO IT DOES NOTE
and your inability to see confirms your sickness
You cannot even admit what he did was that of a disgusting scumbag you are so bought and paid for
CWforFreedom on August 29, 2009 at 12:36 AM
Teddy should have been an ex-senator at least and an ex-con
at most.
Johan Klaus on August 29, 2009 at 12:36 AM
Teddy’s legacy.
Left Coast Right Mind on August 29, 2009 at 12:38 AM
Where do people come up with these crazy ideas and thoughts?
lavell12 on August 29, 2009 at 12:38 AM
Wasn’t that the argument Peter O’Toole made in Night of the Generals?
The answer seems to have changed since the book and movie came out in the 60s.
Laurence on August 29, 2009 at 12:40 AM
Hitler made the trains run on time, created jobs, built the Volkswagen, built the autobahn, and brought Germany into world prominence. So what, if he killed eight million Jews. See where that goes.
Johan Klaus on August 29, 2009 at 12:43 AM
The depths of depravity these people stoop to is beyond belief! If I had no read their words I would never believe that anyone could say so utterly contemptible things.
These people are disgusting and evil. And Kennedy should have gone to prison.
dogsoldier on August 29, 2009 at 12:44 AM
Kennedy, OJ and many other rich guys with good lawyers.
Johan Klaus on August 29, 2009 at 12:48 AM
Kennedy, we leave you as you left her, at the center of a dead steel box, buried Alive….
GunRunner on August 29, 2009 at 12:48 AM
KAHNNNNNN!!!!
Left Coast Right Mind on August 29, 2009 at 12:50 AM
Life that is inconvenient to them is ok to kill, ie abortion, so Mary Jo Kopechne’s life and how it ended and actually remembering that in a meaningful way, is also inconvenient so therefore it must be discarded.
aikidoka on August 29, 2009 at 12:57 AM
Meh…my inner-trekkie is a bad speller.
Left Coast Right Mind on August 29, 2009 at 1:00 AM
What are 50 million lives when weighed against Uncle Teddy. I’m sure God did the math on that when Uncle Teddy faced Him.
Say hi to Mary Jo yet?
Mojave Mark on August 29, 2009 at 1:06 AM
If by “people” you mean Joyce Carol Oates, she’s taught at Princeton since 1978. Princeton: the same place that gave us Woodrow Wilson, the guy who pushed his progressive agenda down this country’s throat.
labwriter on August 29, 2009 at 1:14 AM
Liberalism/leftism is a malignancy.
And relentless.
It is hard to accept, but we are clearly in for a life and death struggle with these people in the not too distant future.
justltl on August 29, 2009 at 1:16 AM
I read a novel by Oates once called Black Water. It was about a senator who met a girl at a party on an island and left the party with her. He was drunk and driving to a ferry when his car went off a bridge into the water. Sounds familiar huh?
He ended up using her injured body as a ladder to climb out of the car and left her to die.
Somehow, I just can’t see her being sympathetic to Kennedy when one of her best books was about how much of a scumbag he was.
sharkface on August 29, 2009 at 1:22 AM
I guess George Burns was right… was it George Burns? Whoever said it had it right:
Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.
jana on August 29, 2009 at 1:26 AM
Perhaps that’s the problem with sinners like Ted K….not only do they commit the sin (in Ted’s case, a rather horrific one), but they then attempt to burden the rest of us with that sin through their do-gooder-ness (in Ted’s case, also rather horrific).
Thanks, but no thanks.
misslizzi on August 29, 2009 at 1:54 AM
I just wonder if these people would have the chutzpah to say this stuff if Mary Jo’s parents were still alive.
either orr on August 29, 2009 at 1:57 AM
Joyce Carol Oates is a despicable inane marxist harlot.
In her universe the theft of an individuals property or product of said individuals labor for “redistribution” is something to be lauded, lionize, and worshiped above all things.
Indeed, it is the highest virtue. It is so virtuous that it can even provide the absolution for murder, theft, adultery, gluttony, and elitist arrogant disregard of individuals deemed serfs.
Ted Kennedy should be scorned and reviled by all freedom loving people not only in the USA, but also globally. He represented the worst of humanity.
Ayn Rand said it best:
DeathB4Tyranny on August 29, 2009 at 2:03 AM
They don’t? I thought they were the “feeling and caring” party.
In essence they are incredibly depraved, bereft miserable lots.
Schadenfreude on August 29, 2009 at 2:09 AM
Ha ha ha OH well then, if a political candidate has an opponent assassinated and has a long carreer in politics that is acceptible the ends justifies the means scanerio?
Ha Ha Ha Ha These lefties ars showing their true sadistic underbelly here!
sonnyspats1 on August 29, 2009 at 2:18 AM
So Joyce sides with Raskolnikov’s evil side. Maybe it’s just too hard not to if you’re a Dem.
snaggletoothie on August 29, 2009 at 2:21 AM
Ms. Oates, I don’t use the word “bitch” very often. It is one of the most denigrating words one can use to describe a woman. It goes against everything that I have been raised to believe in the dignity of an individual, man or woman.
But if you are going to claim that you have the moral authority, the RIGHT to demand for a woman to DIE for ANY reason – let alone to keep someone you like in a seat of power – and are not immediately volunteering to BE that woman? Then frankly madam, you are a low, diseased, cur bitch. And I use those terms quite advisedly.
Blacksmith on August 29, 2009 at 2:22 AM
Hmph. In my previous attempt to comment, I seem to have discovered one of Hot Air’s “unpassable” words; presumably of the 5-letter sort. I explained why I so rarely use it, and why in this case Ms. Oates, you deserved it. Once you’ve rationalized demanding a single death, it’s just as easy to rationalize millions – at that point we’ve firmly established your character, and are simply haggling on the butcher’s bill price. Be d—ed to you, madam, along with the other followers of your malignant philosophy.
Blacksmith on August 29, 2009 at 2:32 AM
If one accepts Oates contention that Teddy’s “fortunate fall” when he let Kopechne die was necessary to build a life of service to the nation, one wonders how much greater he could have been had he only killed more young girls.
Tantor on August 29, 2009 at 2:48 AM
Maybe Barry should shut the intertubes down and declare martial law. At least it would shut off the access complete brain dead morons like this bitsh enjoy and brandish mindlessly.
Griz on August 29, 2009 at 3:07 AM
Ladies and gentlemen, the pro-abortion mentality laid bare.
If you ever wondered, “how can they know abortion takes a life and still do it,” well, here’s your answer.
But maybe this is putting it backwards. Maybe this is what more than 35 years of legalized rationalization of the killing of innocents has led us to.
inviolet on August 29, 2009 at 4:30 AM
I’d bet that if we gave all murders 40 years in Congress rather than prison terms many would turn out to be great ‘progressives’.
What a shame that we’ll never know in most cases. /s
DarkCurrent on August 29, 2009 at 4:31 AM
/
inviolet on August 29, 2009 at 4:40 AM
Here’s what another writer has to say in response to Joyce Carol Oates:
Amazingly apt words by Robert Bork, put in the mouth of St. Thomas More in his play “A Man for All Seasons.”
inviolet on August 29, 2009 at 4:40 AM
Robert Bork = the writer Robert Bolt
Now that’s a Freudian slip…
inviolet on August 29, 2009 at 4:42 AM
The death of Mary Jo was an indefensiible action. He never sought forgiveness from any man. He listened to and laughed at jokes about it the rest of his life. What kind of Man would act like that?
kingsjester on August 29, 2009 at 4:54 AM
I think you’re just born with it.
Jim Treacher on August 29, 2009 at 5:18 AM
No, it’s a disease.
gina4 on August 29, 2009 at 5:45 AM
Brilliant insight.
I think it is even more malignantly evil than that. Historically, it has been much easier for the disciples of marxism/statism/fascism/communism/socialism and their cult leaders to mitigate mass murder than the murder of an individual. Just look at the history of their revolutions and regimes. They are littered with genocidal torrents.
This quote by Stalin has particular relevance:
Based on Stalin’s standard what does that make Joyce Carol Oates?
DeathB4Tyranny on August 29, 2009 at 5:51 AM
One millionth of a statistic?
ManUFan on August 29, 2009 at 6:17 AM
So the prevailing logic is that Mary Jo was martyred on the altar of liberalism and “look at all the good that’s come out of it…”
Is that same logic going to be applied to House and Senate Dems now regarding the healthcare bill? “Mary Jo took it in the neck for Teddy’s career, so why don’t you guys take it in the neck for Obama’s and vote this thing through!” By injecting Ted Kennedy’s death into the healthcare debate using this inane logic, the ominous undertone is that it’s now Obama out philandering with the congressional Dems, trying to screw them, then driving a car off the bridge, allowing them to drown while he heads back to the crib.
And 40 years from now Obama will laugh about it….
House Dems–the modern day Mary Jo Kopechne’s. They’ll be forgotten about too.
ted c on August 29, 2009 at 6:37 AM
Mary Jo Kopechne was Kennedy’s Martyr…. she died for the cause…
Congressional Democrats are Obama’s Martyr Brigade….they’re willing to lay down their political lives (and ours for that matter) for the cause….
grim parallels this woman has drawn. Grim, but telling.
ted c on August 29, 2009 at 6:40 AM
So do we keep a sense of smell and refuse to honor, trust, cooperate and collaborate with the stinkers, or do we say “country first” and have them over for popcorn? Or is the only bad liberal a dead one?
Chris_Balsz on August 29, 2009 at 7:02 AM
This doesn’t surprise me.
It’s the same thing as Hollywood actors defending the child rapist Roman Polanski because “his art is just too good”.
Just the same as Italians shrugging their shoulders and saying “At least the trains run on time”.
These are people that rightfully should be detested and ridiculed.
“Is wickedness soluble in good deeds?”
Only for the truly repentent (see Oskar Schindler).
Heard any good Chappaquiddick jokes, lately?
Frost3 on August 29, 2009 at 7:17 AM
Well, she kept him out of the White House, but we got 40 years of him instead of 4, so …
I’m trying to figure out where bonking blondes on the floor of the Brasserie works into “years of service.” People who idolize this vile, cesspit of a man are truly pathetic.
Quisp on August 29, 2009 at 7:19 AM
I hate to throw books away, but out goes all of my Oates books. I am so tired of these silly people. George Bush used to drink and for years we had to hear stories about what a drunk he was blah blah blah..Kennedy not only drank, he got people killed, he ruined lives and yet somehow that is no big deal, not in the face of What???What did Kennedy do that was so great? What did Kennedy do that could not have been done better by someone else?
Terrye on August 29, 2009 at 7:28 AM
Don’t know if anyone has mentioned Teddy’s on-going contact with Soviet Dictator Yuri Andropov, but wasn’t that an act of treason? After all all, Ted’s goal was to see that Ronald Reagan wasn’t reelected in 1984. He wanted to help the Soviet Union (our enemy) defeat the United States.
oldleprechaun on August 29, 2009 at 7:34 AM
Proverbs 21:2
MikeA on August 29, 2009 at 7:35 AM
JCO is a terrible overrated washed up hasbeen “writer”.
Meanwhile, this is what to expect later, as more and more people make excuses for murder and worse. The radicals are in charge, and their actions will be excused by a growing portion of the MSN and other “famous” personalities. This is what happens when a country embarks on the socialist path with radicals in charge. It will only get worse.
Friendly21 on August 29, 2009 at 7:37 AM
Only treason if Congress has declared war on said enemy. That’s why people like the Senior Ballon and Clinton got away with this stuff.
Friendly21 on August 29, 2009 at 7:39 AM
Maybe the CIA interrogators should try this line of reasoning…
room9reg on August 29, 2009 at 7:45 AM
Hopefully not too off-topic, but isn’t it interesting that it has taken the election of a man, perceived as a Muslim sympathizer, to let the Left feel comfortable enough to show us their true colors re Death? Radical Islam is a death cult, celebrating death and using death to control it’s population. The Left in our country, not satisfied with mere abortion, is now empowered to take their own celebration of Death and take it to the next level. Remember when birth control was the way to prevent the “Population Explosion?” Now it will be Obamacare to carry that torch.
geekrunner on August 29, 2009 at 7:57 AM
Didn’t Teddy turn his kids into bastards by paying off indulgences in way of Annulment of his first marriage?
He’s such a classy guy.
Greatest Democratic Senator in history…
Shivas Irons on August 29, 2009 at 8:09 AM
YOUR FRIEND IS AN IDIOT — OF COURSE DEMOCRATS DON’T CARE, NEVER HAVE.
Simona on August 29, 2009 at 8:14 AM
And that is the crux of the matter.
I would still contend that a person of clear, strong morals would do anything to save that young woman. BUT, if he had even once expressed sincere remorse, it would be incumbant upon us to forgive. Instead, he found “humor” in the “ridiculousness” of Mary Jo’s death…which is deplorable.
Nothing surprises me from these people anymore, nothing. And to think I have to sit through a “diversity” seminar next week…something spewed right from the bile duct of liberalism….blech.
Grace_is_sufficient on August 29, 2009 at 8:20 AM
The real hypocrisy for the left is, if Henry Hyde or Newt Gingrich, (or any other Republican in public office), had committed this travesty, they would in fact never have participated in shaping this country’s policies. Only in the world of Camelot, is there this false sense of absolution by contrition. I’ve not said a word, (until now), about Edward Kennedy out of respect for the family’s right to grieve a passing loved one. That’s over. And I will leave it up to God to judge the man’s “contributions” and utter failures in his personal life. As a Senator, who did take part in shaping some of this nation’s policies, he was as pathetic as those who are attempting to eulogize this selfish, conceited patriarch as a humanitarian with any form of a moral compass. As a Christian, I hope he makes peace with his God because the bible teach’s us to even pray for the wicked lost souls who have forsaken their humanity. As a native born U.S. citizen of this great nation, I’m am pleased to see his tenure over as a voice for liberalism, socialism, and the ideology of a government controlled society. As the song of Simon and Garfunkel goes–I will enjoy the sounds of silence.
Rovin on August 29, 2009 at 8:21 AM
I can understand people who say that Kennedy did both something horrible and something good in his life (from their perspective) and leave it at that. However, I don’t understand people who want to absolve him of the horrible thing by engaging in moral calculus. It’s unnecessary; if you admire Kennedy’s legislative career, then say so and leave it that. Your admiration of a man doesn’t mean you have to absolve him of his sins.
Bill Ramey on August 29, 2009 at 8:24 AM
This is excellent.
I will tell you what bothers me the most are the attitudes of people like McCain. He will correct his constituents when they boo Obama a little bit. He will demand they show respect because he’s “our President.” I am sure he considered Kennedy a good friend.
Orrin Hatch would brag about his friendship with Kennedy. Kennedy’s life work was at direct odds with every principle Hatch held.
The reason?? Congress is a club. The entire government is becoming a club. They are all friends and buddies first. And to a degree,, sure,, that can be a good thing. It is a good thing in American politics when two different people from two different parties can fight like the devil over legislation and then at 5:00 go out and have a beer. Nothing wrong with that. But when your opponent is actually attempting treason,, attempting to change and remake the very fabric of our nation into something evil,,, that is quite a different thing than arguing over an increase in the medicare budget or whether a highway should be built.
You may have disagreements with your neighbor about all kinds of things. But you can still be neighborly. But when one day your neighbor grabs a shovel and says he’s going to take apart the foundation of your house,,, he begins a campaign throughout the neighborhood to raise money and an army of people to attack your property,,, and then still continues to invite you to pool parties and bring you tomatoes from his garden,,, sorry,,, at some point continuing to be neighborly will only encourage his efforts. In fact,, the rest of the neighborhood might even say “Geeze, that guy can’t be so bad cause even his victim likes him!”
JellyToast on August 29, 2009 at 8:28 AM
The story of Mary Jo is extraordinarily fitting for the events of this day. The symbolism and timing of Ted Kennedy’s death and the juxtaposition of the Obamacare legislation is a story within a story.
Mary Jo was the original martyr upon the altar of liberalism. Sent to her untimely death at the bottom of a river, under a bridge, Ms. Kopechne was the shoulders Teddy stood on to reach the mouthful of life-preserving air that enabled him to launch a decades long Senate career. With that singular act, Mary Jo, through her selfless service, symbolically demonstrated the remarkable arrogance and complete disregard for life that encapsulates the vapid amorality of the liberal agenda. She, among other victims, are drowned and oppressed again and again, decade after decade, and career after career–as liberal politicians continually subjugate people for their own gain. Mary Jo’s fateful ride in the Oldsmobubble in Chappaquiddick, keenly symbolizes the repeated behavior of self-imposed subjugation that our societies “victims” continue to show–they keep hopping in the Olds, when they should know the outcome.
Today, Kennedy’s name is being invoked into the Obamacare issue. The Obamacare Oldsmobubble is pulling out of the driveway of the cottage in Chappaquiddick. Barack Obama is at the wheel. In the car with him are congressional Democrats–all of them yukking it up. Obama has ulterior motives for his passengers, just as Teddy did with Mary Jo. The Dems see Obama probably as Mary Jo saw Teddy that night–handsome, talented, bright, promising, dangerous, enticing.
The Oldsmobubble is nearing the bridge, its narrow, its dark, and eerie. The car hits the bridge, careens over the side and hits the water, floating for a quick second before nosediving for the bottom. Lives, both physical and political flash before Obama’s and his passengers eyes–the car rapidly fills with water. Every man for himself. Obama, like Teddy, luckily escapes, swims to the surface, climbs out and heads back to the cottage, nonchalantly as Mary Jo slowly is asphyxiated and drowned waiting for help that will not arrive.
Yes, history is beckoning us today. Mary Jo’s parents and family, had they had the opportunity, would have done everything in their power to pick up Mary Jo from that party in Chappaquiddick and prevent her from getting in that car that fateful night in July of 1969. Today, the parents are in the townhalls, townsquares and other places and openly pleading with their representatives to not get into the Obamacare Oldsmobubble. If they get in, close the door, and take the fateful ride–then the story of Mary Jo should ring in their ears as they see their own lives sacrificed upon the altar of liberalism.
If we are going to do anything for Teddy, then put every copy of HR3200 into the front seat of an Oldsmobile, and then push it off the bridge.
ted c on August 29, 2009 at 8:35 AM
Didn’t he name his dog “Splash”?
Fuck him.
Shivas Irons on August 29, 2009 at 8:44 AM
If one dead woman was worth it in exchange for all of Kennedy’s sweet sweet liberal legislation, then…
How many dead is Obama’s hope and change worth to you, o morally superior lefties?
bitsy on August 29, 2009 at 9:06 AM
Even if we assume this argument is correct, what exactly are his good deeds? Using the family name and network and trading favors to pass this legislation or that? Wouldn’t a different Kennedy or a random John Doe from a well connected family have accomplished the same?
sram on August 29, 2009 at 9:11 AM
Who knows what Mary Jo might have done for the world? We’ll never know what great accomplishments she might have had if she hadn’t been killed by Ted Kennedy.
katiejane on August 29, 2009 at 9:33 AM
Uh this country wasn’t founded on the collective system (Take one for the team Mary Jo). It was founded on Individual rights….Mary Jo, had rights.
Hey Oates, how bout Ted’s nephews, remember Martha Moxley the countless women who have brought suits against William Kennedy Smith…just sayin I wouldn’t be trying to put lipstick on chauvinist pigs. And last but not least the lasting specter of Marilyn Monroe, forever hanging over the Kennedy family. I am sure Ted Kennedy knew where all the families skeletons were buried. One thing? I can count higher than Joyce Carol Oates :)
Dr Evil on August 29, 2009 at 9:34 AM
Oates’s fiction deal with just such thorny questions, so it’s perfectly consistent.
AnninCA on August 29, 2009 at 9:37 AM
An Army colonel that served as my mentor in earlier days once told me that a true difference between men and women is that women have no compass for true loyalty. That includes vocal feminists that are willing to drown their sisters under the bus for the right to abort their children, or get a free college education if they divorce their husband and move in with a boyfriend.
He also told me that men marry kittens, but kittens turn into cats and what man in his right mind wants a cat?
Hening on August 29, 2009 at 9:38 AM
Don’t be jealous folks, but I got an exclusive pic of Teddie’s motorcade as it went by today:
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/7227/agar.jpg
justltl on August 29, 2009 at 9:39 AM
wow.
I guess when you don’t live by any moral compass, you can just make it up as you go along.
What a pathetic piece by Oates.
I suggest Oates turn her little logical way of thinking on GW Bush. Yeah, right.
bridgetown on August 29, 2009 at 9:39 AM
Sounds like your Army Colonel was an idiot.
bridgetown on August 29, 2009 at 9:40 AM
Probably the blog author isn’t familiar with her work. She often tackles these kinds of questions.
AnninCA on August 29, 2009 at 9:45 AM
So, let’s see…. you can drown a young woman, but you can’t smack a terrorist. Got it.
bloggless on August 29, 2009 at 9:49 AM
In honor of the great work Ted Kennedy did for healthcare in the U.S., ObamaCare should be renamed Kopechne Care and left to die without any assistance.
Cybergeezer on August 29, 2009 at 9:50 AM
That’s a compliment coming from such as yourself.
..and thank you for proving the point.
Hening on August 29, 2009 at 9:52 AM
The Kennedys have left a trail of battered and bloody women in their wake. But I am sure if you ask them, they would tell you it was worth it.
bloggless on August 29, 2009 at 9:52 AM
Consider this my friends…First, TOTUS committed suicide and set off a spiral off free falling polls and bad news for Obama. He hasn’t had a good week since. Second, Michael Jackson died an untimely and horrific death at the hands of a black physician. Third, closing time has finally caught up with Teddy Kennedy.
Hence, you have a situation where TOTUS can’t tell Obama what to say about Obamacare, Michael Jackson can’t sing about it, and Teddy Kennedy can’t vote for it. Put simply, this would be 3 strikes and you’re out.
Begs the question–were TOTUS, Michael Jackson and Ted Kennedy racists for failing to live up to The Won’s expectations by sacrificing for Obamacare?
ted c on August 29, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Kennedy Lady Tally:
Mary Jo Kopechne
Pamela Kelley, paralyzed in a Jeep accident
John-John’s wife and sister-in-law (counts as two)
Joan Kennedy
Please feel free to add.
bloggless on August 29, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Kennedy Lady Tally:5
Mary Jo Kopechne
Pamela Kelley, paralyzed in a Jeep accident
John-John’s wife and sister-in-law (counts as two)
Joan Kennedy
Please feel free to add.
bloggless on August 29, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Insofar as I am concerned Ted Kennedy is a felon. The idiots in my state love felons. They keep voting them into office. Whenever I need a reminder about the felon I re-read parts of Leo Damore’s book “Senatorial Privilege, The Chappaquiddick Cover-Up”. The people of Boston still revere the felon, the late James Michael Curley. Corruption in this state is the name of the game. We even have the felon,ex Democrat Majority Leader Thomas Finneran with his own radio talk show.
Big Nicholas on August 29, 2009 at 10:02 AM
If Teddy was the greatest dem senator evah!, why couldn’t he in 42 years get a universal health care bill passed? Maybe he was too busy squeezing the cocktail waitresses. But was he a good tipper?
Kissmygrits on August 29, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Down the slippery slope of moral relativism we tumble.
skatz51 on August 29, 2009 at 10:11 AM
What one must understand is that the liberal mind works much different than a conservative one. A liberal lives in a fantasy world where those rotten, evil things like responsibility and character have no real meaning or place.
If one is a politically correct liberal, then ones, misdeeds, if you wish to call them that simply melt away into obscurity.
The liberal can pretend a live healthy kicking unborn child is a mass of cells, a tumor, than can be removed without a single thought of what was just destroyed. A liberal can be a Communist style liberal and conveniently pretend to forget that their heroes like Stalin, Mao, Castro, and others, were mass murderers. You see to a liberal, if millions being killed means nothing, than what’s the life of one young lady named Mary Jo mean?
Jeff from WI on August 29, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Kennedy Lady Tally:5
Mary Jo Kopechne
Pamela Kelley, paralyzed in a Jeep accident
John-John’s wife and sister-in-law (counts as two)
Joan Kennedy
Please feel free to add.
bloggless on August 29, 2009 at 10:02 AM
How about the woman married to the Kennedy babysitter Casanova??
congma on August 29, 2009 at 10:23 AM
That was Michael Kennedy
And how about the one raped by theKennedy in FL?
congma on August 29, 2009 at 10:25 AM
How about the waitress that was mauled and Joan Kennedy, ruined by him.
tessa on August 29, 2009 at 10:35 AM
We’re all Mary Jo Kopechne now.
Yes, you and I are Mary Jo Kopechne now. You read it right. Teddy has passed the keys to Obama, after a few beers with Gates, and he’s smiling at us and then sliding behind the wheel. Maybe Obama, like Teddy, slipped a little something in our drink–just to make us a little more willing. One can only think what he has in mind as he invites us into the front seat of that big Oldsmobile. “Just a little drive” he quips, as your instincts tell you this might not be a good idea, but he’s handsome, well connected and charming. In the back of your mind, you think obama is just another womanizer, just out to use you for what you’ve got. Maybe you’re right–he is married you know.
As he heads down the bridge, the car careens over the edge, flips upside down and he leaves you trapped there, gasping for air as the car fills with water. You die a slow agonizing death as Obama escapes, his political career intact–set up right for victories to come–adulation and reverence. The rules he sets don’t apply to him–he wins and you lose.
Yes, Obama is trying to use us just like Teddy used Mary Jo. He wants to get what he wants and needs out of us only to leave us discarded underwater like an old boot. He’ll ride our backs just so long as to break it, then hop on someone else’s.
Yes, my friends. Today, we are all Mary Jo Kopechne and it is truly fitting and symbolic that the coward of Chappaquiddick is passing the proverbial keys to the Oldsmobubble to Obama upon the delivery of the eulogy.
The question is, will we get in and take the fatal ride, knowing today what Mary Jo didn’t know that fateful night in 1969? Will we be left at the bottom of the lake, gasping for air, as Obama escapes to greener pastures…and more victims? Time shall tell–for today, the Oldsmobile Key is passed.
ted c on August 29, 2009 at 10:37 AM
If there is true repentance, maybe. I don’t know that Kennedy did truly repent (the fact that he continued to enjoy Chappaquiddick jokes is not a point in his favor).
At any rate, that is for God to sort out.
Missy on August 29, 2009 at 10:38 AM
and Marilyn Monroe
congma on August 29, 2009 at 10:51 AM
Oates is just upset because her pitch meeting with HBO for “Chappaquidick: The Musical” (directed by Alan Ball) didn’t go well. They didn’t outright reject her idea; they said they would get back to her.
The POD (Party of Death) People are finally dying off. Good riddance!
EMD on August 29, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Speaking of God, perhaps that’s the worst character of all. Not God of course, but the Catholic Church. While I could not stomach actually watching any of the fawning over this pile of pig dung, I’m sure that Teddy will be buried with a full Catholic funeral. The Catholic Church will show the world a “great Catholic” going home to his final resting place with a gracious priest spouting honors upon a killer, a supporter of infanticide, a supporter of destroying the “sacrament” of marriage with a new deviant twist. Spouting platitudes to a true moral reprobate, true scum. In that, the Catholic church cheapens itself to the level of the scum they honor.
Jeff from WI on August 29, 2009 at 10:53 AM
AP you hit the nail on the head.
In today’s version of moral calculus the murder/manslaughter of a young woman is worth it if you weigh 40 years of leftist legislating against it.
What a perfect example of leftist relativism. Perfect and utterly shameful.
I had the displeasure of being at an event with him many years ago. He was an appalling drunk and a boor. He had to be helped into his seat and removed from it by his staff as he was literally paralytic. He embarrassed himself, made others uncomfortable, and was too hammered to realize it.
I’ll remember him for the murder he committed, his support of terrorism (he was an avid supporter of the IRA), his outrageous drunkenness, and his wholly unbelievable piety act.
How far we have fallen that we laud this utter disgrace.
This isn’t speaking ill of the dead by the way, just a few facts to offset the ludicrous hagiography.
Anders on August 29, 2009 at 10:53 AM
Only a Liberal could have that kind of Compassion for another human being!
mcl2177 on August 29, 2009 at 10:54 AM
The only one at this funeral, who is a champion of the unborn, is the non Catholic, GWB.
tessa on August 29, 2009 at 11:02 AM
I never thought that i would see the news media included Fox News be more sicking than they were on the death of Michael Jackson but sadly i was wrong.These past 3 days with Kennedy are far worse.Today i half expected Shep Smith to say here are some pictures of Teddy walking on water and raising the dead.This man spent the last 40 + years taking money from people who worked and giving it to people who would not work.He called our troops ever name in the book.He also said God awful things about conservatives and pro life people so awful i can,t say them here.He walk past a fire and rescue station while a young women died of affixation trapped in a air pocket of his car.That,s right Mary Jo. did not drown she ran out of air while this scum of the earth man came up with a excuse to cover his political ass.Also during his so great political life he never did a damn thing to protect or save the life of a single unborn child.God have mercy on his soul.Unless he made his peace with almighty God he,s now dancing with the devil.
thmcbb on August 29, 2009 at 11:06 AM
I have a question that,s off subject. Why does this POS get full military honors? He as far as I know never served and was never POTUS. Is this a right of being a Kenedy or do I have my facts wrong. It makes me sick enough that he will be buried at Arlington or is it once again he is riding his brother shirt tails.
ghostintx on August 29, 2009 at 11:07 AM
I concur with your statement.
Chaz706 on August 29, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Forgiveness isn’t a bad thing.
AnninCA on August 29, 2009 at 11:13 AM
If all these cafeteria Catholics get up and start living the teachings of the Church, then I will lose my cynicism.
I won’t hold my breath.
tessa on August 29, 2009 at 11:21 AM
This is clarifying. Maybe what Oates meant wasn’t the sacrifice of Mary Jo’s life, but the sacrifice of the rule of law and justice itself. If Ted had been treated as anyone else would have, he would have gone to trial on negligent homicide charges (at least), found guilty, and gone to prison. His political career would have been over. Instead he was able to continue his life of womanizing, lying, acts of treason, and abuse of power to promote Oate’s preferred ideology in exchange for Mary Jo’s life and the destruction of the very concept of “justice for all”. And Oates thinks it was worth it. What kind of person does that make her and people like her?
Socratease on August 29, 2009 at 11:21 AM
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