Let The Camelot References Begin

Ted Kennedy dead at 77:

Edward M. Kennedy, the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port (Massachusetts),” the Kennedy family said in a statement early on Wednesday.One of the most influential and longest-serving senators in U.S. history — a liberal standard-bearer who was also known as a consummate congressional dealmaker — Kennedy had been battling brain cancer, which was diagnosed in May 2008.

For paleoliberals, it’ll be just like John Lennon.

But RIP, Ted Kennedy.

Posted

August 26, 2009

Memoriam

Mitch Berg

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34 responses to “Let The Camelot References Begin”

angryclown

August 26, 2009

Weak. Camelot? He was barely in the Senate during JFK’s term and wasn’t a player until later in his career. John Lennon? Sure, except that Teddy died at 77 after a long career, was the Kennedy who *wasn’t* shot to death by a madman and wouldn’t have banged Yoko, even on a bet on South Beach, horny and full of Chivas.
nate

August 26, 2009

Never had much use for Ted. Maybe in death he will do some good: drive Michael Jackson off the airwaves.
Master of None

August 26, 2009

Now who’s going to make “waitress sandwiches” with Chris Dodd?
Mitch Berg

August 26, 2009

was barely in the Senate during JFK’s term

Yes, but we’re in for a weekend of “end of the dynasty” and “last link to Camelot” talk.

bang[ing] Yoko, even on a bet on South Beach, horny and full of Chivas

Two minute penalty!
swiftee

August 26, 2009

I heard barking moonbat Bill Press say, in all sincerity, “Let’s win this one for Teddy Kennedy!” and suddenly realized he was right.

Listen moonbats; it’s time to break Rick Kahn out of the closet and get him out there to push ~~Bammy~~TeddyCare over the top!
swiftee

August 26, 2009

“’last link to Camelot’ talk.”

Right. Where the link is a besotted, obese knight slumped over the round table with a leg of mutton in one hand and a comely wench in the other.
Lars Walker

August 26, 2009

They tell us we should speak no ill of the dead.

In view of that rule, I have nothing further to say.
Right

August 26, 2009

Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009)

Mary Jo Kopechne (July 26, 1940 – July 18, 1969)
Chuck

August 26, 2009

We speak poorly of liberals who speak poorly of recently deceased conservatives, but whenever I hear Ted Kennedy, I think of the awful rant he made on the Senate floor during the Bork hearings. I feel no sadness today.
J. Ewing

August 26, 2009

Too bad. I guess we won’t have Ted Kennedy to kick around anymore. I think he was always more of a symbol than anything else. Expect Democrats to use the symbol one more time, to try to push Obamacare over the top, and expect that effort to be called what it is.
Chuck

August 26, 2009

Powerline covers Ted’s anti-Bork hate-speach. Anyone who wants to lionize Kennedy today, should go there and refresh your memory on what kind of person he really was.
justplainangry

August 26, 2009

For paleoliberals, it’ll be just like John Lennon.

John Lennon did not kill anyone.
thorleywinston

August 26, 2009

I think he was always more of a symbol than anything else. Expect Democrats to use the symbol one more time, to try to push Obamacare over the top, and expect that effort to be called what it is.

Agreed, I’m not sure it would be a good idea, particularly after the “death panel” kerfuffle, to try to tie a bill that purports to change “health care” or “health insurance” system to the memory of a dead guy.

That being said, my sincere condolences to anyone who knew and mourns Senator Kennedy.
Fresch Fisch

August 26, 2009

I’ll have to search the net to find the Saturday Night Live bit called

“M-TV’s Hyannisport Beach Spring Break Weekend.”

It was a spoof of the MTV live from Daytona Beach deals they do each spring but having Ted and his relatives partying it up on the beach with hard bodied college age gals.

Oh, and Chris Farley was Ted.
golfdoc50

August 26, 2009

I plan to change the channel every time his face appears.
Terry

August 26, 2009

Kennedy earned C grades at the private Milton Academy, but was admitted to Harvard as a “legacy” — his father and older brothers had attended there, so the younger and dimmer Kennedy’s admission was virtually assured. While attending, he was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England, pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea, where a war was raging. Kennedy was assigned to Paris, never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged.

Another rich guy of mediocre intelligence lifted to the pinnacle of social and political life by family wealth and connections.
Terry

August 26, 2009

My last comment (other than the last graph) was a quote from this bio: http://www.nndb.com/people/623/000023554/
For some reason the blockquotes tags didn’t take.
Dog Gone

August 26, 2009

however mediocre he was academically, his accomplishments earned him an honorary knighthood, and both the Brits and the Irish seem to think well of him for his work in resolving the Northern Ireland conflict.

It seemed an appropriate thing to note, given the ‘Camelot’ theme.
dave_h

August 26, 2009

Speaking of camelot references right there on MSN http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32564413
Terry

August 26, 2009

Via the Instapundit, A Sober Look at Ted Kennedy: http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5585&pageNum=5
Dave Thul

August 26, 2009

I don’t think an honorary knighthood will mean much when Sen Kennedy gets to the Pearly Gates and sees St Peter step to the side and let Mary Jo ask the questions.
Seflores

August 26, 2009

I think the pedophile with the big shoes and greasepaint on his face has a point Mitch… No one except sycophantic reporters who still pine for a bygone era they weren’t around for think Teddy had any link to Camelot. Today we are getting a good idea of what the old Soviet Union must have been like when Brezhnev or Andropov died; dirges and dark suits on MSNBC and CNN all day today. A sanitizing of bad Teddy and nothing but chin uplifted gazes on good Teddy.
My favorite Teddy story – Teddy was banging some gal on a boat off the coast. Some media types got shots of Teddy’s bare ass, er, in the act. When the pictures were published not long after, Sen. Howell Heflin of Alabama was quoted as saying in that great Foghorn Leghorn accent of his – “Well I do, I say, I do believe that Senator Kennedy has changed his position on offshore drilling”.
RIP Teddy.
angryclown

August 26, 2009

First thing I hope he kicks Nixon in the balls.
angryclown

August 26, 2009

Terry whimpered: “Another rich guy of mediocre intelligence lifted to the pinnacle of social and political life by family wealth and connections.”

Wait, George W. Bush died too?
Terry

August 26, 2009

So Kennedy is just like Bush? Got it.
You need to work on your consistency, old boy.
angryclown

August 26, 2009

Nah. Ted Kennedy eventually made something of himself.
Terry

August 26, 2009

A murderer?
This is pathetic, AC, even more than usual. I know the W=Kenedy comparisons are making the rounds on the leftysphere today, but only an isiot would think that a DUI & service in the ANG were somehow equivalent to killing a women, a handful of reckless driving tickets and drunkenly assaulting women.
The apt comparison is Kennedy=Neil Bush, but of course the GOP didn’t think Neil Bush belonged in national politics. The Dems have inflicted that drunken, murderous gasbag from Hyannisport on all of us.
angryclown

August 26, 2009

Hey, Angryclown is no Kennedy sentimentalist. Angryclown doesn’t think Teddy was qualified for the Senate when he was elected. And he doesn’t think the name “Kennedy” should entitle a person to public office. They’re awfully accident-prone for a start. Angryclown believes Teddy should have resigned his seat in disgrace after Chappaquiddick and faced charges of manslaughter and obstruction of justice. That he didn’t was a slap in the face to Mary Jo Kopechne’s family and her memory. But give the guy his due. He did grow into the job. Not so for Shrub.
Terry

August 26, 2009

What in the world was wrong with Teddy? Dad financed bootlegging, Teddy became a drunk. Drowned one woman, Loved to sail and drink, wrote a book about a dog named ‘Splash’, and his signature project in MA was a tunnel under the Charles that collapsed and killed a woman.
There was something almost Joycean about his life.
Master of None

August 27, 2009

I think it would be fitting if water parks all across the country were named after Ted Kennedy.
Dog Gone

August 27, 2009

Dave Thul Says:

August 26th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
“I don’t think an honorary knighthood will mean much when Sen Kennedy gets to the Pearly Gates and sees St Peter step to the side and let Mary Jo ask the questions. ”

His contribution was significant in ending the conflict in Northern Ireland, and it has been widely acknowledged by both sides of that conflict as essential, that it would not have ended without his participation.

He didn’t buy that peace with his money; and I doubt either side gave much of a rip for his social status, or for superficial charm either when it came to ending the bloody long-running killing and maiming by both sides.

His conduct in the Chappaquiddick affair was terrible. That his first wife Joan endured a painful miscarriage shortly after the usual political spouse ‘standing by her husband’s side’ afterwards did not help and may have in part been caused by his bad conduct and the resultant stress.

I do not excuse his behavior. I do think however that in his later years, he seems to have changed his behavior; some suggest it was due to the influence of his second wife. I don’t know what it was that changed him, but he did appear genuinely to change. As horrible as the events of Chappaquiddick were, they were not his entire life. He deserves to be criticized for the bad, but he also deserves fair recognition for the good.
Troy

August 27, 2009

Please enumerate the good. Honestly, I don’t expect to agree with you on everything judged “good”, Dog Gone, but if he does deserve some recognition, please let it be known.
Seflores

August 27, 2009

Troy…
Here is a start for the good
1. Pushed for airline deregulation.
2. Pushed for deregulation of the trucking industry.
3. Co-Created the waitress sandwich.
I’m certain Doggone has these and more on her list to come.
Dog Gone

August 28, 2009

Troy, he was very well regarded and well liked by his opposition in the senate. That is not true of everyone who has strong views.

He was frequently described as being a very hard working and dedicated individual on behalf of his constituents, and a person who did a good job of being well prepared with factual information when he attended, and especially when he was in charge of, senate committee meetings. You may disagree with his views, and his politics, but that at least suggests a sense of duty and responsibility and sincerity about what he was doing.

His efforts in Northern Ireland, which I mentioned above, were particularly effective and constructive, and is I think his greatest contribution. Does anyone else remember the bloodgy gun battles, and all the bombings in Ireland and the UK, violence from both sides back in the day? Or has it been different long enough now that people have forgotten how bad it was?

He was a total jerk in his early days. That he stopped the womanizing, the excessive drinking, for the last twenty years deserves acknowledgement side by side with how bad he was at his worst, unless you like to cherrypick information and not present a balanced view by presenting ONLY the bad.