Posted by
Steve on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 2:17:47 PM
Edward M. Kennedy died last night. His death ended one of the more controversial Senate careers in memory. He is being lionized by the left and acknowledged as a Senate leader by the right. After his brother Robert Kennedy was killed in 1968, the mantle of the Kennedy’s fell upon him. At that time, it was thought that Ted would someday become President of the United States. That was not to be after he ran a car off of a bridge and a woman drowned. He ended up taking the Democrats where nobody ever thought the Democrats would ever go under the leadership of a Kennedy. Both John and Robert were strong supporters of the military. Ted became very anti-military.
Mary Jo Kopechne died in the car that Ted ran off the bridge. Ted managed to escape from the car. Mary Jo did not escape and died. After escaping from the car, Ted walked up and down in the area near the accident before deciding what to do. This action has always puzzled me. I would have thought that a great swimmer like all the Kennedy’s would try and help Mary Jo escape from the car as well. Ted never made any attempt to rescue Mary Jo Kopechne. After he decided what to do, he walked into the nearest town and called his attorney. Again, this is puzzling to me. I would think that calling the police or rescue teams would be high on the list of things to do. Ted called his attorney first. I don’t remember much about the rest of the experience, except that the Massachusetts town decided not to prosecute Ted for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.
Senators that worked with Ted Kennedy say that if Ted gave you his word that he would do something, he would do it. That is always prized when working with people. That is one reason that Ted was so universally well liked in the Senate during his time there. He was even well liked by those that were politically opposed to everything he was trying to do. Ted could demonize you from the floor of the Senate one minute and be your friend in the hallway the next. The demonization was for the TV cameras and the actions in the hallway were the true Ted Kennedy.
Through the years, Ted Kennedy became more and more radical and out of touch with reality. His push for universal health care for America is one such item. Universal health care would be un-Constitutional on its face. There is nothing in the Constitution that says that health care is any responsibility of the US government. But, that made no difference to the “Lion of the Senate”. He just ignored the Constitution and proposed universal healthcare anyway. As the years went on, the Constitution lost all meaning for this supposed “Lion of the Senate”. If he was truly a “Lion of the Senate”, he should have had the interests of the Constitution high up his priority list. Unfortunately for the United States, he disregarded the Constitution for years.
An example of Ted trying to have everything his way is on his replacement. When Mitt Romney (Republican) was Governor of Massachusetts, Ted pushed through a law that required an election 5 months after the death of a Senator or Congressman. That way a Republican could not pick a replacement for a Democrat Senator. Then, when Deval Patrick (Democrat) was elected, Ted started pushing for a change in the law to allow the Governor to appoint a replacement Senator. That is playing politics, pure and simple. Unfortunately for Ted, he died before the Massachusetts State Legislature could act on his request. That means an election will be held in 5 months to elect his replacement. It also means that with 59 votes, the Democrats cannot break filibusters any more. Democrats will be frantic to replace Ted ASAP.